Did You Know?

The World is Flat Comments from the book by Thomas L. Friedman

Don’t Be Flattened Dr. Marilynn Skinner Baldwin High School

Ten Forces That Flattened the World The Walls went down and the Windows opened up Netscape goes public Workflow software Open Sourcing Outsourcing Offshoring Supply chaining Insourcing In-forming The Steroids- Digital, Mobile, Personal, Virtual

The Triple Convergence 1.All of the ten flatteners begin to work together 2.A large number of people become comfortable with and begin to collaborate to put the flatteners to use 3.The economies and political systems of China, India, Russia, etc. begin to open up to the free-market game

A Globally Competitive Workforce Individuals competing against other individuals Previously “specialized” skills becoming commodities, performed by the lowest bidder. Workers must possess the knowledge, skills, attitudes and behaviors to continually adapt to ever-changing and escalating labor market requirements.

A Globally Competitive Workforce Workers must have the ability to integrate and apply their academic, technical and practical knowledge and skills to solve real- world problems Workers must take charge of their own learning Workers must be able to work in a team environment and work effectively with customers, coworkers and supervisors.

Work in the Global Economy Fungible Jobs – “jobs that can easily be moved to …” Anchored Jobs – “jobs performed in a particular location and generally wages are set by the local supply and demand for labor” Value-added Jobs – “to be competitive you have to be more than plain vanilla”

Fungible Jobs Repetitive, skill-based work requiring a minimum of interpretation or decision making. “As a general rule, the less a job requires independent thought or advanced training, and the more transitory or seasonal its nature, the greater the odds are that job candidates are fungible.”

Fungible Jobs (con’t) Easily digitized (can be done on computer, over the phone) Not tied to a particular geographic location; processes can be more “automated” Will tend to go to where labor costs are the cheapest

Examples of Fungible Jobs Bill payment/processing Medical transcription Insurance claim processing Hotel/airline reservations Mortgage loan servicing Computer programming & Software design Tax return preparation “Junior” accounting, legal and architectural activities

Attributes of Outsourced Jobs No Face-to-Face Customer Servicing Requirement High Information Content Work Process is Telecommuntable and Internet Enabled High Wage Differential with Similar Occupation in Destination Country Low Setup Barriers Low Social Networking Requirement

Sectors Most At Risk Office Support Computer Operators Data Entry Business and Financial Support Computer and Math Professionals Paralegals and Legal Assistants Diagnostic Support Services Medical Transcriptionists Source: “The New Wave Of Outsourcing” – UC Berkeley

The need to be untouchable Untouchables – someone whose job cannot be outsourced. Four categories – special, specialized, anchored, readily adaptable

Special Those with a talent unlike any other – Michael Jordan, Bill Gates, Barbara Streisand Only a few people can be special But you can be...

Specialized Specialized people can be found in many different types of work - from lawyers to brain surgeons to software engineers Have special skills that cannot be digitized or easily substituted

Anchored A job that requires you be there to perform the task Barber, waitress, mechanic Some anchored jobs become obsolete

Anchored Jobs Must be performed in a particular geographic location Wages set by local conditions (supply and demand) BUT … There are “fungible” parts of anchored jobs that can and will be outsourced

Anchored Jobs w/ Fungible Parts Radiologists in India are reading X-rays for American patients McDonald’s is outsourcing drive-thru ordering Hospitals in India now offer reasonably priced post-surgical sight-seeing trips They serve 55,000 foreign patients/year 75% are uninsured and underinsured Americans

Adaptable Constantly acquiring new skills, knowledge, and expertise Being able to constantly create something of value Becoming a “versatilist”

How Does This Change Jobs?

OUT Generalists Basic Literacy Occupations & Career Ladders Employee Life-time Employment

How Does This Change Jobs? OUT Generalists Basic Literacy Occupations & Career Ladders Employee Life-time Employment IN “Versatilists” Workplace Literacy Skill Clusters & Skill Ladders Entrepreneur Life-time employability

Collaborate and Connect Move from vertical to horizontal management Managers can do more menial tasks themselves quickly and easily There are plenty of good jobs out there for people who have the knowledge and ideas to seize them

You need to be able to… Collaborate and work in teams Leverage technology to learn and solve problems Be capable of teaching yourself Find your “Entrepreneurial” self

Does Technology Change the Job? With the Internet you can be your own lawyer “Wireless healthcare” changes how medical professionals interact with patients Automotive technology – workers must be able to work with computerized shop equipment, electronic components and traditional hand tools Financial planners – more focus on empathy, ability to work with people

Challenges Skills at a premium Entrepreneurial Engineering, Math and Science The Quiet Crisis Numbers gap Motivation gap Education gap Job Churning Don’t be left behind!

The Good News! Global Economy not finite Universal Interdependence Capitalism doing well America spawns innovation Change brings opportunity Our workforce system has the capacity to address these changes

Food for Thought “While your lives have been powerfully shaped by 9/11, the world needs you to forever be the generation of 11/9 – the generation of strategic optimists, the generation with more dreams than memories the generation that wakes each morning and not only imagines that things can be better but also acts on that imagination every day.” –Thomas Fieldman