This month's article was supposed to be
about a sales message that I think would have hit home for many of us, but a
chance encounter with a driver this past week has interrupted that message. We'll get to
it another time. I need to tell you about my new friend Abdul.
I was hustling off to a meeting when the hotel bellman presented me with an option.
"Do you want to jump into a cab or limo? This limo driver charges the same price
as the cab." He didn't have to ask me twice what my preference would be. As I
jumped into his limo I was greeted with a smile, a handshake, and what I would soon find
out to be, an education of sorts.
I got lucky and got to meet my new friend Abdul. Let me tell you about him. I'm
not going to tell you that my country is better than any other country. I will tell you
that he appreciates his life here. He had to find a way to come to this country years ago.
In Bangladesh, his native country, they held a lottery for people who wanted to
come to the US. It turns out Abdul had luck on his side and he was one of the five
hundred winners. Over a million people entered
that lottery.
He had to learn our language. Unfortunately he didn't speak a word
of English when he arrived here. It turns out Abdul learned our language rather quickly.
Then he learned four others while he was at it.
To a significant extent, new business services do not necessarily
contain substantially new or revolutionary
activities. Rather, in many cases the crucial step in
the evolution of a business service resides on the switch from internal to external
sourcing of a process, activity, operation or asset.
As a manufacturing company outsources to external service providers, the
corresponding share of GDP and employees are being
moved from the manufacturing to the services sector. |
