7/09/2010 |
(en una verdadera perspectiva global)
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Interesting, informative, timely book; wrong title. In fact,
the word “flat” belongs to the “old” material way of thinking and acting
while the book is about the impact that the “young” digital way of
working has, and will have, on our lives and the lives of our newfound worldwide
digital neighbors.
Probably a better title would have been “The marvels and
threats of technological global interconnectedness: ready or not we are on a
roll!” or something along this line of thinking. It would not have been a
title as memorable and marketable as “The world is flat” yet it would have
been much closer to the central meaning of Friedman’s findings and reflections
spanning several countries. Besides the word “flat” can be associated to
something static, not animated while Friedman describes to us a world full of
dynamic energy and ambition linking up, in real time, the ideas and work of many
people located in several corners of world. Yet, I want to point out right away,
this is not a book about technology, it is a book about day to day working and
living in the 21st century on a truly global scale.
The book is quite readable, filled with facts and real life
stories, and it touches several perspectives: social, cultural, political and
business. I am going to focus this short review on the key messages and meanings
related to the business perspective; the way the world of work has changed
during the last few years and the way it will continue to change.
THE TRIPLE CONVERGENCE
Friedman
effectively identifies and categorizes three key dynamics that have set this new
interconnected world in motion. 1) The technological
convergence of work flow software and hardware: this is the infrastructure
that has materially connected the world allowing for the faster creation, flow
and sharing of knowledge regardless of geography; 2) The human factor (managers, workers, innovators, business consultants, IT specialists etc.) during the last couple of years has
finally been able to start utilizing at best the technological potential available:
now there are new ideas, new business models that are benefiting from the marked
shift within the value creation chain that has changed from vertical (with a set
structure of hierarchical players and hierarchical roles) to horizontal, or
better yet networked (it is not longer the hierarchy that is relevant in value
creation but the information and knowledge of the peple involved and more and
more people now can have the tools to access information and develop knowledge);
3) Within the combination of the two previous factors, the third one has
surfaced and it is making a key difference in spreading and accelerating the
dynamics and consequences of an interconnected world: new
players
entering the stage with the opportunity “to plug and play” and the ability
to develop and sell their knowledge (more and more people now, from many
different countries, can potentially participate to the value creation
“chain” – it would be more proper to say “network” -
and many of them already do: see for example the fast developing IT
sector in India). A key factor characterizing many of this new players is a driving ambition to effectively make a difference in what they do. It is an
ambition that leads them to integrate smart and hard work.
THE MANY EFFECTS OF THE DIGITAL SHOCK (AND THEY KEEP ON
COMING)
Friedman makes an interesting observation relevant to the
afterward of the dot.com failure of 2001; back then many felt that what happened
came to show that the digital technology was not going to change the traditional
key dynamics of business. There is a lot of truth to that: technology did not
change the fundamental market rules nor what made a company truly profitable. At the
same time the end of the dot.com contributed to accelerate the changes that we
now perceive; there are two main reasons for this 1) many of the American
dot.com companies went bust yet they contributed in a relevant way to lasting
changes: “the bandwith to connect brainy
India with high-tech America” was set to stay! 2) many of the Indian IT
engineers that used to work in America during the dot.com went back home and
started to benefit and utilize at full that very same bandwith...
This
is an example of
what makes the world increasingly “shrinking” and really
interconnected generating all sorts of new ways of creating value. The new
technology enables a wider variety of outsourcing applications (one of the many
examples: American companies with their customer service call centers located in
India or the Philippines). Because of this, and because of other changes
relevant to the ways to perceive and structure business models, during the last
few years we have gone even beyond outsourcing
into:
•
homesourcing
(for example: Jet Blue Airways Corp. utilizes agents working on the
booking system from their own home – it is to note the marked increase in
productivity: 30%)
•
open-sourcing (for
example: self-organizing collaborative communities that are developing software
through the interaction of both IT specialists and IT amateurs “plugging in”
from all over the world; one of the most important outputs of this new work model is
the operating system Linux)
•
insourcing (for
example: UPS receives and repairs Toshiba’s printers and computers
utilizing its own specialized technicians certified by Toshiba. This business
model was set in order to reduce lead times in repairs and improve the service
image of the IT manufacturer. UPS totally reinvented its business model with
this client in order to add actual value to their logistics services).
All of these new ways to create value have in common two key
factors that represent at the same time a cause and and effect of the
“shrinking” interconnected world:
1.
a shift in organizational power and leverage from
hierarchy to networks: technology enables a wider distribution of information in real time
allowing front line people to make decisions and further develop value. This way
they create
knowledge by interacting within networks focused on finding integrated solutions
for customers;
2.
a shift in the traditional relationship with customers and suppliers from
a vertical integration with set roles to a more horizontal and even networked
integration made of partnerships
in which the actual role of the entities involved changes in a flexible way
depending on what is needed to create value (see the UPS-Toshiba
insourcing example above mentioned).
