Lost decade?!?

Below is what I wrote back in June 2009. 3.5 years have gone by rather quickly since the depth of the Recession. _____

One thing for sure. By the time we look back at the 2000-2010 period, we will already be well into our 4-G smart phones,

Web 3.0 or 4.0 using Android-like in the “cloud” and women will already be living and working out of the White House.

I will try to salvage whatever left on my social security, and still pick up my gym bag every morning just as I do now.

Or let’s play another scenario, the best scenario. The US will dynamically soar like an eagle, via innovation, high-value manufacturing and will be a leader of design and trend setting (by allowing legal immigration of high-sought talents).

I cannot go on, because this prospect excites me too much! Like my friend who tries to sell EMR software, every time

there are some positive movements in Electronic Health Records, he can’t sleep.

Who wouldn’t be excited at the prospect of an America who claims its rightful place in the world ?

So much cynicism and screw-ups already, enough to constitute a century worth of  learning curve.

To be both big and nimble, one must visualize a Sumo wrestler who tries Hapkido (I don’t recommend trying, speaking from my painful experience of a broken arm).

Again, skill-set that enable knowledge workers to thrive in the next decade must be taught right from high school: personal finance, soft-ware basics,  time and project management, ethics, team leadership and most of all, the art of selling one’s self and ideas.

I haven’t even touched on social entrepreneurship and globalization. These are subjects too burdensome for high school age (although many young people at that age could be found quite idealistic and out spoken).

Lost decade? I am afraid if we don’t change course, we might end up with a lost century.

In talent recruitment and development, we need to leap-frog, just as developing countries are doing with their wireless infrastructure. I know one thing well, and it is, there is nothing better than working with a great team who moves forward as one.