The Challenges of Slum Eradication
There are slums in pretty much every country and some countries are mostly slums, so how could we take a step to really solve this problem. I will use countries such as Jamaica and in some cases the US as talking points in my proposals.
The best way to eliminate slums is to pay those in the slums to change behavior. What does this mean really? It means you need to have some kind of welfare program in place. In fact lots of countries have programs around this theme. A good example is Brazil and they have seen lots of progress with that approach.
Here are the key elements to focus on.
1. Make sure that the children get an education, so you break the cycle of poverty in the first place. This means to provide whatever means possible to make sure the kids can attend school at all times.
2. Have a mass education program in these areas. This education would cover personal development issues as well as basic skills. You at least want people to have a good high school education and a useful skill. They can continue to university or more advanced skills once that is done.
3. Renew the housing facilities within the slum. This could come in two parts. One is to train people to have the necessary building skills and the second its the ability to get them to implement in their communities. Basically, Government could provide the design, materials and supervision but the people themselves will build. Government in this case could mean private groups contributing to some central project.
4. Develop alternative technologies to aid slum development. This covers from building techniques to energy generation. This could reduce the cost to build as well as reduce the cost to maintain for example with power generation.
To reduce slums all over, we need to change the mentality of people to think of abundance as oppose to scarcity(Meaning we can all prosper). Here is the principle, a person with a good skill, job or business has more buying power and has less chance of becoming a criminal or dependent on society. In that case if you as a business person or professional contribute to such effort, it will benefit you in the long run significantly.
My view is that a good start is to have research initiatives on how to practically solve slum issues. This would cover from physical development issues to human psychology concerns. It’s also a great opportunity for co-creation as well.
P.S. There is one very brave initiative to solve the problem of housing for the poor called the $300 House Challenge, this is the right way to think for long term solutions.
While I have not read this book fully, the description has some good strategies to investigate.
Have you considered MBA Alternatives?
The MBA has been around for about a hundred years now and does have its value. The issue that many experience persons seem to wrestle with in terms of getting an MBA is the whole issue of what will I really learn and the consequent cost to do so. Make no mistake that if you want to work for some of the most prestigious consulting organizations, you would need not just an MBA but it needs to be from the top schools in the world. Most of these schools cost at least US$50000/year to study. It can pay off if you have the resources to do this as the starting salary in most of these firms are running at $100K/year and up plus generous bonuses.
On the other hand, you can get an Accredited MBA fairly cheap nowadays. There is a school that offers an MBA online for about $4000.00 and they are accredited. In this case it could help you get promoted in most companies to a management position. There are several schools that offer in this price range and the quality is reasonable.
Now, lets assume you really don’t want to take an MBA but either want some comparable certification or you just want the knowledge to help with running a better business. I will outline my opinion on two paths to explore.
Option #1 – Gaining a credential that is comparable to the MBA.
This again could approached from different angles but we will keep it simple at this point. The first option is to look into the Certified MBA exam, this exam does require you to have an MBA but to solve that problem there is an online school that offers kind of MBA equivalent diploma even cheaper than the $4000 degree I mentioned earlier. The name of the school is AMBAIU. There maybe other ways to sit the exam but that seem to be the easiest way for now.
The other paths along this line is to look at UK professional Qualifications in Management from bodies such as the Institute of Leadership and Management and many others.
Option # 2 – MBA level knowledge to improve business skills
This option is a lot of fun and it comes down to the good practice of reading. There are several books that tries to summarize what is covered in an MBA program, one such book is “The 30 Day MBA“. On top of that, there are several books out in the market place that covers different aspects of the MBA program and in fact by authors who have real world experiences running their own businesses. The other thing you can do is to visit the website of the top MBA schools, look at their course outline and use that as a guide for your self study.
Another approach you can take is to check out short courses and seminars offered by the SBA and other organization that seek to promote business activities.
To test yourself with the self-study route, you could try and write a comprehensive business plan from scratch with all the relevant sections needed to run a viable business.
In summary, we have seen that you can get your own personal alternative MBA by paying attention to what is being offered by the top schools and seek to get that through reading or certification programs. The bottom line in all of this is, get the results as that is what really counts in the end with an MBA.
Useful Resources
1. General Business Education Materials – UK
Added Note: One MBA program I forgot to mention that is fairly flexible and has very good respect in the market place is the EBS distance MBA. Check out EBS MBA here. Its not the cheapest online accredited degree but its very cheap for the respectability that it has.
Whats holding you back in Life?
