the impact of Google Maps on his job. He was animated as we discussed the “flying taxis” currently under development by companies like Tesla that are leading a revolution in alternative energy.
“Think about it,” he said. “I couldn't do this job with a paper map. Not only that, but I'm pretty sure Uber wouldn't even exist today without Google Maps.” He's speaking, of course, about the importance of GPS, the global positioning system. Thanks to satellites in space that ping our location, we navigate even the remotest areas on the planet with ease.
And this has given rise to the gig economy that is Uber, Lyft, and other ridesharing services and changing the way consumers buy and companies sell goods. Is the gig economy a good thing or a bad thing? Does the flexibility that drivers can make their own part-time hours offset the depreciation on their car and lack of health benefits? We will examine this and other aspects of the gig economy in Chapter 4.
A Dystopian Reality
Way back in 1968, on the popular sci-fi television series Star Trek, Scotty leaned into his hand console and asked, “Computer, what is the distance between Earth and the Romulan galaxy?” It seemed fantastical at the time . . . that a computer could instantly deliver that information.
Was he speaking to Siri even back then? Now that students worldwide have been schooled via Zoom, it's easier than ever to imagine a student today working with a partner who is an actual computer, perhaps creating a virtual model of that Romulan galaxy and then sending it to a 3D printer to produce an immediate 3D model of it.
What was once science fiction is now just a Siri request away. Artificial intelligence is here. Indeed, 21st-century technology has become embedded in our daily lives as an indispensable part of how we work and play.
The proliferation of apps—everything from meditation and rain sounds while we sleep to Cloud-based task organizing and expense capturing—are available to us for instant download for just $3.99 (as long as you don't mind uploading your credit card data . . . a prospect that was unthinkable just a few decades ago).
That's made possible by the seamless interface with the two major mobile operating systems (Android and iOS) on which much of the world's population depends.13
What's more, the Internet of Things has now arrived and is innovating rapidly. What is the Internet of Things, exactly? It's a term describing the billions of physical devices connected to the internet. Each device is equipped to sensors to tune into the ambient environment. And every single one is collecting and sharing your data.
The Internet of Things includes items as small as a tiny pill that can diagnose clinical information on patients who swallow it and as large as driverless cars and trucks with trailers. Think smart watches that record your daily steps and grade your fitness. Or the heat in your home that switches on automatically when you enter.
Technology is remaking our world dramatically with everything from brain implants restoring movement in paralyzed patients with spinal cord injuries to gene therapy 2.0, which is curing rare disorders and readying to take on rampant killers such as cancer and heart disease and deadly viruses such as COVID-19.
Meanwhile, in Europe and Asia, governments are using face-detecting systems to authorize payments and stop criminals in their tracks.14 Stay tuned to see if this new trend catches on worldwide.
It's Getting Hotter
You'd have to be living under a rock in 2020 if you've missed the global discussion on our earth's changing climate. And, although many still want to debate whether these represent normal fluctuations in warming, as Swedish-born activist Greta Thunberg says, “Don't listen to me; listen to the scientists.”
It's undeniable that summers will grow longer, wildfires will become more common, and sea levels will continue to rise. In the United States specifically, climate forecasters anticipate shorter winters and longer summers in the Northeast with a decline in species that support important fisheries. They expect higher health risks due to food from contaminated waters in New England's rivers, canals, and coasts.15
More than half of major cities in the Southeast are experiencing worsening heat waves. In the Midwest, a rise in climate-related ground-level ozone is expected to cause an avalanche of premature deaths. Expect more lung disease and higher rates of illness for the elderly, too. More than a quarter of US agriculture comes from this region, but the higher temperatures will likely also mean declining crop yields.16
Droughts and wildfires in California and the Southwest means forests there are emitting more carbon into the atmosphere than they used. And these greenhouse gas emissions predict a tripling of the number of large wildfires. Meanwhile, ocean waters will warm California coastal waters between 4°F and 7°F by 2100.
In the Northwest, these greenhouse gas emissions will likely cause winter warming, decimating fish populations and closing fisheries. Mountain snowpacks will melt increasing wildfires. Alaska is actually warming faster than any other state.17
And so it goes. On and on. What does it all mean?
Aside from the very real and imminent toll that these conditions will have on humans as a species, the effect of climate change on the business world is potentially immeasurable. And yet, emissions fell in China by 25% with the COVID-19 lockdown there. Pollution in New York City was down by 50% due to its containment measures.18
Is it possible the world can rally long term, as it seemingly did during the pandemic, when threats feel less urgent? Even if we somehow come together soon as one people to address our carbon emissions effectively—to stop or reverse climate change—it's undeniable that much damage has already been done. Sea levels will continue to rise, which will crowd out the populations in low-lying areas that will flood.
But aside from fundamentally changing the way we live, climate change will also change how we do business and engage in commerce. Just as COVID-19 brought once unthinkable new realities to daily life—such as mask wearing in public and possibly the end of the hand shake—so, too, will climate change affect the energy we use, the materials we build with, and how we invest. It will also give rise to new industries and ultimately a green economy . . . all important ways that the world of work is changing.
As blogger and technology evangelist Robert Scoble once noted, “Change is inevitable, and the disruption it causes often brings both inconvenience and opportunity.”19 As you will see, history is replete with organizations that failed to see change as a chance to evolve. It's also full of visionary organizations that fought back their fears to seize new opportunity.
Those who continue to do business as usual despite the storm of change will become disrupted. They will fade into obscurity as savvy new organizations—disruptors—take their place . . . winning over the customers and employees of those other companies with a responsive new approach to the world around them.
Companies that flex own the future, as you will see.
