When New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman was in New
Zealand recently he gave a full room of listeners a few home truths about where
he believes our world is heading. And I found it intriguing.
He spoke to a packed-out space at AUT University, courtesy
of Fulbright New Zealand, about his new book, the state of America and what we
as individuals can do to keep up with the play.
The lecture, titled ‘Is America in Decline’, was not just
relevant to Americans however, instead many of the issues Friedman touched on
are just as important for New Zealanders, our up-and-coming workforce and even
students.
He says his country has three great challenges; how they
chose to deal with the most important thing happening in the world right now- globalisation
and the IT revolution, the deficit and energy and the environment.
The point he really wanted to get across to his audience
falls under his first challenge; Friedman says the world has gone from
connected to hyper-connected. Most of us are now web enabled all the time and
as he points out there is now 3G mobile network at the summit of Mt Everest.
And it is not just those in the workforce that are going to
be affected by this shift, it is those still to hit the workforce right across
the world too.
“All our kids are competing against everyone else. They are
competing against above average geniuses. Our world is hyper-connected, and
average is over.”
He says everyone will have to find
their “extra something” if they want to remain competitive in any environment. This competitive edge is
especially important for those who are non-routine workers.
“Non-routine workers now have to be creative,”
he says. “You have to invent and then re-invent your job and bring something
extra to everything you do.”
Workers have to be the best, be
critical thinkers and be problem solvers to stay with the ‘game’.
“You’ll need to do old work in a
new way.”
He uses the example of a big law
firm in the USA having just hired a chief innovation officer.
“You need every worker today to
be present, you can no longer just show up.”
So how do we become those above
average people who will soon be running our world?
There are a few things we’ll all
need to have he says, and they are the three Cs.
Creativity
Communication
Collaboration.
He also suggests people start thinking
like four very different people.
The first, an immigrant, “stay
hungry and be a paranoid optimist”. The second, an artisan, “make
every item as a one-off”. The third, an innovator, “think
better. Think you’re never quite finished. Life-long learning is the only
survivable skill”. And finally, think like a
waitress at his favourite restaurant, Perkins Pancake Palace. “Think entrepreneurially
in everything you do”.
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| We have to all be creative to stay in the game according to Thomas Friedman, New York Times columnist |
