A few weeks ago in Australia it was announced that Australia Post would be reducing its work force by 1800 people, a direct result of the decrease in analog letters being sent.

There was an uproar from the usual groups. That there was an uproar is the most surprising thing…for anyone could have predicted this was going to happen.

If we be generous and only go back 10 years to 2005, as an email user, do you think you were aware that in 10 years time your personal use of stamps to stick to letters to send to people would have diminished?

Of course. This is not rocket science. The writing was in BOLD letters everywhere.

Yet how is it that the leadership of Australia Post at that time were not already retraining their staff for a move from Australia Post to another industry? Why were they not planning for this? Were they hanging on to some dream of yesterday? Or were they sticking their heads in the sand?

This was a gross failure of leadership. The lack of strategic action to either radically re-engineer or to support retraining. And yes, the workers at Australia Post need to take some level of accountability as well, for the writing on the wall was very obvious to almost everyone.

This story is now being played out in industries around the world. It is being played out by governments so committed to their path (and paid to do so by the interests of the big corporates) that they fail to read the writing on the wall.

The EV (electric vehicle) is here. No mechanics required. No more need for petrol stations. All the countless other adjuncts that go with the running of a petrol powered car. (For now we will not talk about the driverless car, which adds another dimension to transport)

Renewable energy is here. Distributed renewable energy is here. Off grid is a reality. No more big energy companies. No more coal extraction. (Tough for countries like Australia who put ALL their eggs into the resources basket.) No more need for all that oil. Down the gurgler goes the wealth of the Middle East.

3D printing is here. This changes everything. Manufacturing in some big plant is gone. (Gone are the factories in China that produce all our toys…and who does depend of the economy of China to thrive? Perhaps the question is who doesn’t?)

Cryptocurrency and other forms of complimentary currency is here. Erosion of our too big to fail banks and how they dictate our lives…is here.

The blockchain is here, removing the need for the third party…which means the majority of the work of banks and lawyers and many other intermediaries that have yet to find how blockchain will effect them.

Robotics is here…any form of labour that can be done buy a machine will be done by a machine.

This is our world. It is not some sci fi fantasy.

Yet our leadership continue to live in denial. As if denial will fix it.

Out of these ashes of change is a phoenix of opportunity. And it is the abundance of opportunity that we will be addressing at the Big Blue Sky Festival of Innovation and Creativity on the Gold Coast November 5/6, 2015. People, individuals and community have the ability to direct the future when our leaders do not. We cannot sit passively watching, expecting brilliance to come from the our elected leaders and the corporations who have a very big investment in maintaining the status quo.

Periscopes up people. Everything has changed….it is just we humans who are in lag.

Please join us at the Festival.