El Hombre de Villa Tevere. Chapter XIII

Freedom, it is a right, a virtue which St. Josemaria defended with a lot of energy, because he knew that freedom is essential for people to serve God well.

In 1961, Fernando Valenciano asked openly in the get-together to Dick Rieman from U.S.: "Have you voted for J.F.Kennedy?@ The father, with energy and conviction cut the conversation, there and there, making it clear that that was Dick's own business. In Opus Dei's centres people never speak politics so as to make sure that nobody's freedom is cut short at any moment, and any person is aable to choose whatever political ideollogy he may want to follow, as any other Catholic may do, just following the broad guidelines of the Church.

St. Josemaria asked Father Javier Echevarria if he wanted to be his secretary when he was just 20 years old. This request came just a short time after he had repriminded him strongly for a small-importan fault in which he had slightly 'betrayed' his trust (he took a visiting-card from his desk without permission when he had been told to take nothing from there).

To non-Catholics and non-Christians he always told them that he thought he was right and they were wrong. But he told them that he would even give his own life for the respect of their freedom.

Respecting freedom is very important for people who may want to join Opus Dei. Javier Cremades before joining Opus Dei was 'taking care' of himself because he thought they were 'after' him. Once he met St. Josemaría and he spoke so much about freedom that Javier realized that nobody was 'after' him and he decided to join the Work.

Talking about himself and everybody's freedom, St. Josemaria said:

If I wear this "umbrella cover" [referring to his black cassock] is... because I want to! I told once to God: "I give you my freedom". And with his grace I've been able to keep the promise.

The World is Flat. Chapter 11

How companies cope

The companies (as well as people) who will succeed in the flat world are those that are most prepared to change. Without attempting to be a "how to succeed in business" sermon, in this chapter, Friedman gives a few rules which he observed out of the successful companies:

1. When the world goes flat and you - and you are feeling flattened - reach for a shovel and dig inside yourself. Don't try to build walls
2. And the small shall act big. One way small companies flourish in the flat world is by learning to act really big. And the key to being small and acting big is being quick to take advantage of all the new tools for collaboration farther, faster, wider and deeper.
3. And the big shall act small... One way that big companies learn to flourish in the flat world is by learning how to act really small by enabling their customers to act really big.
4. The best companies are the best collaborators. In the flat world, more and more business will be done through collaboration within and between companies, for a very simple reason. The next layers of value creation - whether in technology, marketing, biomedicine, or manufacturing - are becoming so complex that no single firm or department is going to be able to master them alone.
5. In a flat world, the best companies stay healthy by getting regular chest X-rays and then selling the results to their clients.
6. The best companies outsource to win, not to shrink. They outsource to innovate faster and more cheaply in order to grow larger, gain market share and hire. More and more different specialists -not to save money by firing more people.
7. Outsourcing isn't just for Benedict Arnolds. It's also for idealists... i.e. not just to make money, but for helping people as well.