Star Wars!

If talent matters most to businesses, and business competition essentially becomes a war between the talented people of Company ABC against the talented people of Company XYZ, then I submit our economy will be characterized by "star wars."

That is, the competition (or war) will be waged between talents (or stars).

Corporations (the physical offices where you find computer equipment, phone lines, conference tables, etc.) will only serve as temporary meeting or working spaces for the talents to hang around, should they choose to.

The real business battle, the real work, will be done intellectually, in the mind. Winston Churchil once said, "The empires of the future will be empires of the mind." Now this quote has been used often, but I have no idea what it means exactly. But perhaps it means the brain will become the ultimate weapon to be used by companies in today's global economy.

In fact, on September 11, 2001 the whole world could clearly see the horrific yet effective use of brainpower to deliver a blow that could simply not have been delivered otherwise.

My point is that the stars of the new economy will be those who are experts at using imagination and mental powers to have an impact (for good or evil).