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Brave New World Order
By audhill | February 10, 2008
There is so much spin on how innovative and transcending the new world is. How much is going to change for nearly everyone. I’m not so sure. For one, I’m not so sure how new any of this is… it seems to be that new technologies are layered onto universal ideas and repackaged as a totally new world. Most of the markers you list here are the same markers that have always measured the successful.
Great Collaborators and Orchestrators who are able to communicate a global business opportunities to a local market and implement the company’s goals.
Great Synthesizers who are able to take new discoveries and make products from them.
Great Explainers who are able to teach or explain complex ideas in simple terms.
Great Leveragers who are able to identify problems and solve them quickly and permanently.
Great Adapters who have the deep, versatile knowledge and attitude to be able to adapt to new opportunities quickly when they become available.
Green People who will work in research and development of environmentally friendly and/or renewable energies.
Passionate Personalizers put a personal touch on mundane jobs that make them marketable.
Math Lovers are people that are able to create mathematic algorhythms that organize and manipulate the digital data that people will need to use.
The Great Localizers can translate the global economy into local opportunities.
Secondly, not everything is wonderful. I do not believe, for instance, that constant self marketing for your survival is accomplishment. A chronic state of insecurity marketed as the new expectation is less about a brave new informational age then it is just a modern twist on the devaluing of workers I reject it as a good, even if there are true elements for some.
Of course, a curious, adaptable and constant learner with a positive attitude will always rise in nearly any environment. My husband calls this making your own luck. But, they aren’t the only ones to rise. In the political world it’s not always what you know and I don’t see that the political world is so very changed. Personality, position and type go a long way. If people like you… you go far (even if you’re none too bright) If you’re what is expected for the job (race, gender, interests, age, looks, credentials, connections etc) you have an edge. The brave new world has yet to surplant human nature or bias.
Finally, I think that the local phenomenon is underplayed. A lot of what is referred to here will not affect most people all that much. I could be wrong, but I think it’s pretty likely that most jobs are going to remain localized for most people. More people will be nurses, doctors, teachers, police, medtechs, child care workers, store managers, contractors, firemen, hairdressers… etc. etc. then will be live in some rarefied flat world of growth and innovation without end. For most of us, the local world is the world.
Topics: Uncategorized, education |
3 Responses to “Brave New World Order”
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February 15th, 2008 at 10:26 pm
You make a good case for expending effort to improve our local world - think globally act locally.
Our worlds are narrow and broad simultaneously and we are most deeply impacted by that which is close up - be it warm, fuzzy and expansive or horrific and violating. The difficulty with focusing only on the near and dear is that what appears to be happening far away can sneak into your household. You know, like some poor unhappy folk on the other side of the world decide it’s better to die and have their fill of virgins in heaven by blowing up themselves and a village-worth of other folk.
The further down the line I get the less I understand about the BS that passes for greatness/importance in a commercial world. But, it’s the world in which I live, breathe and have my being.
So, I guess I either gain a deeper understanding of how to play in this Life or get tossed and turned by those forces that most everyone else agrees are powerful and, if not good, too big to do much about. It’s a real balancing act to play and not get lost in the game.
Maybe that’s why so many people end up hustling for the pension, beating their kids into submission, voting for the most charismatic and charming politician (no matter how mentally dull) without daring to confront those big forces that could crush us; without looking beyond our localized lives.
I don’t pretend to be above, beyond or more evolved (at least not anymore). I can see the tip of my nose more clearly than I can see around the corner, into the corporate boardroom or across the economic/environmental landscape. In fact, I can get lost in the pits and pimples found on this sizable nose and find it far more rewarding to focus on squeezing and cleansing its surface than
trying to change/illuminate the world at large.
And then there is the idea of cleansing from the inside out. Creating the Life that minimizes those skin disturbances and maybe frees up some energy to spend on the larger world.
Well, my friend, I’m blabbering now.
Nice piece you’ve written here.
Gayle
February 16th, 2008 at 2:00 am
As my instructional technology team studied The World is Flat last fall, one thing that struck me was that a large part of the concepts that Friedman discussed weren’t new. The new thing is that they are able to be applied over a longer distance. I think that the hype of outsourcing has overshadowed the importance of localization and personal service. That isn’t to deny that more opportunities will open up that will allow people to expand their reach to a global market, but I believe that will be in addition to the local market, not replacing the local market. People will always need local services.
Now, we are reading Dan Pink’s A Whole New Mind and so far I am noticing the same thing. The importance of right-brained skills is nothing new, for some reason he is just recently focused on it. We have to be careful not to overreact when authors try to make a point. Thanks for bringing a little clarity to the conversation. I appreciate the ideas that you share on this blog.
Jamie
February 16th, 2008 at 9:20 pm
Thanks for the comments. I really appreciate getting feedback.
Thanks Gayle for the reminder that local begins in our own lives… in our choices, right down to what we put in our bodies.
Jamie, it sounds like you work in a great place where your team actually studies a book together and discusses it. I’ll have to check out A Whole New Mind.