Leadership

Michael Porter on Charlie Rose

By Michael Fitzgerald

Updated on: December 18, 2008 / 12:08 PM EST / MoneyWatch

Michael Porter's talk with Charlie Rose on the U.S. economy is getting a lot of buzz online right now. In the 25-minute interview, Porter restates his case from Business Week for why we need an economic strategy and talks about the systemic issues America faces, and its core strengths.

Some highlights: Porter says he's excited by the potential for this administration to put together an overarching strategy that might address our problems in

Public k-12 education;
energy
high cost of doing business
lack of a safety net for workers during job transitions (healthcare security, training, pensions).

Porter says we have some strengths to reinvest in:

our science technology system. investment rate has slowed.
our belief in competition. We have in the last few years become more protectionist

The silver lining of the crisis is we might get an America:

that saves again
with a new sense of community responsibility
and prudence in business

Porter says this crisis will cause others to doubt this system. This is best system we know for creating economic opportunity. this does not help the cause of capitalism in Latin America.

All in all, a good lunch-time listen. Or better yet, read his piece in Business Week, linked above. It's a more cohesive argument and it won't take you 25 minutes. Plus you'll see some of his underlying logic, and learn interesting facts. Did you know that we destroy 30 million jobs a year? It's a wonder unemployment isn't higher.