End Poverty: Innovation precedes development

When Henry Ford came up with the Model T, it was a revolutionary product because it was an accessible and affordable product to thousands of people. Prior to that, cars were the domain of the exclusive elite few. Cars were expensive, took long to make and as a result could only be afforded by Kings,…

End Poverty: Unleash more entrepreneurs

According to new data released by Stats SA, poverty is on the rise in South Africa. The latest “Poverty Trends in South Africa” report shows that, despite the general decline in poverty between 2006 and 2011, poverty levels in South Africa rose in 2015. More than half of South Africans were poor in 2015, with…

If I ruled the world…

.... and If I could remove one thing from the world and replace it with something else.... I would erase politics and put art in its place. That way, art teachers would rule the world. And since art is the most supreme form of love, beautiful colors and imagery would weave bridges for peace wherever…

Suicide and the battle to live

When is person is sick from flu, there is physical evidence. The reason some people think depression is not a serious illness is because they don't get to see the physical symptoms. Imagine saying to somebody that you have a life-threatening illness, such as cancer, and being told to pull yourself together or get over…

To be calm is a revolutionary act

“The world is increasingly designed to depress us. Happiness is not very good for the economy. If we were happy with what we had, why would we need more? How do you sell an anti-ageing moisturiser? You make someone worry about ageing. How do you get people to vote for a political party? You make…

Pathways: Understand the critical path

How we do things often gets to be more important than what we do. How you say something and when to say it, gets to be more important than what you say. This means learning tactics is important. I want a garden in the certain area, means I need grading, a bulldozer, a permit, seeds,…

Pathways: Listen more…

The thing with your calling is that it will never stop calling you. You may ignore your calling, but it will not ignore you. It may not shout to you in desperation, but your calling has a way of reminding your soul that whatever else you are doing, is not what you are meant to…

Pathways: Getting lost

The thing about finding your path is that you will get lost at the beginning. The path to our destination is not always a straight one. We go down the wrong road, we get lost, we turn back. Maybe it does not matter which road we embark on. Maybe what matters is that we embark.…

Pathways: …. not followed

A palliative nurse who has counselled the dying in their last days has revealed the most common regrets we have at the end of our lives. Bronnie Ware is an Australian nurse who spent several years working in palliative care, caring for patients in the last 12 weeks of their lives. She recorded their dying…

The confusion

We frequently confuse internal biochemistry [caused by habits and genetics] with external events. If we didn't, marketing would not work nearly as well. Marketing preys on our internal weaknesses. We buy unplanned material things [and on debt] because we feel depressed on the inside and we call it retail therapy. Our brains are busy processing…

Pathways: the unknowable ones

So you arrive at the intersection of two paths. The one path is paved and well lit, the other path is gravel and no trail. Often our inclination is to choose the well-lit paved path. It is a safer path. We then assume that because it is paved and well lit with a trail, it leads…

Your strategy is not what you say it is…

In the words of Andy Grove, former chairman and chief executive officer of Intel: “To understand a company’s strategy, look at what they actually do rather than what they say they will do.” Real strategy, in companies and in our lives, is created through hundreds of everyday decisions about where we spend our resources. The…