The world is changing and it’s changing fast. It’s not that hard to spot. Changes and the speed at which they are occurring are in our face, every day. All you have to do is go into your favorite consumer electronic store on a weekend to be amazed by new gadgets, by what they can do and by how fast today’s iPhone will be yesterday’s iPhone. But the world is going thru profound changes as we are mesmerized by the iPad, the Kindle, the 70” LED televisions and the new entry level cars that park themselves while we sort thru your digital music collections on the media screen.
The world is changing and it’s changing fast, in front of our eyes and behind our backs. Most of us see it and feel it but we are rarely aware of the tremendous impact it is having on our lives and how it can change our livelihood in the blink of an eye. If you don’t yet know what I mean, think of auto workers in Detroit impacted by the globalization of manufactured goods. They were so focused on improving their wages and benefits that they were blind sided by factories being picked-up and droped-in southern states and other countries. And that specific scenario could be considered slow moving compared to the blinding speeds the job and talent market is moving at these days.
Broad change used to be a thing of generations, our grand parents telling us about how things were in the old days and how things have changed. Technology, among other things, has served as an accelerator and as the title of Thomas Friedman’s book suggests, the world has gone flat. He describes it as Globalization 3.0 and it will change how you must approach your career. I know what you are thinking. But do you think Detroit felt they could be hit the way they got hit? They are still picking up the pieces.
Friedman describes three major phases of globalization. The first driven by countries and empires (Globalization 1.0); the second driven by global corporations (Globalization 2.0); and the third driven by individuals aided by technology (Globalization 3.0) that has broken down the barriers required to interact and do business globally.
Detroit and many other manufacturing cities in the U.S. were hit by Globalization 2.0. Advancements in transportation and supply chains allowed the manufacture of many goods across the globe. Manual labor became a commodity. Large corporations with deep pockets that could afford global infrastructure dominated Globalization 2.0.
Where we are right now is Globalization 3.0 and it’s not the big that eat the small, it’s the fast that eat the slow. One of the most popular trends today is telecommuting. It’s great. For many knowledge jobs, we know we don’t have to be in the office every day to get things done. Technology allows us to work remote. Employees get flexibility and employers get lower over head costs. Win-win. The downside (or upside, depending on where and who you are) is that there is no difference if you are in California, Alabama, Florida, Mexico, Eastern Europe or India. I know, there are language barrieres and cultural differences, but even those will be smoothed out in the next generations. Ask a teenager in Mexico, India or Japan if they have seen The Hangover 2 and you will be surprised by the answer. The US has been exporting it’s pop culture for many years.
We are now in a world where knowledge has no borders. Knowledge driven jobs can’t be protected by immigration laws. A few years ago the U.S. began to restrict H1 visas in an attempt to prevent knowledge workers from other countries from taking U.S. jobs. As a result companies moved design and engineering centers into Mexico, India and other countries taking other jobs with them. It’s an open market. Ho do you regulte a knowledge worker in Mexico, hired by an company in India doing work for a company in the US?
Competition is now global and it does not matter where you are born or where you live. He/she with the most intelligence, ambition and drive will get farthest.
In his book, Thomas Friedman quotes Bill Gates as saying “Thirty years ago if you had a choice between being born a genius on the outskirts of Bombay or Shanghai or being born an average person in Poughkeepsie, NY, you would take Poughkeepsie, because your chances of thriving and living a decent life there, even with an average talent, were much greater. Now, I would rather be a genius born in China than an average guy born in Poughkeepsie.”
That’s the impact of Globalization 3.0. The talent war is over, talent won and the intense competition is right in our rearview mirror.
Silvia Flores is a Partner and Executive Recruiter with Alder Koten in Monterrey. Silvia provides Executive Search and Project Recruiting services to clients in the Manufacturing sector.
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I agree in so many ways with this article. We are Mexicans working in the US despite the difficulties of finding sponsors for a visa.
I would like to add that the internet and the social media already changed how opportunities for talent are allocated.
