6/30/2010

IGNITE YOUR GENIUS

Developed nations are worried about the current economic situation even more than developing countries and fast growing economies. It is hard to understand that highly skilled and well trained peers, with degrees, post-graduates, and years of working experience are shaking to death about their future. Finding ourselves surrounded by welfare and a healthy business fabric confers a sense of security and stability, that in a sudden, has melted away. I therefore infer that in countries where education, health system, justice and employment are not granted rights but an exception, they are not worried at all, as they are in the same place they were before the crisis started.

When the media writes or broadcasts the financial situation as if the whole world should be mourning the economical downward that developed countries are going through, I imagine the citizens from Mali, India, Senegal, Mexico, Bolivia or Camboya lighting their candles and praying, hoping their “developed brothers” may recover fast from such an awkward moment. I called up from Spain to my friend living in Mexico and my comment was, “well yes.. we have beaten the unemployment threshold of 4 million persons”, and he answered “ do not worry about it man, in Mexico there are 40 million persons trying to climb up the ladder out of poverty and the economic rhythm has not plummeted at all, what crisis are you talking about?”.

If we do examine an average education process of a person in a developed country, we do obtain the following phasing, 10 years for basic education, 4 years in high-school, 6 years in University, 2 years with a post-graduate degree, and assuming we are talking of a good student, we come out with 22 years devoting ourselves so to acquire “knowledge and wisdom” that will supposedly provide us with a survival – kit so to take part in recruitment processess launched by private companies, that are happy to get the most qualified professional for their companies. If the system worked out well, in 22 years of dedication to learning we all should be prepared to construct airplanes, vessels, cars, and sometimes we hardly know how to write certain words.

APJ Abdul Kalam writes in the preface of his book “Ignited Minds”, [ I am writing this book to make my young readers hear a voice that says, Start Moving]…[As it is said, Thinking is the Capital, Enterprise is the way, Hard Work is the solution]. Traditional education structures established in developed countries, paradoxically underpin a system where thinking and enterprise or private initiative, as a tool to accomplish personal and professional goals, are completely forgotten and ignored, advocating as the main premise “hard work”, that most of the times is nonsense as the effort is not properly focused. Developed countries need to realize that the leit-motif to gear their government bodies is in reverese order, and it is urgent to put back in order and coordinate in an harmonious way Thinking, Enterprise and Hard Work.

It is well known there are “External Forces” blocking the entry of genius into certain business environments as it is perceived with fear whatever and whoever is not under control. Qualification and sharpness cannot be considered a menace neither for a company that leads a business segment or for a person or group of persons who are in charge of certain tasks within an organization. Mediocrity should not prevent brilliance and witty to blossom from within as nowdays world economies are waiting for a Renaissance Movement that could unleash that hidden genius, which will play a key role so to untangle the chaos the market economy is involved at.

But there are also “Internal Forces” that impedes genius to spring up in each and every corner of our streets, cities and countries. Within layers of society flow biassed concepts on what to do for a living. It would be great to earn money from something we love to do, but sometimes we are driven to study or work at things so to follow a social stream, meeting a certain stereotype obtaining some sort of approval or recognition. Ken Robinson describes in his book “The Element” the art of connecting with our passions and individual talents as “the place where the things we love to do and the things we are good at come together.” You find persons complaining about their line of work and I firmly believe this is the moment to pull up strenght from within and undertake those projects that have been settled on our inner thoughts waiting for a bold moment to be awaken and put them into action. If a person studies humanities and he discovers his real passion is to grow tomatoes or cucumbers and would love to have grocery stores round the country to sell its products, good for him!.

Hence if we do expell from our social framework, the external and internal forces that lay in a business environment, we come to the point that there are good opportunities for those with talent, education, decision making – authority and the passion to perform whatever they have always dreamt with. Human beings tend to find sparks in the outside world so to kick off their personal projects, and many times those clues come from insight thoughts during a time for reflection.

If citizens that belong to that group of developing nations have had the ability and have activated their creativity to run their own business or performed an inner-art for a living, professionals who live in developing nations, that have been provided with the survival-kit mentioned above, should at least open it and try it before it expires. If we, the professionals who live in developing nations keep blaming the state, nothing is going to happen, nobody will bring the bacon home and will solve out our problems. As I said before we have been given lots of years of educaction and now has come the moment to put into practice all we have been taught so to generate wealth. We have been behaving in an inactive manner, receiving public education, being assisted by a public health system, being protected by the state police, and now has come the time to generate wealth and profit on our benefit, wich will at the same time stimulate market economies.

Regarding Politicians they do not deceive people anymore as they have restricted credibility and this is a big problem becauase citizens worldwide will not step forward to put into action projects and plans unless they believe in a state that is responsible and likely to manage properly their needs and resources. Bail out plans to cover banks´ missmanagments should come along with a cost-cutting plan over government bodies as they have become too big for its boots. The math here is simple, income generating sums are lower than the bill amount that has to be paid by the state.

And now the problem is time, there is none to restructure government bodies or market economies from its roots, we have to react and the most selfish way to benefit ourselves is to start thinking on generating income from our own skills, as if we keep still, waiting for a personal bail out plan to be received at our mail-box, I can tell you, that moment will not come. To have the philosophy of reconstructing our countries as if we had had the third world war and have to build up the whole thing again would not be an exaggeration, as the market economy as we did know it till now has been destroyed by a whirlpool of errors and missmanagments.

The current situation brings a time of reflection that shall allow us to spend time thinking and planning what to do next. The hardest we fight individually so to squeeze at the utmost our strengths and skills, the faster we will lift our situation out of this economic turmoil we are sunken at. The time for a Renaissance is yet to come in each and every field that has lost the least level, progress and evolution demands, and such phenomenon shall not be accomplished unless we all push hard and forward, as if we had to attack the problem at the grass roots.

Spend some time thinking, searching for the project, setting the plan, choosing the tools, marketing your ideas, fitting the budget, reading books and magazines, listening to renowned people with background in the specific field you will be focused at, writing articles, essays, and pour into your project passion, and by doing this, you´ll find that niche or that place in the market you are comfortable with.

As a conclusion I encourage professionals to find their “Element” and to feel the fear of being competing in the pitch with other players. Do not get scare as by performing with ethics and effort you will always feel satisfied, but by not doing anything you will be lagged behind.

Lastly I would like to quote Sir. W. Churchill writting, in his renowned article called Never Give In, [“Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never, never--in nothing, great or small, large or petty--never give in, except to convictions of honor and good sense.].. [Failure is not so much a physical state as a state of mind; success is falling down, and getting up one more time, without end].

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