I’m pleased Don asked me to say a few words about the update to his landmark
book, Th e Digital Economy, if for no other reason than to place it in
context. Twenty years ago, I was at Sun Microsystems, a company that in its
time was pushing the boundaries of hardware, soft ware, and network architecture
in a similar way to what Google is doing today.
But even with the advances Sun and other tech companies were developing,
the Information Age was still in its infancy. It was a time of dial-up
modems and bulletin board systems, CDs and VHS, books sold in bookstores,
and phones hardwired to your home or, if you were lucky, your car. Th e world
wide web was just slowly beginning to emerge.
Who could have foreseen the next two decades? Who could have seen the
way open platforms like the Web would transform nearly every part of our
society and economy? Th at the power of networking would redefi ne collaboration
and leadership, expanding both humanity’s productivity and its potential?
Th at technology would suddenly begin to uproot major industries and
challenge the power of incumbents? Who could have possibly known all that?
Well, to a large degree, Don did.
Don remains one of the most perceptive thinkers about the way technology
is transforming business and society. Several of his predictions—from networked
intelligence to the demands on leaders to embrace technology—have
taken permanent hold, giving rise to what Jared Cohen and I describe in our
own book as a “New Digital Age.”