Chapter+13+TWIF

The World is Flat Thomas Friedman

Chapter 13 Summary If It’s Not Happening, It’s Because You're Not Doing It The main idea of chapter 13 is that the flat world has made it very easy for groups like social activists and social entrepreneurs, educators, and politicians to have an almost immediate impact upon society at a global level.Even the smallest of groups now has the ability to influence, expose, embarrass, applaud and force change within the largest multinational organization or corporation.Friedman writes, “In fact, this kind of activism is now so easy, so cheap, and so readily available to even the smallest player that I would through down the gauntlet to today’s young generation: If it’s not happening, it’s because you’re not doing it.” The bulk of the chapter is filled with various examples of people and groups making a global difference from a seemingly small, if not insignificant, starting point.His examples spread across the board form environmental issues, to political platforms, world markets, social entrepreneurism, and social activism.Highlights of examples are following.

Environmental:A large Texas based power company, TXU, was going to build eleven new coal-burning power plants.This caught the attention of environmentalists, and specifically, an office of Environmental Defense in Texas.Initially TXU paid little attention to the Environmental Defense, primarily because TXU assumed that the Defense’s impact would be localized within Texas. However, the Environmental Defense quickly launched a nationwide website, and a regular e-newsletter sent out to media, politicians, and activists across the country. The matter became front-page national news and eventually a buyout of TXU was postponed until an agreement was reached between TXU and the Environmental Defense.Ultimately, the number of coal plants was reduced from eleven to three, and TXU had to pump hundreds of millions of dollars into energy efficient programming. The lesson learned, according to the president of the Environmental Defense, Fred Krupp, is “that truth plus passion plus the Internet can create an irresistible tide for change.”

Social entrepreneur-activist: Muhammad Yunus won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for his microfinance campaign.Yunus created the Grameen Bank, which grants loans, without collateral, to the poorest members of his society in turn, launching the microfinance industry.Yunus believed that the poor were not helpless, just poor. He gave them money, which gave them hope, and a means to explore their potential.Yunus’s desire to help the poor and his belief in them created an industry of over 3,200 microfinance institutions that reach more than 92 million clients worldwide.

Harvard graduate, Jeremy Hockenstein, followed the “If-I-build-it-they-will-benefit” model when he formed Digital Divide Data, a not for profit data outsourcing company if Cambodia.Companies, (many in the US), scan material to be digitized and send it via the Internet to DDD.Hockenstein’s local workers type the data into computers where it is stored for future searching and referencing.His employees work six hours a day, six days a week, and earn $75 a month, which is twice the Cambodian minimum wage.In addition, each typist can receive a matching scholarship to finish high school or even to go to college.Hockenstein now has multiple DDD locations and 400 employees.While the companies doing business with Digital Divide Data get to save money, they also help some of the poorer people in the world make better lives for themselves.

Education: Julie Lindsay, a teacher in Bangladesh and Vicki Davis, a teacher in Georgia used the concepts of Friedman’s book to teach their students about an ‘ever flattening world,’ by letting them experience it first hand.The Flat Classroom Project, as it was called, paired students in Georgia with students in Bangladesh and each group had to create a wiki page based on one of Friedman’s ten flatteners.The students shared resources over the internet and utilized flat world technology like MySpace, Skype, IM chat, You Tube, Google Video, Evoca, etc to create their projects.The groups were able to communicate across the globe and each student was able to build friendships and gain an understanding about a culture half way around the world, all while working collaboratively on the project.

Politics:Friedman uses Andrew Rasieji, former candidate for NYC’s Office of Public Advocate, to summarize the notion of political strength as follows,

"There is an iron law in American politics:The party that most quickly absorbs and adopts the latest technology dominates politics…the next technological political model will revolve around the power of the community and individual uploading.In this model the public office holder will no longer be the one who promises to solve problems for the many.Rather he, or she, will become a hub of connectivity for the many to work with the many, creating networks of public advocates to identify problems, solve them, and get behind candidates who are ready to mobilize the government and the people in the right direction."

Business: Chairman and CEO of Eco Tech International, Rob Watson, points out a fundamental flaw in the current American business landscape.Watson believes that business is still a cause for environmental problems rather than their solution because, “Business as usual continues to use 19th century economics and 20th century engineering when trying to solve 21st century problems.” Friedman provides many more examples of people and their forward thinking.However, what they all have in common is a desire to make a difference and the knowledge that they can make a difference because the world is flat.Information, resources, technology, manpower, etc is so readily available and cheap, that anyone can take advantage of them - so much so, that, “If it’s not happening, it’s because you’re not doing it.”

Submitted by Kevin Smyth