What is free trade and do think it is
important? At first I thought this was a silly question. Of course I think free
trade is important. Free trade is a policy in which governments do not restrict
imports or exports. Why would anyone want to limit what can and can’t be bought
or sold. However, Friedman does do a good job explaining why someone might take
issue with certain imports and exports. I never really thought of a job as an
export, but the definition of an export is “send goods or services to another
country for sell”. If we, as a nation keep outsourcing and off shoring all our
jobs, there might not be enough for everyone else. In fact, that thinking right
there is called the Lump of Labor theory. The theory basically states that
there are only a certain number of jobs available in the world and if India or
China gobbles up more than any other country, there will be less jobs overall
for anyone else to have. Of course that would mean that all inventions have
been invented and there was no more population growth in the world, 2 really
big problems.
What skills
and personality traits make a “New Middler”? First off a new middler is a
person that will become the new middle class. In this section of the book they
discuss some traits and skills people will have to have to become a middler.
They must be great collaborators, great synthesizers, great explainers, great
leveragers, great adapters, green people, passionate personalizers, math lovers
and great localizers. I’ll touch on a few of these. I liked the great
synthesizers term. Today it’s not about what you can make and sell to others,
it’s about what you can sell to others, and have someone else make it for you at
a fraction of the price. IBM made computers, chips, and software. Dell makes
little to none of these things, they just package them up and get you to buy
from them. That’s what the synthesizers do, they get products from wherever and
package them up nice and neat and sell them to use, at a tidy profit of course.
Great collaborators are people who could be coined as great leaders. They make
connections and create ideas. The most important thing a venture capitalist
does is finds the right managerial talent to lead and inspire the start-up
company, so it can grow to the next level.
What is CQ
+PQ > IQ? Why is it important? According to Friedman Curiosity quotient plus
Passion quotient is greater that Intelligence quotient. I get what he’s saying.
If you are curious and passionate, those 2 traits can get you much further in
life that being intelligent alone. The great part about being curious is that
today, you don’t even have to go to college to learn how to learn. You just
jump online and download or upload any instructions you need to accomplish the
task you have. Passion is what’s going to keep you going down your path when
all the fun runs out. If you are passionate about a product or service, it will
help get you through the tough times. Friedman also points out that you can’t
light the fire of passion under anyone else if you, yourself don’t possess it.
It is possible to light it under yourself, though. I agree with this idea
wholeheartedly. I have the knowledge to do my current job very well. In fact, I’m
the top grossing mechanic in our shop, I cannot stand my job, I just don’t have
the passion to do it day in and day out. I don’t enjoy the time I spend there
and it wouldn’t matter if they doubled my wages, I’d still be going to school to
be able to quit this job and do what I love.
