"We must die to one life before we can enter another”.

Vaհe H Apelian 

Change chisels a generation, I believe Anatole France framed it best when he famously said: ““All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another.”

This year will be coming to its end in a few days. 2026 will be pivotal year for me. On June 22 of 2026, I will be inducted into an exclusive club, the club of the octogenarians.  I was born in 1946 as a member of that remarkable generation that came to be known as Baby Boomers. It is generally accepted those born from 1946 to 1964, during the mid-20th-century baby boom that followed the end of World War II, make that remarkable generation. May be more than any other generation in history, it experienced change at an unforeseeable scale. 

The following companies came to my mind. Each defined the era at the time. Kodak became synonymous with camera, xerox with photocopying. Pan Am and Sears were America on the ground and in the air. Telephone was AT&T. Nowadays; they are not heard as they were once. In fact, many may not even have heard their names. This is what happened to them, according to the all-knowing Google AI. 

PAN AM, ONCE A SYMBOL OF AMERICAN AVIATION, ceased operations in December 1991due to a combination of factors, primarily failing to adapt after airline deregulation, costly poor management decisions (like the National Airlines merger), high fuel costs, and a devastating financial blow from the 1988 Lockerbie bombing (Flight 103). The airline filed for bankruptcy, sold off valuable assets, and despite a last-ditch effort to restructure, couldn't keep flying, ending its iconic run. 

SEARS, ONCE A RETAIL GIANT, collapsed due to a failure to adapt to changing times, facing intense competition from Walmart and Target, and mismanagement under CEO Eddie Lampert, leading to bankruptcy in 2018 and massive store closures, leaving only a handful of locations as of late 2025. The company sold off key assets like Craftsman and its real estate, dismembering its core business while failing to innovate online or in its mall-based stores, essentially becoming a "zombie brand". 

KODAK, ONCE A PHOTOGRAPHY GIANT, struggled with the digital revolution, filed for bankruptcy in 2012, but emerged as a smaller, focused company in 2013, shifting to commercial printing, advanced materials, and licensing its brand, while still making film, but recently faced new financial concerns in 2025 despite strategic pivots and a brief pharma venture. 

XEROX, NOT THE ICONIC LEADER IT ONCE WAS. It hasn't disappeared but has struggled as a legacy tech giant, shifting from its copier dominance by spinning off services (Conduent) and focusing on digital/IT solutions, facing shrinking revenue, tough competition (HP, Canon), and missing early PC/digital trends despite inventing key tech (GUI, mouse at PARC). They're trying to reinvent through acquisitions (Lexmark) and new models but remain challenged in a changing digital world, still a big player but not the iconic leader it once was.

AT&T HAS GONE THROUGH HUGE CHANGES. SBC Communications bought the original AT&T in 2005, took the name, and expanded by buying BellSouth, becoming today's AT&T Inc.. More recently, AT&T divested media assets (WarnerMedia/Discovery) to reduce debt, faced significant data breaches in 2024 leading to massive settlements, and dealt with customer complaints about price hikes and network congestion, while continuing to build out its 5G network.