Over the last few years, I've been reading the NY Times blogs from entrepreneurs. While I've always enjoyed the articles, which are really dispatches from the front-lines of the entrepreneur's world, I particularly liked this post (from Jay Goltz, an entrepreneur who owns multiple businesses in Chicago)
as it really provides some interesting insights into what makes an entrepreneur a success. I'm not thrilled with the drill-instructor nature of his comments, but they still provide some insight into the focus on detail that needs to be a part of every start-up. Here is the post from Jay Goltz:
I recently had a conversation with a woman, Leah Rosch, who has been asking herself the kinds of questions that many business owners ask after a few years of struggling: Will this business ever make money? Do I have what it takes to succeed? Is it time to quit?
About six years ago, Ms. Rosch started a company called “What a Cookie!” It is an artisanal, decorated-cookie business, specializing in party favors — holidays, birthdays, corporate events — and gift arrangements. She told me that she had never owned a business before and has been “spiraling slowly downward” of late, ever since her accountant told her that her cookies were too labor-intensive to build a business around — one that will pay a living wage, in any case. As a last-ditch effort, she e-mailed me her “assessment for the future” along with some questions.
I have found that most people who start businesses are talented, passionate, and experienced at doing something, whether it’s writing software, cleaning houses, selling clothes or making cookies. If their businesses fail, the reasons generally have little to do with that talent, passion, or ability to make their product or provide their service. More often, the problems have more to do with marketing, management and finance, but they come disguised as a lack of cash, a lack of customers and a lack of good employees.
Because Ms. Rosch is struggling with the kinds of issues that many owners encounter, I wanted to share our exchange, and she graciously agreed. I hope the conversation, which has been condensed and edited, will be helpful to other owners facing similar problems.
Me: Your accountant is telling you what your financials say, and have been saying — that you can’t make money doing business the way you are doing business. That is just an accounting conclusion. Now you need an accounting solution, changing the business so that the numbers work.
Ms. Rosch: I understand about my accountant, but I think he’s looking at my bottom line the past several years and sees no significant income, and he figured he needed to warn me! Fact is, it’s hard not making any money, but easy — especially when the business is young — to get caught up in the mindset that money will come in eventually.
Me: I understand. My point is, you need to look at whether the business can be fixed. There is no question that continuing what you are doing is not going to all of a sudden start producing a profit. Let’s talk about your prices. Do you know your cost per cookie?
Ms. Rosch: I did a painstaking cost analysis several years ago and keep extrapolating upwards to keep up with costs. So now, with everything — ingredients, printed labels, cellophane bag, ribbon and labor per average one cookie — the real cost per cookie is about $2.25 per, for which we charge between $3.85 and $5.
Me: How did you figure how long it takes to decorate one cookie?
Ms. Rosch: We ballpark it at 10 cookies an hour, which is on the high side for the typical styles.
Me: Better to start high. What are you paying?
Ms. Rosch: Highest is $15 an hour to the top cookie decorator.
Me: Which means, with FICA, etc., it’s at least $16.50 an hour. So $16.50 divided by 10 per hour is $1.65, just for labor. Add in everything else, and it is probably costing you more than $3 per cookie. Which doesn’t leave you enough to cover your fixed costs.
Ms. Rosch: No wonder I am going broke!
Me: Exactly. That’s a rookie mistake. You’re underpricing to attract business — or at least not to discourage business — and you are not making any money. You need to stop this cold. There are three things you need to figure out: What does it really cost to make a cookie? What margin do you need? And how much do you need to live on, or what kind of profit do you need? For example — and let’s keep numbers easy for the sake of figuring this out — if you determine that you need to have a gross profit of $120,000 to cover your all of your fixed costs, including advertising and your salary, and your gross profit margin is 60 percent, you need to have sales of $200,000 per year.
Can you do that? Can you command a 60 percent margin, or more, selling specialty cookies to a corporate market? Can you make $200,000 worth of product out of your existing facility? That is $800 per day. That is a lot of cookies. My guess is that you can’t do this making a commodity product. You need to find a business model that works. These numbers are just examples, but is there a market for high-end specialty cookies?
