The gravity of this fear comes from a gap separating Enrico's and Rico's generations. Business leaders and journalists emphasize the global marketplace and the use of new technologies as the hallmarks of the capitalism of our time. In work, the traditional career progressing step by step through the corridors of one or two institutions is withering. So is the deployment of a single set of skills through the course of a working life. Today, a young American with at least two years of college can expect to change jobs at least 11 times in the course of working and change his or her skill base at least three times.
Management wants now to think of organizations as networks.
They are more readily decomposable or redefinable than the fixed assets of hierarchies. This means that promotions and dismissals tend not to be based on clear, fixed rules, nor are work tasks crisply defined. The network is constantly redefining its structure. For all these reasons, Enrico's experience of long-term, narrative time is no longer possible. And Rico is finding that the new work experience doesn't work as a guide to personal character.