Unblocked

Chapter 12. WHERE TO BEGIN

Standing in the middle of the road is very dangerous; you get knocked down by the traffic from both sides.

Margaret Thatcher

Now, Where to Begin?

You’ve seen how this new technology will bring far-reaching change, and also the great uncertainty of when. Few organizations are prepared to deal with this level of ambiguity. And many will, understandably, hesitate to go through the pain change requires. Jeremiah Owyang, a founding partner at research firm Kaleido Insights, created an innovation council to help large corporations innovate with new technologies. “In many cases, large companies are resting on their laurels, dependent on multimillion-dollar product lines,” explains Jeremiah. “They may be led by senior execs who will retire in 10 years. They are not given the right incentives to make radical changes. These companies have to feel some pain, or have something scare them, before they are ready to take action.” But by then, it may be too late. “When blockchain technology catches fire,” Jeremiah warns, “it will go faster than a company can catch up.”¹⁶⁸

Companies that want to thrive on the other side of blockchain disruption do not have a choice: they must learn how to learn, rapidly and effectively, to navigate through it.

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