Sunday, February 12, 2012

Module 6: Free trade, middlers and CQ + PQ > IQ!

     Free trade is where the act of trading any type of goods or services between countries for 'free.' This opens up many doors for different countries to make some good money on the goods that they offer without getting hit too hard with taxes, or what's called, trade barriers. This levels out the playing field for different countries wanting to sell theirs good or services and to be competitive in the markets. Free trade in the United States is vital to our economy. We need to be able to freely import/export goods to keep cash flow coming through. I also think that it creates more competition, which means that there will be others that come in the future to try and make what you made better. Any competition like that will results in better products, and better pricing. Great for any country!
     New middlers, Friedman also calls "The Great Synthesizers", are the energy behind companies. These individuals keep things moving in companies. They must be hard workers, and heavy thinkers. This is required so that new ideas get generated on a regular basis. The ability to actually take an idea and execute it is also a character trait for the "new middlers." If we were looking at a basketball team the new middler would be the point guard. Always making things happen, and when things don't happen they change it up. They make something out of nothing!
     Curiosity + Passion > IQ! I agree with this whole-heartedly. I have known many people in my career and the ones that really stick out are the ones with passion, and a little bit of risk behind them. They're ready for a challenge, but also eager to try something new. Curiosity can spark new ideas that can be game-changing. Curiosity is the initiation and the passion is the driver behind this new force. That's not to say that IQ isn't import, but it's clear that the others outweigh in importance is most business situations.

1 comment:

rs said...

I am in agreement with your assessment that curiosity and passion with some risk are more important than IQ alone. IQ may help a student get through college courses, but may not be as helpful in the workplace if the individual cannot collaborate and innovate through curiosity and trail and error through taking risks. Certainly I am no expert regarding this, but this is my observation.