Rising from the Mailroom to the Boardroom

15

A Glance into the Future …

WE DON'T KNOW WHAT WE DON'T KNOW

During much of my career we relied heavily on staple business instruments like landline telephones, checks, and fax machines. The decline of these business instruments has been significant and dramatic:

• Landline telephone usage reached a peak in 2000 with 90 percent of households in the United States having landlines, well above cell phone usage of just 5 percent. Since then, landline phones have lost their relevance – down to little more than 40 percent of households – with smartphones and other mobile technologies becoming a “must have” companion for most people in the developed world.

• Checks were an important and reliable non-cash payment method for both businesses and consumers ...