2010 - I Predict as "The Year of Innovation"

As the overall economy starts to recover, there are signs of improvement everywhere. Admittedly we have a long way to go but recent stories about various innovations are proving that the year 2010 will be definitely a great year.

Why do I think this? Well there are the big items of course such as the new Google Nexus One, the rumors of the Apple tablet, and many other wonderful things being unveiled at CES. These innovations are fundamentally changing the markets, the consumer experience, and the professional lives of the men and women working in these areas. They are achieving this in spite of being in one of the worse economic times in history. Where many larger brand names have been solely focusing on the typical management cost controls (i.e. layoffs, etc.) more forward thinking companies like Google and Apple have been creating new value propositions that are poised to take off. This sort of activity fundamentally differentiates the leaders and innovators, from the status quo.

However it is not only the larger names making impacts. Smaller and younger companies are also making names for themselves in areas that were not conceived of more than a few short years ago. Some examples are AteBits, Inc., Card.ly, Seesmic, and CitySourced to name a few. All of these companies emerged during difficult economic times, using extraordinary vision and innovation, making simple and powerful services, and on budgets that in many cases amounted to far less than the office supply allowances for many large companies.

The economic downturn has convinced many that their personal and professional lives are truly in their own hands and as such they have started to create value on their own. However lead by a new way of creating value for their products via mechanisms like Amazon Web Services, Apple's App Store, Android App Store and Twitter's Open APIs, many new companies and brands are emerging by leveraging the offerings created by these companies to create their own unique value. The men and women taking this approach are intelligent, driven, insightful and highly skilled learning what they need as they go which makes them excellent professionals not only for what they do now but what they are doing in the future.

It is through the circumstance of a bad economy that has fueled this engine of innovation and professional growth. Given the amount of time it will take the economy to recover and the amount of people taking this course, this is creating a whole new workforce and opportunity that will fundamentally change how businesses operate in the future. Let's take the telecom/handset/mobile space. Why would talent want to work for the traditional status quo providers when all the opportunity, excitement and innovation is occurring in the new areas created by Apple and Google? The cost of entry is low, the rewards very high, and far more satisfying than working with any larger company. In many cases the same cost cutting and "hunker down" attitudes have come at immeasurable cost of talent acquisition. Most talented individuals no longer see working at the existing companies as being in their best interests. This will take

It will be interesting to see how the existing companies see these changes and how long they wait to adjust to them. After all, they are being outmaneuvered right now at a time that challenges the core of who they are. And in my opinion many existing companies are either dying by inches or barely holding on whereas their more innovative counterparts are thriving and growing. 2010 will indeed be an interesting year!