Ms. Rosch: I don’t know. That’s what I’m trying to figure out! Maybe I need to change the direction of the company, streamline our offerings and better target the corporate crowd. For instance, I love the concept of creating highly custom corporate cookie gifts …
Me: I don’t want to know you’re in love with a concept — you need to be objective, but I like how that sounds. You need to sit down with a blank piece of paper and figure out how to build a business that would net you the money you need.
Ms. Rosch: I’ll try to figure out costs and stuff for this. But I’m not sure I can do the business as we’ve been doing it, producing this line. I think it would need volume …
Me: I think you keep this very high end. It’s corporate gifts — law firms, Realtors, all kinds of businesses need some novel thank-you gift to send clients. Who wouldn’t want a knockout really good tasting cookie with a clever saying? I’m talking, make one killer cookie that’s in a great box. It’s all about presentation.
Ms. Rosch: O.K., well, maybe. But I still have the whole thing about being out of my element running a business. For example, in the past year, I’ve gone through four cookie decorators. It’s exhausting to keep training people only to have them leave for a better-paying job.
Me: You’re not hiring the right people.
Ms. Rosch: So how do I hire the right people?
Me: How are you finding people?
Ms. Rosch: Ads on Craigslist, mostly. Because newspapers charge a minimum of $100 to run an ad for two weeks, which can add up to a small fortune, after a while.
Me: I don’t know … I think hiring the wrong person is what can really add up to a small fortune. My business has actually had some success with community newspapers. Are you requesting culinary degrees or experience?
Ms. Rosch: No, in fact we often do better with non-culinary types because we’re not “culinary” enough. Decorating cookies is more like a craft, so it’s often easier to train people with artistic ability. But it does help if someone has had some bakery work experience in that they get the production end of things — how to work efficiently. The decorator I just lost went to a private bakery where she’s getting $25 an hour, which of course I couldn’t begin to compete with. But she has worked in big production settings and so was helpful with setting up efficiency and prioritizing and speeding people along.
Me: Well, no reason you need to be paying $25 per hour. You need to look at who you are hiring. No offense, but this isn’t brain surgery. You don’t need someone with a college degree. You need to hire people who are good with their hands, and expect to get paid a production wage that will work for the business.
Ms. Rosch: I’m not looking for college degrees, but because it’s a small artisanal concept, I do think I need people I can communicate with. And if I’m paying less than a competitive rate, it’s like a quote-unquote sweat shop …
Me: Stop! Stop with these preconceived notions. Why is it a sweat shop? Will you have 60-hour work weeks? Bad working conditions? You certainly are not paying minimum wage. You need a paradigm shift. You need to hire people who need and want the job; they are less likely to leave if you treat them well. You told me that the other bakeries you have talked to have the same problem, finding and keeping employees. But I can tell you that talking to other people in your industry is like a self-fulfilling prophecy. It’s not where you get solutions; maybe commiseration, which can be useful in a different way. And if you want people to “communicate with,” make some friends! Look, every business has challenges and problems and puzzles, and you need to address each one. And just because you’ve tried something one or two ways with no success doesn’t mean the third way won’t work. Running a small business is puzzle-solving. I think you have the raw ingredients — if you can make the math work.
The bigger question: Are you willing to do what it takes? Or to put it another way, how bad do you want this?
Ms. Rosch: Well, I’m certainly willing to try to figure this out.
Me: There is no try! There is either do or not do. That’s from Yoda in Star Wars. Success is about your resolve and persistence — and, of course, whether there’s enough of a market for what you want to do. And again, some of the problems that you have been having, like not understanding your true costs, are common mistakes among rookies.
Ms. Rosch: How long is one a rookie? I’ve been at this for more than six years!
Me: In some ways, we’re all rookies if it’s a new venture or we’re targeting a new market. But you’ll stop being a rookie when you start learning from your mistakes and stop repeating them. In learning-business years, six years is not that long. Do everything you can to fix your problems before you decide to quit: cost accounting, a budget that works, a doable marketing plan, a better hiring and management strategy. You can do it. I think.
