Intimate Business Networks

Communication with people of the entire Pacific Rim is becoming a daily occurrence for many of us.  But if we see it simply as a shift of economic power from the west to the east, we will miss something very important.  While the U.S. will remain a global economic power for generations to come, we are becoming one of many powers, more like the European continent of 100 years ago.  British economist Paddy Ashdown calls this our new Multi-Polar Economy.  But the point we must not miss is that our interconnectedness, our networks are not just casually connected, we are intimately connected.  If my project plans detailer in Bali, Indonesia gets sick, my harbor project in Petersburg, Alaska gets stalled.  Or, as happened recently, if my General Contactor’s Materials Engineer in Germany drops the ball and tells no one, my Bridge Project in Annette Bay, Alaska gets put on hold, and my fabrication crew in Sedro Woolley, Washington, has to go home, and local restaurants immediately see business slow down.  Our economic world is not just connected, we are intimately interconnected, and to the degree to which we can successfully manage this interconnectedness, we will determine our success .