There are changes going on around us in the very fabric that makes up the business world - a fundamental shift in the way society operates. Fear has driven us and it is waning. Not only fear of nuclear weapons, but other more subtle terrors have haunted our lives, this past century. The changes this easing allows will have profound effect on the business scene as we know it. The lessening fear of not having a regular income, is one such. Several generations have been born to parents afraid of losing their jobs and raised in the illusion of 'job security'. This had become fundamental to our way of thinking. Yet, there never was such a thing as job security, and the illusion is coming to an end.

    Similarly, the idea that 'trade secrets' will protect your business has had its day. Businesses are making their internal workings public, so that other businesses may copy them, and the creators are benefiting in the process.

    Paradoxically, this change in attitude is happening at a slower pace than the growth and development of the technology that makes it possible. Mankind is changing its world faster than it can change itself. The internet is expanding by leaps and bounds, but it is a relative few who are taking advantage of the possibilities. If you want a business that will thrive in the 21st.century, you have to base it on 21st.century thinking. New habits and new ideas must be your building blocks and, as more and more people shake off the chains, the business world will be turned on its head!

    Even now, it is possible for people who have never met to enter into business arrangements, and have it done in a matter of hours. Across the country or around the world, the internet helps people create alliances that are formed as if distance was no longer of consequence - as indeed it is not. My Texas-based business was recently part of a project with a marketing consultant in Holland to expand the business of a city tour operator in New York.

    Trust is taking on a new meaning. In fact, trust has been the very foundation of business since the beginning, but trust has been maligned as a business tool. We have tried to protect ourselves with lengthy contracts and due diligence investigations, and we are beginning to find much time, effort and profit was squandered in the process.

    Nothing prevents action more surely than fear. Fear is, probably, our most common emotion; and our most debilitating one. The strange thing is, most of our fears have no real basis. The things we are most afraid of are usually simply imagination. "What will happen if I do work for someone far away in cyberspace and they do not pay me?" Well, why would they not pay you? If you have done a good job, they will want you to continue. They will want to keep you working for them, and not take your talents to a competitor!

    Just like a child hearing monsters under the bed, we conjure up in our minds all sorts of disasters that might happen. To calm the child, you turn on the light and show them there is no reason to be afraid. So it is for us adults. The fears we have, sometimes leave us in the dark, too petrified to move ahead. Yet, when we expose them to the light of reason, we can see they are imaginary. We all experience fear at one time or another. The only true way to overcome fear is to confront it. How you confront it is what determines whether or not you will be successful. Courage to confront your fear is crucial to success. And, like success itself, you build this courage one step at a time, through small incremental changes that reach to the core of your belief system.