The World is Flat - Three Threats and an Opportunity

In Thomas Friedman's book "The World Is Flat", he talks about the growth of the upwardly-mobile middle class, particularly in places like India and China, where millions of people now have the skills, education, money, technology and desire to raise their standard of living. In short, they want what we've got.

This probably isn't news to you. But if you're a professional speaker, trainer, coach or consultant, have you really considered what impact it will have on your business? I reckon it presents three threats and one (big) opportunity.

Threat #1: Your competition just got bigger.

Your competitors are no longer only the people in your own city, state or country. could be experts from anywhere, beamed into conferences, training rooms, networking events and board rooms from the other side of the world.

Threat #2: Your clients just got smarter.

The flip side of this is that your clients are more demanding - and with good reason. Not only do they have a bigger range of speakers to choose from, they also have many other ways of getting the value you deliver. After all, why should they pay for a one-off speech or training course from a local speaker, when for the same money they might be able to watch three TED.com videos, use Open Space Technology to embed the learning, and then use a collaborative workspace to create meaningful action?

Threat #3: Your business probably won't exist in a decade.

Well, not in its current form. There will always be a place for face-to-face communication, of course. And the more you create unique experiences, the more you'll carve out a place for yourself. But your competition will be other experts delivering the same message - and the same value - using e-learning over the Internet. They'll be doing keynotes by video; training by webinars and on-line courses; facilitation through collaborative workspaces; coaching and mentoring by Skype; and consulting using all of the above.

That's the bad news ...

The Big Opportunity: YOU can own this space.

The good news, of course, is that you don't have to take any of this lying down.

You're the expert.
You've got valuable information to share.
You know how to structure it effectively.

Now you just need to learn how to deliver that expertise differently.

E-learning isn't just about automating the delivery of your programs. It's about adding electronic teaching tools to your current offerings.

If you embrace this rather than rejecting it, it opens up - literally - a world of opportunity.

Opportunities for new ways to deliver your message.
Opportunities to reach more people.
And yes, opportunities for greater business success.

The opportunity is there. The choice is yours.