Book Report Segment #4 - The World Is Flat?

This next section looks at how America isn’t in place to make all the advancements that it needs to so sustain its place in the world for the years to come. He refers to a scientist, Dr. Shirley Jackson, whom discusses how without the proper education systems to promote innovation and scientific advancement like we had while Kennedy was in office, we may not be able to live up to our innovative standard that we have seen in the past 50 years. The flattening of the world along with the triple convergence has allowed everyone to access information and become relevant. Gaining a sustainable edge can only be acquired by the talent which is within the company. Right now, America doesn’t have the right base tools to make outstanding wealth in this flat world. Friedman points to three things which will allow success in the flat world. They are the proper infrastructure to get information out and in quickly and as efficient as possible, proper education programs to empower innovation within our own people, and the right governance to enhance and manage the flow with the flattened world. He explains six dirty little secrets that America has which will keep us from being the head power in the flat world. The first is that all of the scientists that were inspired by Kennedy and the space race are reaching their retirement and there haven’t been enough interested people to fill their places. So, in the years to come we will see a shortage in scientists which will definitely slow down our innovative engine. The second is our lack of education. Our country doesn’t recruit enough kids into the more advanced math, science, and engineering fields to keep pace with the other countries. Friedman talked about China and how they have a fair to lead into the global international science fair. China gets around 6 million applicants just to that while we only sent 65 thousand to the international fair. Bottom line is that if we can’t change our education system and get young minds interested in changing the world scientifically, we won’t be able to rely on our own innovation. We will have to play catch up to the new powers entering the flat world; China and India. The third secret is the ambition gap. It has been proven that when companies outsource they save money and increase efficiency, but they also see an increase in the quality and productivity of the workers. The point here is that when a country is lacking in natural resources they look within themselves to make a difference by tapping into the energy, creativity, and intelligence of their own people. This means that they, in turn, work harder and use their leisure time more wisely. Instead of playing video games and falling into pop culture, the people of China and India are reading and doing more productive things so that they can better themselves and their country as a whole as well. The next secret is the discrepancy between the top and bottom of our education system. We need to find a way to better educate all of our young people regardless of wealth or demographics. The fifth secret Friedman describes is the funding gap. The main idea is that we cannot expect to compete with China and India for jobs without a well rounded and educated workforce, something we are clearly lacking in as seen in the previous four dirty little secrets. The last secret is our insufficient web infrastructure. We don’t have people connected to the web as we should and therefore we aren’t getting our educated people connected to each other. The better connected we get, the more automated innovation can become because people have more time and energy to innovate. A quote in the book from Craig Mundie of Microsoft sums this up. “If the flat-world platform makes innovation and production so much more efficient, but your people can’t take advantage of it, because they don’t have the infrastructure or the education to do so, then sooner or later you are going to get hosed.” Think about that. Moving on, Friedman lists five crucial areas to which the American government can instill in us as its people to succeed in the flat world. These areas are leadership, muscle building, cushioning, social activism, and parenting. Leadership, social activism, and parenting are self explanatory but the other two are not. Muscle building refers to building the “muscle”, or the tools within a job that allow one to retain that job. Cutting the “fat”, or the things that induce slacking off, are what we need to eliminate in order to be a power in the flat world. Cushioning means to set yourself up so that if you lose a job somewhere you have the tools instilled within you to retain a job elsewhere. Basically, Friedman is stating that the days of people working one place for a lifetime is over. The next section goes into how developing countries fit into this flat world. For developing countries it is all about knowing where you are in the world and being willing to develop in the way to success. It all goes back to the four basic things Friedman has professed throughout this whole book; infrastructure, education, governance, and environment. After those things it then is about having the right economic policies that can open your countries doors to easy import/export trade. Learn from the policies of other successful nations in the flat world and adopt what they have done. Striving to put your country alongside the world’s top flat-world countries will aid in successful development. Get your stuff straight the first time so the transition is clean and efficient. Instill within your country the correct culture and mind sight to put yourselves at the top of the chain. Your culture must be open and willing to change and mold itself into the flat world. If self interests must be put aside so that the economy and country as a whole can prosper, then so be it. Friedman sees globalization as having the potential to lift many people out of poverty if done right and this has been seen in China and India. The key is to instill within the country virtually everything discussed in this book and always be adaptable to change. The last section that I read for this part of the report is on companies and the flat world. He provides nine rules that companies will need to look to and abide by in order to stay afloat within the flat world. As I read through the section and the rules they all dealt with virtually the same common theme. Basically to sum up the section Friedman is saying that a company must be open to change, willing to change, strive to stay ahead of the curve, do whatever it must, compete with itself as well as with others, and have a sense that you are never at the full capacity of your imagination and can always, continuously improve. This section really resonated with our in class discussions lately because it all ties to proper leadership and culture. Determining which leadership roles and societal culture to run with in order to make your country/company the best it can be to flow with the flat world. The organizational behaviors of the people within the organization or country are the key pieces of the puzzle. Have the right pieces in the right place and you will succeed.