A lot of people are unfortunately incline to think with scarcity mentality. This means they don’t believe everyone can win but focus on either trying to win everything or feeling helpless that there is nothing out there for them. I really like Stephen Covey’s approach to this topic, so I would share a few videos I found on this topic.
Think about it, God does offer abundance; why do we think that being better than someone is the main aim in life? The key to life is to have good character in that case we are more equal than it may look.
Can Your Cell Phone also be your only Computer?
Wow!! 5 years ago this question would seem far fetch and remote. For about a couple years we had the Celio Redfly which gives you a Netbook type device to control your phone. This only worked with some Microsoft and Blackberry phones but it had potential and use. The limitation with that approach was that the user interface was primarily the Phone screen and seem to be generally slow. Check out the Redfly in this quick video.
Well, lets take a step into 2011 and here we have the Motorola Atrix. This is basically a phone that was designed with the intention to function as computer since it has 2 GHz processor and lots of memory and storage (min 16 GB). The key with this device is that it can function as Desktop, Entertainment Center as well as a Laptop with full functionality using Firefox web browser with webtops.
Some important highlights of this approach are that you can run Android applications on a larger screen, you can use a full keyboard and mouse with the phone, applications such as Google docs can work really well in the computer mode either laptop or desktop.
This phone will come with 4G LTE wireless up front and should be out by March 2011. Unfortunately , it’s only available on ATT network for now. You should be able to buy one open but much more expensive going that route. Here are some great demos of how this works.
Second video with another perspective.
I really like it as I always believe in the concept of modular computing especially coupled with the cloud. I am sure you are very excited to check one out.
Self-confidence versus Career Confidence
It just came to me that some times we can misplace self-confidence as in our potential versus confidence in our applied knowledge of a specific field. To give an extreme example, an Engineer can feel very good about him or her being a very good Medical Doctor. That is fine actually as you can do something that you feel motivated about once you get the training. However, for that Engineer to feel confident about actually being a Doctor, they would need the training and experience to get to that point.
What I am trying to say is that career confidence means you have prepared yourself with the competency required of this field that you are into. The first step is to always find out what is required to get that confidence then accomplish through various means such as school, work and whatever ways available. Outside of that people are being arrogant if they don’t take the time to stock up on the latest and most relevant knowledge in the field.
In closing, I think one of the best means to acquire knowledge is through books. Yes, you can read a lot of books and know nothing but if you chart a course to where you want to go and read the relevant books to fill the gap, the experience would be amazing.
Well, work on building your confidence through hard work and smart learning.
Become a Bestselling Author for literally Free
This is something I think will exciting for people who are thinking of authoring a book. Amazon.com as literally made the process free. They have a site called Create Space where you can take your content and polish into a real book to print on demand or a kindle download.
Think about the potential of this. You could do this to generate income or just to build your credibility in whatever field you want to pursue. Here are some tips I would share on how you can do this.
1. Blogging – If you don’t have content on hand, then go sites like wordpress.com, blogger.com, weebly.com or pbwiki.com and create a free blog. Then you would blog on different aspects of your topic say once a week or even more frequent. Once you have a decent amount of content, you can dump this into a document and edit to ensure proper flow and you are ready to go.
2. Outsourcing – This can be done in two basic ways. A. you could hire a ghostwriter to generate the entire book at a fixed cost. Of course you would provide some guidance on how to write and all those things. B. You can buy a set of articles from an article writer for about $5 each or less. Lets say you buy about 20 or more articles, you take those and format in a book fashion and again have a nice e-book to sell.
3. Promotion – Generally, the book is on Amazon.com, people will find it by search and if it comes related to other books. You also have the option to take the listing on amazon.com and promote directly on a website or send out on Facebook etc. Lots of possibilities there.
In any case, this is a really good facility to look at if you want to create books and its an innovative approach to empower people.
Tablet Computer Review and Feedback
Wanted to share a little on my experience with a tablet computer. I got my android Ipad lookalike tablet some time in September this year. I want to give some feedback on how I view it and how it could be improved over time.
1. Since this is not from a big name company but some Chinese copycat company, the quality is not that good although it looks good and with extra care you could manage with it.
2. It lacks secondary wireless capability. I am really surprise it does not have bluetooth as a standard feature. In any case, basic 3G built in would be useful. They could at least make the wifi configurable so you could setup an adhoc connection with your phone or computer. Most of the good applications such as email and Internet depends on having a connection.
3. I find it difficult to use for note taking although with practice you could get to be good at it. It could be useful to have a dictation machine built in to tape a session directly.
