Globalization

A year or so ago I picked up Thomas Friedman's acclaimed book, The World is Flat. Unfortunately, I put it down (probably to pick up some trashy novel with no substance) and now I can't find it. I'd really love to finish it. Anyway, it's all about globalization and the effect us Westerners are having on the world.

I was thinking about globalization last night as I was on an online training with some clients from Asia. It amazes me that I can be sitting in my kitchen at 9PM at night (in my pjs), showing people from China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Australia how to use an internet-based software. What amazes me even more is that even without body language, they were able to understand an ordinary 20-something Southern girl enough to ask good questions and actually understand what I was teaching.

As mind-boggling as that is, my situation last night is pretty much par for the course when it comes to business these days. Almost everything is global. Just look at Beijing...and how westernized it has become in the past few years...especially for the Olympics. Yet, 3/4 of China probably still doesn't know who Michael Phelps is (incidentally, if you want a laugh, read this story from the Onion). In the US, only those who live in a cave haven't seen his face plastered everywhere.

I wonder, though...with so many cultures adopting some form of Western culture (ok...and a lot of US culture), are we going to end up as one big homogenized world? I fear losing some of the amazing traditions that have been cultivated and preserved in countries like China. Being so different is part of what makes us human.

Anyway...I could write more on this topic, but it could take hours! It just struck me last night during that training how "globalized" our world is becoming.