Four Secrets of the New Normal

AO's exclusive sneak peek at The New Normal, a new book by visionary enterpreneur and VC Roger McNamee. It's a contrarian guide to making the most of the latest trends in our economy and society.

Roger McNamee [Silver Lake Partners] | POSTED: 12.05.04 @08:05

Remember the way everybody around the planet greeted the turn of the new millennium? From the coast of New Zealand to Hawaii’s shores, culture after culture greeted a new day as a new beginning. We sipped champagne and gazed at our TV screens, holding hands and taking in the wonder of it all. It was more than just relief that the computers were still working and the Y2K fuss was behind us. This was a new day with promise. We couldn’t help but feel a warm, optimistic glow. Which lasted not quite three months. You know what happened next. The stock market collapsed and we couldn’t figure out how to reboot. A band of terrorists sent our world tumbling. CEOs were caught cheating. Talk-show hosts were caught popping pills. Mutual fund firms abused their investors. Our nation went to war. Good friends lost their jobs and moved to some part of the country where there isn’t a professional baseball team. Suddenly we struggle to put our shoes back on in the airport security line, while trying to figure out how it all took such a quick and messy fall. This isn’t what we expected. This isn’t what we were promised. And what’s worse, it’s hard to figure out when everything will turn itself around. Look again. The future is already here. It’s called the New Normal. New because everything from our perception of time to our advantages in making investment decisions to our ability to compete globally has changed. Normal because this altered landscape will be with us for a long time—at least for the coming decade. At first glance, the world is a frightening place. The institutions that protected us no longer can. The safety nets that were strung up by government or corporations and supported previous generations have come unstitched. But there’s a flip side to all the uncertainty.

The New Normal is a time of unlimited opportunities lurking in places we never bothered to look. Safety nets have been replaced by new possibilities. Corporate paternalism has been replaced by personal responsibility, which exposes us to more risk but also exposes us to more rewards. Technology and globalization have cleared a path for advancement that’s right there under your feet—if you’re willing to take the first step. The rewards have never been greater for those who act. But many are reluctant to act for fear of the unknown.

I see this everywhere. By day, I’m an investor whose livelihood depends on being able to ferret out the truth and being able to distinguish between the right opportunity and the almost right opportunity. By night, I play guitar in a rock ‘n’ roll band that tours the country, performing gigs in clubs and music festivals. From Palmer, Alaska, to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. From Tempe, Arizona, to Woodstock, New York. I have seen the cities and small towns of America—dozens of them in the past year alone—from the seat of a van and a room at a Best Western. I split my time between two worlds—Silicon Valley and Main Street—each of which is caught up in the New Normal.

What I’ve come to believe: more than anything else, the New Normal will reward the brave. As we already know too well, this is not your father’s economy, where a corporation and your government provided a lifetime’s worth of security. In the New Normal, you’ll continually have to decide on things that, in the past, were decided for you, everything from how to keep your job to where to invest your retirement plan. The reward is that you will be in chargeof your life. Truly in charge.

When your traditional sources of support don’t provide the answers, it’s time to start thinking for yourself—and to have the courage to be different. It’s easier than you think.

Get ready for the rest of your life.

This is the first of several AlwaysOn exclusive excerpts from Roger McNamee's new book, The New Normal. You can buy the book here.

Roger co-founded Silver Lake Partners, the first private equity fund focused on technology businesses. Like the T. Rowe Price and Integral funds, Silver Lake was the top performing fund of its era, and established a new model of private equity. Roger has recently launched Elevation Partners, an innovative partnership which applies the Silver Lake model to media and entertainment content.

+ HOME

Tell us what you think of this post using our On or Off rating system. Only your most recent vote will count.

WAY OFF								ON THE $
	[1]		[2]		[3]		[4]		[5]

Join the Discussion

NOTIFY?

Corporate paternalism has been replaced by personal responsibility; now thats what I talkin about.

The new normal is ten weeks vacation per year and four day weeks with retirement with a 90% pension after 25 years. How nice.

How exciting - UN sponsored intervention. That will certainly keep our competitive spirits engaged.

The future is already here. It’s called the New Normal. New because everything from our perception of time to our advantages in making investment decisions to our ability to compete globally has changed. Normal because this altered landscape will be with us for a long time—at least for the coming decade.

The future has always been here...now or in the past. That is nothing new for each generation in any generation. As to the altered landscape - same situation through the ages. And hypes aside, this so called new normal will change very soon like in the next two years. Watch and learn.


The rewards have never been greater for those who act. But many are reluctant to act for fear of the unknown.....When your traditional sources of support don’t provide the answers, it’s time to start thinking for yourself—and to have the courage to be different. It’s easier than you think.

Again, this is nothing new. However, the society still needs a source of support. If the traditional source do not work, they have to be reengineered. For example the UN is an albatross and needs to be restructured to an innovative model. The new normal should be the new collaboration and not silo-based thinking of "Me Me". That does not work!

Oh, I am sure you would definitely want a guaranteed piece of pie. We tried this in our country years ago. Worked nice until the whole welfare edifice collapsed on our heads. Unfortunately, the moment you say to people you get you pie regardless of whether you perform or not, everyone stops working. Game Theory 101.

Apparently people do not learn from example. Want to try for yourself? Welcome, but keep in mind US market is too big and important for the rest of the world to just let you crash... international UN-sponsored intervention should be necessary at some point.

"...the New Normal will reward the brave. As we already know too well, this is not your father’s economy, where a corporation and your government provided a lifetime’s worth of security. In the New Normal, you’ll continually have to decide on things that, in the past, were decided for you, everything from how to keep your job to where to invest your retirement plan. The reward is that you will be in chargeof your life. Truly in charge."

What all you brilliant and lucky people don't understand is that the above credo is just brutal social darwinism, reworded to sound moral and relieve you of any obligation to the less fortunate. Maybe everyone in America - or the world - doesn't want to be playing a hyper-competitive game where the winners - who are lucky and privileged at least as often as they are brilliant, hard working and inspired - live on ranchettes with gardeners, maids and fancy cars, and the losers wonder where they'll get basic medical care.

A reexamination - and debunking - of the sanitized social darwinism that passes for enlightened conservative ideology ought to be the top priority in our new morality-saturated nation.