4 Waves and a Driverless Car

Oddly Enough News, my favorite destination for some early morning stress relief, reports that Rei Uzawa, the head of, Sweet Mommy, a maternity clothing maker, created a wearable fan for cats – the scorching heat of summer in Japan was her inspiration. I was thinking of getting one for myself – Austin in August is a heat disaster no one writes about.

?Meanwhile somewhere else in the world, Giuseppe Paterno, a young 98 years, graduated with a master’s in history with top marks. Good on the old guy. With so much information spouting from all over the world, how does one keep up? What does one read? Are universities even relevant? I’ve met thirteen-year-olds who know about string theory.

?Did you know that a chef’s hat has exactly 100 pleats, high heels were originally worn by men, in a group of 23 people there is a 50% chance two will have the same birthday, tongue prints are as unique as fingerprints or that some cats are allergic to humans? Seriously! Watch more TV and get educated.

?Well, I did and have now stopped watching the tube entirely, especially the news networks. They spend more than 8 hours streaming content about the economy, stock exchange, the war in Ukraine and even divorce cases from Hollywood. Sadly, much of what the “experts” say on the air is utterly confusing. Do we have stagflation (inflation and recession) or a proper supply-shortage led recession? Or is it a demand-led one? Well, we now know it is not stagflation because unemployment rates are down. Wages went up and 528,000 jobs were added in July 2022. In Utilities, Consumer Discretionary, Healthcare, Tech, Materials, Staples, Comms, Financials, some 70% of all listed companies announced earnings above analyst estimates. So that rules out a declining demand-led recession. So, is this a supply-led wobble, in the wake of our dear Covid virus? If I were a news anchor and I was asked for an opinion, I would simply say, “I have no idea!”.

?In 1904, Thomas Gray in his poem, Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College, created the term, “ignorance is bliss”. I started to research this topic and found that two professors have already produced a decent body of work on the subject! Robert Proctor from Stanford, who came up with the term Agnotology, which is the art of exploiting ignorance to one’s benefit and David Dunning from Cornell from whose work one can derive that the sneaky internet is an asymptomatic carrier of fake news.

?In today’s world, there are no right answers - what we know to be “true” today may be a complete lie. We are living through a time where a billion people are opining, judging, and often yelling just about everything. ???

?I remember, quite vividly, a George Dubya Bush’s interview with a TV reporter who asked him,

"Can you name the general who is in charge of Pakistan?"

Bush answered, "General. I can't name the general. General." (Correct answer: Pervaiz Musharraf.)

He was then asked if he knew who the Prime Minister of India was at the time. ?

Bush said, "The new prime minister of India is - no." (Correct answer: Atul Bihari Vajpayee).

The best part of the interview was when Bush was asked if he knew the name of the President of Chechnya. (What a lousy question! Correct answer: Aslan Maskhadov). Bush immediately responded, “No, can you?" and the TV interviewer moved on. At least our 43rd President has the presence of mind to reverse the inquisition of ignorance.

?As a kid, I lived in Bangalore, in the “British Colony”. Today that would be called a small, gated community. A school bus ferried us to schools in the city, and upon returning in the evening we would play hockey, cricket, football or one of at least a dozen other games. There were no video games or cell phones, laptops, or iPads. Our pastime was banter, conversations, debates. Ours was a beautiful experience centered generation which lasted between 1950s to 2000s.

?Then came the brand centered generation where the epic market disruptor, the commercial Internet, created the great digital economy. There were no “borders” – people in the middle on Kansas could discover and buy products created in China. Brands were new age publishers – they used the web to tell people how they should look, feel, and think. There was no woke movement. Air brushing photos of people to look slim, fat-shaming, sex and age discrimination – you name it – everything was game. That period lasted 2000s to 2007.

?On Jan 9th, 2007, something happened. The first Apple phone was announced, ushering in a great device centered generation. Phones, iPads, Fitbits, Google glasses, cars with heads up displays, the Oculus. Billions were spent on new apps, and the masses became publishers through social media. Brands could not tell people how or what to buy and consume – the hoi polloi had taken over – they were telling each other what they liked and disliked. This period lasted 2007 to 2019.

?And then came the fourth big wave in 2019 - the human centered, purpose driven generation, who could not be bothered to conform to any brand or any device. Finally, the “Me Generation” had arrived. It transformed brands to think of the unique buying propositions of consumers and less about their very own unique selling propositions. The clarion call was simple – listen to me, I am the customer, I have choice. Personalize everything you offer to my lifestyle, my purpose on this earth.

?Four waves. I wonder what will be next. A Meta, Alt-verse world where the “me” has many personas, some digital, some physical, based on the channel of consumption? Ironic that Meta starts with a Me. Time will tell.

?At BORN and TechM XDS, things are booming. People are slowing coming back to office, folks are meeting clients, face to face events are increasing in number and …. everyone seems to have had Covid. Some even tell me that they have had it twice, thrice. Gulp - it is not a boast I would share. The Great Resignation seems to be fading, layoffs are being announced in many quarters, salaries are normalizing, and the pendulum seems to be on its return swing.

?Let me end with another Oddly Enough gem. On April 1st of this year two cops pulled over a car and one of the cops said, "Ain’t nobody in it. This is crazy." It was a driverless car.

?Stay safe, and until next time, may your journey always be Onwards. Upwards.

?Your fearless follower.