Golden Tickets & Parachutes

These days, depending on who you talk to or follow on Twitter, it may seem like the corporation is in its last few dying days.

That's because blockchain-powered DAOs or Decentralized Autonomous Organizations and an impending Cambrian explosion in the gig economy are going to make the traditional corporation obsolete.

That's a big claim, and there are a lot of moving pieces that will need to fall in line just right for that picture of the future to become a reality.

Since most plans or forecasts rarely hold, I expect that whilst blockchain-powered organizations will certainly begin to appear in increasing numbers soon and certain individuals will be able to reap outsized returns by participating in a global gig economy, the elite corporations of today will remain and, in some cases, grow even stronger.

If smaller, inefficient companies begin to be replaced by what prove to be more efficient and cheaper decentralized rivals, I would expect landing a job at a large corporation to become akin to getting your hands on a golden ticket. The longer-term security and benefits such positions confer will remain very strong incentives for many, if not most.

That said, we probably can't even begin to imagine the types of jobs that will come online in the decentralized gig economy. But based on my own personal experiences, I can say that certain gigs can be extremely convenient and very lucrative.

There won't be an limits on how many gigs an individual or family can take on other then the natural limit of hours in a day and individual capacity to carry out whatever tasks the gigs demand.

For golden ticket holders as well, employers will be hard pressed to prevent their employees from procuring side gigs that are highly remunerative yet undemanding from a time perspective.

In fact, as corporate cogs build up a resume in the decentralized gig economy of the future, a strong reputation and network there will become the equivalent of a golden parachute.

If the corporate gig gets too stressful, or if the corporate soldier has simply made their nut and doesn't need that much more money, the agonizing that characterizes career changes today will cease to be a major factor.

Those lucky individuals could simply pull the ripcord on their golden parachute to ensure the softest of landings in their second life.

That is the sort of future I see: one where technologies that support and enhance decentralization will act more as compliments than substitutes.

And that is why I am appreciative as hell that I have a spot in a corporate tower with a window that looks out onto the decentralized squares of the world that are growing and expanding with each passing day.