America's Untapped Can of "Whoop-Ass"

Human creativity is America's greatest economic resource. Our ability to come up with new ideas and better ways of doing things is what has gotten us where we are today. It has made America a prosperous and powerful nation. But all of that could change. Our country is experiencing unprecedented challenges that threaten our way of life.

Thomas L. Friedman observes in his new book Hot, Flat and Crowded that America has experienced a surprising loss of focus and national purpose since 9/11 and the global environmental crisis. He calls for no less than the "greatest innovation project in American history" as a response to pressing environmental and social issues. He prescribes a "nation-building" initiative that will transform transportation and the energy industry as we know it. Friedman believes that America must assume creative leadership in resolving the issues related to clean and economical energy.

Richard Florida's national bestselling book entitled The Rise of the Creative Class offers an excellent description of where America finds itself. According to Dr. Florida's groundbreaking research at Carnegie Mellon University, America is in an interesting dilemma. This is a time of great promise in which we have an unparalleled opportunity to raise our living standards through our creative capabilities. But the opportunity could easily go unfulfilled because we have not completed a transformation in our social and economic systems that taps human intelligence, knowledge, and creativity. This transformation which is potentially bigger and more powerful than the transformation from the agricultural to the industrial age stands incomplete.

Over the past two decades, the number of people doing creative work in America has dramatically increased and has evolved into a group of approximately 38 million Americans Dr. Florida refers to as "the Creative Class." Creative Class people are an underlying culture that is open-minded and diverse and thus conducive to creativity. This group is a wealth generating machine that accounts for nearly half of all wage and salary income in the United States - $1.7 trillion dollars, which is as much as the manufacturing and service sectors combined. As impressive as this is, Florida believes that every American is creative in some way. Therefore, it's his observation that we have not even begun to tap into our creative potential. As Florida notes, "the great dilemma of our time is that having generated such incredible creative potential, we lack the broader social and economic system to fully harness it and put it to use."

Now we are going through a great economic shift that is creating severe stress and disruption. Our workplaces are changing and stress is rising as mental labor is becoming the force of production. Communities are transforming in ways that are wrenching to many. Again, according to Florida, "Our challenge is to build a broader creative society that can harness the creative energy we have unleashed and mitigate the turmoil and disruption that it generates."

Danger signs are rising in the form of rising inequality in our society exacerbated by the creative economy. Florida's research points to a troubling phenomenon. He has found that America is splitting into two separate nations with different economics, culture and politics. One part of America is traditional with older industries and relatively slow growth. The other is secular, cosmopolitan and wealthy. There is increasing anger among those traditionalists who view secular Americans as shallow and self-absorbed. Each side sees itself as the best America has to offer with the other being a hypocritical minority trying to impose its values. If this divide continues unabated, it will be virtually impossible for America to come together to resolve critical issues in a way that makes sense in the creative era. Florida notes that it will take real political will and imagination to bring our nation together to develop a vision of how to tap our creative energy. Unfortunately, if our country does not continue to build on our creative strengths we will fall behind to a world that is increasingly competitive and creative in its own right.

Friedman argues that a solution to the environmental threat and the best way for America to renew its purpose is for America to take the lead in a worldwide creative effort to replace wasteful, inefficient energy practices with a strategy for clean energy, energy efficiency, and conservation. According to Friedman, "We've gone from the "Cold War Era" to the "Energy-Climate Era", marked by five major problems: growing demand for scarcer supplies, massive transfer of wealth to petrodictators, disruptive climate change, poor have-nots falling behind, and an accelerating loss of biodiversity. A green strategy is not simply about generating electric power, it is a new way of generating national power."

Taken together, Florida and Friedman's books are a poignant call for Americans to focus on ways that we can leverage our creative capability. It may be argued that the issues we face are the greatest in our history. As Americans, we must heed the call before it's too late and take action. We have the creative power. What about an American can of "whoop-ass?" I'm sure we can create one!

Next: Pulling America Up By It's Bootstraps

Americans Asleep at the Wheel - Qualified Drivers Wanted

Americans appear to be asleep at the wheel when it comes to handling the problems we now face. As we go into the election in November, the buzzword is "change." But in case you haven't noticed, what we've got is change - lots of it - and it's not all good.

We've got big issues in front of us - controversial overseas wars and domestic doom and gloom stemming from questions about where we're going to get our energy in the future - and with our lagging economy, how we're going to pay for it.

And there are even bigger issues looming overseas, where our competition is starting to beat us to the punch with the help of the Internet - the Great Equalizer. The sobering truth is that we need to get our act together - quick. There are many out there who are looking to live the life we've been living, and they're willing to bust their butt to make it happen. Unfortunately for us, while we may have proven ourselves in the past, that's no guarantee for the future. The fact is that it's a new global ball game and we're no longer the only ones qualified to play.

In terms of quality of life, we've made that big step to the word "uncomfortable" and now, heaven forbid, we seem to be heading toward the unthinkable - to "unacceptable." For most Americans, that means giving up what we believe is our heritage, the American Way, which is our ability to go and do what we want, when we want to do it, in the manner we see fit. 911 stripped us of one form of freedom. Now, a changing world, inept politicians and our failure to anticipate these affairs may be on the verge of handing us a lethal knockout punch.

In the simplest terms, what this means to us average guys is that our lives are changing in ways that we, as Americans, have never experienced. We're losing jobs we thought would always be there, paying more at the pump with money we planned to spend on our summer vacation, and providing for kids that are still hanging around the house at 25 (or even 29 or 30). And on top of it all, there's that nagging feeling that there are problems around the corner that we have not yet imagined. It all seems to be out of control!

Does anyone really believe that our current (and anticipated future) politicians have a solution? Contrary to their assertions, they're notoriously ineffective. But then there are the big "American" corporations (most of which are not American and do not pay American taxes). How much confidence do you have in corporate America? Do you believe that large corporations are looking out for us during the "economic squeeze"? No need to answer.

Who are we going to turn to? If there's no transcendent leader (political or otherwise) who is going to take us to the promised land, and the big corporations have become the enemy of the average man, then what's the answer?

The good news is that we're Americans. We continue to do a lot of things right. We have an uncanny ability to stand tall when the call is made. We're an industrious people and we're capable of incredible achievements. The talent is definitely there.

Do you hear the call?


Gary Kimmons

www.edoorways.com

New Blog

This is a new blog site I'm creating in my role as CEO of eDOORWAYS Corporation, an American company that will soon be releasing a new social networking service offering on the Web with the same name.

I'll be using the site as a way to communicate with eDOORWAYS clients, prospects, partners, and shareholders, to tell you about things quickly and informally, and to talk about important issues. Also, I intend to speak about interesting aspects of the company, such as employees or partners, that wouldn't make it into a formal press release.

I want to share as much as I can with you, and I'm very interested in what you have to say. eDOORWAYS is engaged in a very interesting business opportunity that relates to all of us, so I know there are going to be a lot of issues we can mutually address.

I'm looking forward to our new relationship, and I encourage you to take this as an opportunity to speak up and be heard!

Back to you soon,

Gary F. Kimmons
CEO, eDOORWAYS Corporation

www.edoorways.com