The Fortune 500 of 1955

Of the original Fortune 500 list of companies published in 1955, only 11 are still on the list. Most of the companies from the original list no longer exist or are part of other companies. Where will your organization be in 50 years? Where do you want it to be?

This shows how businesses and marketplaces reset every so often. What is hot now will not be hot in 50 years. Technology and innovation will take you in completely different directions, most of which we cannot even anticipate. What we can anticipate is where the markets will be in the next few years. What we can anticipate is what customers need in the near future. What we can anticipate is how our organizations are going to move forward to take advantage of opportunities.

The world was a very different place 50 years ago. Do you think anyone then could have conceived of a 10 inch device that can play movies, music, videos, television shows and give us any piece of information we want instantaneously? And all of this without a cord. At this point, we were supposed to all be wearing spacesuits and driving in cars with no wheels. So much for that idea.

My point being, nothing lasts forever and you cannot rely on past success to ensure future prosperity. Control what you can and try to anticipate the next market move so you can stay ahead of the curve. Maybe then you can be one of the 11 companies left on the Fortune 500 list in 2060!

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Tags: Fortune 500, iPad, prosperity, success

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