For three days last week it seems as if the world was obsessed with black and white smoke. According to wiki.answers, 18% of the world is Catholic. So why were any of the other 82% of us paying any attention to who would be the next Pope?
In the 1980s, a company called Pencept released what is commonly considered the first tablet computer. No one noticed. Despite many other attempts to develop and market the devices, the market ignored tablet computers until a few years ago when Apple released the iPad.
The connection, as I see it, is that both the Pope and Apple, demand our attention. While their messages are ostensibly delivered to their respective faithful, they are in fact speaking to all of us. They are speaking to all of us because what they do, what they say, impacts all of us. They impact us because they influence the public conversation.
Pencept marketed a tablet computer and no one noticed. Apple came out with one and all of the sudden everyone had to have one. If the Pope and the Catholic Church even signal that they are considering a change in a church custom or rule, they send shock waves throughout the spiritual, cultural and political worlds.
I don't know that I would recommend that every company try to become an influencer like Apple. That takes years, amazing amounts of effort, resources and luck, and a singular leader, like the Pope...or Steve Jobs. But at the very least, you should pay attention to the smoke signals.
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