The Future of Business

Back in the day, if you wanted to publish a book, you had to sign a deal with the book publisher. The book publisher would then work with bookstores, who would ultimately sell the book to the consumer. That book would get lost in a sea of other books, so the probability of somebody finding the book you wrote was really, really low. Even if they did discover your book, the bookstore and book publisher gets a cut of that revenue before you do.

That's all different now.

Technology has helped to create this revolutions where middlemen are no longer needed. Technology giants like Amazon and Apple have made it possible for artists to go direct to consumer. No need for the muss or fuss of a publisher.

We live in the era of platforms. Instead of creating direct services or products, companies are creating platforms that allow us to create content ourselves. If you don't think you use these companies, think again. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, and LinkedIn are all platforms. I'm using Google's Blogger platform in order to be able to share this post with you all. Even a smartphone is a platform of sorts. It enables us to do things we never thought imaginable ten years ago.

The reality is that platforms exist because people have things they want to say, share, and do. These new platforms have lowered the barrier for entry. A few decades ago, it never would have been possible to share my ideas with you all. Now, all I have to do is click a few buttons, and this post is shared via my URL, my Twitter account, and my other social media accounts.

Moreover, the industrial age is dying. Fast. Where technology has helped in the way to create creative platforms, it is quickly rendering useless the need for human laborers. Cars, computers, and other things are mostly built by robots now. Much like when the plow eliminated the need for farmers, computers and AI are eliminating the need for manual laborers.

So, what's this mean for our future? No, we're not all going to become experts in robotics. Those people will exist but not in the abundance you might think.

Seth Godin notes in his book The Icarus Deception that there are two simultaneous races occurring right now: the race to the bottom and the race to the top. The race to the bottom is highly saturated with companies like Walmart or even Amazon. These organizations are looking to make things faster, cheaper, and more accessible. Good luck trying to outpace these guys.

On the other hand, the race to the top includes groups that are purposefully avoiding mass market in order to become super specialized for a very niche group of people. You might call these people artists. No, I'm not talking about artists in the sense of painting pretty pictures. Seth Godin defines it this way:

Art is not a gene or a specific talent. Art is an attitude, culturally driven and available to anyone who chooses to adopt it. Art isn’t something sold in a gallery or performed on a stage. Art is the unique work of a human being, work that touches each other.

When you think about it, it makes sense. On a personal level, we rest our humanity in our family and friends, and that network of people is relatively limited compared to the numbers of people McDonald's serves per day. Places like McDonald's serve their purpose, but at the end of the day, they are just another faceless corporation. They lack the sense of purpose and humanity found in real connections.

Purpose is something really, really important as we have somewhat lost our idea of purpose and meaning for life in the postmodern age. We've been told that our purpose is whatever we define it to be, but the reality is that we are dependent on one another for the creation of that purpose. At the heart of all purpose is the desire to fulfill human connection. Whether that means bonding over good music or tasty food, we all band together over something. (And yes, I challenge the thinking that says otherwise.)

We can't really make an impact in that race to the bottom, and that market is already saturated enough by big players from the industrial age. That said, I think the future of business is art. That can be interpreted in many different ways. Maybe it's sharing a blog about parenting tips. Or maybe it's creating graphic design.

The important thing to keep in mind is that that path will be decided by you. There won't be a General Motors telling you that you need to do X, Y, and Z. That will be wholly determinant of yourself. You will forge the path you set before yourself. And ultimately, you will be responsible for your own actions.

If you are curious to learn more about this, I would encourage you check out any of the works by Seth Godin or Ramit Sethi (www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com). You can find a lot of free content featuring them on the web, specifically via many podcast episodes and interviews on YouTube. It's been rolling through my mind a lot lately, and I can't help but wonder how these principles will come to manifest themselves in the future.