With a market cap of more than 940 billion dollars, Apple is currently the most valuable company in the world, but Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Facebook are closing in quickly in the race to become the first company worth over a trillion dollars – that’s trillion with a “t”. In fact, these five platform companies have a combined value that is roughly 20% of the entire S&P 500. Think about that. Now think about the fact that, had cancer not taken Steve Jobs a few years ago at the relatively young age of 56, the founders of all five of these companies would all be alive and still in the prime of their careers. Clearly the world is changing at break neck speed, and America needs to get smart quickly or we will most definitely lose our place at the top of the heap. As for our workforce, if you’re expecting manufacturing jobs to return to the rust belt anytime soon, you’re delusional. If your job can be outsourced or done by a robot, it will be – and there isn’t anything any politician can do about it. They say the jobs of the future will be in healthcare, software, biomedical engineering, robotics, clean energy and sustainability. They are probably right, but I would also add that creative skills, entrepreneurs and people with great leadership and interpersonal skills will always be in demand. The future doesn’t scare me. I have always believed that with change comes great opportunity, but things are moving quickly and the last thing we can afford to do is try to turn back the clock.
Over the next 24 months, the real estate and mortgage industries will be challenged like no time in recent history. Companies that have healthy capital reserves and their fixed expenses under control will expand their footprints, and increase market share…Conversely, companies with high fixed expenses, and singular revenue channels will suffer.
Over the last few weeks, I have had the opportunity to speak at the T3 Conference in Florida…I surprised the audience when I explained how the issue of diversity has been framed incorrectly, and has for the most part alienated the business community.
When we invited Gary Vaynerchuk to NAHREP at L’ATTITUDE in 2021, I was mostly relying on input from others. Several members loved his content, but the little I saw online left me underwhelmed. However, I thoroughly enjoyed his presentation at our event, particularly his comments about toxic employees, which he says to dump with impunity.