We are consumed by the idea that these times are wildly unpredictable to the point of danger, and talk a lot about the frenetic pace of the modern world.
Common wisdom dictates that large companies need to act small, we need to disrupt or die and that radical business transformation is essential to not only survival, but untold riches. It is no surprise then, that about $2 trillion has been spent globally on digital transformation and the pursuit of innovation.
This would be great news except we see virtually no evidence of any real transformation in our daily lives anywhere.
Indeed, change has followed perfectly clear linear trend lines going back 20 years. Think about it: we buy stuff from the internet, watch TV via the internet and work via meetings hosted on the internet. Who could have possibly seen this coming?
Have airlines transformed their business for the modern age or have they just made a nicer looking app? Have retailers rethought what they manufacture to cater to the new behaviours of e-commerce? Or have they just slowly shifted to letting you buy things online?
Hotels may let you use a phone to operate an elevator, but won’t let you reply directly to their marketing emails. One is more helpful.
The big question right now, after decades of calm, is why so few companies have actually unleashed new thinking. We are fond of talking about innovation and the power of new technology, yet companies are spending more on share buy-backs than ever before. The glut in the capital markets for so-called tech firms has shrouded how little profound change or imagination exists in today’s business models.
The American food delivery service DoorDash lost $149 million in the best nine months that will ever exist for a meal delivery app and is worth $50 billion. Airbnb is worth more than the five largest hotel chains in the world put together, despite never having two profitable quarters in a row. These two recent examples illustrate that money is desperate to find ideas to believe in and can’t.
Meanwhile, the pandemic has shown us that Dyson can make ventilators, Moderna can "design" a Covid-19 vaccine and China can build a vast hospital – all in a matter of days. Even British Airways found a fast way for its customers to contact-lessly order food in lounges, despite failing over 10 years to make a decent way to check in to flights.
The learning here is that it is easier for companies to make new things than it is to change, it is easier to do things on the edge not the core.
For me, three pervasive lies are to blame for our fundamental misunderstanding of the 21st century.
We’ve become obsessed that these times are faster changing than ever before, despite little evidence of this. Barbed wire changed the fortunes of America, the elevator allowed skyscrapers to thrust across the world, the car reimagined cities. We are accustomed to fast, radical change sweeping the world – yet in the last two decades we’ve seen remarkably little new happen.
We've become scared that these times are more complex than ever. That new companies and new technologies are combining together in ever more ways. That new combinations, permutations and insurgent mutations result. But it's just not that true. OK, 5G is a faster internet, and the Internet of Things, 3D printing and blockchain are complex in their construction but not necessarily in their meaning. Artificial intelligence is a marketing team for smarter computers, not a paradigm shift in how life works.
We have been convinced we live in more uncertain, more ambiguous, more volatile times. But there is little evidence for this.
We have a path in life that is rather easy to predict but the global pandemic of 2020 has not changed its direction, only its speed. We now face the almost inevitable world of 2025, a few years earlier.
I fear despite living and thriving in some of the most calm business and geopolitical times in history, companies have used the paranoia of change to react superficially. Businesses are generally oriented around climate not weather: the regular fundamentals of life, not the vicissitudes of storms or even freak rain, are what matter more to the bottom line.
We’ve been whipped up into a continual frenzy that’s ensured we’ve lost sight of what matters. We’ve used technology defensively, as a way to avoid the awkward questions from market analysts and large stakeholders – but not because we fell in love with what it made possible. Realistically, most chief executives don’t have the time or will or risk tolerance to really change things.
They need the appearance of change, they need plausible deniability and they spend billions on management consultants as insurance agents. Meanwhile, consultants make money from monthly retainers, and from delivering simple projects, over long periods of time. The incentives lie in always finding new problems to solve and never solving existing problems, merely keeping businesses in a perpetual state of behind-but-alive.
What we need now is both calmness and urgency. We need to love what technology can do, and embrace the incredible power it has to unleash incredible value for the world, for people and for the bottom line. We need to be imaginative and empathetic, future-focused and audacious.
This is not time to return to a new normal. It’s a pause to consider the future we wanted to build. The time to do that is now.
Tom Goodwin is founder of the consultancy All We Have Is Now and the author of Digital Darwinism
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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The specs
Engine: 3.5-litre twin-turbo V6
Power: 380hp at 5,800rpm
Torque: 530Nm at 1,300-4,500rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Price: From Dh299,000 ($81,415)
On sale: Now
ETFs explained
Exhchange traded funds are bought and sold like shares, but operate as index-tracking funds, passively following their chosen indices, such as the S&P 500, FTSE 100 and the FTSE All World, plus a vast range of smaller exchanges and commodities, such as gold, silver, copper sugar, coffee and oil.
ETFs have zero upfront fees and annual charges as low as 0.07 per cent a year, which means you get to keep more of your returns, as actively managed funds can charge as much as 1.5 per cent a year.
