Editor's Note: From Knowledge Worker to Conceptual Innovator

On his long journey from golf caddy at age 12 to his current position as CEO of one of our state’s leading defense and aerospace companies, Esterline Technologies, Brad Lawrence says his biggest lessons came from observing successful people. One important lesson, he told me recently, came from watching two executives he used to work for at Rockwell International. One was a smart engineer who made important contributions to the company but preferred to stay in the background. A second executive, the one who got the promotions, wasn’t as smart, but was more effective at communicating ideas, thereby mobilizing resources to support his projects. Effective communication, Lawrence learned, was the most critical ingredient to the success of an executive.

Lawrence’s story raises an important question: At a time when cheaper communications and a growing pool of educated foreign workers have vastly expanded the number of job categories that can be efficiently handled overseas by low-wage workers, what skills should young Americans be acquiring to get ahead in this world?

In recent years, multinational companies have been employing a growing number of foreign workers to handle such sophisticated tasks as data analysis. Greg Lins, CEO of Redmond-based Questus5, a human resources startup, says that new technology and services are now making it easier for small and midsize companies to tap that same global pool of skilled, low-cost labor.

The Philippines, he explains, is best for customer support because the people speak English and understand American culture. India is the preferred location for software development. South Africans are good salespeople because they are direct and results-oriented, while the Chinese are well-suited to “backroom” tasks like data analysis and web research.

“So what’s left for Americans?” I asked.

Lins is a big fan of A Whole New Mind, a book by Daniel Pink. It argues that the information age is being rapidly replaced by the “conceptual age,” in which Americans have a decided advantage. “Young Americans don’t like discipline,” Lins says. “They don’t like step-by-step work. Companies have to move that repetitive work offshore so they can focus on creating new products and processes.”

I’m not convinced that the equation balances out. Will we gain as many jobs as we lose as we move up the value chain? We may not have a choice. Fortunately, a report from the Washington Technology Alliance is promising. It says our state’s technology-based industries employ 382,000 people. Add the 826,000 indirect jobs created, and technology companies are responsible for an impressive 40 percent of the state’s workforce. Also promising is the growing number of middle-class families around the world, primed to buy our products.

To keep our lead in those sectors, we need more people who are technologically literate and creative but are also great communicators—businesses need workers who are well-educated. Yet, at this critical time, our state’s contribution to education is actually shrinking. That trend must be reversed so we can stay ahead of the competition, and replace all those jobs that are moving offshore.

Leslie D. Helm

Editor

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