Monday, May 22, 2017
ENGINEERING OUR
DESTINY
As Malawians we dream of a wonderful future. We dream to
abolish poverty and live a prosperous life. It is imperative to note that
unlocking the growth potential of this country does not rest in anybody’s hands
but us. We are the architects of the future that we crave to live.
Professor Kamwachale Khomba of the University of Malawi in
his inaugural lecture early in the year eloquently pointed out that America was
developed by Americans; Japan was developed by the Japanese so is China by the
Chinese, Singapore by Singaporeans and many developed nations that have
developed by the dedicated and hardworking citizenry. So what makes us feel
that Malawi would be an exceptional case that it should be developed by
foreigners and not by ourselves!
Narrowing down to Africa, Rwanda has engineered a wonderful
future from the ashes of genocide; Ethiopia has engineered a future from a
repressive military regime to become the economic hub for East Africa.
Mozambique has shed off its war past to grow its economy magnificently. Africa
and Africans are engineering a new future of their choice, a destiny
manufactured by their own hands.
We do not need a Jewish prophet nor a son of one to prophecy
that the development spanners of this country are in the hands of the people of
this country. It is time we engineer the future we want. A renowned and world
class speaker by the name of Michael Jackson - not the musician - lectures that
only by creating our own unique paths can we create the future for ourselves.
To engineer the destiny of our choice we have to change the
way we do things, the way we do business, the way we do politics, the way we
live socially. We are the ones that can think our way to success. Change is
never easy and that we have to appreciate. The process of change plunges people
involved into the dungeon of surprise, frustration, anger, disappointment, fear
and even denial at times. But the moment we accept the change commitment
follows then we deliver to the highest standards.
In engineering the destiny of our choice we have to accept
the situation we are in. Doing more of what we have been doing is not working
and will never work anymore. Let us accept we do not have donour aid and let us
forget about it. Let us rise beyond the frustration and the uncertainty. This
is no longer time we have to be going back to the tried and the tested. We
cannot engineer our destiny as long as we live on routine. It is time we deal
away with the aid mentality most especially as now is the time we have to be looking
for growth.
Africa’s leadership icon Nelson Mandela was right, the
journey becomes lighter and easier when you do not carry your past with you.
Our past had aid, the present does not have. Our past had many free things; the
present cannot sustain such a lifestyle. Our past had the snail’s pace in business;
the present demands the cheetah speed business. Our past had less competition;
the present has competition at neck breaking speed. We can no longer keep on
travelling on the highway to the past. The future matters.
As Michael Jackson lectures once again, business has changed
its shape and structure, business has become incredibly complex and business
now demands a brand new mindset. Things are moving fast in this generation, we
cannot afford to have the thinking mentality of the industrial era. It is time
we become the conscious thinkers that challenge the status quo and break the
routine.
The world now demands new generation thinking. The issue is
no longer capital and labour but skills and knowledge as observes Michael
Jackson. In the new generation thinking command and control is outdated as in
comes decentralization; bureaucracy and hierarchy paves way for networks;
internal controls are swallowed up in alliances and partnerships; the
mechanical side of the world has been digitized; as standardization has lost
touch to customization; with scale and scope evolving into flexibility and
speed
Our destiny in whatever dimension is attainable, is
engineerable, we can architecture it but then we have to go by the necessary
changes. Let us change our beliefs. Our beliefs are the greatest enemy to
change. We have to create a culture that no longer prefers conformity and
‘fitting in.’ We have to abolish the archaic mentality of only agreeing with
those that agree with us as such people share same attributes and can no longer
think outside the box. We have to realise that no people can be thinking like
one. It is the diversity in ideas that spearhead development.
In engineering our future and destiny let us stop getting
worried with things that we do not have control over. Nick Vujicic, the man
without arms and legs, was right, ‘accept that some things are not possible and
beyond your country but believe in what you can do.’ And the worst thing of all
is that we gravitate towards bad news over good. It is this element that makes
us unable to see opportunities. A great percentage of posts on facebook are
pertaining to negative stories. Most stories people share on whatsapp are
negative stories. The more negative we are the more we give our mentality a
diet of negatives and corrode its thinking to be negative.