Here is a link to the story and the rest of the posts: http://boss.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/18/will-this-business-ever-make-money/?ref=business
.
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Monday, July 16, 2012
The Value of Internships for Students
As a follow-up to a recent post of mine regarding the value of interships, here is an aricle from the Palm Beach Post, by Emily Roach on that subject.
FSU finance major Melysa Gross has spent the summer at Office Depot headquarters, helping choose products for sales ads, learning about changes in office supply retailing and meeting people in all departments.
And getting a job. Next week Gross, who graduated Florida State University in May, starts as a category assistant in merchandising.
Executive Vice President of Human Resources Michael Allison said he’s excited about the interns Office Depot hired this summer and that the program worked just the way it should for Gross.
“Retailers all over the world are hiring top-notch merchandisers,” he said. “In five or six years, our challenge will be to keep her.”
More 16- to 24-year-olds were working in June than in the prior three years, showing a small improvement for this age group who has been squeezed out of jobs by the recession and lingering labor market malaise. The unemployment rate was lower for 16- to 19-year-olds and 20- to 24-year-olds as summer jobs and internships started up in June compared to the past three years.
Lynn University Business Dean Tom Kruczek said an internship gives a graduate a competitive edge in this job market.
“It’s more important than ever right now,” Kruczek said.”It can be the door to a permanent job, it can enhance your education.”
The school takes an active role in matching students with internships and coaches them on interviewing skills, proper conduct and networking.
Gross said not all internships are the same. The difference at Office Depot was “night and day” compared to her two previous internships as far as giving her responsibility and developing new skills.
Florida Atlantic University senior Katie Gootenberg said her Office Depot internship “empowered” her. She worked on the company’s new partnership with Lady Gaga’s Born This Way Foundation, which will be featured in back-to-school promotions.
As a recent graduate, Gootenberg is also hoping for a job. So is Sumit Bajracharya, an FAU MBA candidate who is one class away from his degree.
“You’re here to make networks,” he said. And Office Depot’s approach encourages that by promoting communication among its 40 interns and holding information sessions that introduce interns to all departments of the company.
The company hires for “capability and capacity,” bringing in bright students who will become even better performers once they are cross-trained, said Robyn Tyler, vice president for Global Talent Management. Many get an opportunity to lead projects.
And managers who will guide those interns are also trained for the job.
Gwyn Bonasoro, director of Talent Acquisition, said managers go through an orientation and HR managers like herself keep close tabs on how things are going.
“You can see, they’re going to grow into leaders in this company — or some company,” Allison said.
Yasmine Clarke, whose technology company Agile Bees is located in Palm Beach Gardens, trains interns as young as middle-school aged in website development, software engineering and digital communication.
Her young workers can get college credit, but they also put themselves in line for a job with the company if the bid they work on becomes a new project. Interns who are a part of the Bee2Bee Network may also work directly with businesses who are Clarke’s clients and are expected to share their newly learned skills.
“Having the appropriate skills and knowledge in the technology industry will only further assist a student’s chances for success,” she said.
Here is a link to the article: http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/business/office-depot-internship-program-grooms-future-merc/nPshF/
FSU finance major Melysa Gross has spent the summer at Office Depot headquarters, helping choose products for sales ads, learning about changes in office supply retailing and meeting people in all departments.
And getting a job. Next week Gross, who graduated Florida State University in May, starts as a category assistant in merchandising.
Executive Vice President of Human Resources Michael Allison said he’s excited about the interns Office Depot hired this summer and that the program worked just the way it should for Gross.
“Retailers all over the world are hiring top-notch merchandisers,” he said. “In five or six years, our challenge will be to keep her.”
More 16- to 24-year-olds were working in June than in the prior three years, showing a small improvement for this age group who has been squeezed out of jobs by the recession and lingering labor market malaise. The unemployment rate was lower for 16- to 19-year-olds and 20- to 24-year-olds as summer jobs and internships started up in June compared to the past three years.
Lynn University Business Dean Tom Kruczek said an internship gives a graduate a competitive edge in this job market.
