Tech Savvy and Lessons From the Stone Age

About 2.5 million years ago, some clever early human wrapped in a rabbit skin fashioned the world's first stone tool - probably using another piece of stone. A technology that led the way for mass migration and eventually other technological innovations leading up to satellites leaving our solar system. But those innovations were way down the line. If you were one of those early stone tool making types, you were pretty much set for about 2.4 million years. It was all mammoth meat and hot cave gals for you baby. That is until some jerk smelted copper with tin, arsenic and other metals to make - dare I say it - BRONZE!

I can just hear the complains at the Stoneworkers Union hall. "what's this new technology!?" "Can't possibly replace stone! I mean it was good enough for my dad and his dad and so on, then stone is good enough for me". And I'm sure there was a couple of blokes in the back of the room whispering, "What's bronze?" These fellows were faced with wrapping their heads around this new technology or face the very real possibility of have same heads lopped off, shrunk, and worn around necks of the heads that adopted the new technology. Those that did adapt, were pretty much set for about 2,600 years. 

Fast forward to 600 B.C. and all hell breaks loose again. Some wanker develops iron, a metal that could slice right through your shiny bronze swords. Earlier adopters donning iron helmets and wielding iron swords were suddenly everywhere building roads, taxing the hell out of everyone and teaching the world just how vitally important it was to adopt new technologies. 

I could go on, but I think you get the point - unless you're still wrapped in a rabbit skin loin cloth. Technological advances went from time frames measured in the millions of years to several hundred and now less than a life span - much less! For the average middle aged worker today, the concept of I learned a skill like the microsoft suite and now I'm technologically savvy is a sure way to get the modern day version of an iron axe in the head. Technological advances happen every 12 - 18 months. In fact, a generation is now viewed as 6 years! 14 years olds think 20 years old siblings are technological dinosaurs. 

And this appears to be coming at us two tiers, the gross general trends - we're in the interconnectivity phase that includes social media and collaborative operating models and on a micro-scale, the tools that operate in this phase like Facebook and the google suite of online tools. 

To call yourself tech savvy, one has to be constantly aware of what's being developed on the gross and micro scale, test it, adopt it or try something else new - and there will be plenty of that. It should be part of everyone's routine to scan, test and adopt. Otherwise, you'll find yourself and your business being trampled under-foot by hoards of new technology wielding early adopters.