THE POST-CORONA-SOCIETY, Part 2D: The Decade of Leadership Turning Upside-Down & Markets Inside-Out

In the digital summary of the past decade, we have previously seen how the social balance of power has changed completely and how new social goals have been formed. As the foremost tool for all this, we have seen how technology has finally taken over. In this section, we take a look at what consequences this in turn had for leadership and global markets.

1) Today, no one is too small to make a difference

For the sake of revolution, this was the decade when we not only got new entities as citizens and companies with completely new and at least complementary goals in the world, together with a technology that has totally taken over as the most important means of making a difference regardless of which goal.

In addition to this, this was also the decade when the hierarchy of the world turned totally upside down.

Because it wasn’t long ago that people reacted to how weird it was when there were no longer well-educated and experienced journalists who were the most read. Instead it was now “influencers” — with neither media education, any real celeb “achievement” in the back, or even any solid experience to lean on — who all of a sudden through social media on the mobile got the attention of millions of followers with more reading than any well-established journalist had ever received.

During the last decade we have reached the next step with an even more exciting world. First when Pewdiepie, the 23-year-old swede, became the most followed YouTuber in history. And then when we suddenly get 21-year-old Kylie, one of the world’s largest influencers with over 150 million followers, in the dusk of the decade became the world’s youngest self-made billionaire.

But it only gets better. Because then comes Ryan, an 8 year old who in a few years has become the world’s best paid on Youtube. Where the most viewed clips have 2 billion (!) Views, and he has become the world’s most successful Youtube star with a channel earning $ 26 million.

And in the middle of it all, we find, like on of the biggest and most responsible persons on earth, in the form of another swede, this time a 16-year-old. For the influencer most sought after by all of them in the transition to the new decade is Greta, and even if you go up in age, during the past year she has been as sought for more than Beyoncé, and on two occasions more than even the world’s biggest influencer, Christian Ronaldo, and among total of all the artists, ministers and football stars in the world, she is today the 7th most searched on the entire planet.

That’s not a little for a 16-year-old girl who some years ago had a diagnosis where she didn’t even talk to anyone.

And all this shows not just how new goals are popping up on the earth, and what power the new technology has for citizens and companies understanding it fully, but it also shows that “No one is too small to make a difference”.

This is no longer something that is a fun thought in theory, but now it works in practice. A child can actually reach not only tens and hundreds of millions of people, but even engage them — whether it is to get them to buy makeup, toys and games, or get inspired to go out on the street and question the way we are treating our climate, or how responsible their parents’ are with their choice of jobs, cars and air travel.

In any case, it is like that in the Western world…

2) Today, no part of the world is too insignificant to make a difference

And it is not only on the individual level that hierarchies and power balances are turned upside down, but also on the national level the power has been totally turned in and out.

Because when politicians in the “free world” lose their control, well then the goal is open to others to take the lead. And guess if that’s happened or if it’s happened :-O

And although I am not religious and mostly read all the works of the great religions for the sake of my own understanding and the rich knowledge they often impart, there is an expression from Brother Willibald in the #1 viking mythology (“The Long Ships”) that geopolitically fits terribly well to describe this decade “Let the wolf tear wolf, then the lamb of God gets relief ”.

For in the midst of all this, with politicians losing their footing while citizens and companies taking over, we have an Asia that takes command as never before — to the extent that it no longer resembles evolution, but pure and simple revolution. They buy Africa and with force are getting into the Middle East, and are themselves developing with lightning speed.

And as soon as I am visiting home and greet in the old world, how many do you even think are aware that Asia not only far exceeds the majority of the world’s population, but now also has 46% of GDP — while Europe and the US today have a mere 20% and 18% respectively (not to mention the 7%, 5% and 4% respectively of South America, Africa and the Middle East). And it is not stopping there, as the continent day by day is getting even stronger by including the world’s fastest growing countries compared to a Europe and North America who, despite intense doping, not even generate half the growth rate.

And to top it off, it is all now in the process of creating the world’s strongest economic region, RCEP, which people on the street in the western world do not even know about. A region so vast that even without India it would mean a common market with 1/3 of the world’s economic strength, and with India on board 40% of the world’s economy.

So sure, it’s “awful”, where, through the increasingly poor steering speed of Western politics, the world is heading into such a lightning fast toward “the Asian Century” — with phrases like “the yellow danger” are being dusted off — and such “smart” politicians as Trump are tweeting “China is our enemy — they want to destroy us ”.

And, yes, at one level, this “danger” is true. With 1 billion Asians going forward to educate, double their wages and start living in houses built by construction companies and consuming food and products produced from afar — instead of locally produced food and houses as well as short and few transports — mother earth does not stand any chance at all :-/

When today’s 1.6 GHA biocapacity has already been exceeded to 1.9 GHA in Asia, what happens when over a billion Asians will start transporting and consuming at a completely different level than before? We have already seen the result — if nothing drastic happens, mother earth, and thus all of us, will simply not survive.

But then we have the other perspective. And then I mean not only the simple fact that the western ecological footprints of the Western world cut above 4.8 GHA, but when we not only take in consideration “saving the planet” but also “saving the people”.

In China 35 years ago 64% of the population lived on $ 1 a day. Today the same figure is 10%.

Can anyone please tell me in what way all these poor children and their parents would not be worthy of going from poverty to prosperity, why they would not have the right to stop suffering and start living?

Because there somewhere, all discussions ends what is good for the human being v/s what is good for the planet is totally loosing it. There has to be another way. And there will be another way.

Rufus Lidman, Fil. Lic.

Rufus Lidman is one of the worlds’ top 100 tech influencers with 50.000 followers for input with emerging technology within emerging markets. As such he draws his insights from a broad tech experience as a serial entrepreneur with 6 ventures and 2–3 ok exits, background within PhD-studies within change processes, 5 books on the subject of digital strategy, and honoured to be member of the exclusive group of 0,1% companies that has developed apps with more than 10 million downloads. His latest venture is called AIAR, based in Singapore, reinventing learning for emerging markets in general and emerging Asia in particular.