“It’s more important than ever right now,” Kruczek said.”It can be the door to a permanent job, it can enhance your education.”
The school takes an active role in matching students with internships and coaches them on interviewing skills, proper conduct and networking.
Gross said not all internships are the same. The difference at Office Depot was “night and day” compared to her two previous internships as far as giving her responsibility and developing new skills.
Florida Atlantic University senior Katie Gootenberg said her Office Depot internship “empowered” her. She worked on the company’s new partnership with Lady Gaga’s Born This Way Foundation, which will be featured in back-to-school promotions.
As a recent graduate, Gootenberg is also hoping for a job. So is Sumit Bajracharya, an FAU MBA candidate who is one class away from his degree.
“You’re here to make networks,” he said. And Office Depot’s approach encourages that by promoting communication among its 40 interns and holding information sessions that introduce interns to all departments of the company.
The company hires for “capability and capacity,” bringing in bright students who will become even better performers once they are cross-trained, said Robyn Tyler, vice president for Global Talent Management. Many get an opportunity to lead projects.
And managers who will guide those interns are also trained for the job.
Gwyn Bonasoro, director of Talent Acquisition, said managers go through an orientation and HR managers like herself keep close tabs on how things are going.
“You can see, they’re going to grow into leaders in this company — or some company,” Allison said.
Yasmine Clarke, whose technology company Agile Bees is located in Palm Beach Gardens, trains interns as young as middle-school aged in website development, software engineering and digital communication.
Her young workers can get college credit, but they also put themselves in line for a job with the company if the bid they work on becomes a new project. Interns who are a part of the Bee2Bee Network may also work directly with businesses who are Clarke’s clients and are expected to share their newly learned skills.
“Having the appropriate skills and knowledge in the technology industry will only further assist a student’s chances for success,” she said.
Here is a link to the article: http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/business/office-depot-internship-program-grooms-future-merc/nPshF/
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Helping Students Get Internships and Jobs
Lynn University has created an innovative new program to support and help prepare students in the College of Business and Management for a career in the business world. Rick Sayers, who has served as the executive in residence of the college for the past three years, has been named executive director of new Internships and Cooperative Education Program.
The program’s goal is to help students discover their intellectual and personal strengths through formal preparation to include: mock interviews (face-to-face, phone and Skype), resume and cover letter writing, business etiquette skills and personality profile (Myers-Briggs).
“Getting Lynn students ready for a successful professional life after college is a primary responsibility,” says Sayers. “This program will give them an advantage in obtaining internships and cooperative education experience and make them better prepared to meet, interview and work with individuals in the business community.”
An important component of the program will be the business relationships that will be developed with the corporate and business community.
“We will reach out to organizations that match up with the skills, interests and global diversity of our students for mutually beneficial partnerships,” he says.
Contacts have already been made with Office Depot, PwC, Sherwin Williams, Parker Hannifin, Jarden, Via Mizner, 02 media Inc., AXA Equitable and C3 Interactive and others.
In hiring students for internships Sayers says corporations are looking for intelligent, energetic talent with summer and/or school year projects. Students benefit by experiencing the company culture, management style and other organizational dynamics before having to make a decision for full time employment as well.
Internships are required in all COBM curriculums. Though this program will initially be rolled out in the COBM, it is expected to expand to the other colleges.
“We are very fortunate to have Rick as executive director to lead this new program,” said Thomas Kruczek, dean of the College of Business and Management. “With his extensive background in human resources in the corporate space, he knows exactly what corporations are looking for in new hires and he will do an outstanding job of getting our students ready.”
The program’s goal is to help students discover their intellectual and personal strengths through formal preparation to include: mock interviews (face-to-face, phone and Skype), resume and cover letter writing, business etiquette skills and personality profile (Myers-Briggs).
“Getting Lynn students ready for a successful professional life after college is a primary responsibility,” says Sayers. “This program will give them an advantage in obtaining internships and cooperative education experience and make them better prepared to meet, interview and work with individuals in the business community.”
