Borrowing a character from Washington Irving, America's first great author, if a modern-day Rip Van Winkle fell asleep in 1976, 35 years ago, when Directors & Boards was founded, and awoke today, what would surprise, perhaps even astound, him?
In terms of our military strength, Rip may be surprised to learn that the Soviet Union collapsed without bloodshed and that the United States is the sole remaining superpower. But given our experience in Vietnam, Rip would be baffled as to why we have allowed ourselves to get bogged down in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
In terms of our economic muscle, when Rip fell asleep 35 years ago, the U.S. economy comprised 30% of the world's GNP. Today, we constitute 16%, and China is rapidly closing in.
Concerned about the decrease in our share of the world's economy, Rip would be dismayed by the inequitable distribution of our wealth. The top 1% of our nation now earns a fifth of our aggregate income, more than double the level of the late 1970s.
What might really astound Rip is our new technology, particularly communication and information technologies. He would be thunderstruck by the IPad, amazed that much of the world's information is instantaneously accessible in this handheld gadget.
Impressed, Rip would go on to ask about colonies on the moon, cures for cancer, and renewable fuels for 100-mpg cars. He'd be disappointed to find out that we've made little progress here, and in some cases have stopped trying.
Rip would be disappointed to learn that the last moonwalk was in 1972. He might be puzzled why it still takes eight hours to fly to Paris. Or why artificial organs are not commonplace. Or why we still pollute our environment by relying so heavily on fossil fuels. Or why there are not more women on boards? The America he had left in 1976 seemed primed for major changes, with transformative advancements in energy, travel, medicine, and women's equality seemingly just around the corner.
Why have there been so few transformational breakthroughs? Are we no longer risk-takers? Has our talent pool shrunk? Does government regulation, for example environmental restrictions, stifle the incentive to innovate? Have we gotten soft?
To win in the increasingly competitive global arena, Americans must continue to embrace change. We need to reinvigorate our traditional formula for success, namely, quality education, rational immigration policy inclusion for all, appropriate incentives for risk-taking, and government-supported scientific research. We must continue to be willing to test new ideas, try new things, go new places. We need to remain a country of entrepreneurs, innovators, risk takers. By constantly changing, we can maintain our exceptionalism. If we fail in this challenge, the next time Rip Van Winkle falls asleep, he may awake to an America that has fallen behind.