Thomas Friedman’s book “The World is Flat” lays out a concise and understandable thesis of why the world is quickly becoming interconnected.  It is the result of places like Bangalore, India which employ tens of thousands of workers who do everything from tax work to stock analysis to even writing our newspaper articles.  We have become hooked on the ability to get more for less and do it quickly that has moved us to the solution of outsourcing.  I am not ready to pronounce this a “bad idea”, but it certainly has it growing edges as we have witnessed in the past few months here in the US.  As our economy has moved from industrial to service, we have lost the ability and/or interest to manufacture.  Instead, we have become a nation of brokers who get paid to find customers and package solutions for them.  I should know, that is what I have spent much of my adult life doing.

This post isn’t about pronouncing judgement as much as raising awareness.  It is less about throwing stones as is it casting vision.  Tomorrow’s knowledge worker’s will not get paid for what someone else can do in India.  They will get paid for having interpersonal skills or some other value added talent that is unable to be packaged and sent in via outsourcing.  Therefore, it is more important than ever for our young people to be able to speak in public, understand how other people view things, and sharpen their emotional intelligence.  The basic family unit is needed more than ever to be a training ground to do just these things.  

More to come…