Risky is the New Safe Read Online Free PDF Page A

retirement security, because that’s what their parents had done. And once they went to work for those dead, lifeless corporations, they were indoctrinated with the same mind viruses as the old-timers working there.
    Airlines kept doing hub-and-spoke operations because they had always done it that way. TV networks broadcasted by satellite to affiliates and sold commercials because that’s how it was always done. Travel agencies opened more offices; video chains kept stocking DVD stores; and newspapers continued to print large sheets of paper with day-old news. Retailers continued the system of warehouses, rack-jobbers, distributors, and stores because they were invested in it. Some of those retailers even built large spaces to sell nostalgic, novelty items (you’re holding one now), which, in the not-so-distant future, half of the potential market will only have seen in a museum.
Playing It Safe Is the Biggest Risk
    Everybody is playing it safe, because they think that’s the smart thing to do. But in today’s new economy, playing it safe is the riskiest thing you can do.
    All the rules have changed and they’re going to change more tomorrow. Disruptive technology, changing cultural trends, a breakdown of the education system, government corruption and malfeasance, and a society that is in some ways evolving—and in other ways devolving—has moved the target. And it keeps moving, faster every day.
    Millions of people have been assimilated by the Borg and wander aimlessly through life as worker drones in the collective. And the companies run and staffed by all these people are facing extinction because they can’t compete in the new world. If the definition of insanity really is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result, these people and companies are stark, raving mad.
    It’s not unlike the analogy that Dr. Ken Dychtwald (a brilliant guy, by the way) uses when he relates how companies reacted to the age wave caused by the millions of baby boomers. He paints the picture of a huge elephant migrating across the decades. Most companies are desperately chasing after the elephant, shooting arrows in its butt. What they really need to do is get in front of the elephant and dig a big hole.
    The people who create prosperity in the new economy will be in front of the trends, anticipating them instead of naively reacting to what happened yesterday.
    It doesn’t matter whether you’re an individual or a company. To create wealth or success today, you have to become a critical thinker and blow up conventional wisdom. Because not only is the current economic model not working well; it’s actually moving toward a serious breakdown.
    I’m not a futurist, but I’ll make a few predictions . . .
    Hundreds of millions more jobs will be eliminated by technology, or will require complete retraining or certification for workers to continue doing them. Complete industries will disappear. State-sponsored education will be unable to remain relevant. The euro (and perhaps some other currencies) will collapse within the next two to three years. Tens of thousands of companies will go bankrupt, as will some countries.
Ain’t It Great! Here’s the Really Good News . . .
    Every challenge creates a corresponding opportunity. Some of the greatest wealth was created during the Great Depression—just as many fortunes are created in every recession.
    When everyone is zigging, you want to be zagging .
    At the exact moment you’re reading this sentence, you’re living in the greatest time in human history. There has never been a better time to be alive. The speed and scope of changes taking place in the world (and solar system) today offer unprecedented opportunities for living a life of prosperity.
    Advances in science, medicine, and nutrition will offer breakthroughs in longevity, health, and wellness. Technology will create new business models and recreate