24 Hours

I’m going to take 24 hours — to think, to process, to mourn. There are important insights and messages that need to be heard and discussed.

This is a failure to acknowledge the growing income inequality gap that is happening across the country. I’ve been in the “fly-over states”. I’ve spent time in Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Michigan and Ohio. The lack of opportunity and upward economic mobility is real. People are living paycheck to paycheck. All kinds of people.

This is a failure to address the relentless impact and reality that “software is eating the world”. For all the upside of technology, there is a dark downside as well. This is the hollowing out of the industries that support our current economy. Automotive, CPG, Manufacturing, Retail & Transportation — these are all being impacted. This is as monumental a shift as when we left the agricultural economy to transition to the industrial economy. Structural unemployment is real. Many jobs will not be coming back. And we have not even begun to see the impact of AI, autonomous driving, Internet of Things and many, many more technologies that will continue to transform the economy. We need to both help and prepare people for the future.

This is a failure to bring in new talent, to inspire with innovation and a rejection of establishment. People need to be inspired. People need to believe. People need purpose. People want to be for something, not just against something. This calls into question the value of tried and true “years of experience” and “the path” and “the way things have been done”. Living in Silicon Valley, the drumbeat is always anti-establishment- using innovation to take on the incumbents and revolutionize industries. Why would this not be applied to our politics and our country?

This is a failure of understanding how to use data to predict real outcomes. Whether it was using antiquated methods like polling, focus groups, etc., we need to bring a true data-driven approach to better understand the real issues of our country.

This is a failure of media not being used responsibly. We long ago become a country obsessed by celebrity. Celebrity is both religion and a drug across America. Celebrity uses media and media uses celebrity. Whether it’s TV, radio, print or social — media can be weaponized. By focusing on short-term ratings wins, click-bait or monthly users, journalism has been compromised. One of the most insightful quotes I heard was that the media takes him “literally, but not seriously” while his supporters take him “seriously, but not literally”. The experts were wrong. Data does not lie. The fact that most of the media still doesn’t understand how to harness the power of data leads to the dangerous echo-chamber of talking to ourselves and not realizing important messages and different voices.

Make no mistake, this will be a hard road ahead.

But now is NOT the time to hide.

Now is not the time to “move to Canada”.

Now is not the time to lose faith.

Now is the time to lead.

After 24 hours, I will pick myself back up and get ready to fight for what I believe in.

Leadership requires us all to rise up and be “on the court” and get out “of the bleachers”.

Now is the time to act.

Be in the game.

Be the change.

Be inspired.

SWP