Ride the Wave or Be Crushed by it.

“The Third Wave: An Entrepreneur’s Vision of the Future” by Steve Case

“When the wave is cresting, you’re either in the tube or you’re in the sand.”

~ Advice from an anonymous surfer.

It’s the best time to be alive, seize the opportunities, step into one’s greatness, stop asking for a permission to take charge and start creating the bright future you want to be a part of, building the world you want to live in.

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Just finished “The Third Wave” by Steve Case.

First, I saw it on James Altucher’s Instagram — a nothing-special picture of two geeky looking guys excited about their conversation and the book James was holding — “The Third Wave”.

The name of the book and the fact that James Altucher was holding it resonated with me so much that at that very moment I went to Amazon.com and got my own kindle cope of “The Third Wave”.

I’m a natural futurist. I have a tendency to feel the things that are going to be the future before others do. I knew I needed to get this book and consume everything that was there. It was a guide for new generation of millennials-entrepreneurs, future builders — my kind of people.

If you want to ride the next wave of world-changing opportunities, NOT be crushed by it — you never see it’s coming — that’s the book you got to read immediately and start living it.

The thing about the present — future happens much faster than before. And what today seems like a crazy idea, tomorrow is the present reality.

You got to read the whole book! It’s an amazing read — Steve is a great story-teller, but also and most importantly it gives you the road map for entrepreneurial success in your life. And even if you are not a business owner, not planning to be one, at least not in a traditional sense, no matter where you are and what you do — this book is essential for your life success. What the book is about will inevitably influence your life, all areas of it. So, unless you plan to be a hermit for the rest of your life having nothing to do with the world (Even then it’s highly improbably you will not be affected), get the book. Period.

Or at least study and consider these takeaways from the book.

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Main takeaways and my favorite quotes.

What you need to learn, understand and live by NOW:

The Third Wave is about Internet of everything.

“Internet transforms from something we interact with to something that interacts with everything around us.”

What it means for you personally? If you want to be a part of today’s world and take advantage of it to improve your life instead of being left behind and overpaying with your time, energy and money for anything you attempt to do — you got to get familiar with internet and technology at least on some basic level.

You want to become a literate user of the Internet and technology. This is a new survival skill you can’t ignore in this new era that is already here.

If you ignore this trend — don’t be surprised that the world passes you and you end up left behind.

Your own fault.

“[The Third Wave] is a phase of technological evolution where the Internet will be fully integrated into every part of our lives — how we learn, how we heal, how we manage our finances, how we get around, how we work, how we ear.

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That’s the Third Wave — and it’s not just coming; it’s here.”

Partnership, Collaboration and Synergy are the Keys to Success.

It’s not a world of one’s success, your own opinion and your own benefit in sacrifice for someone else’.

No. It’s about US, the greater good for all concerned. It’s about working together on win-win scenarios. It’s about being open and honest. It’s about creating more for everyone, not just for yourself.

Everything is literally becoming connected to everything else. When you hurt something or someone for the sake of personal benefit, you’ll end up hurting yourself in some way eventually. Plus collaboration helps to achieve more success with less resources faster.

If you work on your own you’ll end up left behind by the people working together.

So being selfish will make you a loser one way or the other.

The world is not about you anymore.

“If you want to go quickly, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.

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For the most part, success will hinge on an entrepreneur’s ability to form constructive, supportive partnerships with the organizations and individuals that can influence those decision makers and, eventually with the decision makers themselves. These Third Wave companies won’t have the option of going alone.

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Partnerships in the Third Wave are the prerequisite for success. … Your partnership skills may end up determining your success or failure.”

Government is the force to work with, NOT to fight.

Government like any structure or entity has its purpose, its methods, its weaknesses and strengths. And like anything else it can AND needs to be improved over time.

One thing is for sure, government is a big player, it has BIG power that you can use to move yourself forward or that you can fight and eventually be slowed down and crushed by it.

Government can give us a platform and “rocket-engine-like” power to move our ideas, innovations and life forward at light speed.

Collaboration and Synergy are the key here. With a smart, trusting and honest collaboration both sides — government and entrepreneurs (in business and life) win. Without good collaboration both sides lose.

