World is Flat

There was a joke making rounds some time back about corporate meeting culture. Let me quickly tell that joke first and then back to a more serious topic, which this post is going to be!

A senior colleague, whilst preparing for a yet another meeting, gives one idea to enjoy these boring corporate meetings to his newly recruited colleague. Write down these words on a piece of paper he tells. The words are: globalisation, innovation, leverage, customer satisfaction, high performance, intuition, out-sourcing and competence. Now the idea is to strike out each word as and when it is heard during the meeting. At the end of the meeting if there is a single word left on the paper he wins otherwise he loses. And as you would have guessed, there were very few meetings which gave the new entrant a chance to win!! The morale of the story: most corporate meetings are stereotype and mere lip-service.

Why did I remember this story now? Because I am currently reading a book - The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman. A highly acclaimed book about present times and how globalisation is shaping our new world and some of the challenges in this “flat world” that we are and will increasingly be facing. And to my utter surprise each of the above words is mentioned so many times in this book, repeatedly, that I could not but pose and ponder over them. It is a lengthy book rather a thesis from a well travelled gentleman and journalist who moved around the world trying to find answers to why India and China are stealing American jobs and ended up with this amazing book, which I will recommend to every global citizen who wants to succeed in this new world. The title of the book was conceived when the author heard Infosys CEO Nandan Nilekani say "the playing field has been levelled". (This explains why Infosys' annual financial statements reach its shareholders with THINK FLAT embossed on its cover page!!)

One idea that I liked the most is a simple mathematical equation. CQ + PQ > IQ. Curiosity Quotient + Passion Quotient > Intelligence Quotient. Suggesting that in the new flat world it is an individual’s curiosity and passion for his work, which will drive him to success and to a better paying jobs and ultimately to better standard of living and not as much as his intelligence. Quite an equation there!

So if you are up for some dose of global economic environment and some ideas about how to compete in the new flat world, this is a book for you. Go grab it.