The Knowledge Economy

Recently, I was honored to attend the graduation ceremony of Alex Behr (B.S. Biology)  at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, one of America’s great citadels of higher learning. I have known the Behr family since way back in the mid-seventies and have attended the graduations of all 3 Behr children so to see young Alex stride to the podium to receive his diploma was a particularly poignant event for me. It was a joyous celebratory weekend in general but before I make my point I have to say one thing: if you are ever in Troy, New York make sure to stop at The Cookie Factory (www.cookiefactoryllc.com) on Congress Street. That’s where you’ll get an education in the fine art of eating fantastic baked goods from the Alberino family and a helpful, friendly staff. It was so good I totally over indulged! OK, that’s it for the plug.

As to the graduation itself, it was a beautiful day and the event was long and drawn out, as these things tend to be. RPI produces some of America’s brilliant scientists, engineers and mathematicians and many successful and innovative business people have come through the ranks, not the least of which were two of the the four who received honorary degrees that day: Kenneth Chenault (CEO of American Express), Dr. Robert Richardson (Nobel Prize in Physics), Samuel Josefowitz (class of ‘42) entrepreneur, noted art collector and philandthropist) and the keynote speaker, Peter Schwartz (class of ‘68) . Schwartz was notably long winded and redundant. The audience groaned audibly when, believing him to be at the end of his speech, he began to recite 20 predictions about the future. He could have limited it to two or three and we all would have appreciated the brevity as much as the insight.

However, that didn’t mean that Schwartz’s talk was without value. Schwartz is internationally known as a ‘futurist,’ strategist and author of books with titles such as “When Good Companies Do Bad Things” and “The Art of the Long View” which is about scenario planning. My impression is that Mr. Schwartz is one of those guys who is very impressed with his small contribution to the mess being made of the world. But when he speaks about future trends it probably pays to listen. If you don’t you might get run over by the bus he’s driving. As Schwartz went on and on and on I perked up at one point when he started to talk less about himself and more about the present and future of our global economy. I scribbled one remark down in my commencement booklet: “We live in a knowledge economy.” That phrase has stuck in my head ever since.

It seems to me that we have passed through the age of technology and the age of information right into the age of economic data. People are more obsessed with the hourly ups and downs of the stock market than they are with their jobs, their family or their driving skills. Many of these people don’t even have money in the market. They just want to know what the market is doing right now. And because most people don’t understand the first thing about economics, including apparently, most of the economists in the government, they just want to have a little info about something they can grasp-so they check the market reports. Ever notice how the evening news gives you the Dow Jones updates every evening? Up down – up down! The market reports are so minimal that it really matters not at all to anyone who is actually IN the market. People need to have small, simple packets of information – like quanta of information (see how scientific I have gotten?) – so they won’t feel stupid or left out of conversations at parties or around the office cooler. That little itty bit of info, however, can be a powerful tool or even a commodity if used correctly. Hence I observe we are in the Age of the Knowledge Economy where a little knowledge can pay big dividends.

This may not have been at all what Schwartz was talking about but I can’t recall because I was falling asleep or going to the bathroom through most of his speech. In fact I think I went to the bathroom twice while he spoke and each time was amazed to find upon my return that he was still speaking! But I digress…

Since communication today has been reduced to sound bites and cryptograms it seems that no one really has to know much of anything – they just need to be able to report on it or write about it. If you can Tweet on Twitter successfully than you can not only make a good living but you can be anointed an expert in just about anything. According to the NY Times, companies like Southwest Airlines and Jet Blue are hiring people just to Tweet and have created strategies to influence consumer choices and impressions based on new technology like Twitter and Facebook. This is scary stuff if you are a trained professional writer. Some kid from Laguna beach is taking your job away because she can type 140 words with her thumbs.

I believe that the concept of the ad agency is dead. It will take a while for them to totally die off but eventually that building on Madison Avenue that houses Y&R will be condos.  Those dinosaurs just cannot dance fast enough for life in the Age of the Knowledge Economy. And those wacky Internet marketers, the ones that send you all that crap that winds up in your spam box, they will eventually die off as well as we get better and better at filtering out the garbage. Since everyone will be sending out their own garbage there won’t be time for reading anyone elses.

But there is hope and it comes in the presence of young people like Alex Behr. Here’s a good, honest, smart and decent future scientist. When I asked him what he was going to do now that he had his “Get Out of Jail” card he caught me totally off guard when he told me he was taking a year off and walking the Appalacian Trail. Just him and some other kid with backpacks and sensible shoes. I am really proud of him. Someday he’s going to be working in a lab somewhere finding a cure for cancer or the common cold but for now he’s putting his youth to good work and getting an experience that will be with him the rest of his life – and I believe for the better. Let’s all wish him and his traveling buddy a safe and purposeful journey. Come back, share your knowledge with us and take on the world. The world in the Age of the Knowledge Economy!