Using Human Talent in a Flat World
At the IBM Business Leadership Forum in Rome, Thomas Friedman said, “We’ve really gone from the Industrial Age to the Information Age; what we’re now in is what I would call the Talent Age. You see, when the world is flat, all the tools of collaboration and innovation are increasingly becoming commodities, distributed to more people than ever before. The only sustainable edge you have, therefore, as a country, company or an individual, is actually your human talent.”
I couldn’t agree more. Human talent is certainly the most important competitive advantage that a society can have. To truly leverage that human talent successfully companies need to be willing to look outside the boundaries of their workforces to get access to the best ideas. Their next great idea may not come from employees sitting in headquarters, they could come from a sixteen year old working in his bedroom or from someone sitting in China. Looking outside the boundaries of one’s workforce means being willing to share market research, product plans and best practices with the world at large.
Would a company be willing to do that? The truth is that every company will soon have the same access to information, the critical question will be what does one do with the information. The employees may not know the answers. The customers may but they’ll only be willing to share it if they get something in return or if they feel they’re being taken seriously. That’s why companies will need to open up.
So how does this relate to the workforce and intranets in particular? The intranet of the future is going to be “exposed” to customers. Collaboration among employees will not create million dollar ideas. By leveraging human talent more broadly, collaboration between employees and customers will. Tom Friedman is right. The world is flat but only if companies are willing to look outside the boundaries of their office buildings.