By their very nature, all of these dynamics, come to shape a complex
puzzle which ultimate image keeps changing enabling even more possible
combinations among its various parts.
THE NEW COMPETITIVE LEVERAGE
Nowadays, the global business reality outlined by
Friedman’s observations, reflections and interviews is quite unsettling for
many companies and businesses of the Western world. No longer there are “safe
heavens” with industries and business models delivering consistent results. In
a “shrinking” interconnected world everything becomesmore complex to manage
and to understand. The only way to try to ensure consistency in the growth of a
business is to constantly focus on and implement ways to create value (and cut
costs) by means that cannot be digitalized or managed by routine. All of this
requires to be able to understand and utilize the new opportunities offered by
the dynamics of the triple convergence. Some of the key ones that Friedman
identifies and outlines by observing what companies on a global scale are
actually doing, are:
•
the ability to create
stronger synergies among companies and people by wisely sharing knowledge and putting it to
work in an integrated way without creating unnecessary walls among people,
departments and companies;
•
the opportunity for small companies to act big by utilizing the empowering means of the digital technology
and the logistics services available to them on a global scale;
•
the opportunity for big companies to act small by letting their customers truly select and customize to
their needs products and services;
•
means to facilitate a more
efficient cooperation among companies in order to create value within projects that otherwise
no company can develop alone (for example within many of the technology or biomedicine
fields).
Most of all these new dynamics require a new mind set, a new
way of looking at reality and shape it, a new way in which people’s talent,
vision and creativity take an ever increasing role. Friedman effectively
summarizes the concept by pointing out a quote relevant to the future of the
accounting industry; the quote is by Gary Boomer CEO of Boomer Consulting
“those who can create value through leadership, relationship and creativity
will transform the industry, as well as strengthen relationships with their
existing clients”. A statement like this can seem radical for an industry like
accounting traditionally operating according to a mind set quite rigid...
No longer there are “safe havens” of tradition from the new global dynamics of
business.
THE ULTIMATE ISSUE OF THE INTERCONNECTED WORLD: IDENTITY
Within
all of these changes, often turning upside down business models and totally
reshaping value creating flows, the ultimate issue becomes identity both at the
individual and organizational level. At
the individual level, Friedman offers an interesting way to categorize
identity. In order “to make it” within these new dynamics you need to be:
either special, specialized or anchored. A few of us are special (meaning able
to create value in the perception of a truly global market place - see for
example major movies or sports stars). If you are not special you need at least
to become specialized in a way that your work cannot be outsourced (all sorts of
knowledge workers belong to this category and continuos learning of new skills
is the only way to access this category). Finally, if you are neither special or
specialized you can still make it if you are anchored (you perform a job that by
its nature is “anchored” to the your location: chefs, plumbers, nurses,
doctors belong to this category). At the
organizational level the issue of identity becomes even more complex to
sort out. For example, when you realize that in order to develop your business
you need to start looking at your competitor with a new mindset perceiving it as
a client, a supplier, or better yet, a partner; the identity that until now has
given your organization the strength to distinguish itself starts to be
threatened. In order to overcome this feeling you need to have a clear idea
about at least two key topics that make your organization unique: 1) what are
your strengths and and strategic assets? 2) what does your organization really
do well? This way we truly identify the core or the organizational identity, we
come to articulate what the organization is really all about. This way we get to
realize what exactly are the pieces of the puzzle we can manage within the
rapidly shifting puzzle game generated by the interconnected world.
A FINAL THOUGHT
Friedman global reporting on the “flat” or better
“shrinking and interconnected” world is an informative and intriguing read,
at times unsettling, at times empowering. The unsettling component is relevant
to the fact that everything seems to change and to keep changing at an ever
increasing pace (the book was published last April and I read that Friedman is
working on an updated version already...). As human beings we are naturally set
to be more comfortable with the predictable and therefore it is quite natural to
feel unsettled by realizing what’s happening around us. At the same time, the
message emerging from Friedman’s book (even if himself does not articulate it
completely) is that all the new tools and means he talks about are geared
towards giving us the opportunity (and often it is not an opportunity but a
requirement) to start truly learning about ourselves: what we are all about,
what we do best, what are our talents (and all of us have talents of some kind),
what are the possible ways to ensure that our talents are put to work in a
meaningful and value creating way. Relating to Friedman’s categories of
individual identity we cannot all be special; what we can do is to learn how to
look deep inside of us developing some critical thinking and smart ways to work
(and to imagine and shape our work) in order to make sure that the “flat
world” instead of flattening us makes us blossom in all what we can be and
become. And this is why I do not like that “flat” adjective in the title of
the book... There is nothing really flat in this “new world” everything
seems to me quite 3D and in full colors! Technology is changing the way we live
and work, OK; but let’s not forget that the real value of technology is near
to nothing without our ideas, creativity and talents focusing on developing and
utilizing it! Let’s never forget that! This is why, according to me,
Friedman’s book is, above all, empowering!
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