To suggest that American business is on the verge of cardiac arrest may be a bit premature. To suggest that it may be on the verge of asphyxiation is probably closer to the truth.

The pace of change has become so overwhelming and the increases in productivity have been so rapid that the average domestic enterprise is suffering from a form of economic whiplash. As I wrote in my book "Divide and Conquer: Targeting Your Customers Through Market Segmentation" (John Wiley & Sons, NY) a few years back, the mass market has now splintered into an unfathomable array of shard markets.

Nches have begotten sub-niches and micro niches and the concept of endless shelf-space combined by the efficiencies of eCommerce have totally changed the competitive landscape. The cultural differences between domestic and international markets are fast fading away. Everything is available all of the time. Scarcity has been replaced by abundance as the new value proposition. "Only a few more left," has been replaced by "All you want of everything there is."

It started in the music business as digital file sharing replaced Tower Records as the preferred answer to supply and demand. iTunes started out with 1.5 million titles and now it's up to 4 million. And every one of those 4 million tunes is registering a sale at some point during each month.

Amazon is doing the same thing with books. Netflix is ditto on movie rentals. This has left the global 1000 with a big "Huh?" on their lips and a collective head-scratching jag that can't figure out what the hell comes next. What comes next is deceptively simple.

Humanity comes next. American business has squeezed every ounce of humanity out of its business models. Customer Service Reps read from pre-determined scripts. "Cost-to-serve" is the determining factor when it comes to whether toys make it to tots before Christmas Eve. And at the office, the corporate color palette defines the only colors allowed, while the corporate mission statement contains the only thoughts that count and corporate policy dictates the only actions allowed.

So outside the citadels of commerce the landscape is becoming more and more diverse by the millisecond. Inside the walls of the ivory towers of business, every possible act of humanism is being polished and burnished away in favor of the pristine façade.

Outside, life expands human potential. Inside, control strangles human potential. And as a result, new corporate entities rise like Netflix and others cease to exist like UPN. What did Netflix realize that UPN overlooked? Simple. One size no longer fits all. UPN was devised to be an alternative to the big three networks. But as an alternative, the best it could offer was a shabby second to the networks whose programming limitations were already out of tune with newer audiences.

UPN's programmers still believed the answer could be found in the 1500 Nielsen households that make up the pitiful rating system by which American business tosses away billions a year in useless advertising dollars. Nielsen does not breathe life into television programming. Nielsen breaths stale air into a brain dead ecosystem of moribund mediocrity.

The same can be said about the handful of writers and producers that feed the surviving broadcast and cable networks. Garbage in. Garbage out.

And then there are the advertising media planners and buyers that still believe that the next "season" will hold some value for their clients that have somehow been missing for the past decade. Madison Avenue isn't breathing life into the collective lungs of their clients.

CYANIDE GAS WOULD HAVE
MORE MEDICINAL VALUE.

The fact is, that the products and services of America's largest enterprises are nearing the point of no return, as armies of corporate decision makers scratch their heads in unison and wring their collective hands in apprehensive despair.

They all know this new "internet thingy" is supposed to hold all of the answers to their mounting tales of woe. They just have no clue whatsoever as to what part of the online jungle leads to higher ground and thus a chance for survival. From where they sit, it all looks like one immense black hole. A money pit from whence that giant sucking sound is the sound of their careers about to be flushed down the tubes.

So where do they go to begin to find the answers to insuring their survival and future viability? Well my suggestion is they start right in their own backyards... literally. Every member of management in every American business needs to take a day off and spend it talking to the members of their own family about how those closest to them are living their lives.

They need to ask their wives and boyfriends how they spend their day. They need to gain the confidence of their kids to the point that the little snots give them a view of what it's like to grow up in 2006. If that experience doesn't show these weenies how out of touch with reality they are, nothing will.

People don't care about "ROI" or "CPM". Kids don't care about "brand equity" or "share of wallet." All the marketing jargon and bizspeak in the world can't get you through to a woman who just wants to buy a laptop without somebody treating her like an idiot because she's wearing pantyhose instead of a jockstrap.

Human values are coming back strong. Personal choice is turning markets inside out. Individuality rocks. Lemmings suck. American business hasn't figured out a metric to quantify "esoteric." Well they better get a task force right on that, because that's where the market is heading and everybody knows it but the guys who used to call the shots.

After they get back to their desk. After they get a clue about the changes in attitude right under their very own roof, these captains of industry can start to address the myopia within their own organizations.

I would sincerely recommend that Ms. CEO and her better half, Mr. CFO take a trot downstairs to the mailroom or any other department where corporate policy dictates that employees wear a uniform and take the first eight people they come in contact with to lunch. One by one.

Eight lunches in a single day with people you would not spend 8 seconds with normally can be very insightful. But don't take them to the watering holes where other CEOs and CFOs hang out.

Tell Employee #00238841 to take you to their favorite lunchtime eatery. Ask Employee #00938123 how they spent their last weekend. Ask Employee #00729930 when they last talked to their kids. Or their husband. Look for similarities, not differences, in the way Employee #004802713 feels about the war in Iraq or Paris Hilton.

Start being a listener instead of a memo writer. Fight your natural tendency to yawn in their respective faces and consider these eight hours as survival training.

Now you have two workdays invested in the painful trivia that makes up the existence of a dozen or so individuals who inhabit the top and bottom of the domestic socio-economic ladder. It's a first step to understanding what a varied species we can be.

And these are people over whom you have some direct ability to influence or even control. My guess is the entire two-day experience will leave you scratching your head as to what in the world these people have to do with you doing a better job of assuring shareholder value. Good.

When everything you know and believe is proving itself to be irrelevant, the best place to seek understanding is with the realization that you have a lot more to learn.

Stay tuned.