Over the last two years, on six separate occasions I've been offered eye watering sums of money to shift to Silicon Valley. The most recent, in the last few months, occurred in a particular discomfort of travelling and moving house. Now, these came out of the blue and I'm not going to say I wasn't tempted. The sums involved are instant life changing amounts - we're not talking 10% or 20% differences but order of magnitude.
However, I have a very privileged position which I enjoy. I have access to a vast number of different companies in different fields in which I can conduct research on strategic gameplay & mapping. This alone is worth its weight in gold.
But there is something else. I am in an extremely privileged position to observe and interact with what I consider to be the single most exciting technology company in the world - the UK Government. The work that is being done, the calibre of people, the concepts and ideas being pursued, the strategic gameplay, the management approaches are second to none and there has been a dramatic change in recent years. It's not all perfect by a long shot but it's heading in the right direction.
Why do I mention this? Well, everyone tells me that Silicon Valley is the heart of disruptive change and where the future is built. There seems to be an assumption that this is a permanent state. I'm not convinced.
The work being done in UK Government IT is transformative to an extreme and it is slowly spreading across the world. I know of many others who look at UK Government IT and say 'we need to be more like them'. It'll be interesting to see how these changes impact the surrounding ecosystem and economy over time.
For me, as an observer, the signs are very positive.
