Do you know what’s going on around you?
In case you have not seen the documentary Inside Job, I highly recommend it. I experienced somewhat contradictory emotions this past Tuesday night. I have been settling into a routine of work, work, work, even on weekends–notice the missing posts?–and chose to do something out of the ordinary. I left the office at 8:30 pm and went straight to the movies! I felt pretty good about almost throwing routine out the door–the 8:30 pm exit was a bit of tarnish. However, the real counter emotion came from watching the story unfold. Whatever biases you may accuse Charles Ferguson of cannot alter the reality of an absolute lack of accountability and conscience that pervaded the financial industry and led to the financial catastrophe that has caused so much misery. It got worse though as I sat, watched, and reflected inward, and came to grips with how much I too was part of the problem.
What’s your stake?
It is easy to blame the big guys who knowingly shoved all personal accountability into the garbage can. Charles Ferguson does a splendid job of outing them. Some of them are also in a particularly disturbing position of influence: academia. However, too many of us little (small?) people took our eyes off the road. I chose to believe that Lehman was not my problem and continued put $30,000 dollars of real money–I could have gone out and bought a car with it, cash!–into my retirement fund only to watch that deposit and an even larger chunk of my fund evaporate in a couple of months. My retirement funds had been goosed with sub-prime triple-A rated fiction and I expected the party to keep going. Even today, how many of us have taken a more active role in managing money for our retirement? Tossing aside the depressing, even unopened, statements is a poor substitute. Here’s an immediate opportunity to boost your own accountability. Interested?
Yogi: If the world was perfect, it wouldn’t be.
What Inside Job tells us is that individual accountability is even more necessary in a world fueled by information. To that end, I draw your attention to a couple of related stories in the news this week. The first one, about projections by the Hackett Group, should provoke some thought. The Group describes its role as one that helps organisations restructure and reduce costs while improving the effectiveness of their strategy, operations, technology, people and capital. Hackett sees another 1M jobs being off-shored by 2014 from North America and Europe, of that about 450,000 are projected to come from the IT ranks. Do you see a link between the report and the company’s opportunity? I am not suggesting that Hackett has any deliberate plan to make that prophecy of off-shoring a reality in its own self-interest. However, what inside Inside Job helps us to do is become wiser about our own role in dealing with these issues. Interestingly, eWeek reports the Hackett story, and if you go the Hackett site and click on Hacket In the News it takes you to the eWeek story. So how much of this ‘imminent’ off-shoring is real, doc?
The other story also comes from eWeek, and it’s about new research by Foote Partners, which lists the top 25 non-certification tech jobs that are most in demand. Put on a slightly paranoid set of lenses and you might even see a direct link between non-certification tech job opportunities and off-shoring. Despite the call for work experience in those jobs, the times to reach competence in some of the roles are shorter; the costs and learning obligations are lower, and, you may even say, some of the jobs are more ‘disposable.’ Thus employers will have greater flexibility to shape their workforces. That said, the truth is probably closer to what Thomas Friedman has cataloged very well in his books The World is Flat and Hot, Flat and Crowded. Jobs continue to move to India and China by virtue of the strength and organic growth potential of these economies. So the Hackett Group may simply be in a sweet spot after all—as much as some of what it may do might make some of us uncomfortable.
Lead yourself
That ongoing shift of work affects everyone. For a graphic display, look at a town that loses an auto plant and see what happens to the dry cleaners, restaurants and the mom and pop operations. Larger business chains will reallocate resources and continue to motor on. 450, 000 high paying tech jobs translate to a significant economic multiplier and resultant jobs in all economic areas. Even if these jobs are dispersed across economies and regions, the change is still significant, especially as we’re still dealing with the carnage wrought by the 2008 meltdown. Should we worry even more as that will continue to erode the jobs tied to ‘making’ things, an area where North America has given up (lost?) considerable ground? So what do you do: Adapt! Easier said than done right? But, then, aren’t we are supposed to be the most adaptable of species?
Be like Hackett
One line of argument goes that when something irks you, you should probably explore it a little more closely. It may reflect a skill or aptitude that you lack. While the idea of a company helping companies to adapt–which in all likelihood will include off-shoring—may not please you, that very lesson should be what you apply on a personal level. It presents you with the opportunity for one of the most important steps you can take: empowering yourself. We can wail till the cows come home about big companies getting their way, but there is no substitute for taking charge of your life. We all need help though, no rose-colored glasses here to presume each of us can rise from the ashes into a soaring phoenix, even more, to do so unaided. The world is an interdependent place and we need each other. The John Wayne ideal is best left to the movies but the John Wayne spirit should be applied, relentlessly, to build your support base.
We’ll do what we can
To that end, Skillsladder will do its part to help you. For what it’s worth, we’ll take those 25 opportunities that Foote outlined and explore what learning is needed for each, to help you adapt and capitalize on a personal scale, if you feel so inclined. Check back for those stories, and good luck!
Edmund DelSol is a business learning and development advisor based in Ajax, Ontario.