to be as wildly popular as it proved to be.

Ever since the Industrial Revolution in the late 18th century, there have been quantum shifts that have caused inevitable changes in the business landscape. When consumer refrigerators first were manufactured the writing was on the wall for the ice manufacturers, word processors and computers have made typewriters all but obsolete, steam powered

It was the ancient Greek Philosopher, Heraclitus, who said, "nothing endures but change." That is certainly just as true today as it was in the time of Heraclitus, over 2,500 years ago. Change is all around us. In nature, in our personal lives, at work, everything is changing all the time. Sometimes the changes are subtle and we barely notice them, other times they hit us like a freight train.

Inevitable Change

Many of us have never heard of William C. "Billy" Durant, but he was one of the true innovative business thinkers in the early 20th century. He was the head of the Durant-Dort Carriage Co., the largest producer of horse drawn vehicles in the country in 1900. His company was producing around 150,000 vehicles a year in 14 factories, mainly in Michigan. He, of course, was aware of these new horseless carriages that were just coming into existence. Even though most people considered them just a toy for the wealthy, and they were somewhat unreliable, Durant embraced them. In 1904 he turned his company around and went into a joint venture with David Buick of the Buick Motor Company. From there he went on to form General Motors and the rest is history.

Now, I don't know many business leaders today who, at the height of their success, would turn their company around and go in an entirely new direction. More than anything that takes vision and courage, and the ability to embrace change before it becomes necessary. From today's perspective, this change seemed inevitable, but at the time there would have been no way to know that the automobile was going to be as wildly popular as it proved to be.

Ever since the Industrial Revolution in the late 18th century, there have been quantum shifts that have caused inevitable changes in the business landscape. When consumer refrigerators first were manufactured the writing was on the wall for the ice manufacturers, word processors and computers have made typewriters all but obsolete, steam powered t

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Inevitable Change

Many of us have never heard of William C. "Billy" Durant, but he was one of the true innovative business thinkers in the early 20th century. He was the head of the Durant-Dort Carriage Co., the largest producer of horse drawn vehicles in the country in 1900. His company was producing around 150,000 vehicles a year in 14 factories, mainly in Michigan. He, of course, was aware of these new horseless carriages that were just coming into existence. Even though most people considered them just a toy for the wealthy, and they were somewhat unreliable, Durant embraced them. In 1904 he turned his company around and went into a joint venture with David Buick of the Buick Motor Company. From there he went on to form General Motors and the rest is history.

Now, I don't know many business leaders today who, at the height of their success, would turn their company around and go in an entirely new direction. More than anything that takes vision and courage, and the ability to embrace change before it becomes necessary. From today's perspective, this change seemed inevitable, but at the time there would have been no way to know that the automobile was going to be as wildly popular as it proved to be.

Ever since the Industrial Revolution in the late 18th century, there have been quantum shifts that have caused inevitable changes in the business landscape. When consumer refrigerators first were manufactured the writing was on the wall for the ice manufacturers, word processors and computers have made typewriters all but obsolete, steam powered

s aware of these new horseless carriages that were just coming into existence. Even though most people considered them just a toy for the wealthy, and they were somewhat unreliable, Durant embraced them. In 1904 he turned his company around and went into a joint venture with David Buick of the Buick Motor Company. From there he went on to form General Motors and the rest is history.

Now, I don't know many business leaders today who, at the height of their success, would turn their company around and go in an entirely new direction. More than anything that takes vision and courage, and the ability to embrace change before it becomes necessary. From today's perspective, this change seemed inevitable, but at the time there would have been no way to know that the automobile was going to be as wildly popular as it proved to be.

Ever since the Industrial Revolution in the late 18th century, there have been quantum shifts that have caused inevitable changes in the business landscape. When consumer refrigerators first were manufactured the writing was on the wall for the ice manufacturers, word processors and computers have made typewriters all but obsolete, steam powered

don't know many business leaders today who, at the height of their success, would turn their company around and go in an entirely new direction. More than anything that takes vision and courage, and the ability to embrace change before it becomes necessary. From today's perspective, this change seemed inevitable, but at the time there would have been no way to know that the automobile was going to be as wildly popular as it proved to be.

Ever since the Industrial Revolution in the late 18th century, there have been quantum shifts that have caused inevitable changes in the business landscape. When consumer refrigerators first were manufactured the writing was on the wall for the ice manufacturers, word processors and computers have made typewriters all but obsolete, steam powered

to be as wildly popular as it proved to be.

Ever since the Industrial Revolution in the late 18th century, there have been quantum shifts that have caused inevitable changes in the business landscape. When consumer refrigerators first were manufactured the writing was on the wall for the ice manufacturers, word processors and computers have made typewriters all but obsolete, steam powered trains were replaced with electric trains. There are hundreds more examples, and each one led to a major shift in business in these particular industries that caused many companies to go out of business - those that couldn't adapt to these inevitable changes.

Faster Change

It was Charles H. Duell, commissioner of the US Patent Office, who is famously quoted as saying back in 1899 "everything that can be invented has been invented." This was in response to the astounding number of patent applications received that year, about 3,000, which was then a record. In 2003, that number had ballooned to 355,000 applications received by the US Patent Office. I wonder what Charles Duell would think today.

Most people would agree that change is happening faster now than at any time in history. Things that seemed impossible just 10 years ago today are commonplace. We can watch videos on a cell phone, we can share photos instantly with people half way across the world, we can search more information than is in the world's libraries in less than a second, we can listen to thousands of songs on tiny little players about the size of a matchbox. These are all big changes and each one has happened so much faster than anyone predicted.

A 1980 model Cray supercomputer was the fastest machine of its day. It cost $12 million, weighed 10,000 lbs, consumed 150 kW of electricity -- and had only 8 MB of RAM and operated at a speed of 80 MHz. Today, you can buy a cell phone for $100 with more computer power than the world's most powerful computer of just 25 years ago. That