We are knowledge intensive and as we change, so we need people with skills for today's and tomorrow's environment. The average age of our employees is 33. The challenge is to innovate, but everyone is trying to innovate, so you have to out innovate the innovators. Michael Dell, founder and Chairman of Dell Computer, made a similar point. The Internet has to be central to the business models of almost every company.
Success demands assuming that the consumer has perfect information.
That is as true for the sale of computers, as it is for investing money, according to David Komansky, Chairman of Merrill Lynch. We are in a very early period of very rapid change. Corporations must learn to change at an accelerating pace that is being driven by technology. In concrete terms, he reported that Merrill Lynch is hiring younger people, just like Enron, with a strong knowledge of how to use technology. Several of the speakers stressed that employees have to be empowered to think and act like entrepreneurs, to take risks, to build relationships and to envision technology-driven futures for their corporations.