This is the first of a three-part series about a technology that’s likely to create a level of disruption, unlike anything we’ve seen. This article is to introduce the technology and put its disruptive implications in perspective. The next article will explain how the technology works. And the third will be about your likely first contact, and how you’ll use it in your business and life. First, some perspective.
Since the advent of the Digital Age, the number of business model disruptions brought on by new technology has been unprecedented in human history. Legacy paradigms – complete with red-letter rules and legendary success stories – have shifted dangerously for multi-generational industries. Think Kodak. Other examples include email’s impact on fax machines and the letter/parcel delivery industry; Airbnb hindering the hospitality industry without owning any real estate; and don’t ask a cabby about Uber unless you want to hear cursing.
There’s one thing all these disruptions have in common: The most breathtakingly-fast shifts of the past have been on a level that I call “next-step understanding.” Previously, when an innovation disrupted and possibly even surprised us, what we saw happening was next-step understandable. As dramatic as any innovation may have been – personal computer, Internet, e-commerce, social media, etc. – we took it in stride because it was a single unit of variation above where we were operating.
But, now it’s time to buckle up. What’s coming at you won’t be next-step – it will require what I call “quantum-leap understanding.” A quantum leap requires at least two steps – maybe more – at once. Understanding this next disruption won’t be like taking a course in Spanish or French. It will be more like learning Klingon. Almost maddening at first, it will seem like you’re passing through a wormhole into another dimension. Tech writer Adam Greenfield said this: “This is the first technology I’ve encountered that’s difficult for even the most intelligent and highly capable people to understand.”
The first Plantagenet king of England, Henry II, is important to contemporary small business owners because he’s considered the founder of a legal system to which entrepreneurs owe their freedom to be.
It’s important to note here that there are essentially two kinds of business tax reporting: 1) C Corps, mostly all the large corporations, which file and pay taxes like an individual, but at their own rates; and 2) most small businesses are legally structured as S Corps and LLCs, which file a return, but – and this is important to remember – “pass through” any net profit as income on the shareholders’ personal returns. Most small businesses – millions – are “pass-throughs.”
This entrepreneur’s lament is one of the great ironies of the marketplace: a small business in danger of succeeding itself right out of business.
No question, cloud computing is another example of technology increasing business efficiencies and leverage. And for small businesses, it’s been a godsend, because it not only gives us access to Big Business-like leverage, it’s also offered at an incremental price that fits our diminutive budgets.
Imagine that. Having conducted literally thousands of sales calls on multiple continents, in front of decision-makers from the towering C-Suites of Fortune 100 CEOs to bell-over-the-door Main Street mom-and-pops, perhaps the greatest professional salesperson of all time struggles with…making first contact. But when you look at the numbers of his body of work, it’s obvious that the man known as JB to colleagues and “The Force” to competitors, didn’t allow his “condition” to cost him success.