A race to the top

Gil Friend quotes from NYT's Thomas Friedman's Friday column, A race to the top

The dirty little secret is that India is taking work from Europe or America not simply because of low wages. It is also because Indians are ready to work harder and can do anything from answering your phone to designing your next airplane or car. They are not racing us to the bottom. They are racing us to the top.

I wonder how this view squares with that of Daniel Pink's perspective that outsourcing and automation are preferentially taking the left-brain activities, leaving the right-brain work (creative, out-of-the-box, etc) for people who are better-prepared?