The Lexus and The Olive Tree - Book Review

“The Lexus and The Olive Tree” is indeed a light entertaining book. No reader will neglect any single line. The book consists of four major parts. Each chapter opens with an excellence interview or example. The author is able to engage reader attention with a very smooth transition from chapter to chapter; keeping reader wanting to continue reading till the end.

Part One: “Seeing the System” describes about the Globalization as the New System. Part Two: “Plugging into the System” what it takes to connect into the New System. Part Tree: “The Backlash Against the System” highlighted some thought of side-effect of this system. Part Four: “America and the System” explains the role of United States in the New System.

I have short-listed three words which succinctly provide an assessment of Friedman’s book, namely, Insightful, Illustrative and Illuminating.

By insightful, Friedman has endeavored to cover a wide array of subjects with sufficient breadth and depth which included politics, diplomacy, foreign affairs, finance, technology, environmentalism, socialism, capitalism, culture. He also covered eras the Great Depression and Cold War; events like Currency Crisis in Asia and Mexico.

He described Globalization with insight detailed. There are three democratizations: Technology, Finance and Information. The Golden Straitjacket is a Globalization Standard: “No one is in Charge” but the shape and form is there. An Electronic Herb is a group of unknown moving in this Fast World of Capitalism in search of wealth creation. Group can consist of super-market (like London Stock Exchange) or super-empowered individual.

By illustrative, his metaphor of using “The Lexus and The Olive Trees” as a comparison between the Cold War and his “New System” is somewhat refreshing. The Lexus is characterized by improvement, prosperity, standardization, modernization, and higher standard of living. The Olive, on the other hand, symbolized identity, community, sense of belonging or rootedness. Friedman has presented a very good description on how globalization at work. Globalization is an International System. This framework is indispensable with its rule and logic thus symbolizing governance and the code of conducts.

By illuminating, Friedman’s book openly discussed the advantages of globalization which included the various stages of globalization, as well as various possible backlashes. Too much standardization looses uniqueness of various ethnic groups. Everywhere on earth becoming look alike. Too much machinery for automation looses our basic human touch. Too much de-forestation looses the uniqueness of our planet earth – ecosystem is becoming mal-function.

He further discussed the readiness of a country or company and the challenges faced by these institutions for choosing not to plug into the system. His roadmap also proposes country or company to be equipped for globalization.