Thom Friedman - The World is Flat

Last Thursday in Public Speaking the class was assigned to watch and hour long speech by Thom Friedman (The World is Flat). I crawled into bed late the other night to listen to it while I did my typical facebook rounds. At first, I couldn't concentrate on just the speech, so I kept myself busy online with the speech playing in the background. Eventually, though, some of what Thom Friedman had to say drew me in.

Essentially, the video was about Thom Friedman discussing his book The World is Flat and the ideas he has come to find about advancements and whatnot in our world today. What really got my attention was his discussion about Airline Jet Blue. He called to get some information, pretending to be making reservations, and talked to this woman named Betty. Turns out, Betty was working from home in her bedroom slippers. I find it fascinating that we have come as far as sending people to work from home, especially in a big businness like AJB. I usually hear of people wanting to work from home to be close to family, but never of employers making it a priority for people to work in their own homes for this same reason. It just amazes me.

Other than that segement of the hour long video, nothing was really of interest to me. I will say, though, that Thom Friedman's presence and speaking skills were wonderful. He seemed so calm and was able to engage the audience, or else I would have fell asleep.