Old school VS New School

You've heard the term old school vs new school? It basically means that some products, services or even attitudes are old school or antiquated and really behind the times or irrelevant and new school means something new, fresh, change, energetic and world changing. When i think of old school i think of products where everyone basically uses it but doesn't think why except that everyone else uses it or does it! A great example is that everyone used candles and oil, while Edison developed electricity. Old school was the oil and candle because no one really questioned it. Then electricty became new school. Now electricity is becoming old school as renewable energy slowly starts to take over...and it will!
When i think of old school i think of golfers and the holes they make called divets. Now millions of golfers make millions of divets daily. Golfers carry sand. Now thats seriously old school. Someone will design a product that can fill those holes so golfers dont need to carry a bag of sand any more. Like a spray can of grass?
The masses eat bread as one of their staple diets or wheat products. Now this is old school. Diets will change and are changing but what of the masses and their eating habits. Something affordable and tasty into something new school, healthy etc. Old school is when the majority of people do something without really thinking why they do it, and new school becomes the alternative and then everyone changes.
It becomes a constant and endless circle of change, adaption, evolution and innovation.
Other old school things that need solutions include:
1. Marriage
2. Political systems
3. Fridges
4. TV
5. Insurance
and so on and so on!

Are you a loser if you enter a entrepreneurship competition and lose?

I was a judge at an entrepreneurship competition this weekend and i listened to the 8 finalists. So I asked the orgnaisers how many people entered the competition. 1000! Jeez thats a lot of entries. I happened to be sitting next to the founder of The BIG Break TV program that is also a competition. So i asked him the same question. He said that 12,000 people entered his show and of course there is only 1 winner and 12 finalists. Then i looked around at the many many competitions that are now available to entrepreneurs across the world. Thousands of people enter these competitions, a few are finalists and the rest?? My opinion is that no one should be a loser in an entrepreneurship competition. So How would i run an entrepreneurship competition?

1. All the entrants are looked at as possible entrepreneurs rather than there ideas alone.
2. Everyone must receive feedback that will encourage them to keep trying...as perseverance is so important being an entrepreneur.
3. Everyone should be encouraged to come back and pitch again and again and again....until they get it!
4. The databases of all the losers should be compiled into one massive database and this should be the foundation for training, encouragement and motivation for wanna be entrepreneurs.

So at the moment we have winners and losers.

In my system i want only winners and winners.

I will begin by compiling a list of all the "losers" and start the long process of getting them up to speed, Who knows the judges may have missed quite a few diamonds on the way.

I am on the war path!

So how can the government increase employment amongst the unemployed and service delivery to the people who voted for them?

In a heated discussion with an old friend she challenged me outright on the issue of unemployment and together with that service delivery.

For me the two issues are completely connected and I will tell you why.

First get rid of the unions in all government departments. I mean why should people who work for government have access to a union mentality. These are people who are paid by taxpayers and taxpayers are the actual employers not government. When government employees don’t deliver on their targets or their mandate then they should be fired. All people in government should serve the people who actually pay their salaries...the taxpayer.

A radical view. But for gods sake the government recognizes as Trevor Manual does and Ibrahim Patel the drivers of economic change will be a great education system. Then the unions drive strikes for better wages and who suffers. The kids! This is a government paradox. This is a ridiculous situation to be in. Nurses, Prison warders, police, army, public servants on all levels should not be allowed to strike and they should have no union representation.

Now my real point is that service delivery will be based on targets for all government employees not based on just getting a monthly salary. If they don’t deliver then they must be fired.

If they don’t like this system then they can get a job in the private sector where they will have to deliver on targets anyway! People need to learn that there are consequences for under-performing.

Most of the jobs that will be created in the future will be through government interventions and this is clearly a cop out as the jobs are not sustainable and are not based on profits but taxpayers money.

