Question: Give some examples of the wisdom that you gleaned while consulting for companies like IBM, Verizon, Hawaiian Electric, PeopleSoft, Pacific Marine and many more.

Answer: Every human being wants to succeed — it doesn’t matter their age or their economic status. I’ve also learned that the world is changing very dramatically, and most organizations can do a better job of helping employees succeed.

Q: What is the greatest determiner of personal success?

A: The unflinching and unshakable belief within the individual that they will succeed "no matter what." Such people are wired for success. People have huge powers such as mental resilience inside of them where they can surmount numerous odds and succeed. A very huge paradigm shift is to believe that nature, God Almighty or whomever you believe in, wants you to succeed.

Such people do not tolerate negative beliefs, pessimism or excuses to hold them back. In fact, they look for excuses to justify that they will succeed. They focus on attributes like sincerity, hard work, continuous learning and reinvention and the constant hunger and desire to succeed.

Q: What global changes do you think that people in business should be preparing for now?

A: First, work is moving to countries where it will be performed most inexpensively, and that is not going to change. Work is moving to India and in huge chunks to China, Cambodia, Mexico and the Philippines because it improves the profitability. Workers in these countries have tasted success and will do more and more to get out of the poverty cycle.

Second, there is a downward pressure on wages. It’s scary because we are competing with people from all over the world. In one instance, I heard of a graphic designer in New York who quoted a client $1,200 and lost the job when someone from Vietnam (on a website) quoted them $50 for the same quality work. If you have 100 people or even 50 people chasing a single job, there have to be downward wage pressures. America’s middle-class earnings are dropping. So, if people want to enjoy the same standard of living, they will have to continually add higher value to the work that they do.

Third, technology is having a huge impact on business. Anything that can be automated or robotized will be.

Fourth, companies’ attitudes have changed, and managers are no longer being compensated based on the number of employees they supervise, but rather on how much value they are adding for the company.

Q: What are the best strategies for individuals to respond to increased work globalization?

A: The worst thing is to believe that we are weak. This is the greatest country on the face of this earth. We just have to prepare ourselves to go after the opportunities rather than get bogged down in the challenges. Americans, in particular, need to be open-minded about working for an international employer. It’s predicted that by 2030, China will be the largest economy.

On a personal level, employees must understand that the world is changing and that these changes are accelerating. Life is a lot faster than it was 10 years ago. Secondly, they must prepare to embrace these changes because fighting them is a losing proposition. You cannot expect that your union will protect you. Every business has to be competitive; if they are priced out of the market, everyone loses.

In the course of a lifetime, people need to be prepared to reinvent, reinvent, reinvent. There may be downward pressure on wages, so people need to continue their education in ways that make them more competitive. Many immigrants are very well educated, so in many professions a bachelor’s degree isn’t going to cut it anymore.

If workers are in fields where jobs are going away, they need to find out which careers are hot and go in that direction. It’s really important to cultivate the skills that you can offer that no one else can. Self-employment is a good option, but only if you are in the top 1 percent or your offerings are absolutely unique.