“We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”
This quote is commonly attributed to Albert Einstein but it certainly applies to our world today. Whether we are talking about Supply Chains, Global Trade, Terrorism or Climate Change, we need to come up with new solutions for problems we and our children will face tomorrow.
Many of us are doing well. Amazon and Walmart have revolutionized Supply Chain thinking. Global agreements and the formalizing of trade blocks and multilateral trade agreements like the EU have allowed trade barriers to be reduced in many cases. Canada has announced the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) and Canada European Trade Agreement (CETA) that will in many ways open up markets for Canadian goods and services while lowering trade barriers caused by old- school protectionist policies of the last century. Unfortunately, other agreements (like NAFTA) are being cancelled or soft-pedaled in the name of a media sound bite or an election promise.
Groups like NATO as well as individual regions are cooperating to not only remove the acts of terrorism but the underlying reasons for extremist philosophy. Others are working to weaken these alliances by sowing dissent and disharmony.
Accords like those reached in Paris focus the world on the dangers of making our planet uninhabitable to humans. If you don't believe it can happen, ask a dinosaur. Cockroaches may be the next humanity.
All is not smooth, though. Some countries are still clinging to insular, protectionist ideologies propagated by fear and uncertainty. As the global geopolitical map changes, some react with a blind panic to return to "the good old days", refusing to remember how easily a global recession can hurt everyone, not just the money markets. Only a little over a decade ago the world was plunged into an economic storm that took years to recover from.
It is easy to walk away from prior agreements for the sake of saving face or an election promise. The world needs to remember that if one is not a party to an agreement (like Paris or NATO), one loses a seat at the table and the opportunity to shape the conversation. Even the United Nations was created to give everyone the ability to express ideas and thoughts. Perhaps we need to rethink the UN next? New world leaders are coming forward as the old guard retreats into isolationism. Who will be the next world leaders? Britain is backing away from Europe and America is backing away from the world.
Many of us remember the Berlin Wall. 60 years later some are still building walls. Einstein also said "The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits". Just my two cents worth....