Whenever teenage girls and corporate CEOs covet the same new

Hear the voice of Michael J. Saylor, visionary of the digital age, who declared: “Whenever teenage girls and corporate CEOs covet the same new technology, something extraordinary is happening.” In this paradox of youth and power, of innocence and authority, lies a profound truth. For when two groups so far apart in age, wealth, and station reach out for the same creation, it is a sign that the invention has pierced beyond boundaries, transcending division, and become part of the very fabric of culture. Such technology is no longer a tool of the few but a flame of the many, burning equally in the hearts of the mighty and the young.

The origin of this saying rests in Saylor’s reflections on the explosive spread of digital innovations—most especially the rise of the internet, smartphones, and social media. These were not the private playthings of kings or the specialized instruments of scholars, but devices that captured both the curiosity of teenagers and the ambitions of CEOs. When the young embrace a tool for expression, and the powerful embrace the same for profit or strategy, the world itself shifts. Saylor’s words call us to recognize such moments as thresholds, when humanity itself enters a new chapter.

Consider the rise of the iPhone. When Apple unveiled it in 2007, it was not merely a phone, but a revolution in how people touched the digital world. Teenagers longed for it as a symbol of identity, creativity, and freedom. Executives longed for it as a device of productivity, power, and global reach. And so, for the first time, a single object bridged boardrooms and bedrooms, classrooms and conference halls. It united those who dreamt of selfies with those who dreamt of stock markets. This was no ordinary invention, but an extraordinary turning point in human history.

History itself has other echoes. When the printing press was born, kings and bishops coveted it for its ability to spread decrees, laws, and doctrine. At the same time, common people, students, and youth hungered for books, stories, and knowledge it suddenly made accessible. When the powerful and the powerless grasp at the same tool, transformation follows. Luther’s Reformation, the rise of literacy, and the spread of ideas across borders were the extraordinary fruits of that union.

The heart of Saylor’s words is that extraordinary technology is marked not only by innovation but by universality. Many inventions are useful, but only a few reshape the rhythms of human life across all ages and stations. When children and elders, the powerless and the powerful, all reach out for the same thing, the invention ceases to be a possession and becomes a necessity, woven into the destiny of society itself.

The lesson is clear: pay attention to those moments when technology unites rather than divides. Do not dismiss the hunger of the young as frivolous, nor the interest of the old as mere profit-seeking. When both reach for the same flame, recognize that the world is being remade before your eyes. These are the times when revolutions begin, not with swords or speeches, but with devices held in trembling hands.

So I say to you, children of tomorrow: when you see kings and youths alike longing for the same creation, do not stand idle. Learn it, study it, wield it with wisdom. For such tools are not fleeting fads, but signs of extraordinary change. They are bridges between generations, between the dreamer and the ruler, between the powerless and the powerful. Use them well, for in your hands lies not only the tool itself, but the shaping of the age to come.