A new decade beginning and there are lot of changes and new paradigms.  It doesn’t really matter if we are ready or not, this year a considerable number of factors have incited in the re-thinking of our companies and our roles as leaders.

There have been considerable changes, nationwide the election of President Obama and statewide the election of new mayors in San Antonio and Houston.  Those changes, and many others, have cut into the traditional paradigms and are establishing the beginning of a new era.  An African American President, a young (35 years old) mayor and a new gay mayor in Houston.  America is changing and there are more changes to come.  We are not choosing leaders by the ethnicity, age, or sex orientation. An important question is if your business is serving this thickening and diverse melting pot that America is and if it is ready to accept the generational, ethnic and sexual challenges.

Interdependency is here and it has become more evident to the American entrepreneurs. 

What is coming?  We should be wise and observe the indicators and tried to get not just in track, but in front of the flow.

The motto for the World Economic Forum this year (January 27 to 31, 2010) is “Improving the state of the world: Re-think, Re-design, Re-build”.  We have experienced changes in many industries: auto, banking, energy…   But there are many more on the way.

Green Business? Yes!  But Bill Gate, during the CNBC Town Hall Special at the Columbia University mentioned that in his opinion is better to wait before investing on green business.  Be wise.  He reminds us there were a lot of new companies and a lot of opportunities during the IT Boom.  But not all those companies were Microsoft or Dell.  A lot of those companies just disappeared.   The valuable message is to be smart.  To observe before taking actions and think about what may be the next big bubble and how you and your business can take advantage of it and still survive.

During the last decade the Bubble was the Mortgage Industry.  Now, what is next?

Jeffrey Sack from Earth Institute made an interesting analysis in Government investment during the crisis of the ’30 and you may see a parallelism with the contemporaneous scenario.  But we have to keep in mind that it is a completely new world, with new actors, with much bigger interconnections. 

We have to be ready.  We have to create opportunities.   If they do not exist we need to make them.  Is a matter of interpretation, of thinking out of the traditional comfort zone.   The concept of the Government Role is being re-defined. 

We need a vision of the future for ourselves, for our business, for our state of Texas.    

We have to act in a more active way in our roles as citizens and be part of the solution.  And take into consideration that our actions will affect not only our immediate circumstances, but also the circumstance of others far away from our borders.  It is the global community we all form part of it.  

Why don’t you share with us your opinion?

We invite all of you to get a discussion going.  Please submit your comments at the end of this article, Thanks.