Extraordinary Business

Well, after a long summer I am finally getting back into the swing of things. Though it has been a while since my last post, I can honestly say it's not related to the subject.

I recently read an article in Fortune Magazine called Couch-Potato Nation (September 3, 2007). It appears that Americans have become lazy compared to some of their international counterparts. We are have approximately 117 hours of leisure per week compared to 110 in 1965. The article argues that in a world labor market, we are driving our compensation downward when other countries such as China and India's are going up. Based on the article it seems the only solution is to get off our butts and work more.

While I agree with some points of the article, I believe there is more to it than that. I also believe that we can still remain effective in the global labor market, but it is going to require us to change ourselves. We need to re-invent who we are as a nation and in many cases what we offer the rest of the world. I remember a time not so long ago when an IT or engineering job meant security. Those times have changed. Our responsibility is to keep up with the changes.

What do you think?