Review:

Well who would have thought? So it’s flat again is it? As far as I am concerned, the title is quite witty. This book changed my view on the world and I believe it will do the same for you. Let me make a quick note that this is Friedman’s first edition of the book. I have yet to find the time to read his updated version, but something tells me I ought to and I am sure I will.

I have long heard talk of a force that is leveling the global playing field and removing a lot of our competitive advantages as American citizens. If one wants any chance of preparing themselves for what is in store, I suggest you to start with understanding where we are today and what it means for our future. Enter The World Is Flat.

The subtitle of this book, “A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century,” is very appropriately named. It is astounding all that has gone on in the past century, even the past decade, and Thomas Friedman manages to touch on all of it. He starts with his “Ten Forces That Flattened the World.” Think you know what they are? You might be very surprised. He then uses these ten forces to help us better understand the rest of his explanations throughout the book.

The biggest takeaway for me is that this book is a call to action. Friedman’s description of the ever- flattening world is a way of him slapping America (and anyone else in the developed world) in the face and telling us that it is time to do something, because if we don’t then we will be left in the proverbial dust for the “hungry” nations to do as they please.

Friedman’s puts a lot of focus on India and China with relation to the United States. The U.S. is in a very dangerous position. We are in a state of complacency. I guess that is what being the most powerful nation in the world will do to you. As is mention elsewhere on this site, satisfied goals do not motivate. That is certainly no excuse. We may be at the top now but China and India are on their way up, and when you get the momentum of a couple billion people, it gets pretty tough to stop. Asian countries are now graduating 8 times as many bachelor engineers as the U.S. I think we are stating to see Friedman’s point.

Insourcing and outsourcing are becoming more and more of a threat as technology makes it all but seamless to have the majority of one’s labor and operations done in other countries. If you think you have not seen it and do not experience it, you’re wrong. The average Dell computer sees around four hundred companies in three continents before it hits your doorstep. Next time you call tech support for your favorite product, try having a little fun by asking the rep where he is. You would be foolish to expect them to be in a location anywhere near your current time zone or continent for that matter. It’s not only happening with customer service and call centers though. It is happening with accounting, taxes and engineering too. And it does not stop there. Hell you can even get your own executive assistant in Bangalore to take care of all your presentations, research and any other dirty work for as little as $1,500 a month (probably even cheaper by now). I am sure some of us would have liked that in university.

The most important idea that I took from this book is that if any of us want to have a chance at competing with the new opponents on this globally flat playing field, then we need to take our personal and professional development very seriously. We need to find our niches and become the experts. Whether or not we do this is up to us, but there is one thing that is for sure. There are over a billion people out there who are taking this very seriously. The key is positioning us to offer something valuable that cannot be found elsewhere. The question is what might that something be? Reading through Friedman’s thoughts will get you off to a great start.

Valuable Quotes:

“There is only one message: You have to constantly upgrade your skills. There will be plenty of good jobs out there in the flat world for people with the knowledge and ideas to seize them.”
—Thomas Friedman

“…I am suggesting that we do more to push our young people to go beyond their comfort zones, to do
things right, and to be ready to suffer some short-run pain for longer gain.”
—Thomas Friedman

“Remember in China when you are one in a million—There are 1,300 other people just like you”
—Thomas Friedman

“In China today, Bill Gates is Britney Spears. In America today, Britney Spears is Britney Spears- and that is our problem. “
—Thomas Friedman

“Out of clutter, find simplicity. From discord, find harmony. In the middle of difficulty, lies opportunity.”
-Albert Einstein

“To build may have to be the slow and laborious task of years. To destroy can be the thoughtless act of a single day.”
-Sir Winston Churchill

“The first rule of intelligent tinkering is save all the pieces.”
-Glenn Pricket, VP of Conservation International

-Reading for Your Success