Total Rethink

22The Power Shift

“When you get, give; when you learn, teach.”

—Maya Angelou

There is a power shift in progress that goes way beyond the ubiquity of the internet and smartphones, and most people are underestimating the impact it is going to have on everything during the coming years. The shift is being caused by a combination of technology, social media, and the way people now absorb information, particularly the younger generations. It means that the top-down, centralized way we have been running the world for the last couple of centuries is no longer a viable model to follow.

Advances in technology, coupled with the end of the age of deference, have made it possible for us to create a real democracy where everyone truly has a chance at achieving the sort of lives they want to live. Within a few months of becoming president, Donald Trump was the most mocked figure in the world. People no longer automatically look to their leaders with respect. They no longer believe they can rely on those in power to look after their needs or take decisions on their behalf, as was shown by the British people voting for Brexit even though their leaders advised against it and by almost toppling an overconfident prime minister in the 2017 General Election. People all over the world are now truly close to “doin' it for themselves,” as the Aretha Franklin lyric goes.

It is a time of enormous opportunity, but it is also possible that we will miss those opportunities due to the greed and conservatism ...