Talking about his new book, «That Used to Be Us,» at a recent speech at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, best selling author Thomas Friedman said, «Average is over. Everyone must define and develop their extra, that unique value add that justifies, in this world of rising curves why they should be hired or promoted.» Friedman goes on to make a case that to win in the global market, American education must nurture students to become more creative and unique.
Friedman goes on to discuss the emergence of the «hyper-connected world» one where you cannot only outsource labor, but you can outsource «genius». This is clearly one of the driving forces that create the glut of solution providers in every imaginable niche in the market today. While Friedman deals with macro nation level competitiveness issues, every day, the battle against average determines the micro level winners and losers in competitive markets.