Companies that master those advanced information-technology processes will enjoy a significant competitive advantage. Tom Peters predicts that in the next 10 to 15 years, 90% of white-collar jobs will be reinvented or disappear. He may be understating the facts.
Profits matter. Value creation, simply stated, is selling something at a price greater than the cost of producing it. Thousands of dotcom companies did not do that, they aggregated eyeballs, they sold themselves as "first movers." They touted their "business models." None of that matters. Profits or a clear path to profitability is required.
A sense of possibility matters. Before the wave broke, a huge sense of possibility surrounded the Internet-enabled new economy. That sense of possibility has given way to an uneasy (and unattractive) feeling of victimization: We've all been had. But the truth is, we haven't been had. We're just beginning to glimpse what we have. And it makes feasible a world of possibility. That's where value creation lives. That's the trajectory to the future. And getting to the future is what it's all about.
John Ellis (jellis@fastcompany.com) is a writer and consultant based in New York.
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