The World Is Flat

Commentary on a book byThomas Friedman

Tom Reardon Fitch High School

Youngstown State University

"Life is not a final, it's daily pop quizzes."

Compete

Connect

Collaborate

(the 3 big C's)

Introduction

The World Is Flat

How it got the title

What it means

All page numbers refer tothe First Edition of the book(Ed. 3 in parentheses)

After the 1st edition, parents said we get it, the world is flat! But, what do we tell our kids?So 2nd edition. Then 3rd.

Hundreds of millions of dollars were invested in putting broadband connectivity around the world...

Computers became cheaper and dispersed all over the world...

An explosion of software...(P.6) (p.6 Ed.3)

"Proprietary software that can chop up any piece of work and send one part to Boston,one part to Bangalore,and one part to Beijing, making it easy for anyone to do remote development.

The playing field is being leveled."(P. 7)

W I F Technology has created a platform 43 secs.wmv

Metaphor: USA Basketball

Page 250 (P. 337 Ed.3)"Star for star, the basketball teams from places like Lithuania or Puerto Rico still don't rank well versus Americans, but when they play as a team -- when they collaborate better than we do -- they are extremely competitive."(P. 251) (P.338 Ed.3)

P. 376 Ed.3

"The assumption that because America's economy has dominated the world for more than a century, it will and must always be that way is as dangerous an illusion today as the illusion that America would always dominate in science and technology was back in 1950."

In 1961 President Kennedy woke us up by challenging us to go to the moon. This was not a space race.This was a science race. This was a technology race.

What are the two countries that benefitted most from the flattening of the world?

Indiawith a population of over 1 billion peopleTheir greatest asset? (P. 104) (P.127 Ed.3)

"While India certainly had natural resources to mine (coal, iron ore, diamonds), with so many mouths to feed, it couldn't just live off them -- not even close. So instead, India mined the brains of its own people, educating a relatively large slice of its elites in the sciences, engineering, and medicine."

What are the two countries that benefitted most from the flattening of the world?

Chinahas more than 160 cities with a population greater than 1 million (P. 117) (P. 140 Ed.3)

has more cell phones than the U.S. has people(P. 183) (P. 214 Ed.3)

Biggest Global Challenge 1 min 27 secs.wmv

Read p. 112 The Last Lecture

Read p. 114 (p. 137 Ed.3)

African proverb

Outsourcing versus Offshoring

(P.118) (P. 142 Ed.3)

"China's real long-term strategy is to outrace America and the European Union countries to the top, and the Chinese are off to a good start. China's leaders are much more focused than many of their Western counterparts on how to train their young people in math, science, and computer skills required for success in the flat world."

P. 337 Ed.3"Chinese pity comes from their belief that we are a country in decline...Chinese are equally astonished that Americans are allowing themselves to drown in debt and under-fund public schools while the media focus on fights over feeding tubes, displays of the Ten Commandments, and how to eat as much as we can without getting fat." - James McGregor, The Washington Post, 2005

What world kids grow up in to Train olympics sport 4 min 6 sec.wmv

"Forrester Research, Inc., was projecting that more than 3 million service and professional jobs would move out of the country by 2015." (P. 40)

"Change is hardest on those caught by surprise...

Every person, just as every corporation, must tend to his or her own economic destiny."(P. 21 Ed.3)

3.0 Free trade connectivity society adv 1 min 28 sec.wmv

How has the "flattening of the world" affected me and TI-Nspire?

(P.79 Ed.3)"But the rise and integration of work flow software was a quiet revolution that most people had no clue was happening...It enabled more people in more places to design, display, manage, and collaborate on business data previously handled manually."

(p.76) (p.83 Ed.3)

"And once everyone's applications started to connect to everyone else's (computer) applications -- work could not only flow like never before,it could be chopped up and disaggregated like never before and sent to the four corners of the world."

Writing project with a publisher and TISend documents back and forth with editingSend software as it is upgraded Once the project is done, it is translated into 15 different languages and emailed to 15 different countries.I wasn't writing activities for my classes, students in Ohio, or even the United States, but for kids all over the world!Wow.And this is possible because of technology that has leveled the playing field.I can now compete globally. This individual math teacher from Youngstown, Ohio.

(P. 80) (P.92 Ed.3)

These work flow software platforms enable you to create virtual global offices -- not limited by either the boundaries of your office or your country -- and to access talent sitting in different parts of the world and have them complete tasks that you need completed in real time.

NCTM in Atlanta Green Math 44 secs.wmv

The 3 big C's:

Compete

Connect

Collaborate

"We were not just communicating with each other more than ever, we were now able to collaborate -- to build coalitions, projects, and products together -- more than ever." - Joel Cawley, an IBM strategist(P. 81)

Huge believer in liberal arts ga tech steve jobs 2 mins 15 sec.wmv

"Economists often compare China's and India's entry into the global economy to the moment when the railroad lines crossing America finally connected New Mexico to California...

The way to succeed (today) is not by stopping the railroad line from connecting to you, but by upgrading your skills and making the investment in those practices that will enable you and your society to claim your slice of the bigger but more complex pie."(p. 236)

"What do we tell our kids?

There is only one message. You have to constantly upgrade your skills. There will be plenty of good jobs out there in the flat world for people with the knowledge and ideas to seize them.

It was never good to be mediocre in your job, but in a world of walls, mediocrity could still earn you a decent wage. In a flatter world, you really do not want to be mediocre."

Old dinner table:Tom, finish your dinner. People in India and China are starving.

New dinner table:Tom, finish your homework. People in India and China are starving for your jobs.

Parenting

Read Pages 394-397

(Ed.3)

“I am suggesting that we do more to push our young people to go beyond their comfort zones, to do things right, and to be ready to suffer some short-run pain for longer gain.”

- Page 397

Explosion of innovation get our act together 53 secs.wmv

"Want Fries With Outsourcing?"

Pages 40 - 41 (Ed.3)

3 big issues 3 min 7 sec.wmv

The 3 big C's:

Compete

Connect

Collaborate

One thing bigger than Mother Nature Father Greed 1 min 14 sec.wmv

Questions?

Comments?

Video: Shift Happens

http://www.glumbert.com/media/shift

Short snippets combined Friedman 2 mins 42 secs.wmv

I hope that this stimulates your energy and I wish you success.

Peace.

The World Is FlatThomas Friedman3rd edition came out in August, 2008

Two other books worth reading:

Where Have All the Leaders Gone? - Lee Iacocca

The Last Lecture - Randy Pausch

Contact Information

www.TomReardon.com

Click on Exeter 2008 link for my files including this talk.

email: tom@tomreardon.com