The World Is Flat Chapter 6 And 7

Summary The World is Flat
Chapter’s 6th and 7th
For these two chapters the author makes a question: What kind of good middle-class jobs are successful companies and entrepreneurs creating today? and How do workers need to prepare themselves for those jobs, and how can educators help them do just that?
The Untouchables
In this chapter the autor makes a good thesis for all: What do we tell ourkids? How do we prepare them for the increased competition? The author suggestion is that we must make ourselves “untouchables” (he defines as someone whose jobs cannot be outsourced, digitized, or automated) This concept is explored in detail as he identifies three broad categories of workers who will have job security in the flat world.
An untouchable jobs in the new flat world will fall intothree, broad categories: people who are special or specialized (e.g. Madonna, Michael Jordan, or your brain surgeon); people who are localized and anchored (e.g. waitresses, lawyers, plumbers, nurses, etc.); and the old middle jobs (e.g. people in the middle class who are under pressure because their jobs are becoming tradable). Friedman explores what he thinks the new middle-class jobs will be inthe flat world, calling the people who will occupy those jobs, which he divides into eight categories “the new middlers.”
• The first category is Great Collaborators and Orchestrators: these jobs will be in sales, marketing, maintenance, and management. Great collaborators and orchestrators must collaborate horizontally and possess ability to translate the services of a global company for thelocal market.
• The second category is The Great Synthesizers: The great synthesizers will be able to combine disparate parts around consumer demand to synthesize a solution. For example, Dell is more successful than IBM, which used to make the chip, the computer, and the software itself. Dell, conversely, does little design or manufacturing. It brings parts together, created elsewhere, andsatisfies the customer’s demands.
• The third category is The Great Explainers: These people are the managers, writers, teachers, producers, journalists, and editors who can explain, in simple terms, the complexity of what is happening.
• The fourth category is The Great Leveragers: These people have the ability to leverage technology to design computer programs that enable others to work smarterand faster. The great leveragers know how to combine the best of what computers can do with the best of what people can do making both much more productive.
• The fifth category is The Great Adapters: The great adapters are also known as versatilists are people who have a high degree of skill, but who are able to apply their talents to a variety of situations, thus developing new competencies.Great Adapters can improvise, but they also continue to learn and grow.
• The sixth category is The Green People: This group is devoted to energy and environmental issues, which will become more significant as more people realize the stress emerging technologies and growing populations place on natural resources.
• The seventh category is The Passionate Personalizers: which includes people whoadd a personal touch to a vanilla job. Friedman offers the example of a man who sells lemonade at Camden Yards. This man, who sells a simple product, personalizes it by doing a jig while preparing the drink and offering a high five before serving it.
• The eighth and final category is The Great Localizers: In this category local businesses, or individuals, will be able to compete globally bytaking advantage of new technologies. Examples the author offers include a freelance writer who makes use of a satellite dish, a DSL line, a Blackberry, etc.; or a sports bar owner who uses multiple satellite feeds on a variety of flat-screen televisions to bring multiple games to his customers at once.
The Right Stuff
The author explores the right stuff: the educational requirements needed to...