Organizational Architecture

I recall when the book "The World is Flat" emerged on the scene. I was reading it at the same time I was reading "Creative Destruction" both foretold (or attempted to) the change that was taking place in the global economy and the impact it would have.  I really don't think enough people heard them.  It could be that things had already progressed to the point where there was nothing anyone could have done to prevent it anyway. And 2009 happened.

For me 2009 was the culmination of events that took three years to manifest. I had been used to create a process - not surprising since I am a process engineer.  But this time it allowed the work I had been doing to be easily portable, and it was sent to India.  I and about 4999 other professionals were group three or four in what became a mass redistribution of resource in the company called IBM.  The "I" became India for many of the disaffected former employees.  You can imagine that there was a sudden personal realization that what I needed was a job.  I joined the ranks of the "Too young to retire and too old to hire" community.  I am a card carrying member.  But don't read this the wrong way, I am perfectly fine with what happened.  It was not personal, it was business. You may have heard this one before, but seriously this is the truth.  Remember that tidal wave of change had started long before I ever learned how to streamline proposal production or create super accurate cost models.

So let's fast forward - it is now 2012 - Three and a half years later and we now have numbers.  There is a global desire to have a job. A better job, in some cases any job.  I suggest that this is a cry for a new economy.  A global desire to have a renewed sense of security that our needs can be met through the buying and selling of goods and services.  In the western hemisphere there has not been a condition of this much uncertainty since my father was a small boy.  In other geographies a condition of comfort and security has really never existed.  It no longer matters where we live, what matters is that we share a common need.

I agree with the introduction to the The Coming Jobs War by Jim Clifton, it is not about finding jobs it is about creating jobs.  As I said in 2009 I myself was confronted by this very challenge.  My response was to create a company - Strategy and Design Solutions, LLC. - It has been a place to house a career of knowledge and experience.  It has been a place to collect assets. The real work has been in the clients.  Much of that is unseen, because it is private for each of them.  But SDS has always been a place to park my mind on new thoughts, process, methods or techniques.  This has been very true this summer. Through pumpkins and people who can not even use their real names, pitching anything, making - marketing - and launching, awakening and dreaming there are a few things that have been repeated throughout.  

First - If what you do does not meet the need of the consumer, even if they aren't aware that they need it, then it will be forever a product in search of a customer.

Second - If what you do does not have meaning then you are wasting your time.  Adding to this that finding meaning takes time and patience.  But you will know it when you find it.  It is unlike all the other things that have consumed your time and attention.

Third - There is a giant difference between creating a business and producing a product.  Both are important but they are not the same thing.

And last - or at least in my observation list for now - Only creating a business creates jobs.

And there you are the point of all of this is that what we all need is not a job.  What we need to be doing is making it more understood how to create remarkable ( sustainable / sensible / innovative ) growing businesses that will in turn contribute to all the jobs we need to create.

I am planning to read Jim's book - it is currently #3 on my reading list - but only because I already started the other two.  I am interested to learn more about the creation of business without the focus on manufacturing.  I think he is saying let those in the part of the world who are masters of repetition manufacture, but I am still not sure how often that will be applicable.

Stay tuned I will post what I learn.