That term “creative destruction” comes from Austrian economist Joseph Schumpeter writing in his 1942 book, “Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy.” It is a fundamental virtue of free market capitalism. Free markets encourage investment and innovation to create new products that render obsolete the old ones, leading to the decline or “destruction” of legacy companies and traditional jobs. If it weren’t for these forces we’d all still be doing math on an abacus and riding a horse and buggy.

We saw this chart from Piper Sandler and it is the absolute perfect depiction of creative destruction. It compares the 30 companies that comprised the Dow Jones Industrial Average in 1976 versus today.

Incredibly: ONE – Proctor & Gamble – has survived on the list. (Chevron would make two if we count its predecessor Standard Oil of California.)