"We are not prepared..."

I have just finished this book, "Re-Imagine!" by management guru Tom Peters.  Throughout the book, Mr. Peters asserts that America is not prepared for the global economy of today's world.  Citing deficiencies in our educational system, worker skill sets, management mindsets, etc., Mr. Peters paints a gloomy picture.  Nothing new.  We have all read or heard this doom and gloom stuff for years.  Now, however, we are actually witnessing this decline in America's economic dominance and it is certainly worth re-examining the areas of disrepair Mr. Peters cites.

Working through all his bombast and profanity, however, one thing I do agree with Mr. Peters on is this: given the mind set that I see everyday at work, we certainly are not prepared.   I continue to see 20th century thinking as to organizational charts, problem-solving, distrust of management, workers not taking ownership, many resisting change and technology, departmental boundaries, and a general lack of consistently collaborative and innovative thinking.   We seem to be stuck in the 20th century.

Mr. Peters, like so many other gurus of his kind, are great at sounding the alarms but short on providing the insight and tools to help us get and be prepared. 

My takeways from this and other books like this are:  (1) acknowledge that we are not prepared (2) prepare myself and others to address our individual and organizational deficiences.   

Someone once wrote: "there are two kinds of people in this world.  Those who curse the darkness and those who seek a way out".   I hope and pray and I encourage myself and others to be the latter.