On your right and on your left, you notice massive power shifts, not only in economic terms, but how countries alternate at the top and how we live our lives. There's a power shift from shareholders to consumers. From multinationals to start-ups; whichever direction you look, there is a shift.
It is not a shocking fact that power is moving away from the West to the East, particularly referring to China overtaking United States of America economically, Russia still remains competent militarily; South Korea is fighting for their top spot in innovation alongside Silicon Valley.
By 2015, Asia Pacific will have a larger middle class than Europe and North America combined. Look at the purchasing power of the 'E7' emerging economies -- Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Russia and Turkey -- will overtake that of the G7 by 2030, as predicted by PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Power by the people, for the people, from the government -- Recent events in Burkina Faso where their President Blaise Compaoré was forced out of office before his tenure had expired, validates this.
Personal computers are not much of a hit compared to mobile phones, particularly smartphones which are dominating the device market; work, play, education and life, all happens on a small device which fit in our pockets. Smartphones where initially suitable for a business person, with the ability to receive e-mails; which today is a mere thing among thousands of apps that help us run our lives.
The youth are taking over from their elders. Young people impact markets and politics both directly and indirectly, since they amount to more than 50 percent of the population of many countries. They lead consumer behavior and they determine which new products hit the market. In politics, they can either make or break your influence online and win their hearts. They will campaign for you for free through social media. Mess up, they will also remove you at a click of a button, then march on the streets to make their point concrete.
Media publishers are losing their power to social media users and bloggers. Since print media is on it's death bed and anyone can make, write and get the news out there instantly without a permission from the editor to go ahead or not. Rupert Murdoch attests to this -- "To find something comparable, you have to go back 500 years to the printing press, the birth of mass media. Technology is shifting power away from editors, the publishers, the establishment, the media elite. Now it's the people who are taking control."
Power is busy leaving industrialization to digitalization, automation of systems is on the rise, and manual labor is being turned into machines. Production turnaround time is reduced, death rate in the workplace has been reduced too; things happen at a touch of a button.
The major question is what causes this Power Shift in all these facets? At the core of this shift, you will notice enlightenment through knowledge that makes people not to be content with their current state and circumstances; impatience to improve and competition to be better than our counterparts. Yes, technology is also at the heart of this shift of power, it's also the reason why it's happening this quick.
Whoever and wherever you are, there is a shift in power, you are either shifting or being shifted, there is no middle ground; the world will never be the same every six months.