“Third Wave entrepreneurs will need to engage with governments. The challenge, of course, is that few founders are policy wonks, and even fewer have the time (or desire) to become regulatory experts. They’ll have to hire them — or at least rely on them — from the beginning. A lot of companies won’t be able to get venture funding without demonstrating a credible go-to-market strategy, including how to manage regulatory issues. No matter how good an idea, a Third Wave company that lacks a clear strategy for policy is a dangerous gamble for investors. It’s not that success is impossible; but the odds make it a difficult bet.

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My view is simple: Government is going to be central in the Third Wave. Full stop. It doesn’t matter what your view of it is; if you can’t figure out how to work with the government — and how to get the government to work with you — you’re likely not going to be a successful Third Wave entrepreneur.

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The Internet could have remained a tool for the military and research institutions alone. But the government leaders made a crucial decision — to broaden the Internet’s scope and allow for its commercialization.

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Government’s role isn’t to commercialize new innovations; it’s to push technological advancement forward in areas that the markets won’t address on their own — to get ideas and innovations to a point where entrepreneurs with vision can turn them into viable products and businesses.

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We would not have had the Internet itself if not for government, nor would we have had some of the most important First and Second Wave companies that shaped its commercial use. Without government officials and bureaucrats — the folks so often derided in Silicon Valley — there would never have been a Silicon Valley in the first place.

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It is no longer acceptable for business to see the world purely through the lens of profits and customers; there is also a patriotic duty to make our country stronger, our people more empowered, and the world better. That is as much a responsibility of business as it is of government.”

The Third Wave company’s main objectives are Profit AND Purpose.

It’s about the WORLD. It’s about US. It’s about OUR FUTURE.

We finally got smarter, we got to a point where we see that our selfish interests in the long run play against us. The world is pretty small and if we try to win without thinking long-term and “for the greater good of all concerned” — our own selfish making will come and bite us in the ass. That’s why we are so screwed now, when it comes to environmental challenges — one country does everything to create the cleanest environment possible, while the other blows the smoke and we all end up with screwed up lungs at the end.

Just like you wouldn’t expect to be healthy running, eating healthy and smoking at the same time, one can’t expect to live in a healthy world (environment, business, personal life) taking care just of one (usually one’s own) part of it.

Profit AND Purpose — in other words.

Take care of yourself (and your company) and have a purpose to be a part of the change for the greater good of ALL concerned.

The Third Wave is happening EVERYWHERE geographically.

No matter where you live, what you do, what your age is, purpose and goals in life — The Third Wave will spread anywhere, it will affect everyone and everything and you can take advantage of that no matter where you are — that’s what technology and connectedness to everything brings us.

Ideas, innovations, new technologies, products, services will sprout anywhere and everywhere. Don’t have a geographical bias. Talent and opportunity is everywhere. Use it and win! Where you are, with what you have — most resources, knowledge, education, funding, job and business, collaboration opportunities are becoming available to everyone everywhere.

Geographical location is not an excuse to be ignorant or outdated anymore.

The main challenge of the Third Wave is Vexing.

“Vision without execution is hallucination.”

~ Thomas Edison

That’s a stumbling block for many people, businesses, ideas — Vexing.

If there is no execution — there is nothing.

Ideas are worth nothing without execution. Even the best ones.

Technology allows ideas to spread…but also it allows people to collaborate on execution of those ideas. And that’s where the true power is.

Stop discussing your amazing ideas on social media and use social media to connect with people to make things happen.

Focus on Doing not Talking.

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Quick Review.

• Internet and technology are becoming a part of everything and everyone in some way.
• Get Internet/Technology literate.
• Think Collaboration and Synergy instead of Competition.
• Work for your own good AND have a purpose to bring good to the rest of the world.
• Use Government and other platforms and institutions to help you better your vision and move it forward faster, instead of fighting the force that is most probably bigger than anything you’ll ever be.
• Think YES…AND, not BUT.
• Start making shit happen where you are with what you have.

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And what you have is the whole world because everything IS connected. Period.

What else?

SHARE!!!

Remember? Greater good for all concerned.

The more people embrace the principles of Third Wave faster, the faster we move into the better-for-everyone world of true abundance.