I remember my former boss reading The World is Flat and talking about it with our staff. That was several years ago and was relevant then (before the Web 2.0 revolution, or evolution); who could have imagined that in just a few short years we would be here? On LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, et al. I couldn’t have said it better myself, so I’m just going to share with you what George Benckenstein wrote in a blog titled “Welcome to our Flat World”. Below is an excerpt; click here to read the full article >>
A World Without Barriers
So why do we call it a “Flat World?” The world is being referred as a flat world, thanks to Tom Friedman’s book The World Is Flat. The world is now so well connected with the ubiquity of technology in all areas which gives you, me, all of us the power to collaborate, coordinate, produce and distribute seamlessly across borders, and cultural and language divides. In a flat world, everything of value is now connected — no more barriers.
Welcome To Our Flat World — The Good News
For connected individuals and forward-thinking corporations who are able to embrace change, there has never been a time where we’ve had more opportunity. There is little need for the organizational system as we once knew it. The power to create a global network to collaborate and coordinate effort is seamless and typical organizational structure just gets in the way of productivity. If organizations are able to recognize this and embrace this, there can be little doubt that operational efficiencies can be extended exponentially.
Welcome To Our Flat World — The Bad News
In a flat world, there are connected individuals and disconnected individuals. Unfortunately, this gap can only widen. To date, there are about 1.2 billion connected individuals. We are the conceptual and technical class. Our opportunity holds no bounds. However, for the disconnected individuals, there is a barrier being constructed. Technology changes is changing so fast that it has the possibility to create another sad state of human affairs. I am hopeful though. With the ubiquity of technology, the speed at which it has spread in the last decade and the low cost of connectivity, I cannot image that we will not have a connected world — one where knowledge is freely shared, data is relational and accessible and where the human spirit and innovation can come together to solve many of the world’s problems (and, of course, create new ones).
