s p r i n g 2 0 1 0 2 1 T hese are times of transition in perhaps every aspect of our lives. as happens in such moments, people step forward and offer to help make sense of what is occurring. Back in the spring of 2005, award-winning author thomas Friedman attempted to lead us through these times by contending that we had entered a flatter economic world. His book, The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century, drew wide acclaim and many ardent followers.
By the following october, however, richard Florida, author of The Rise of the Creative Class, countered in the Atlantic Monthly that the world we are in is actually fairly spiky, not flat. He pointed out that innovation and economic development was happening largely in certain key hubs around the world, places brimming with masses of intellectual capital and creativity. Florida made the case that people were gravitating to creativity-rich centers and cities such as Seoul, London, tokyo, San Francisco, dublin, Helsinki, Chicago, Berlin, Sydney, and Bangalore. With extensive data, he argued that the geographic place you find yourself in does matter. His arguments stood in sharp contrast to Friedman's flatter world.
More recently, david M. Smick threw another variable into the equation by claiming that the world, at least the financial one, is, in fact, curved (in The World Is Curved: Hidden Dangers to the Global Economy). each of these perspectives has found its way into strategic planning as well as board meetings, vision statements, and retreats. Leaders are expected not only to know what each book or perspective on the world contains, but to anticipate the next major set of trends or "world" predictions.