The World Is Flat

Author: Thomas L. Friedman
Published: 2007

Overseas call centers. Integrated inventory management. Even the voice on the drive-through speaker has been outsourced. Welcome to the flat world.

In version 3.0 of his book, Friedman covers the changes wrought by cheap digital infrastructure and rapid technological advances. The admonition for America: adapt or perish.

The book abounds with examples to the point of much repetition. One chapter is devoted to the road ahead and suggests the skills needed to succeed in the future:

• Adapting to changing environments
• Collaborative problem solving skills
• Applying inter-disciplinary skills to work

Sounds like a liberal arts education to me.

Even jobs that cannot be outsourced or flattened will change. It won't be enough to be a plumber; you'll have to be the best damn plumber in town. I wonder if this will apply to politicians as well. Probably not.

What the book doesn't seem to address is the potential affects of rising energy costs. At some point, it will be cheaper to manufacture certain goods locally rather than globally. Not to mention political backlash against dangerous products such as lead-tainted toys and salmonella laced tomatoes.

The book is very pro-globalization and makes fair arguments that it is overall a positive force. However, I am inclined to think the consumer focused engine of globalization is bad news. It won't matter if the entire world has HD-TV if we've made the planet uninhabitable.

Interesting book. If one doesn't have time/patience 600 pages worth, Friedman's newspaper columns might be a good alternative.