As I imaged living in the Philippines where I'd be considered a size 2 rather than a size 10 in Vietnam or here in the states, I couldn’t get over what an international experience I was having. I wondered where the ensemble was designed, where the fabric and thread was manufactured, where the packaging supplies were assembled. What other countries and individuals were involved in the creation and shipping of this lovely and yet very affordable outfit? that has found it's way into my closet and often business meetings I attend.
Today I finally finished the updated and expanded 2006 version of The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century by New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman. The first version was published in 2005 and the new version is already out-of-date in some respects as there is no mention of You Tube or my beloved Etsy to be found.
Contrary to the title’s insinuation, Friedman is not arguing that planet Earth is not a round sphere, he is sharing his observations of the flattening of the world economy and specifically how technological advances are allowing more and more people in all parts of the world to access information and resources that dramatically increase the quality of their lives.
Yep, he’s talking about globalization, the good, the bad, and the ugly; however he puts much more emphasis on the good than the bad and ugly. He writes, “The iron law of globalization is very simple: If you think it is all good, or you think it is all bad, you don't get it. Globalization has empowering, disempowering, homogenizing and particularizing, democratizing and authoritarian tendencies built into it.”
He does address the bad and the ugly too by delving into the confusing and complicated topics of environmental and terrorism threats. These two factors alone could wipe out any previous flattening progress. Not everyone is feeling the impact of flattening and better life quality because they may be too frustrated or out of touch with the rest of the world due to really bad dictatatorships; the billions of individuals who are too hungry or sick and just trying to survive the day, and lastly the too humiliated which leads us to the Arab-Israeli conflict and basically the Arab-Muslim world where the majority of individuals are not able to benefit from the advances in techological innovations leading to terrorism which is a major threat to the flattening process. Somehow, we have to reach out and help many parts of the middle East and Africa become part of this process for their own good and for ours.
Environmental concerns also pose a major threat to the flattening process and Friedman does an excellent job of detailing how the flattening process in and of itself is posing a threat to our environmental well-being. For instance, a few years ago when Wal-Mart moved into China, there was a day when 1,100 air conditioners were purchased at only one Wal-Mart store. Believe it or not, in 2004, on average, 30,000 vehicles a month were purchased in China and added to the highway system. Consider the environmental impact of these two examples alone. With a higher quality of life, more independence, and resources for everyone, the environment can and will be strained. Friedman calls for us to become innovative in our solutions to these upcoming and current concerns.
One area that Friedman neglects to address is the group of people that I will label the "too disconnected". Yes, technological innovations have allowed more and more people to communicate with the world-at-large, but how's our communication at home, between individuals, and most importantly with ourselves?
With the advent of and widespread use of cell phones, text messaging, and email, it's easy to see that we are communicating more; yet at the same time communicating less with those right in front of us. I see it everywhere on college campuses and business locations a like, individuals are busy listening to their iPods or talking to who-knows-who on their cell phones and they don't even acknowledge the people who are around them. We are more connected and yet more disconnected at the same time. What ramifications does this have for us? I may be making a big leap here, but perhaps it causes another type of terrorism, school violence, which unfortunately has just started to move from the k-12 system to the higher education level just this week in fact at Virginia Tech.
Taking both an optimistic yet realistic perspective, Friedman has the unique ability to share his thoughts in a relatively bipartisan point of view. He’s quick to criticize both party lines. My kinda guy!
Over the last few years, Friedman has traveled all over the world asking top business and political leaders the same question, “Where were you when you discovered the world was flat?” Their answers outlined in the book provide extensive evidence of a world where communication barriers are rapidly being torn down and innovations we never imagined are now part of our daily lives. Think of this, less than 15 years ago most people hadn’t even heard of the internet, now most folks can’t work if their internet connection is down.
My favorite innovation of the last few years is TiVo. I wouldn’t have been able to read this book if it wasn’t for TiVo. I love TiVo. It lets me record the shows I want to watch, watch them when I want to watch them, and skip the commercials. Instead of sitting down to watch hours of random TV shows at night, I know watch my favorite shows on Thursday night from 9-10 PM. I have been able to shrink my TV viewing time from a weekly average of 5-10 to 1 hour. This gives me lots more time to read, blog, or watch silly You Tube videos!
Friedman outlines in great detail the ten forces that have flattened the world. They include: the fall of the Berlin Wall on 11/9/89 which was quickly followed by the release of Windows 3.0 in May of 1990, Netscape going public in August of 1995, work-flow software, uploading (which includes community-developed software and resources such Apache, Linux, and Wikipedia), outsourcing, off-shoring, supply-chaining, in sourcing, informing (which refers to search engines), and what Freidman refers to as the steroids – digital, mobile, personal, and virtual resources. Heck, the other day, I “virtually” tried on bathing suits on Lands End’s websites by typing in my body measurements and weight so I could see how it would look on my body frame. The model even had a similar hair color and cut, and skin color.
In order to stay part of this brave new world, Friedman believes it is best to be what he calls an “untouchable” meaning someone who remains employable and employed. There will always be some individuals such as the top cancer researcher at the National Institutes of Health or J.K. Rowling because, “these people perform functions in ways that are so special or specialized that they can never be outsourced, automated, or made tradable by electronic transfer.”
Second, are the folks who are “localized” and “anchored.” This category includes individuals whose jobs must be done in a specific location or face-to-face including restaurant servers, plumbers, hair stylists, nurses, dentists, retail sales clerks, and divorce lawyers. Notice that these jobs can be in various pay ranges with various levels of experience.
The folks who need to worry are the “new middlers”, those in positions that could be and are being outsourced to other countries or simply eliminated due to technological advances. In order to make it in the flat world, it’s important for members of the work force to be great collaborators and orchestrators, synthesizers, explainers, leveragers, adapters, focused on environmentally sound solutions, passionate personalizers, and localizers.
Essentially, we need to work well with others, have excellent communication and customer service skills, love what we’re doing, constantly look for new and improved ways of doing things, and be ready to personalize our services to not only individuals but to communities, oh, and don’t forget, clean up the environment while we’re at it! Sounds like a tall order and I’m tired just typing all this.
Friedman breaks it down for us into a simple equation, CQ+PQ>IQ. Basically, our curiosity and passion quotients together are greater than our intelligence quotient. We need to be curious and passionate about the work we’re doing, always ready and willing to learn more not only for our customer’s sake, but for our own.
Hopefully my review will entice you to read this 571 page book or at least provide you with enough to get the gist of it so you can survive and thrive in today’s and tomorrow’s world marketplace.
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