There are thousands to choose from, with the five biggest providers BlackRock’s iShares range, Vanguard, State Street Global Advisors SPDR ETFs, Deutsche Bank AWM X-trackers and Invesco PowerShares.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Volvo ES90 Specs
Engine: Electric single motor (96kW), twin motor (106kW) and twin motor performance (106kW)
Power: 333hp, 449hp, 680hp
Torque: 480Nm, 670Nm, 870Nm
On sale: Later in 2025 or early 2026, depending on region
Price: Exact regional pricing TBA
The Gentlemen
Director: Guy Ritchie
Stars: Colin Farrell, Hugh Grant
Three out of five stars
Tearful appearance
Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday.
Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow.
She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.
A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.
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SPEC%20SHEET%3A%20APPLE%20IPHONE%2014%20PRO%20MAX
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The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
CONFIRMED%20LINE-UP
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Results:
6.30pm: Maiden Dh 165,000 1,400m.
Winner: Walking Thunder, Connor Beasley (jockey), Ahmad bin Harmash (trainer).
7.05pm: Handicap (rated 72-87) Dh 165,000 1,600m.
Winner: Syncopation, George Buckell, Doug Watson.
7.40pm: Maiden Dh 165,000 1,400m.
Winner: Big Brown Bear, Pat Dobbs, Doug Watson.
8.15pm: Handicap (75-95) Dh 190,000 1,200m.
Winner: Stunned, Pat Dobbs, Doug Watson.
8.50pm: Handicap (85-105) Dh 210,000 2,000m.
Winner: New Trails, Connor Beasley, Ahmad bin Harmash.
9.25pm: Handicap (75-95) Dh 190,000 1,600m.
Winner: Pillar Of Society, Pat Dobbs, Doug Watson.
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
BMW M5 specs
Engine: 4.4-litre twin-turbo V-8 petrol enging with additional electric motor
Power: 727hp
Torque: 1,000Nm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 10.6L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh650,000
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Health Valley
Founded in 2002 and set up as a foundation in 2006, Health Valley has been an innovation in healthcare for more than 10 years in Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
It serves as a place where companies, businesses, universities, healthcare providers and government agencies can collaborate, offering a platform where they can connect and work together on healthcare innovation.
Its partners work on technological innovation, new forms of diagnostics and other methods to make a difference in healthcare.
Its agency consists of eight people, four innovation managers and office managers, two communication advisers and one director. It gives innovation support to businesses and other parties in its network like a broker, connecting people with the right organisation to help them further
UAE v Gibraltar
What: International friendly
When: 7pm kick off
Where: Rugby Park, Dubai Sports City
Admission: Free
Online: The match will be broadcast live on Dubai Exiles’ Facebook page
UAE squad: Lucas Waddington (Dubai Exiles), Gio Fourie (Exiles), Craig Nutt (Abu Dhabi Harlequins), Phil Brady (Harlequins), Daniel Perry (Dubai Hurricanes), Esekaia Dranibota (Harlequins), Matt Mills (Exiles), Jaen Botes (Exiles), Kristian Stinson (Exiles), Murray Reason (Abu Dhabi Saracens), Dave Knight (Hurricanes), Ross Samson (Jebel Ali Dragons), DuRandt Gerber (Exiles), Saki Naisau (Dragons), Andrew Powell (Hurricanes), Emosi Vacanau (Harlequins), Niko Volavola (Dragons), Matt Richards (Dragons), Luke Stevenson (Harlequins), Josh Ives (Dubai Sports City Eagles), Sean Stevens (Saracens), Thinus Steyn (Exiles)
THE BIO
Favourite holiday destination: Whenever I have any free time I always go back to see my family in Caltra, Galway, it’s the only place I can properly relax.
Favourite film: The Way, starring Martin Sheen. It’s about the Camino de Santiago walk from France to Spain.
Personal motto: If something’s meant for you it won’t pass you by.
How much do leading UAE’s UK curriculum schools charge for Year 6?
- Nord Anglia International School (Dubai) – Dh85,032
- Kings School Al Barsha (Dubai) – Dh71,905
- Brighton College Abu Dhabi - Dh68,560
- Jumeirah English Speaking School (Dubai) – Dh59,728
- Gems Wellington International School – Dubai Branch – Dh58,488
- The British School Al Khubairat (Abu Dhabi) - Dh54,170
- Dubai English Speaking School – Dh51,269
*Annual tuition fees covering the 2024/2025 academic year
ESSENTIALS
The flights
Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh via Yangon from Dh2,700 return including taxes. Cambodia Bayon Airlines and Cambodia Angkor Air offer return flights from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap from Dh250 return including taxes. The flight takes about 45 minutes.
The hotels
Rooms at the Raffles Le Royal in Phnom Penh cost from $225 (Dh826) per night including taxes. Rooms at the Grand Hotel d'Angkor cost from $261 (Dh960) per night including taxes.
The tours
A cyclo architecture tour of Phnom Penh costs from $20 (Dh75) per person for about three hours, with Khmer Architecture Tours. Tailor-made tours of all of Cambodia, or sites like Angkor alone, can be arranged by About Asia Travel. Emirates Holidays also offers packages.
