Balance of Power between Individuals and Institutions

We’re witnessing a shift in the balance of power away from corporations/institutions and towards individuals. Employees are quitting in record numbers, demanding higher wages, and voting with their feet. In the investing world, retail investors hold far more power than they did even one year ago, and they’ve used their power to squeeze professional investors and back the meteoric rise of dubious cryptocurrencies like Dogecoin (in the US alone, there are 10 million new individual investors, just since COVID). In sports, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of paying NCAA student athletes, and Naomi Osaka, the best female tennis player in the world, withdrew from the French Open because she wanted to prioritize her own mental health over long-standing (and stressful) tournament requirements. In tech, new technologies built on the blockchain are disintermediating transactions and removing institutions that have long wielded power over individuals.

What’s going on? Technology is democratizing power by 1) increasing the reach and strength of an individual’s influence, 2) enabling individuals to mobilize en masse, 3) removing intermediaries and meddling institutions, and 4) creating networks of supporters that serve as a safety net. We are entering a world that will be increasingly technologized, distributed, and horizontal. As former Uncharted Mentor, Jeremy Heimans of Purpose, wrote in his 2018 book New Power, “The future will be a battle over mobilization. The everyday people, leaders, and organizations who flourish will be those best able to channel the participatory energy of those around them - for the good, for the bad, and for the trivial.”