For some time, Carlota Perez has been one of the most important voices in the discussions about the impact of technological change and the future of our digital world. This recent short article is perhaps the most insightful and meaningful analysis I have read on the current challenges in digital transformation. Highly recommended reading.
In particular, a couple of things in this article struck me.
She describes the delays in moving forward into the digital age and makes several important comments. One that made me smile was her view that leaders holding on to their positions for too long is holding back the new thinking that needs to emerge:
…the longer lives that have allowed traditional leaders in politics and business to remain in place until their 70s and even 80s.
But the most surprising for me is her comment that:
…the most acute impediment to a golden age deployment is the continued decoupling of finance from production.
Her view is that:
The appreciation of assets with less and less connection with what happens in the real economy results in a sort of ‘differential inflation’ where asset owners become richer and salary earners poorer, in both real and relative terms.