Move Faster!

I'm a big fan of historical fiction. In particular, I love the 'Shardlake' series by C J Sansom. Matthew Shardlake is a 'hunchback' lawyer in Henry VIII's Tudor England. His job takes him solving mysteries all over England, but his disability means that long journeys on horseback are especially tiring. For example in the book 'Heartstone' he travels from London to Portsmouth. The roads are busy with the King's troops gathering for a possible battle with the French, so the 75mile journey is expected to take 7 DAYS (!!!!) Today that journey is just 2 hours by car - in other words, an easy round trip in 1 day. Most travelers would probably not even stop on the way. No staying in dodgy inns eating pottage. No mud-splattered days in the rain. Shardlake would've found it hard to imagine such an improvement in performance.

We live in fast moving times. With the event of 5G, small delivery drones, self driving cars, larger people-transporting drones, Hyperloop technology: we are on the cusp of a step change in how the world works similar to the invention of the car. For example, imagine being able to travel from London to Portsmouth at 150mph in a drone (30mins) or even 750mph (6 mins!) by Hyperloop. At 6mins transportation starts to approach Star-Trek-like teleportation speeds. Imagine how life would be different in your country if you could travel around it at those sort of speeds. If goods could arrive in those little postal tubes that were used in department stores in minutes - again, getting nearer the idea of a replicator in terms of practical speed from purchasing to delivery. All this technology exists right now.

The point is, not to make assumptions about the future. Just because something is the way it's always been (or at least for as long as you can remember) it does not follow that it will always be so. The ability to spot and ride new trends in small or large ways in whatever industry you're in will make all the difference between winning and losing.

You've heard the phrase, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. We no longer live in that time. If it ain't broke, break it... before someone else does it before you... as Jack Welch of GE is famous for advocating.

What sacred cows are you holding on to in your industry?

Will you disrupt or be disrupted?

Move faster! Happy traveling!