Thomas Friedman / That Used to be Us

What a treat that a group of us had today while attending the Maryland Hospital Association's Annual Meeting.  Thomas Friedman, NY Times columnist, Pulitzer Prize winning author and author of the book, "That Used to be Us: How America Fell Behind in the World It Invented and How We Can Come Back,” was the keynote speaker.  Wow, what a great presentation!  

He spoke of the information technology revolution that has lead us from simply being connected to hyper-connected and from interconnected to interdependent.  IT has lead to total globalization in a few short years.  He said what has played out over the last ten years, took the invention of the printing press over 200 years to accomplish. IT has changed everything, and anyone can be an innovator.  

He told us that average is officially over.  One has to be at least above average with more skill and more tech savviness in order to succeed.  He said that Google no longer necessarily hires individuals with college degrees.  They hire people who can demonstrate what they can do with what they know.  In order to be successful, we have to be innovative and creative, ultimately contributing that extra unique value.  We are fast approaching a bar exam for every job.  Lawyers graduate from law school but they must first demonstrate just how much they know by passing the bar exam in order to be able to practice law.  We will have to show what we can do with what we know in order to be at least above average.  

Stay tuned for tomorrow I will continue to blog about the Friedman presentation; again it was great.