Tempo.
Everything in life has some sort of tempo to it.
The change of the seasons, the cycles of our lives, the routines we follow often without thought, and the planning/execution cycles in our public, private and business lives.
What has changed dramatically over the last decade or so is the tempo of change. Our commercial, social, and political environments have had a huge dose of steroids injected, radically disturbing the placid status quo that has prevailed. The status quo is now fighting for its life, using any means at its disposal.
Some of this tempo acceleration has been driven by the now obvious impacts of climate change.
2023 was the hottest year on record, climate scientists are now muttering that their worst-case scenarios of a decade ago now look conservative. We are fighting fires and floods simultaneously on multiple fronts.
We are also fighting wars on multiple fronts, all of which have the potential to spread like a viral pandemic.
Much of the balance of the tempo acceleration has been driven by the digital revolution of the last 15 years. The release of ChatGPT into the wild in November 2022 makes what has gone before looking modest.
Look around, those businesses that have done well over the last few years are those that were able to pivot quickly, evolve their business models, and take advantage of the opportunities opened up by the suddenly changed circumstances. Those that fell on hard times were those that for one reason or another, often reasons outside their control, were unable to make those changes.
Once change gets rolling, it builds up momentum, and the tempo of change becomes a real thing. It drives activity, pushing aside many of the objections raised in less heated circumstances. The outcome is that you end up dealing with trade-offs and probabilities in entirely different ways, the impact on individuals and their own agendas seems to be diminished, caught up in the tempo of change.
Tempo, the word of 2024
Header credit: Dave Grohl working up a sweat belting out the tempo for Nirvana