An important component of the program will be the business relationships that will be developed with the corporate and business community.
“We will reach out to organizations that match up with the skills, interests and global diversity of our students for mutually beneficial partnerships,” he says.
Contacts have already been made with Office Depot, PwC, Sherwin Williams, Parker Hannifin, Jarden, Via Mizner, 02 media Inc., AXA Equitable and C3 Interactive and others.
In hiring students for internships Sayers says corporations are looking for intelligent, energetic talent with summer and/or school year projects. Students benefit by experiencing the company culture, management style and other organizational dynamics before having to make a decision for full time employment as well.
Internships are required in all COBM curriculums. Though this program will initially be rolled out in the COBM, it is expected to expand to the other colleges.
“We are very fortunate to have Rick as executive director to lead this new program,” said Thomas Kruczek, dean of the College of Business and Management. “With his extensive background in human resources in the corporate space, he knows exactly what corporations are looking for in new hires and he will do an outstanding job of getting our students ready.”
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Thursday, July 5, 2012
Can't Find a Job...Make One!
Here is my post recent blog for the Huffington Post. It appeared on July 2, 2012.
Last week I talked to several students -- recent graduates -- who were excited about their future. They were ready to embark on the next step of their lives; they knew where they were going (at least in the near term) and were optimistic and ready to go. What jobs did they have and how did they find them? They made them. These students were entrepreneurs, who had created their jobs by launching their own businesses.
I'm not talking about huge start-ups funded by angel investors or trust funds. These were cobbled together with small savings accounts, maybe a few bucks from family and friends. Will any of these small businesses be the next Facebook? With luck and hard work it's possible.
But, it's important not to get caught up in trying to create the next Facebook! For so many folks, the thought of launching is so daunting that they never try. How can I create a billion dollar company? How can I figure out ways to raise millions of dollars from angel and Venture Capital investors? Next thing you know they are overwhelmed and the idea dies. Most businesses start out small, and grow over time. Someone sees a need in the marketplace and comes up with a way to fill it. It can be as simple as that.
Seven years ago when I made the transition from the business world to the world of higher education running a center for entrepreneurship, I had parents who complained to me when their kids decided to take a course in entrepreneurship. "Why should my son study that?" or "That's a waste of my daughter's time," were remarks I heard more than once. Today, thanks to the success of folks like Mark Zuckerberg, Dennis Crowley and Jack Dorsey, parents are telling me with pride, "My kid wants to be an entrepreneur."
For many just-graduating students, entrepreneurship is a path forward, an opportunity to control their own destiny. Thanks to the wide range of entrepreneurship and small business management classes that are offered in higher education, students are coming out of school better prepared than any generation before them to start and grow their own business. My own College of Business at Lynn University, has just launched an Entrepreneurship and Family Business Management major at the request of many of our students and their parents. Like any good business, we listen to our customers and clients and so we're launching that major for the students entering in the fall of 2013. Not only that, every one of our freshman will take a class in Entrepreneurship and Innovation as one of their first business courses.
Students today approach the notion of starting their own business with a sense of optimism and hope and with the knowledge that if they do launch and fail, no one will tattoo an 'L' on their forehead branding them a loser. They know that even if they launch and fail, they will accumulate experience, skill sets, and knowledge, that will make them a more valuable and mature team member to an employer. If they succeed, they win, and if they fail they can still win.
Several years ago, when I was at Syracuse University, a young sophomore named Ryan came to me about an idea he had for a business. He had a long list of questions, he asked for help, and then he listened. Every time Ryan and I talked, he was moving his idea farther down the road. He was smart, he listened to me and other mentors and perhaps more importantly, he was a hard worker. Ryan was a broke college student, but he had a dream. Two years after that first meeting Ryan appeared as the cover of a story in a national publication on Cool Campus Startups. Ryan is now a graduate, his company Rylaxer is still small, but it's growing, and he's hiring recent graduates.
