The World Is Flat

I finally finished reading The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman. His basic premise is that technology and free trade have allowed domestic companies and developing nations to compete on a previously unknown scale. There isn't a lot to disagree with about his opinion, and there are some interesting anecdotes about how Mexico is outsourcing to India and India is outsourcing to Sri Lanka. Overall, though, the first 400 pages of the book are a complete review of what I thought was common knowledge. You mean IT is being outsourced to India? China is churning out computer science graduates ten times faster than the U.S you say? This shouldn't be news. If this book really is "a must read for today's CEO", as a friend of mine says, then those CEOs should be slapped with a fish for being hopelessly out of the loop. Throughout the book, I felt that Friedman failed to find a single voice of dissension. Everyone he interviewed agreed with him wholeheartedly. I can't believe that he couldn't find a single differing opinion, and this is why the book doesn't actually further the global markets debate. I have two personal anecdotes myself that aren't addressed at all. A co-worker returned last week from five weeks in India training a new QA department there. We hired 12 developers there and within two weeks we fired 7 of them. There are serious quality issue with many of the offshore outsourcers and Friedman couldn't find anyone that even mentioned this? Also, Bill Gates is petitioning congress right now to allow more visas for foreign workers because of a shortage of qualified technology workers in the U.S. Not because the labor is cheaper but because there aren't enough skilled workers in the U.S. I just finished four years at St. Thomas to get a Master's in Software Engineering, and I'm not good enough for Microsoft? I'd work for them in a heartbeat. It is hard not to be angry about this. I would have preferred Friedman to address the critics with more than a two page dismissal. Skip the first 400 pages and just read the conclusion, where Friedman talks about imagination being the driver for the next century... whether the world increases its overall prosperity or collectively withers in the face of global terrorism. "There are two ways to flatten the world. One is to use your imagination to bring everyone up to the same level, and the other is to use your imagination to bring everyone down to the same level." He goes into a superb comparison between the Mormon CEO of Southwest Airlines, who outsourced his call centers to Salt Lake City at-home housewives, and Osama bin Laden, who uses the same technologies and sourcing techniques to run his global supply chain. In the last 16 pages he makes some very insightful observations, like, "In societies that have more memories than dreams, too many people are spending too many days looking backward. They see dignity, affirmation, and self-worth not by mining the present but by chewing on the past. Indeed, such societies focus all their imagination on making that imagined past even more beautiful than it ever was, and then cling to it like a rosary or a strand of worry beads, rather than imagining a better future and acting on that." I suggest going to the bookstore, getting a latte, and reading the conclusion in one of the comfy chairs. You'll save yourself $25 by not buying the book. Of course, you may want to buy it just to support a native Minnesotan. You decide.