i recently was having a discussion about #1 with some folks. I'm not sure its about the competence fall off, i think it's the desire to draw on productivity gains by orienting themselves in a process-centric fashion, versus the original product-centric design. Process centric makes sense for specialization and squeezing productivity gains out (standardized tooling/platforms, bureacracy, layers of middle management to bring it all together). Product-centric makes sense for innovation, but its inefficient in the long-term (small teams, wide range of responsibility).
So unless you want your core talent to flee for startups and begin the cycle anew, one has to find a middle ground, no? The moonshots seem like a reasonable attempt to do so to me.
But perhaps that because I'm 100% progress-driven. Process drives me nuts. It's great to have someone who can drive your progress through the channels of process, but I find that talent exceedingly rare. That said, my best work has happened the few times I've found that magic combo.
1. As organizations metastasize, the negative tail of the competence distribution becomes more and more populated. In response, the organization clamps down with restrictive rules that retard its innovation in exchange for protecting itself from the invisible stupid within. See Microsoft, see IBM, and see increasingly Google and Facebook as they turn to acqui-hires over internal expertise.
2. It's nice to rant yet again about 20-year patent cycles, but when are we going to fix the copyright system? Or will we eternally be Mickey Mouse's beeyotch? At this point, I'd be happy with a Mickey Mouse Forever Amendment(tm) to the constitution if it would free up all the other copyrights.
3. Working around patents is what clever people do best. Make more or import more clever people and you'll eventually get the companies that knock Google and Facebook onto their increasingly lethargic keesters. And free bonus, if you make more technically literate young adults, they'll have a lot less to fear from looming technological unemployment.