Theses days you do not have to be an employee in a 500 fortune company to be paid for developing products. Some companies aknowledge that there should be someone out there that has the solution to a specific problem that the company is facing and they are actively using social media to post the requirement for solution and would award those who submit the best solution. Therefore if you live at the top of any given mountain and have internet access and a brilliant mind you could have it all.
Interesting “walk” through globalization, thanks for sharing Silvia :
Interesting point of view on today and the future of globalisation. Employees face tougher competition, and corporates need to identify more than ever what is the core of their business.
Excellent article – one cautionary. There is a strong tendency to define the environment in terms of technology alone. Over my years in industry, I’ve found that the basics of human nature (i.e. Maslow) has not changed one wit, our toys (i.e. technology) has. Success and advancement will best be achieved by those who recognize how these two areas can be used – not just the technology!
Joe, I fully agree. Technology is just a very small component. One element that has been very evident in the past months, with the earthquake in Japan, is the high level of global integration beyond commerce. We are all impacted by major events regardless of where they happen
Thank you very-much Silvia for this fantastic article! You’ve covered all the points in your article, leaving no stones untouched! Thanks a lot for Appreciating!
The evolution to 3.0 is on its way,however “fast” or ” slow” will be more determined by contextual accuracy which again will be determined by knowledge bases,so we will have to wait and see the trajectory
Finally physical execution on the ground wll be a blend and interplay of complex forces
Patrick Kenney • Thank you Sylvia. Consumers around the globe have an increasing equal access to what is available in the (knowledge, goods, services & sovereign) markets and are adjusting demand accordingly. This globalization appears to establish an equalizer or, in other words, develops a common basis for knowledge, cost, quality and pricing as competition broadens. Interesting to consider the impact this has on the commoditization of development engineering, manufacturing and supply chain. Your article teases the need for much deeper analysis and lots of potential pro-action
Patrick, this is part of a book we are writing. I would love to have your input on the draft once we are done.
Silvia,
You say “..He/she with the most intelligence, ambition and drive will get farthest.” Everything else being equal, this statement is patently true; Unfortunately this is not the case in the globalized economy, hence this statement is an oversimplification of substantial proportions.
More critical to success in today’s world is solid education. Gone are the days of Sam Walton where drive, intelligence, and ambition alone allowed him to create the business empire he created, or Thomas Edison who, with only 10th grade education could invent the things he did. Today the competition is much fiercer, the unexplored frontiers far more complex and sophisticated, and require a set of tools far beyond native intelligence or ambition.
Regrettably, In the US, the overwhelming importance of providing a solid education to the current and next generations who must compete in the global world has been lost on our leaders, both in government and the corporate world. We barely TRAIN our young with rudimentary skills, enough to survive, but we do not EDUCATE them. We don’t teach them how to think, how to analyze and solve problems, how to extract lessons from past experiences, and most importantly how to learn. We don’t value knowledge, we value specific narrow competences, and even there we as a nation are a miserable failure.
Look at your own profession. Recruitment today is aimed at finding the individual with the specific skills, and not the ability to address issues and solve problems. In the technology field for example, unless you are thoroughly versed in a specific gizmo, you are relegated to the “undesirable” pile; If you can’t program a Cisco 6509, we don’t want you as a Network Engineer, even if you have 30 years of Network Engineering experience. And then we complain that we can’t find enough of the appropriate talent. What horse manure!!
So yes, if you gauge the likelihood of success within a narrow segment, say a small village in some country, you are right – intelligence, ambition and drive rule. But when you compare across the globe, in a global economy, then education trumps.
Dan.
Great work here Silvia! One thing is for certain, people are the difference in all aspects, and always will be. Doing what is necessary and not just what is required of us is the driver not only in business, but in our daily lives.
Silvia ,
I would like to stress the topic – is the fast that eat the slow –
Change is a never ending situation but adapt quickly to scenarios is key to sucess.
Lately the speed of change shall be enhanced with the number of iterations of such a potential changes … A specialist shall survive among the general competitors …