179. The world is yours (not flat)
Thomas Friedman sold 2 million copies of The World is Flat, which contains some 500 pages.
Now, Friedman has come out with an "updated" version that has... 600 pages.
There's a line in that updated version that struck me. An Indian interviewee told Friedman: "In India and China, we know EXACTLY what we have to do. We will do in the near future exactly what you Americans (and Canadians, I assume) are now doing. Your job is to invent the future."
A better strategy or terminology, I think, is to "design new products." It's more down to Earth than "invent the future" (unless you're Steve Jobs!).
If you can design new products, which hopefully should either be digital (for e-commerce) or easily shipped anywhere on the planet in 36 hours via FedEx, then...
The World is Yours.
Indeed, the book title The World is Flat implicitly says that "the world is theirs" (the 3 billion new capitalists from India and China). The world is theirs because they can now "plug" into the global capitalist system and create value, thereby building their wealth and future.
The World is Yours is not descriptive, but more prescriptive as an idea. Friedman says in his book that Indian and Chinese workers are using their education and intelligence to leverage the Web's power to create and distribute value.
In the West, we have to use more than mere intelligence and education. We have to use our imagination to create new products and upload them onto the Web (in fact, there's a whole chapter in Friedman's updated version about the uploading phenomenon -- which goes beyond open-source software development. Anyone today can become a creator and sell his / her creative output on the Web).
My conclusion is that if you think that the "world is yours," then it shall be. It's just a matter of realizing that opportunity is now here, and we must seize it.
(Try this. There are two ways of reading this sentence: opportunityisnowhere).
"The world is yours" is in fact the prophetic message that Tony Montana saw on a blimp high in the sky, right after he killed his boss (who obviously wanted to stop his savage capitalistic ambition).
What does that scene mean? That you have to get rid of your boss in order to finally understand that the world is yours?
I think it just means that in today's Flat World, we are all on our own. We have to think like business people and make our own moves.
I guess the success secret is, "Think like a capitalist" (fire your boss if you have to).
Now, Friedman has come out with an "updated" version that has... 600 pages.
There's a line in that updated version that struck me. An Indian interviewee told Friedman: "In India and China, we know EXACTLY what we have to do. We will do in the near future exactly what you Americans (and Canadians, I assume) are now doing. Your job is to invent the future."
A better strategy or terminology, I think, is to "design new products." It's more down to Earth than "invent the future" (unless you're Steve Jobs!).
If you can design new products, which hopefully should either be digital (for e-commerce) or easily shipped anywhere on the planet in 36 hours via FedEx, then...
The World is Yours.
Indeed, the book title The World is Flat implicitly says that "the world is theirs" (the 3 billion new capitalists from India and China). The world is theirs because they can now "plug" into the global capitalist system and create value, thereby building their wealth and future.
The World is Yours is not descriptive, but more prescriptive as an idea. Friedman says in his book that Indian and Chinese workers are using their education and intelligence to leverage the Web's power to create and distribute value.
In the West, we have to use more than mere intelligence and education. We have to use our imagination to create new products and upload them onto the Web (in fact, there's a whole chapter in Friedman's updated version about the uploading phenomenon -- which goes beyond open-source software development. Anyone today can become a creator and sell his / her creative output on the Web).
My conclusion is that if you think that the "world is yours," then it shall be. It's just a matter of realizing that opportunity is now here, and we must seize it.
(Try this. There are two ways of reading this sentence: opportunityisnowhere).
"The world is yours" is in fact the prophetic message that Tony Montana saw on a blimp high in the sky, right after he killed his boss (who obviously wanted to stop his savage capitalistic ambition).
What does that scene mean? That you have to get rid of your boss in order to finally understand that the world is yours?
I think it just means that in today's Flat World, we are all on our own. We have to think like business people and make our own moves.
I guess the success secret is, "Think like a capitalist" (fire your boss if you have to).
posted by Super Peter at 3:52 PM
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