I don't always know how I should think about some things. Andrew Grove's book and thesis:
Only the Paranoid Survive
falls into this category
Before you dismiss this thought by Andrew Grove (read a brief bio of his remarkable life here) consider the political and economic conditions of the world in which we live.
Everything has changed and everything is changing.
Change
Rapid Change
Massive Change
Painful Change
is now business as usual.
And paradoxically, that is probably NOT going to change.
In this book Grove talks about Inflection Points which constantly erupt and insert themselves in to life. These Inflection Points are the things that happen outside of us, in our surrounding environments.
Here is what we can say about these Inflection Points.
They are quite beyond our control.
They will keep coming our way, perhaps with greater speed and intensity than ever.
They will DRAMATICALLY impact us.
And only the "paranoid" are going to survive those times of Inflection Impact.
In a simple but massive way, the computer and the Internet are Inflection Points which have changed everything, for those in . . .
- the music industry
- the book industry
- any industry involved in printing texts (newspapers, magazines)
- movies and DVDs
- TV
- anything involving entertainment
- university education
- the postal service
- shopping for goods
- advertising
- searching for jobs
- viral ideas spreading
- fostering revolution in dictatorial countries
- etc. to infinity and beyond
And new internet technologies are constantly emerging and evolving and changing everything.
The paranoid are simply those people who know the unexpected is always going to happen.
The paranoid are those who know life will never be simple or easy.
The paranoid are those who choose not to hide or retreat or lament.
The paranoid are those who will be thoughtful, innovative, courageous, faithful and hopeful, prepared and preparing, learned and learning . . .
Welcome to the Future.
I hope you are sufficiently paranoid to survive.
Brian K. Rice
Leadership ConneXtions International
www.lci.typepad.com
