TOM PETERS - HARD TRUTHS ABOUT GLOBALIZATION I met Tom Peters some 20 years ago, when we were both panelists at an industry conference. His enthusiasm and motivating style were infectious. He gave me a personal copy of his first book, "In search of Excellence" which turned out to be a best-seller, and catapulted him into the top ranks of motivational speakers, gurus of greatness, champions of change.
With all the recent noise about globalization and the migration of manufacturing to China and software to India, Tom Peters has come up with some "Hard Truths". I am summarizing some of them here. Please read them all (weblink below).
Tom Peters' hard truths:
1. "Off-shoring" will continue; the tide cannot be reversed.
2. Service jobs are a bigger issue than manufacturing jobs, by an order of magnitude.
3. The automation of business processes is as big a contributor to job shrinkage as off-shoring.
4. We are in the middle of a productivity burst which happens every hundred years' (or so). This is good for us - in the long haul.
5. Job churn is normal and necessary: The more the better - in the long haul.
6. Americans' "unearned wage advantage" (Born in the U.S.A.) could be erased, permanently.
7. The impact of the wholesale entry of 2.5 billion people (China & India) into the global economy is unpredictable. It will bring big challenges and amazing opportunities.
8. Free trade works. Period. It makes the world a safer place - in the long haul. The process is not pretty at times.
9. Big Companies are off-shoring/automating almost exclusively in pursuit of efficiency and increased shareholder value. This is not new news.
10. Big companies do not create jobs, and historically have not created jobs. Big companies are not built to last; they are built to decline.
