As I reflect on the Profiles in Success stories assembled here, I wonder how different the stories of our parents and their parents would be from today’s Profiles. And how will these Profiles be different a generation from today?

Certainly, Gordon’s parents on a farm in Nebraska were more productive than previous generations due to advances in farm processes, raw materials and equipment. Today, those engaged in farming, less than one percent of the world’s population, can produce the food to feed nine billion people at a lower price than ever before.

As farming has seen tremendous gains in productivity so too have other industries, skilled and unskilled. In 1950, 20 percent of the U.S. workforce was categorized as skilled. Today that number is about 65 percent.

The gains from technology infrastructure are accelerating, as access, speed and storage have seen exponential improvements while prices have continued to drop.

These advances have made it easier for the rest of us to pursue our dreams in whatever field or endeavor that interests us. In the last 15 years, we’ve seen seismic shifts in how we work, what we do and with whom we choose to work. Excluding the regulatory environment, it’s never been easier to start a business as the Internet has made distributed services available almost everywhere.

We can see transformational change in financial services, continuing and accelerating advances in medicine and pharmaceuticals and life expectancies in the U.S. approaching 80 years of age.

Robots are coming. George Jetson devotees will have to wait a little longer for flying cars, but self-driving ones are literally around the corner. Consider the massive effects on productivity if we can add one hour of productive time to our workdays in lieu of driving.

As you read the Profiles in Success in this edition, I hope you’ll reflect on the impact these business leaders have had in our communities, our states and our country. How will those leaders profiled here help drive the way to other advances? What advances will they make in medicine, technology and other fields which will improve the lives of countless others? And what will the stories of the next generation of leaders be?

“I find that the harder I work the more luck I seem to have.” — Thomas Jefferson

Christopher C. Hayes
Founder & Chairman
Revere Bank

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