Bell curve vs. the barbell - what's the future of the middle class
by
Charlie Bess
A number of us had a few hours to talk with Thomas Friedman the other day and it was a thought provoking discussion. We dove into the discussion like he was part of the EDS team and negotiated our way through the "getting to know you" process in minutes.
A major part of the discussion was focused on the future of the middle class in western society in a global world. Most modern economies wealth distribution has a bell shaped curve, with a large and effective middle class. One of the concerns expressed in his books is that we could end up with more of a barbell shaped distribution of wealth, and that is just not sustainable.
We brainstormed on where the people will go who are displaced by moving work off-shore or having their jobs replaced by automation. The one area everyone could agree upon was that there is a need for an agile and driven workforce, that can effectively collaborate and move an organization to take initiative. Organizations that encourage life-long learning should have an advantage. We need to focus on learning how to learn and putting in place the infrastructure to collaborate and pass on knowledge between individuals that are in the field and globally diverse.
Since we live in a relatively free and efficient economy, there will be incentives for individuals to move to new roles, but there may be the need for more government or alignment between companies on a common framework around industries or horizontal roles.