Now this is my real point. Why cant some people do this? I believe that people are not taught to set targets and then keep them as well as the consequences of not sticking to these targets. This is the true measure of success and often means you need to work 110% rather than 100%. This means that a union wage and work week is simply ridiculous if the country wants to reach lofty targets of job creation, employment and service delivery. The extra 10% is what will make people successful and the country. It’s the same with the 1000 hour rule. You need to spend 1000 hours to be masterfull!

This is the same for any work, school studies, any vocation, sport, music etc. The person who works the most will be the most successful, and often work for nothing.

This is why my son will be succesfull! He trains in sport like a demon and sets his targets very high. He achieves! He works so hard at school and achieves! He works on everything at 110%, sometimes 120%. There is no magic bullet.

If kids at school set targets and work at 130% they will all achieve good results. If municipal workers work at 110% then we will have service delivery. This is the ethos we need in this country. If targets are not reached then there should be consequences. For gods sake how can we let students through to higher grades if they haven’t achieved their targets in lower grades and how can we lets them have such low standards. Government complains about education but they are often the problem talking the talk but not walking the walk. They need to get rid of the union mentality once and for all and not stand for second best!

Ice Cream cones, potato sacks and 3D binocular glasses

Firstly I would like to thank everyone for their kind words on the value of reading this blog.

I think all of you have a yearning for Innovation like I do wether you are a student, working in a corporate, unemployed, living in a city or a slum.

Innovation makes us who we are….human and inquisitive…in need of stimulation and improvement…excited and full of potential. I have mentioned this before in my blog somewhere that I believe in the human spirit to adapt and change and develop. Those humans that can change will always be more successful than those who don’t. And of course we can learn from nature all the time. The ultimate adaptable system.

Now I am a surfer and I want to paddle faster. So I looked at a duck and I looked at the webbing on their feet. And I thought why don’t I make these web based gloves for my hands so I can paddle faster. This is adaption and will make my surfing more fun and who knows I may make money as well.

And money is important BUT Innovating is much to much like fun. Innovating only for money is a wasted pre-occupation. Fun is important too!

When a kid wants ice cream in a cone the cone is nice but the ice cream is better. A re-usable cone is a very practical way to eat as much ice cream (in a cone ) as possible without wasting a cone every time.

The problem with potato sacks is that they are either paper ( really lame) or some type of plastic mesh ( bad for the environment). Why not produce a plastic bag with pockets for each potato that is reusable.

How many times have you been to a movie and bought the 3D glasses. Then you come to the next movie and buy them again. And so the wastage continues. So why don’t they take the 3D glasses and turn them into cheap binoculars for use at sports events, at game farms, and Justin Bieber concerts.

I suppose wastage is also an issue for me. I do hate wastage. What if I told you all that there are R50 tokens in the litter on the beach in Milnerton Cape Town. Will you pick up the litter? For R50? Wait for my call to action.

University students are the next entrepreneurs

Every month i hold a pitch session at a different university with university students. Often like in Stellenbosch university my partners are university students with a strong drive toward entrepreneurship. The students organise the events and drive students to come and pitch and they become real partners. The vision with the Stellenbosch model is called Pitchin and the students who are partners and i hope to grow the pitchin events to all university's soon. What i love most about these events is the beer and the popcorn. Honestly, where do you go to pitch a business idea with a beer in your one hand and popcorn in the other. Its honest and its fun and thats what this phase of business should be. In the last pitch session which happened last friday the quality was excellent:
Everyone can pitch in any form they like: The objective for me is that people be brave and pitch. That students encounter a positive environment rather than a critical one. and that students all get some feedback on their business ideas.
These were some of my comments:
1. Bernie
Brand: Wikisun ( exam papers online)
A truly great product and something that could definitely be turned into a business. This will definitely work at schools ( especially maths and science) as well as universities. The most important thing is to prove that there is a difference between those that use the products and those who don't. Together with mentorship this is a great product. It would be worthwhile doing a proper budget for the expansion of the business

2. Tom ( sustainable farming and more!)
Sustainable brothers
In terms of an offering he has so much to offer students. Soil measurement and change, black gold, Putting hands in soil, volunteers. I think that many of the ideas and evolve into something quite special.I also love the concept of planting and harvesting all over stellenbosch for students and connecting this with a Facebook type site where students become involved in the whole business.

