Businesses are like animals; the ones who can adapt can survive, while the ones who can鈥檛 are faced with extinction. Michael Campbell, host of Money Talks, spoke at the Yorkton Chamber of Commerce Business Dinner, telling businesses of the big changes coming down the pipe and how they鈥檙e going to have to adapt in order to keep up with the times.
It鈥檚 not merely that times are changing, Campbell says, but that people aren鈥檛 changing with it, and adapting to make their businesses work with the change that surrounds them.
鈥淭he challenge for people with change is not just the intensity of it, but they don鈥檛 recognize it. They鈥檙e uncomfortable with that rate of change, but yet when they look around, they鈥檙e driving it. They don鈥檛 apply it to themselves and their own business at that point.鈥�
He points to increased automation, such as with self-checkout or self-serve gas stations, or new stores like the one Amazon is trying to set up that don鈥檛 require checkout staff. Eventually, completely automated transportation could spell an end to traditional couriers.
鈥淢y biggest worry about the rate of change is that certain industries聽 are going to be obliterated by technological change. Number one for me is I鈥檓 worried about people in the delivery business. Trucking is going to change dramatically, taxis are going to change dramatically with the advent of self-driving cars. We鈥檙e seeing manufacturing, that鈥檚 what the loss has been in the manufacturing sector that Donald Trump talks about enough. It isn鈥檛 Mexico, it鈥檚 technological change. We have seen it before in history, but this time it is happening at a rate that is the most intense in history.鈥�
One of Campbell鈥檚 answers to that challenge is changes to the education system, things such as having classes in programming and ensuring that kids are not technologically illiterate.聽
鈥淥therwise we are going to create an absolute, permanent underclass of people who are unemployable.鈥�
The biggest challenge is going to be the aging population, as people live longer and, more importantly, are retired for longer, and pension funds have to continue to pay out.
鈥淭he biggest social change is going to come out of the pension problems you鈥檙e going to see in the US and you鈥檙e going to see in Europe. In Canada, you鈥檙e going to see it as a huge drain on public finances that will squeeze out other spending, at the same time聽every provincial government has a challenge with healthcare spending, new technological change and the aging population.鈥�
The other challenge facing businesses involves taxes. Joking that, much like a bank robber, government will go after business tax 鈥渂ecause that鈥檚 where the money is,鈥� Campbell says that he is concerned that the tax increase will be short-sighted, as governments should also be encouraging growth.
鈥淭he name of the game is raising money for governments, because they think they need it.鈥�
The overall message is that we have to adapt, and if we don鈥檛 people are going to be left behind, and Campbell worries that there will be people permanently unemployed because of a failure to adapt.
鈥淲hether we do well or we don鈥檛 do well is going to be our attitudes towards change, whether it鈥檚 an individual business or whether it鈥檚 a country. My challenge is that governments specialize in the status quo, they don鈥檛 specialize in looking forward and moving forward. That鈥檚 going to be the big challenge when we talk about government finances.鈥�
