I often enjoy turning on PBS during my lunch time break to see, hear and understand Charlie Rose and his interviewed guests. In my opinion, Charlie Rose is one of today’s top interviewers, and I find his work broadcast on PBS to be both insightful and thought-provoking. Recently he interviewed Thomas Friedman, Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for The New York Times (e.g. his columns at India Express - via Twenty Onward) and author his most recent book, The World Is Flat - A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century.
Outsourcing has been a hot issue for awhile now, especially in the high technology realm I occupy professionally, and its debate won’t be going away until it’s assumed. Nevertheless, outsourcing can be a source of anxiety and concern as most change is capable to generating–if not for you and I, for the people we may work with and/or for. So, as I observed the optimistic response from Mr. Friedman to Mr. Rose’s questions, I wanted to get a firsthand, deeper sense of the author’s perspective. (Thanks, Costco, for the great hardback price.)
The global competitive playing field is being leveled; the world is being flattened. There seems to be little to dispute in these statements; however, there is less constructive discussion about how to response progressively and effectively to this reality. Mr. Friedman closes his opening chapter saying, “It is the ambition of this book to offer a framework for how to think about it [i.e. 'the great challenge for our time...to absorb these changes [from a flattening world] in ways that do no overwhelm people but also do not leave them behind’] and manage it to our maximum benefit.”
Here are some of my initial takeaways:
- Globalization agent: country (1.0), company (2.0), individual (3.0 - present)
- Division of work forming: grunt (execution) vs. creative (strategic design, service)
- “Everyone has to focus on what exactly is their value-add.” -Jaithirth “Jerry” Rao
- “There is no real end to what can be done by whom.” -Vivek Kulkarni
- Organizations need to flatten, too, and rapidly in order to source decisions and work optimally.
As noted in my post title, this is just a prelude–after all, I’ve only finished the first chapter (”While I Was Sleeping”). Indeed, I get a keen sense that I’m about to wake up and receive a large portion of effective hindsight. Googling “‘Charlie Rose’ ‘Thomas Friedman’” suggests that I’m a bit late to the review party (e.g. Slate). Nonetheless, prepare the fire house!
5 responses so far ↓
1 Craig’s Musings » Blog Archive » Dual citizenship and object identity // Jul 10, 2005 at 11:26 am
[...] After finishing The World Is Flat, I picked up Winning the Future by Newt Gingrich, which I received for Father’s Day. (More on The World Is Flat in a separate post–excellent book on timely subject matter!) [...]
2 ErikThomas // Jul 13, 2005 at 10:35 pm
I have yet to grok the concept that a company that has no global competition can justify offshoring for the cost advantage by saying if they don’t do it they lose competitive advantage.
This is nonsense. As I stated in a previous post, I strongly believe that the 3 stakeholders in any company are (in order of importance): 1.) Employees, 2.) Customers, and 3.) Shareholders. I don’t see how executive management–which is becoming a sort of “royalty cast” within this country–can justify increasing their own wealth at the expense of turning out their own countrymen to the streets because they are unwilling to work for 1/3 pay.
However, I concede that for global companies that actually have global competition (I mean, for goodness sake, what company really competes with Microsoft?) then a global economy does indeed help level the playing field for them and I agree in theory that it makes sense to move in the direction of global free trade.
But at what cost? The unbelievably rapid global economic changes caused by the various AFTAs have resulted in a zero sum game. The ultimate end is countries like ours that have built wealth over the past couple centuries have to lose it for poor countries like India to gain it. This is just global redistribution of wealth.
I just suggest that we move more slowly in the global trade game, and try to pay attention to just how much damage our unbelievably huge trade deficit is going to cause to the US economy in the intermediate term.
If we believe in leaving our children with a better world–an argument used by environmentalists for pushing Kyoto, etc.–then we should be careful not to bankrupt our own country with unbridled and dangerous policy that is just too much too soon.
Well, there you have another musing…
Thanks, Craig!
Erik
3 Craig’s Musings » Blog Archive » The World Is Flat // Jul 20, 2005 at 3:21 pm
[...] Within the past month, I finished reading The World Is Flat. Now I can follow-up my previous post on this book. [...]
4 Craig’s Musings » Blog Archive » The World Is Flat // Jan 2, 2006 at 9:42 am
[...] In reply to Erik’s comment, a very sensible reason for a corporation or company to pursue outsourcing is when it must do so to effectively engage critical knowledge workers. The talent pool is global; it’s not local. I want the best candidates to be employees. I prefer to work locally and draw from my communities; however, I can see when this may not always be possible. Thomas Friedman makes the point of saying that today natural talent trumps geography. [...]
5 Craig’s Musings » Blog Archive » Our failing education system // Jan 2, 2006 at 10:41 am
[...] The other aspect of Re-imagine! that resonates with me is its 22nd chapter, “Getting It Right at the Start: Education for a Creative and Self-reliant Age,” which Tom Peters admits he wrote in a state of rage. Education, especially concerning math and science is also a serious topic of discussion in The World Is Flat. More on this later. [...]
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