4. Its very useful for reading but still I have a lot of PDF and even the adobe reader is not that flexible on there. It does not even allow you to jump to the last page read. You can browse the Internet as well but only useful when you are away from your laptop.
5. Video play back is very good, I would see the use of this to watch a movie in bed or at park. This is one good potential for tablets I think with both video conferencing and video playback.
6. Since the version of Android was not officially released for tablets, there is still a lot of bugs to work out especially with calibration but overall its still very good for a first cut.
Overall, the tablet is usable but until we find the right applications to make it stand out, it’s more of a tool for information consumption on the go. I strongly believe in modular computers which means it could be a real system on the desk and you take the screen along for mobility. I think the Ipad has that with its docking option.
In any case, there are some real Android tablets coming out before the end of the year, so watch out for the improvements.
Revisiting Career Success Options – Part 2
The last post even though I think very good was a little too general from what I had in mind to write, so let me try to be a little more specific in this one.
The general mid-career professional could be in different fields but mostly find themselves in technical areas. This could be accountant, engineer, nurse or whatever similar titles. At this point you are thinking of whether you should move into corporate management or become the main technical guru in the company.
In each company there are limits in terms of either management or very senior technical positions. While you can have tons of top performers they cannot all become VPs or Architects, so you have to bear that in mind. There is always an option to move on to other companies with openings.
Now what if you feel stuck? Before you start focusing on getting your resume out there, go back again to that whole thing about goals. Get that clarified first as you may just end up in a circle between jobs.
What options do you have to move forward? discuss this with your manager in terms of what the company has to offer relative to your goals. Sometimes people get afraid to discuss with their managers as they feel that if the goal is too far off what they have it may back fire on them. Another option is to seek out a mentor and get some ideas from them.
Look into joining professional bodies in your field. This gives you opportunities to network as well as they have information on options in your field. Attend the local meetings and participate in whatever way you can.
Based on the option you selected going forward which could be very technical or management, you should look at some formal training or certification to build your case. For example in Management an MBA would be seen as a serious commitment. If you do not want an MBA then you could look at the Certified Manager or PMP certifications as one means. There are several accredited MBA programs below $10,000.00 with reasonable quality.
In terms of technical growth, it all depends on your current background. If you already have a Masters, you may just need to start looking at ways to get more responsible experience on projects. Create your own project such as writing white papers or try to publish in technical journals. These will give you a better feel and confidence to step up to the challenges out there.
If you don’t have a masters, you could look at taking one locally or by distance learning. As a mid career professional this gives you an advantage as you can pick the courses that will really serve you long term. Again, Certifications are all over the place so pick the most respected one in your field as well.
What I have found is that ability is not the issue in most cases. The biggest issue for people is to have that goal to focus on then to have confidence in achieving it. I really think a good mentor is one take away from this post that will help you get some sanity in your path forward in your career.
Hope you like it. Please share.
Revisiting Career Success Options – Part 1
Today, I want to rant about where you are on the success path and things you can think of to get back on it. This is mainly aimed at mid-career people but applies at any point in life.
The first thing to clarify is the whole issue of your Goals. What is your main goal in life? are you moving along towards that goal? Success does not need to be measured in economic terms although most people hold that view in some ways. Anyone that achieve their goal of whatever form is successful. This does not count goals achieved through unethical or criminal means.
Lets assume you are a little frustrated with life and trying to understand your purpose and calling, lets discuss how you could find that path forward. Here are the basic points.
1. Identify a goal or target. Think of something that you would feel really happy about doing everyday and that could add some value to society. This could be anything that makes you happy with good reason. I have read cases where people leave good corporate job to become chefs and really did well at it to the point where they had more fame and success. Think outside the box but focus on passion.
2. Examine where you are against that goal. Generally, this is called a gap analysis. Do you need more experience or education in a specific area? List out all the things your ideal goal requires and then list what you have relative to those attributes. A good tool here is the SWOT analysis.
3. Develop a plan for how you will approach this goal. There is no issue to use a project management software tool to even develop this. The key is to come up with realistic ideas and put timelines around them. Never forget the risk with each step and be willing to look at alternatives.
4. One important thing for any career advancement or change is to get a mentor or mentors. Find someone that has some level of achievement that you can be candid with about your plans and get this feedback to fine tune things. This could be done through paid programs as well but there plenty of people out there that love the importance of giving advice.
5. Execute and track progress. We are all guilty of over planning about life so its good to take action to achieve your next step towards your goal. Never allow your comfort zone to hold you back. To Ensure that you make progress, make it a point of duty to review your progress every month. Basically, try to see what is really moving forward or holding you back.
