change is nothing new. nobel laureate bob dylan sang that the times they were a-changin<u+2019> back in 1964. what has changed is the pace of change: <u+201c>the three largest forces on the planet<u+2014>technology, globalization, and climate change<u+2014>are all accelerating at once,<u+201d> notes new york times columnist thomas l. friedman in <u+201c>thank you for being late: an optimist<u+2019>s guide to thriving in the age of accelerations.<u+201d> gradual change allows for adaptation; one generation figures out trains, another airplanes. now, in a world where taxi-cab regulators will figure out uber just in time for self-driving cars to render such services obsolete, <u+201c>so many aspects of our societies, workplaces, and geopolitics are being reshaped and need to be reimagined.<u+201d> all of it creates a sense of discomfort and provokes backlash<u+2014>witness brexit and the american presidential election. yet there is cause for optimism, mr. friedman believes. humans are crafty creatures. in this book, mr. friedman tries to press pause. the title comes from the author<u+2019>s exclamation to a tardy breakfast companion: the unexpected downtime had given him an opportunity to reflect. if we all take such time to think, he claims, we can figure out how to <u+201c>dance in a hurricane.<u+201d> it<u+2019>s a comforting idea, though one wonders why, if mr. friedman was so happy for this pre-breakfast downtime, he was busily scheduling daily breakfast meetings in the first place. likewise, this ambitious book, while compelling in places, skips about a lot. his attempt to cover much of the history of modern technology, for instance, quickly descends into gee-whiz moments and ubiquitous exclamation points. big-belly garbage cans have sensors that wirelessly announce when they need to be emptied, and so mr. friedman marvels that <u+201c>yes, even the garbageman is a tech worker now. . . . that garbage can could take an sat exam!<u+201d> by thomas l. friedman (farrar, straus & giroux, 486 pages, $28) to cope with disruptive change that can result in jobs being automated or sent abroad, mr. friedman repeats the common exhortation to become lifelong learners. he praises at&t<u+2019>s corporate learning initiatives, in particular, as a new <u+201c>bargain<u+201d> and <u+201c>social contract<u+201d> with employees. just to be clear, though, at&t requires that <u+201c>you take the courses on your own time.<u+201d> mr. friedman never puts in context that the $8,000 that employees get per year is roughly what at&t chief executive randall stephenson earns in an hour. such paternalistic condescension on the part of america<u+2019>s elites may help explain the populist anger evident in the american election, though (having written this book before the unexpected outcome) mr. friedman can be forgiven for not delving into the backlash forces as much as he might have. yet his section on politics is one of the strangest of the whole tome. noting that american political parties lack ideological flexibility, he announces that he is adopting flexible, adaptable mother nature as a political mentor and goes on to describe his vision of <u+201c>mother nature<u+2019>s political party<u+201d> and her very specific endorsements. mother nature is now on record as supporting single-payer health care, the trans-pacific partnership, a change in the inflation formula used to determine cost-of-living increases in social security, and warning labels on sugary drinks. while many of mr. friedman<u+2019>s arguments may be sensible, he seems to believe he must claim that a higher power is on his side. the author<u+2019>s strengths finally come to the fore when <u+201c>thank you for being late<u+201d> wends its way toward geopolitics, particularly the middle east, where mr. friedman spent years as a reporter. he divides the planet into <u+201c>the world of order,<u+201d> where society mostly works, and <u+201c>the world of disorder,<u+201d> where it doesn<u+2019>t. this shockingly simple insight transcends any foreign-policy ideological labels while offering a useful framework for understanding the importance of a <u+201c>reasonably functioning russian state<u+201d> and concerns about a bullying but stable china. at least they<u+2019>re not syria<u+2014>yet. mr. friedman ends his inquiry into technology and globalization with by far the best part of the book: an eloquent mini-memoir of growing up in the small town of st. louis park, minn. while modern political institutions now may appear to be falling apart, there (in his memories) civic life worked. the community accepted jewish families such as his with minimal strife. the public schools excelled, and people didn<u+2019>t flaunt their riches. social ties were such that when mr. friedman<u+2019>s father died suddenly, friends and neighbors stepped in to make sure he suffered no material want. to be sure, 1960s minnesota was not perfect. <u+201c>racism was still rife. sexism was still rampant<u+2014>if many of my teachers were amazingly talented women, it was in part because the full world of work was not yet open to them.<u+201d> but he explains that he made a recent sojourn back to discover whether it is possible to re-create such healthy communities, which can help people weather change. the answer? maybe. these days, minnesota is laboring to assimilate hmong families and somali refugees and to heal racial wounds evident in the 2016 police shooting, during a traffic stop, of philando castile. mr. friedman discovers, not surprisingly, that this is tough work. but the happy news is that scores of nice minnesotans are doing their best to try. mr. friedman<u+2019>s accounts of real folks<u+2019> dogged efforts toward building community are more moving than his folksy asides about technology. in a country torn by a divisive election, technological change and globalization, reconstructing social ties so that people feel respected and welcomed is more important than ever. the only way to dance in a hurricane is to stay in the eye, mr. friedman writes, and <u+201c>the closest political analogue for the eye of a hurricane that i can think of is a healthy community.<u+201d> healthy communities create trust, and <u+201c>when people trust each other, they can be much more adaptable and open to all forms of pluralism.<u+201d> rather than build walls, they face their problems and solve them. in his telling, this is the way to make america great. ms. vanderkam<u+2019>s most recent book is <u+201c>i know how she does it: how successful women make the most of their time.<u+201d>
everyone has an app idea - wsj
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