Change is inevitable. Everything and everyone we know is a constant state of flux. As much as we seek stability in the comfort of a routine, we soon have to come to the realization that the world around us is changing at an increasingly rapid pace. There are three accelerators that drive most of change today. Here’s how people, technology and information are accelerating change.

People

• The world population is currently estimated to be 6.915128 billion by the United States Census Bureau.[1]
• The world population has experienced continuous growth since the end of the Bubonic Plague around the years 1348-1350.[2]
• Current projections show a continued increase of population with the population expected to reach between 7.5 and 10.5 billion in the next decade.

Technology

• Radio 38 years to reach 50M
• TV 13 years to reach 50M
• Internet 4 years to reach 50M
• Facebook – 9 months to reach 100M

Information – Internet

• Over the past 10 years the number of users has gone from 360M to 1.9B
• 28% of the world is online.
• 444.8% growth.
• It’s projected that by 2020 the whole world will have access to the internet.

The implications are many. But for me, there’s a simple lesson: If my business, ministry, organization is to continue to be relevant, I must adapt, re-tool, re-engineer at the speed of change around me or face irrelevance. It means that decisions have to be made quickly and that windows of opportunity are getting shorter.

How have these accelerators changed the dynamics of your business or ministry?