Big transitions are fascinating examples of how desperately companies try to hold onto the past; driving by using their rearview mirror. That never works. Case in point, the transition out of the industrial era.

You don’t need me to tell you that we’re living through an era of tremendous transition and disruption for traditional industrial era industries. Tech behemoths such as Amazon and Google have radically altered retail, publishing, and advertising. Uber has decimated cabs, Airbnb is attempting to do the same with hospitality. Amazon has recently set it’s sites on healthcare.

The threat is clear. Long time icons of the industrial era, from GE to Kodak, are failing fast, and not in a good way.