Success can be had once we have the confidence to know we can achieve it. That is basically the barrier to most success, that lack of confidence in reaching that big goal. Work on this and keep telling yourself that you deserve it, despite all the negative things that could happen along the way.
Hope you enjoyed.. Feel free to share this as you see fit.
Economic Stimulus for Developing Countries
Most countries in the world are under the umbrella of developing countries. I will use a case study of my native Jamaica on how these countries could accelerate development and spread wealth to the many as oppose to the few.
The Problem
Wealth is highly bias towards 10% of the population while the rest struggles to survive and make ends meet. The Government is overly indebted which means debt servicing is probably higher than most other expenditures combined. This mean government has limited ability to provide any help to create real economic Growth.
The Challenge
How do you skew wealth towards the majority? Most societies are setup this way actually. It’s only that in Develop countries some degree of trade union activities, socialist style governments and to some degree the spin off from education that creates a better environment for upward mobility and reasonable living standards.
In developing countries like Jamaica a big part of the problem is poverty within inner city communities and general neglect for rural development. What this mean is considerably urban migration which creates squatting communities that leads to crime and other social issues.
Most of the people of the lower side of the economic ladder did not focus too much on education so they do not have much to offer in terms real gainful employment. Again the government is over its head in debt so the ability to drive projects for solving these problems are very limited.
Solution Options
There are several ways these problems could be solved over time, so lets examine some key ones.
- Individual Motivation
People need to feel that they deserve better and demand better in the first place. They need to decouple themselves from expecting the government to solve all problems. Seek out the opportunities that exist, work together and you would be surprise on the outcomes.
- Education
Even without natural resources, any country can be prosperous if they create the means to create value. This means education at all levels need to be the highest priority. Since government has limited resources, the private sector and others should play a part in pushing such an agenda. To reach those already out of the system they need to look at ways to innovate at minimal cost by reaching as much people as possible. Ideas such as the One laptop Per Child (OLPC) is a good concept to use for adults as well. Apart from basic education, focus on developing key skills that will help the country on a whole move forward. People will migrate but with good incentives they would stay home. Following the recession migration is not the most attractive option anymore. Last but not least is the education of hope and determination. People need to feel that they can make a difference given the right facilities. The Tony Robbins type of motivation would be a good vibes to propagate.
- Research
When you look at most developed countries, they have areas in which they add value and you need those values to make your life better. Take Japan as an example; how much natural resource do they have? This means research around your unique capabilities is key to long term development. This again probably need some government leadership but the private sector can be a big player in this approach. For example, look at the National Science Foundation (NSF) in the US, they could develop similar bodies to target areas of development.
The other side to research is to understand location based capabilities and just general break down of economic statistics. How much of a specific product did we import and at what value? An example is that some areas could do well with certain agriculture crops and activities around that. This means you could provide this data for individuals or investors to jump on which creates employment right away. This data could be provided by the government to foster better planning and get people to know where real opportunities are.
- Small Businesses
I have gotten to a point where I almost hate big business but not totally. I think in developing countries, these guys get away with murder. They pay small wages and does not seem to give back enough to the country in general. A good example is Tourism in Jamaica. How much small people really live well off tourism?
The view I have here is the concept of co-operatives where people can form a group to start a business. This mean they would all work in the business and share the benefits or returns. This concept could go very far if they are well structured and you have the right skill set available within each group. This is where the government could have an organization similar to the Small Business Administration (SBA) in the US to provide guidance and technical assistance as needed.
- Business Financing
People always say that having a good idea you need some degree of funding to make things happen. This is where I think in the short term government (SBA concept) should provide facilities for people to develop their business plans then give guarantees to help with getting bank loans or other equity financing.
- Law Enforcement
We will need to pay more attention to enforce the law in general. Bulldoze squatting communities if needed but do not allow people to live in substandard housing which is bad for them and their children. In doing this you work with them to find somewhere decent to live where they can be productive. Somehow, I think for some countries to move forward, they need a dictatorship in a positive way. One that is focused on uplifting national pride and development.
Summary
This is just the beginning of this discussion but it could go on and on. To summarize, I would say the focus should be on individual business ownership. Not just for people to become street vendors but do develop real ideas that could generate exports, save on the import bill or have more tourist visitors coming to the country. Investment by one big enterprise will not solve poverty the right way, therefore getting to take the bull by the horn is the way to go. This means to empower the small man to be creative and fuel economic growth.