We’re in a time like no other

Posted by tED magazine on Thursday, February 16, 2012

By Joe Salimando

At last week’s National Electricity Forum, I learned that the electricity industry (utilities & regulators) is going through “a transformational time.” Nothing like this has ever happened before, in history.

I go to many meetings. Generally, this moment is crucial…for whatever industry, whenever.

That’s not limited to B2B. In the financial game, we’re clearly in a time like no other. Economists seem lost; their rear-view mirrors aren’t working.

Clearly, this moment is IT. The 2012 election could be the linchpin to the next 200 years! AND: Your dinner choice of soup or salad may determine the future of mankind!

Real transformations

Constantly having THIS moment identified as the most important (EVER!) leads my mind to wander off, into Planet Earth’s recent history:

10,000 years ago – modern humans, after spending 200,000 years as hunter-gatherers, turned to farming.

3,000-odd years ago – Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt. Does this compare with solar photovoltaics I wonder?

2,000 years ago – Jesus. More important than energy storage?

1,536 years ago – Rome falls. Europeans spend 1,000 years wandering around like ducks that had been hit in the head.

500-plus years ago – The printing press; the ducks start to shake it off.

489 years ago – Muslim advance on Europe stopped outside Vienna, Austria.

237 years ago – gangster terrorists (costumed like Indians) throw tea into Boston harbor.

136 years ago – Bell invents a smartphone prototype.

130 years ago – Edison wires lower New York. The utility business is born. Electricity goes viral!

90 years ago – a guy named ibn Saud sneaks through a harem and kills an Arabian king. The place becomes Saudi Arabia. This fellow had no notion that all that sand was sitting on top of all that oil; his main idea can be seen in his immediate family (22 wives and nearly 60 children).

Four years ago – less than 150 years after the accepted thing to do with a black man in much of the U.S. was to find chains and whips to use on him, we elect one to the Presidency.

It IS an important time

In truth, for people who run a business, every day potentially is “transformational.” Decisions you make today – options you choose to pursue, harems you decide not to visit – will have an impact on your company and your family…perhaps forever.

From a reasonable point of view, running a business (even a small electrical distribution company) is a high-exposure, high-pressure life. Screw up and people you know and love lose their jobs.

BUT: Choose the right road to take, and you can buy more toys, take better care of your family, help the workers who remained loyal to you.

Here’s the thing: For you – whether you hear it in a conference or not – today really could be transformational. What makes that so hard? So could tomorrow.