Contributing to the fundamental transformation from a tangible to an intangible economy can be an emotional roller-coaster. Just when you begin to see that first glimmer of hope that people are beginning to comprehend the intangible world they inhabit, panic drives them back to the last century's economic principles of tangibles and scarcities.

In the last year we have all experienced the birthing pains of the inexorable intangible revolution. It is time for everyone to sit up and take notice of the overriding economic importance of intangibles. Business people have an over-trained, deeply-engrained and often clinical preoccupation with tangibles - thanks to our Western mindset and overly traditional economic education.

Confidence is one ordinary word, and one extraordinary intangible. Confidence drives the success and failure of economies, nations, businesses, markets, populations and individuals worldwide.

Confidence is not dug out of a mountain or mine. Confidence does not sail the oceans in great tankers. Confidence is not the product of the gleaming new Korean automobile plant in western Alabama, USA. Yet, confidence accounts for more wealth creation than all the minerals, oil, gas, energy, and new Mercedes, combined -- by many orders of magnitude!

Don’t believe it? Hmmmn. Walk out to the mail box or check online the value of your 401k, Roth and stock portfolio. Wow! Gee-whiz, didn’t think intangibles could do that! Try and explain to junior why his college fund is gone and why you need to retire in a trailer by the river. Intangibles are real in the most obvious sense.    

Toyota started looking at intangibles years ago. Most notable was fun. Yep, f-u-n. Fast forward. The Prius is fun. Pontiacs aren’t. Go figure. Toyota’s earnings are more than GM’s market cap. Yet, Detroit still uses cartoonish terms from kung-fu and Greek like black-belt and 6-sigma to describe product development and manufacturing. As Charlie Brown would say, “good grief!”

Yes, it is time to sound the alarm! The majority of the economy is intangible. Has been for decades. It is more urgent than ever that we understand these principles, and begin to master them, or we will sink under the burden of trying to meet the future with the old mindset. Failure is NOT an option.