"I have this vague feeling that, just as every generation thinks it invented sex, every generation thinks it created a new economy."
The reason it's extremely important to understand Grove's statement above, is the ease of moving off our center of our purpose because of the hype connected to the endless new thing that everybody says will result in a new economy.
The easiest way to look at it is back when the automobile ended the horse and buggy business. A lot of people probably said that it was a new economy back then. In truth is wasn't. Rather it was what I would call a transfer of technology.
In other words, what was the horse and buggy? A form of transportation. Did transportation end? Absolutely not. The underlying reason for transportation will always remain the same. People need to get somewhere for some reason.
It was those that wanted to remain in the old transportation system that lost, not those that adopted the new mode of transportation.
Was there a new economy? No! People stopped spending on a horse and buggy, and instead put their money into an automobile.
This is the same as reading. Nobody has stopped reading, they are just changing the way they consume what they want to read about. Does this mean there's a new economy. No! Just a transfer of time and funds to another mode of reading. You can go on and on here in video, music etc.
The music industry was caught off guard because they refused to move to the new mode of music consumption, so fell way behind the curve to this day because they wouldn't adapt the emerging Internet preference for consuming music. The love of music didn't change, the "mode" of distributing it did.
The reason all of this is vital to understand is people are tempted to abandon the business they're in because they don't understand that it's the mode or means of doing something that is always changing, not the underlying reason for its existence.
If we understand that technology and the means of doing things are always changing and being improved upon, we'll be able to hold to the purpose of our companies, while understanding how people interact with our purpose will never remain the same.
Other Andy Grove Resources:
Andy Grove's Rational Exuberance
The Digital Age . . . driven by the passion of Intel's Andrew Grove
The History and Influence of Andy Grove
Andy Grove enters new post-Intel role as activist capitalist
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"I have this vague feeling that, just as every generation thinks it invented sex, every generation thinks it created a new economy." [Read More]
Tracked on: June 5, 2007 8:27 PM | Permalink to Trackback