It
takes a lot of hard work, perseverance, material use (what we call capital for
businesses) to walk our dreams and or maintain a continuously upward trending
prosperity curve. A lot of times we listen to a typical day for that public figure
that we admire, or we watch reality shows where people get to battle it out for
a prize. It’s never easy. When you don’t have your brain fully engaged, it may
require one or more of your body parts to see you get to where you want to be.
But one’s cranial processing capacity usually gives an upper hand; it dictates
our creativity to discover new things, or better what we already have. And
that’s why some economies generally perform better than others. It’s also a
reason as to why giant multi-international companies would pay handsomely to
have that brilliant manager hop from another company and join their team. It
could be for the same reason that a big international football club would pay a
fortune to get a smart player move from a competing club to its own. And for
the same reason that a renowned label would sign a local artist whose
probability to rise into a pop star cannot be denied. In short, for all the
changes that we see each new day the world grows older, and we grow older,
there is a common reason as to why all these happen. It is Knowledge. Knowledge
doesn’t have to be acquired in books, or other literature material, it can be
gained out of experience and what we see or hear. It is the gift that comes
with knowing. I think it can be good or bad depending on where we use it.
But
even with all the changes that have obviously come as a result of knowledge, it
is sad to note that there is a lot of selfishness amongst mankind to share
knowledge! I am not sure whether animals in the jungle do share knowledge with
each other, but I am pretty much sure there is a high probability they do. To
those who always feel a little disturbed if they do not share that new thing
they learnt in the morning, big ups to you. However, we have a significant portion
of our society that is either afraid or selfish to share what they know. There
is a bad feeling of defeat or fear that if we let other people know what we
know, then they will get better opportunities than us (or probably steal our
opportunities)! Now that is a primitive way of thinking. It could be true yes
that at times when we tell others our ideas (especially in competitive
environments), then they stand an edge over us. And for businesses, a loss of
ideas could translate into a fall in the profit margin or no profits at all. I
will therefore not address such kind of reluctance to share knowledge, it is
necessary. I will also not talk about espionage situation or political
vendetta, these may be a little too complex to understand.
I want
to target the young people, full of fresh and new ideas; Ideas that can change
economies overnight, ideas that move mountains. Being a young person who is
working hard to contribute my share of ideas and energy to the growth and
development of my country (and the world hitherto), I have met a lot of young
people who are doing amazing projects in their societies. I am so glad that
youths are contributing more today towards the shaping of their countries. From
software developers, farmers, economic analysts, teachers, peer educators,
project directors, investment bankers just to mention but a few. There are a
billion and more projects or businesses or premises of other nature that are
started, ran and or led by young people. But even with all that contribution,
there is still a huge portion of achieving young people who shy off to share
their journey with fellow young people who are just getting started. I have
been to at least 3 forums where brilliant young speakers graced the day, and we
all sat back in awe and admiration as we listened to their social interventions
and achievements. And once a speaker talks, there is usually an opportunity to
interact with them one on one. What follows could be an exchange of contact
information with a “let’s get in touch and see how we can work together” grin.
But what follows after the forum? It’s a series of non-replied emails or an
unanswered phone calls from your would be peer teacher/mentor. I have fallen a
victim of this once or twice while trying to pursue a way forward on how to grow
my projects. But today, I have mastered the game. You never give up on it.
Sometimes we do understand that there could be a million other people reaching
out to you, especially if you are an idol to many. But what about those of us
who are obviously not being banged by mails and or phone calls? We just choose
to ignore fellow young ambitious youths because of the fear that they could
rise and getter better at us in implementing an idea. Shame on us! No one will snatch an award or ambassadorial
role from you simply because you gave them tips to be like you (or better than
you if they prove better).
If we
change our attitudes today, and create a spirit of sharing with others what we
know (where applicable), we stand a better chance of developing our nations and
society. Do not shy or feel like a loser just by sharing with others what you
know. Here’s a simple thing to find out whether you’ve been utterly selfish
with knowledge: Do you at times sit in a classroom set-up where your teacher or
lecturer asks, “anybody with an idea?” and you chose to shut up. But once the
answer is given, you say to yourself, I knew it! Then you let a sly winning
smile in your heart for knowing it all along as you whisper to it saying ‘yes I
knew it!’
You
need to change that; it is a small act of knowledge selfishness that could grow
into a mount that needs lancing. Feel
proud to know what you know, and thereafter share it where situation calls for.
Write it, blog it, capture it on film, sing it, debate it, scream it…..just
find a way of sharing it out. Furthermore, knowledge shared is knowledge half
gained which means you get half extra smarter than you were before sharing. If
we add up all those halves, then we may end up with a world of overwhelmingly
smart fellows. It’d be so much knowledge that we’d solve problems in
microseconds.
