What have we lost?

At the risk of sounding like a bleeding heart, super touchy-feely hippie, I can't help but wonder what negative externalities or consequences this "Brave New World" or working smarter has in store for us (humanity in general). What do we risk losing as we move forward in our increasingly globally connected world. As we "win" by working more efficiently, using all of these Value 2.0 rules to get closer to customers, tap new markets, and become increasingly competitive, is there anything that we have lost? In this new environment do we run the risk of losing any kind of identity? Do we lose the human connection of business? Do we even know our neighbors anymore?

We say that the markets are supreme and Adam Smith's invisible hand should dictate our actions as well as dole out resources, yet in this era of expansion, are we all winning? Does working "smarter" simply mean cutting costs to gain greater profits? What role do or should ethics play in our decision-making? Whose role it is to enforce certain regulations and how do we effectively monitor this new generation of multinational corporations to ensure proper business practices are being followed?

Perhaps this drive for greater wealth accumulation isn't necessarily good for us as a whole. It wasn't that long ago, in 2005, that (now former) Chairman of the Federal Reserve Alan Greenspan is that the income gap between the rich and the rest of the American population has grown so wide and so fast that it "might eventually threated democratic capitalism itself" (http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0614/p01s03-usec.html). As we look at these new ways to conduct business, we forget that much of this new infrastructure is private and contributes to someone's profits. While that is not necessarily bad, these new ways of working smarter, faster, and cleaner need to be publicly examined and perhaps regulated to ensure the protection of the common good.

Also, I ran across an interesting survey that compared business leaders' perceptions of creativity with those of school superintendents. This survey, taken from Daniel Pink's blog, shows how there is a striking difference in how school superintendents view creativity as compared to how business leaders view creativity. This disconnect in how business leaders and educators view creativity presents us with a problem. Are our schools preparing workers who will have the skills business leaders want? If not, how should we go about working across sectors to improve our children's education?

Just a few questions I've been thinking about.