3. Vida Ryan
Milk crates at schools
A great recycling idea. This can work with crates as they are and with melting crates and remoulding the plastic into something else. I would love to see this concept taken forward and tested.

4. Anya
Lectures as audio books
It was fantastic that she got up and promoted her idea as an impromptu pitch. I really liked the idea and believe she should be encouraged to make a test pilot of a few lectures and see if anyone would be interested in listening to them or buying them.

5. Derek
Study group ( an online tool that acts as a diary for students to be reminded all the time of events, courses, lectures etc)
Well done to Derek. The fact that the pitched for the second time with an amended idea that has now been tested is brilliant. The next phase of this business is to actually commercialise and please change the brand into something much more catchy.

6. Liz Lowe
JAST
A lovely idea. So simple yet this is what the world is changing towards. A mixture of social media and social change. Brilliant ideas around taking candid pictures picking up litter, trash treasures ( this idea must be tested and i would help with this). I think a simple Facebook page to start and promoting amongst mattes students and surfers. The idea can also be extended to parks, streets etc. The brand also needs to change. 

I beleive that students at university can develop ideas for a very specific market and test them. There is no better model for entrepreneurs to start a new business. Most entrepreneurs struggle to identify their market while students dont need too. They understand what is needed and they build products and services for that market. A perfect match.

My favourite TV program at the moment

I do love TV, especially documentaries. There is one at the moment called the "Men who built America" based on the life stories of guys like Carnegie, Van der Bilt, JP Morgan, Rockefeller. i love this show as it shows clearly the ups and downs of being an innovator, pioneer and entrepreneur. There are so many lessons in this program and so inspiring it reminds me exactly why there are so few entrepreneurs in the world. The program shows clearly that to be an entrepreneur you need the following qualities:

1. An unflinching desire toward taking risks which very few people are capable of.
2. Having a vision which does not always have a clear path but going on the journey anyway
3. A little bit of luck but making that luck yourself most of the time
4. Understanding that there will be ups and downs and one needs to deal with both
5. Never underestimate your competition
6. You have to be ruthless sometimes
7. Be careful who you bring in as partners and staff
8. No one cares that you started the company most people want to see your downfall
9. Raising capital for your venture is never easy
10. Unexpected circumstances cannot be seen

I encourage all would be entrepreneurs to read the stories of these entrepreneurs or watch the program on TV. It is beyond fascinating and just affirms everything that i have lived and understand as an entrepreneur

Companies and innovation: What is the process to get all employees to begin innovating

All companies big and small need to innovate in order to get ahead of the competition. Over the years i have noticed the increasing need for companies in South Africa to innovate from the bottom up. I have designed the following process for companies;

The Ideas generation phase uses my Seeing the Leaves technique which i still think is the best idea generator in the world! I have tested it and tested it and implemented it all over the world and it really does work. You can download for free the seeing the leaves newspaper technique on my blog.
I believe that the pitching of ideas is vital as it gets the ideas in the open and allows for full transparency re: who brought the idea to the company in the first place. It is also exciting and fun.
A company needs to take some of the ideas and develop what i call a test fund that can fund the exploration of new ideas. The test must be small and cover both marketability and viability and can it be made or done!
Once the test has been complete and if it is successfull then companies can invest bigger into the concept.
The biggest issue for employees is how they benefit from bringing new ideas into a company. For me it is the most exciting part of being an employee. If i have a great idea i can be the jockey for the the whole process or i can let the company develop the idea and i can follow it. Either way if i am an employee this could change my life and the life my company.