Eurassic Park: Will the next fault line be in France?

Tectonic shifts are following on to each other quickly in Europe, the dinosaurs of Eurassic park are nervously running around! Greece, refugee crisis, Brexit and Dutch narrow escape from extreme right political take over. What is all happening? If you read the news headlines you would tend to believe it’s the political system going crazy and the spotlight is on the roaring dino’s even worldwide outside our cozy park: Trump, Kim Jong-un, need I say more?

Disruption is the new eruption

As professionals in supply chain and technology we should be less surprised and make a different analysis: Our dinosaurs; the old economy firms, have already gone down the path of extinction since Y2K. We thought the Y2K bug in our IT systems was making the earth shake, but it appeared to be the burst of the 1st internet bubble that caused the economy to tremble. Supply chain dinosaurs got caught in a digital revolution and went belly-up faster in 5 years than in the 50 years before. Disruption is the new eruption!

“Self-centered politicians believe they are paving the way but in fact they are the tails wagging the dogs, emperors without clothes.”

"Young Lyonnais professionals enjoying spring on the Rhone river bank"; photo courtesy by Marcel Wogram (©Volkskrant)

Strong DNA for innovation and social texture

France is facing the next test this weekend in the 1st round of their presidential elections. The fault line appears to be in Lyon, where our French offices are and where I did part of my studies. Most people feel that the battle will be Fillon (conservative right) vs. Le Pen (extreme right), but the unexpected runner-up is Macron. His strongest following is in the Lyon area.

Lyonnais are the Swiss of France: Hardworking, innovative & networking. Many innovations and start-ups come from this area and the younger professional generation has a worldly view. Many of them believe Macron is the candidate who recognizes the underlying cause of the fracture lines in France.

The youngest of the candidates recognizes how technological shifts and innovation killed the dinosaurs and rather than ring-fencing them from the outside world (Le Pen) in a Jurassic Zoo called France or holding on to old values such as forbidding gay marriage (Fillon), France is better off growing new and successful species on the strong DNA of innovation and social texture that France really has.

“My thoughts are with the young professionals of France this weekend”