What (if anything) We Learned In The New Economy

Fast Company has done a retrospective of sorts about the lessons of the “New Economy.” And why not; FC along with Wired, was one of the foremost proponents of the New Economy hype. Their name is ample testimony to that. My impression is the magazine has barely survived the bust. There are some reflections on what the truth turned out to be behind ideas like “Free Agent Nation,” “move first or die,” and other buzz. They maintain there are some lessons learned.

I’m a little skeptical about the learning claim. My intuition is that a lot of people are just waiting for the return of the go-go energy of the stock market. There supposedly is a bumper sticker appearing in Silicon Valley that says, “Just give us one more bubble.” I think the lesson some people got from the cycle is: “Get rich and get out, but quicker.”