Over the last 40 years there has been a dramatic shift in America’s labor markets. In the 1950s and 60s labor was structured in tiers of workers, managers and executives. Today that corporate structure still exists, sometimes in modified form, but the most obvious feature of the labor market is now onshore and offshore. As jobs migrate overseas companies were, at first, reluctant to do internal restructuring that truely acknowledged the extent to which offshore labor migration was affecting company structure and strategy. There were tons of downsizings, re-engineerings and restructurings, but few of those were comprehensive — so they just kept recurring. There were waves of layoffs.

Those corporate changes had a lot of significance for American society at large. There was a trickle down effect from the corporate changes that affected real estate markets, tax bases, school districts and an ever expanding pattern of social networks. Was it bad? Was it good? Probably a bit of both, but mostly it was the reality of American society right up until the end of 2007. The security of the 1950s and 60s has long been gone from labor markets and the last 40 years has changed everything step-by-step. It’s been a trickle down far different than anything Ronald Reagan ever spoke about. This was not the wealthy spending and stimulating the economy, this is corporations restructuring themselves and, as a result, restructuring large chunks of society as well.

Opportunity followed along with all these changes. Yet, because so many of the changes were accompanied by job losses here in the U.S., we tend to see the worst in these circumstances, but there was certainly an up-side. It is not an intended upside, it is the space opened up by techtonic social plates shifting beneith our feet. We jsut feel the tremors and focus on the fault lines. The opportunity comes elsewhere in unexpected places and unanticipated ways.

So there it is: one of the major sources of opportunity in America comes from the constant churning of corporate structure and there’s lots of sales opportunity involved too — expecially since internet and computer technology are also opening broad new avenues for opportunity at the same time. But note that the changes in labor markets and corporate structures are seperate, for the most part, from these new technology changes.

For sales, for startups and for investment all of this is a source of change and opportunity. The trick is to see how the changes affect your market and then figure out where the new space is opening up and new opportunity developing. My suggestion is, don’t just look at your market by yourself. Instead look for many dependable information sources about your market. Best of all, figure out how to research your market for yourself, so you don’t have to depend upon one or two other people to keep you in the loop. I suggest you broadly survey your industry and marketplace from several different angles, doing your research as an ongoing project. There really are great new opportunities available today when we just open our eyes.