In the 1990’s I was a member of an advisory committee to U.S. Congressman and Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich. That was back in the President Clinton era. Over several years, as I got to know him better, I learned much about Washington DC, about politics, about our government and frankly about our history. Gingrich is a historian. He always said, “to know where we are going, we must remember where we came from.” This is so true.
Earlier this year in the April edition of The AMAC Magazine, Gingrich published a column titled “A Dramatically Better Future.”
Now that the Presidential election has ended, I think that column adds new color to our world going forward.
“America is on the edge of a series of technological and scientific breakthroughs that are going to transform our lives. We will live longer, be wealthier and have dramatically greater productivity,” wrote Gingrich.
Wireless, 5G, AI, IoT, private wireless, wireless broadband and more
This is all so true as we look around us at the incredible and rapid advancement of technology.
However, I would take that sentiment one step further. We are already fully into the change wave. The current state of growth and transformation actually began decades ago. We are no longer in the opening chapter of this story. Today, we are fully into the amazing transformation of our world.
Think about all the changes we have seen in recent years including iPhone, Android, wireless data, AI, IoT, wireless, 5G, private wireless, wireless broadband, FWA and so much more. And that’s just in our industry.
As amazing as the recent past has been, looking forward all I can see is continued technological breakthroughs and advancements. That means new sectors, new products and services, new companies, new industries and more.
Important to pull the camera back to get a longer-term perspective
It is so important to take a moment, pull the camera back and get a longer-term, historical perspective of our changing world.
One important battle we will all witness is that between the fast-moving business and technology world which wants to transform our world overnight, and the slow-moving government slowing everything down before giving it their stamp of approval.
Let’s face it, the government is not full of or run by fast-paced, business and technology leaders.
Now, add politics into the mix and you can see how this smooth running and fast changing world around us can grind to a halt from time to time.
This is the balance we all live with every day.
Business moves quickly, but government moves slowly
The world moves quickly, but government moves slowly. Based on the world we have seen our entire lives, that discrepancy will be on full display as we move forward.
Historically, that is always the problem. It’s not just in today’s world with tech like fast moving AI, but in every other generation as well.
Back in the day, we used horses and buggies. As the Ford Model-T entered the picture, that created a real threat for older and existing companies and industries.
Remember, as the automobile growth exploded, over time many existing horse trainers, buggy makers, whip producers and more went out of business.
As painful as that was, would we really still want to use the horse and buggy rather than our own cars? That’s the price of change.
Prepare for amazing growth opportunity and change going forward
That is the same growth opportunity and threat we will experience going forward.
In fact, we have already experienced many such changes in our lifetimes.
Example, in the 1980s there was once one big phone company called AT&T. Ma Bell was broken up into one, big long-distance giant called AT&T and seven baby bells, which were local phone companies.
As we moved forward, mergers and acquisitions happened and today we have two giant’s called AT&T and Verizon on the wireline side.
Yesterday, there were countless small and regional wireless and cable TV companies as well. Today, there are few, very large competitors.
Plus, yesterday’s core growth services like telephone and cable TV are now shrinking and being replaced by wireless and streaming.
Like the horse and buggy gave way to the automobile, telephone and cable TV are giving way to tomorrow as well.
Today, traditional industries are giving way to the next wave. This happens time after time.
Broadband, wireless broadband, Wi-Fi, satellite and other changes
Broadband is another sector which is seeing a change wave re-write their industry. Wireless broadband, Wi-Fi and more continue to show new growth.
Satellite is yet another bold new area we are moving into.
So, as you can see, the world around us is rapidly changing.
Fortunately, we in the communications world are at the center of the universe. Everything needs to be connected either wirelessly or through broadband or satellite and much more.
There are also countless new technologies that will appear going forward.
So, we are already in the middle of the great transformation.
Today, in the tech world including wireless, telecom, pay TV and more, I would say we are already in the “Golden-Age of Transformation”. The ride has been going for a while, but we are still just in the early stages of this golden age.
