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Prepare for your future
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May 24, 2000: 5:56 a.m. ET
Flexibility, knowledge and global viewpoint will serve you in new economy
By Staff Writer Rob Lenihan
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - With all this talk about the "new economy," you may wonder just where you fit in. There's plenty of talk about the tight labor market making it a job seeker's paradise, but experts say showing up on time isn't going to be enough to guarantee a spot in the new workplace.
Employers will expect their workers to be technically savvy and globally connected. They will look for people who are innovative, able to take risks and willing to put the organization above their personal concerns.
Among the first casualties will be the nine-to-five schedule and the accompanying attitudes. The new economy will encourage a lifelong learning process, and the first lesson starts now.
Corporations are willing to spend to educate their employees. International Data Corp., which provides informational technology analysis, projects that U.S. corporations will double their spending on business skills training to almost $16.9 billion by 2004 from $7.6 billion in 1999.
Talk to me
Author and lecturer Harry E. Chambers says employers put a high value on workers' ability to communicate, both with the people in your organization and with your customers.
Chambers points to the experience of many dot.com companies, at which intellect is plentiful but communication among staffers can be painfully scarce. Some of these companies have paid the price through employee lawsuits that might have been avoided if the parties could just have spoken to one another. 
"Even though technology is escalating at a tremendous rate, it's always going to be done by people," he said. "Maybe less people, but you're always going to have people issues. Many of these dot.com companies have these technical geniuses -- literally geniuses -- but they don't have the inter-relational skills."
Forget about going it alone, too. Chambers said companies want people who will work together, not play the Lone Ranger.
"Frank Sinatra is dead," he said. "The days when you go through life singing 'My Way' are over."
Michael Townshend, president of Career and Life Learning Systems, said people must have the attitude to learn as well as the constant action to learn.
"Things are changing at an incredible pace," he said. "You join a company and two weeks later it's another company. The new company isn't the two former companies -- it's a third one."
The changing landscape means you will have to be adaptable. John Larrere, vice president and managing director of the Hay Group, a human resources consulting group, said decisiveness will be a core attribute for the new economy worker.
"What happens is that when revenue is generated in different ways, you need to let go of the old model," he said. "You have to be willing to create a new model when things change."
New world order
John Challenger, president of the outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, keeps an eye on workplace trends and sees some big changes coming down the tracks.
"It's going to be a bricks-and-clicks economy," he said. "Every company is going to have technology and e-commerce built into the way it reaches out to customers and suppliers."
Experts have some tips for new economy participants. They include:
Keep on learning. "We're going to have to be technology comfortable," Challenger said. "That's only going to get more and more important." Take advantage of training programs your company offers. Volunteer to get into programs using the latest technology and push for your company to get into those areas. "I tell people to go and take a course," Townshend said. "Take a course in anything, it really doesn't matter what it is."
Get involved. At one time, people worked for the same company all their lives. Not anymore. With corporations being bought and sold at lightning speed, Challenger said, you'll probably be out of a job more than once during your career. So learn about your field, join a trade association, meet other folks in the field, and get certified in your line of work. 
Get global. It's a big world and you have to be a part of it. That means acquiring international experience so you know the ways and customs of other countries. "Companies are much more globally based," Challenger said. "When you're selling goods all over the world, you'll need the technology and a flexible workforce willing to be up at 3 a.m. because that's when your overseas customers are up."
Free your mind. Looking down your nose at people spells death in the new economy. Judging people by their race, gender, hat size or tattoos is old world thinking and will cost you big time. "It's not just bad business to be prejudiced, it's extremely stupid," Townshend said. "There is no longer room for jingoism." 
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