Welcome to the March issue of The Exponential Executive.

In this Issue

	The Future Has a Sense of Humor
	Guess What Corporate America is Reading
	Do We Need to Unlearn Our Educational System?
	Twitter is Exponential
	On Darwin & Lincoln: The Next Great Debate?

In Other News

This week I will be traveling to Denver to give the keynote presentation at the Rocky Mountain Corporate Growth Conference. I will be addressing how technological advances will transform everything from energy to education. If you're looking for some insights into these fields or the clothing, health care, paper or pharmaceutical industries, just click on the associated link.

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The Future Has a Sense of Humor

These days your 401(K) probably feels so small that it seems more like a 201(K) or, as in my case, perhaps just a lower-case "k." Moreover, everything we want to be going up -- such as our home values and our kid's "529" college-savings accounts -- are going down; and everything that is going up -- like housing foreclosures rates and the latest unemployment figures -- we want to be going down. In this environment it is easy to be pessimistic about the future. Don't be. All you need is some perspective and a sense of humor.

To understand why I'm so optimistic and upbeat about the future, I'd encourage you to watch this presentation I recently gave to the Atlanta Regional Commission on the transformative power of technology. If you don't have time for that, Stephen Colbert reminds us that we can always party like it's 1997 but, be forewarned, it'll leave everyone feeling a little slow and yearning for 2009 -- as bleak as it may be. If you're still down, the latest iPhone app -- a downloadable Zippo lighter -- can help you relive the more carefree days of your youth. Or, if none of these things work, just enlarge the picture above by clicking here. The future won't be bad, it may just be plain boring.

Guess What Corporate America is Reading

What good is a newsletter if you can’t engage in a little shameless self-promotion from time-to-time, right? I recently came across this article in the Sacramento Bee alerting me to the fact that my book, Jump the Curve, is now #22 on the “What Corporate America is Reading” list.

Do We Need to Unlearn Our Educational System?

I highly recommend this thought-provoking interview with Alvin Toffler on the future of education entitled "Future School: Reshaping Learning from the Ground Up." It makes a powerful argument for why society must change the current educational system. In a nutshell, Toffler argues that we are stealing our kids future. I particularly like his use of the word: obsoledge -- or obsolete knowledge. Here's the operative paragraph and it is very appropriate for the Exponential Executive who is striving to lead in an era of accelerating change:

"So, that's another thing: Much of what we're transmitting is doomed to obsolescence at a far more rapid rate than ever before. And that knowledge becomes what we call obsoledge: obsolete knowledge. We have this enormous bank of obsolete knowledge in our heads, in our books, and in our culture. When change was slower, obsoledge didn't pile up as quickly. Now, because everything is in rapid change, the amount of obsolete knowledge that we have -- and that we teach -- is greater and greater and greater. We're drowning in obsolete information. We make big decisions -- personal decisions -- based on it, and public and political decisions based on it."

Twitter is Exponential

As you can see from the chart to the right, Twitter—like Google, Wikipedia and, most recently, FaceBook—is experiencing exponential growth. I have recently become enamored of Twitter and it is why I’m sponsoring this contest. (I also invite you to follow me at twitter.com/jumpthecurve. You may just win a new Amazon Kindle 2)

After reading this piece in Techcrunch the other day I have, however, begun wondering more about what direction the platform and the technology will head. It is easy to dismiss the Twitter as trivial. Don't. It is already averting crime, enhancing brands, and being viewed as a platform to revitalize local news.

On Darwin & Lincoln: The Next Great Debate?

In one of those wonderful historical anomalies, February 12, 2009 was the 200th anniversary of the birth of both Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin.

Lincoln is recognized as one of the greatest American presidents for helping end slavery. Darwin, of course, is the father of evolutionary biology.

It might appear these two historical giants have little else in common except the same birthday, but Darwin’s theory of evolution will soon call forth a new political debate which could, if not peacefully resolved, rip this country apart as surely as slavery did. (Read the rest of the article here.)