"Commentary"-Capitalism Is Spreading Faster Than Democracy
Thursday, September 20, 2007SUZANNE PRATT: Tonight's commentator has a few thoughts on America's most attractive export. He's Bill George, author of "True North" and former chairman and CEO of Medtronic.
BILL GEORGE, AUTHOR, "TRUE NORTH": For the past seven years, America's political leaders have been trumpeting the spread of democracy, with decidedly mixed results. Developing countries aren't eager for America to impose its form of democracy on their governments. Instead, it is American-style capitalism, not democracy, that is spreading like wildfire around the globe. Every government leader and business executive I have met is eager for one thing: American-style capitalism to build their economies, create jobs and gain entry into the global trading network.
From Kazakhstan to Vietnam, people are hungry for capitalism. They want to study it in the U.S., create local capital markets, and export their goods around the world. Most of all they want America's hidden asset-- the leadership of global capitalism. This is not the old-style 20th century leadership, which thought they could simply export superior products to less sophisticated markets. America's new competitive advantage is the development of leaders capable of running global organizations. These leaders have lived all over the world and are as comfortable doing business in Indonesia as in Des Moines.
This new generation is very different than their predecessors. They're authentic leaders who develop collaborative relationships and build high- performance global organizations. For all the controversy over immigration and outsourcing, America is still the world's melting pot. We are more accepting of diversity than any country on earth. America's greatest competitive advantage is the ability of our leaders to operate effectively in global organization and to spread the principles of capitalism throughout the world. I'm Bill George.
