Maybe so, but consider some of the luminaries involved with the Foundation. In addition to Hillis, board members include Paul Saffo, director of the Institute for the Future, Douglas Carlston, chairman of Broderbund Software Inc., and Esther Dyson, publisher of the Release 1.0 newsletter. Of course, thinking about the future does not have to extend out 10,000 years. In May 1997 Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates revealed his thoughts about the future of computing in a speech to the Newspaper Association of America. Companies can't even begin to guess until they get a handle on what they really do.
Executives read the paper.
They know the Internet is serious business. If executives can't see beyond the end of the next fiscal quarter, it's time for IS to pull them up to the 40,000-foot level. Only then will executives come to appreciate that the Web isn't simply a valuable communication and information tool. At its heart, the Web is a transformative tool that's changing business structures and operating models. The companies that are succeeding on the Web are those that have realized that the network is the company.