Mental breakthrough precedes economic breakthrough
In an interview today with Charlie Rose, Ajim Premji, the Chairman of Wipro, one of the six largest IT firms in the world, said that India underwent a mental breakthrough -- a quantum innovation -- to become a global player.
He said they succeeded in reinventing the services business model through trial and error.
In short, they used the Net to get rich.
After 3,000 years of poverty, Indian people finally see their golden opportunity to achieve prosperity. It would be a mistake for anyone to underestimate their resolve and determination to capitalize on this historical opportunity.
Meanwhile, sadly enough, I see people in North America still going about their business without much concern about how globalization is affecting their careers and livelihood.
Tom Friedman in fact wrote a book called The World is Flat to alert Americans to the coming "storm." The pragmatic summary HERE.
My point here is that if Indian people are smart enough to leverage the Web as a services delivery platform to create wealth for themselves individually and as a nation, why can't we do the same in North America?
I suspect one of the main challenges could be a historically based mental block. Indeed, we are so used to equating "work" with the "office." How can anyone work at home? To work, you have to get up in the morning, shave (or put on makeup), grab a cup of coffee and drive to the office. That's where work gets done.
Yet, India has fundamentally subverted that way of thinking. And they are getting rich doing it!
Infosys, for example, has gone from revenues of one billion to two billions, in only two years!
What can we learn from India?
(More in the next posting).
He said they succeeded in reinventing the services business model through trial and error.
In short, they used the Net to get rich.
After 3,000 years of poverty, Indian people finally see their golden opportunity to achieve prosperity. It would be a mistake for anyone to underestimate their resolve and determination to capitalize on this historical opportunity.
Meanwhile, sadly enough, I see people in North America still going about their business without much concern about how globalization is affecting their careers and livelihood.
Tom Friedman in fact wrote a book called The World is Flat to alert Americans to the coming "storm." The pragmatic summary HERE.
My point here is that if Indian people are smart enough to leverage the Web as a services delivery platform to create wealth for themselves individually and as a nation, why can't we do the same in North America?
I suspect one of the main challenges could be a historically based mental block. Indeed, we are so used to equating "work" with the "office." How can anyone work at home? To work, you have to get up in the morning, shave (or put on makeup), grab a cup of coffee and drive to the office. That's where work gets done.
Yet, India has fundamentally subverted that way of thinking. And they are getting rich doing it!
Infosys, for example, has gone from revenues of one billion to two billions, in only two years!
What can we learn from India?
(More in the next posting).
posted by Super Peter at 9:42 PM
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