In the early 1970s, when I was first really getting into jazz, I heard one of those glib statements that stuck with me. "The history of the jazz trumpet can be written in four words: Louis Armstrong Miles Davis" Now

It was twenty years ago last week that the Berlin wall ceased to be a barrier. The wall of Berlin came down, starting several years of collapse and turmoil in what used to be called Eastern Europe. This was one

In the past three months I had delivered around 35 speeches and presentations. During about 25 of them I have asked the audience the question that is the title of this column (why I will explain later)..Whether it is a

To many, the absolute collapse of the magazine industry in 2009 may seem stunning. What is stunning to me is that the industry didn't see it coming and take steps to avert this collapse. Once again, another industry can only

The chances further down the road seem to me better on the fuel-cell side than on the battery-electric side"There are a number of readers of this blog and members of the audiences when I speak that just seem to think

are the first true Shift Age Olympics. While the Beijing Olympics were the first of this new age, the Rio Olympics were the first selected in the Shift Age. The Rio Olympics point to the fact that we are not

The recent election in Japan is extremely significant. It indicates that the country is beginning to catch up to the rest of the world. In my book "The Shift Age" and my speech with the same title I speak about

As a futurist I write and speak about long term trends. As an advisor and speaker to CEOs, I am looked to for more short term trends and forecasts. Last September, when the growing recession went into a global financial

Many of you have been long time readers of this blog, some perhaps since the beginning back in early 2006. A number of you have signed up for my , targeted to CEOs. Some of you have purchased and read

In the last two columns I looked back at the history and development of the American School. I also wrote about some recent developments that both transformed a school and became the genesis of what is now an on-going process

In the I looked back at the history of K-12 education in the U.S. This was to provide background and context for this and future columns. I also mentioned in that last column that I was fortunate to participate in

We are ten years into the 21st century. We are entering the Shift Age. We all have experienced rapid and almost unbelievable change in our lifetimes. We sense even more change in the years ahead. Everywhere we look, we see

Last weekend I had breakfast with a woman with whom I graduated high school. Since we had not seen each other since a reunion several years ago there was much to catch up on. The most interesting thing was the

Note: This is a column reprinted from the current "Shift Age Newsletter" as it is very timely and has already received a lot of positive comment. If you are not yet a subscriber of the newsletter, please go and click

In the last column we looked at the general dynamics underlying the reality and need to create an automotive industry in the U.S for the 21st century. We now take a look at what this industry might look like. An

The US automotive industry is about to go through a historic transformation. It is very possible that by the year 2020 we will have largely weaned ourselves off of the pure internal combustion engine. The key is to make the

Regular readers of this column know that I have been a clear and forceful advocate of alternative ways to power transportation. The internal combustion engine was invented more than a century ago. We are now entering the decade that will

It was 20 years ago this week that the demonstrations in Tiananmen Square turned violent. After days of open demonstrations, the Chinese government had had enough and sent in the army. This led to one of the most iconic visual

Last week the House Energy and Commerce Committee approved the most ambitious energy and global warming legislation ever debated in Congress. That is very good news and a good first step. Of course, since Congress has never been anything close