The students I talked to recently have every opportunity to be like Ryan. They're smart, they're good networkers, they know how critical it is to listen to their mentors, they know the value of working really, really hard and they want to take their idea, adjust it as necessary and see if it has potential. Will it be an easy path? Absolutely not. But, it is a start. They made themselves a job. For some of them, it may not work out, but it will be the pathway to a job at a corporation or maybe even a non-profit venture. For others though, this will be a lifelong entrepreneurial journey. Maybe, just maybe, they do create the next Facebook. But in the meantime, they'll be in control of their own lives, they'll be hiring other graduates and folks from the community and oh yeah, they'll also be helping our economy grow.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/thomas-kruczek/start-up-entrepreneur-_b_1641234.html
Last week I talked to several students -- recent graduates -- who were excited about their future. They were ready to embark on the next step of their lives; they knew where they were going (at least in the near term) and were optimistic and ready to go. What jobs did they have and how did they find them? They made them. These students were entrepreneurs, who had created their jobs by launching their own businesses.
I'm not talking about huge start-ups funded by angel investors or trust funds. These were cobbled together with small savings accounts, maybe a few bucks from family and friends. Will any of these small businesses be the next Facebook? With luck and hard work it's possible.
But, it's important not to get caught up in trying to create the next Facebook! For so many folks, the thought of launching is so daunting that they never try. How can I create a billion dollar company? How can I figure out ways to raise millions of dollars from angel and Venture Capital investors? Next thing you know they are overwhelmed and the idea dies. Most businesses start out small, and grow over time. Someone sees a need in the marketplace and comes up with a way to fill it. It can be as simple as that.
Seven years ago when I made the transition from the business world to the world of higher education running a center for entrepreneurship, I had parents who complained to me when their kids decided to take a course in entrepreneurship. "Why should my son study that?" or "That's a waste of my daughter's time," were remarks I heard more than once. Today, thanks to the success of folks like Mark Zuckerberg, Dennis Crowley and Jack Dorsey, parents are telling me with pride, "My kid wants to be an entrepreneur."
For many just-graduating students, entrepreneurship is a path forward, an opportunity to control their own destiny. Thanks to the wide range of entrepreneurship and small business management classes that are offered in higher education, students are coming out of school better prepared than any generation before them to start and grow their own business. My own College of Business at Lynn University, has just launched an Entrepreneurship and Family Business Management major at the request of many of our students and their parents. Like any good business, we listen to our customers and clients and so we're launching that major for the students entering in the fall of 2013. Not only that, every one of our freshman will take a class in Entrepreneurship and Innovation as one of their first business courses.
Students today approach the notion of starting their own business with a sense of optimism and hope and with the knowledge that if they do launch and fail, no one will tattoo an 'L' on their forehead branding them a loser. They know that even if they launch and fail, they will accumulate experience, skill sets, and knowledge, that will make them a more valuable and mature team member to an employer. If they succeed, they win, and if they fail they can still win.
Several years ago, when I was at Syracuse University, a young sophomore named Ryan came to me about an idea he had for a business. He had a long list of questions, he asked for help, and then he listened. Every time Ryan and I talked, he was moving his idea farther down the road. He was smart, he listened to me and other mentors and perhaps more importantly, he was a hard worker. Ryan was a broke college student, but he had a dream. Two years after that first meeting Ryan appeared as the cover of a story in a national publication on Cool Campus Startups. Ryan is now a graduate, his company Rylaxer is still small, but it's growing, and he's hiring recent graduates.
The students I talked to recently have every opportunity to be like Ryan. They're smart, they're good networkers, they know how critical it is to listen to their mentors, they know the value of working really, really hard and they want to take their idea, adjust it as necessary and see if it has potential. Will it be an easy path? Absolutely not. But, it is a start. They made themselves a job. For some of them, it may not work out, but it will be the pathway to a job at a corporation or maybe even a non-profit venture. For others though, this will be a lifelong entrepreneurial journey. Maybe, just maybe, they do create the next Facebook. But in the meantime, they'll be in control of their own lives, they'll be hiring other graduates and folks from the community and oh yeah, they'll also be helping our economy grow.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/thomas-kruczek/start-up-entrepreneur-_b_1641234.html
How Peter Diamandis Left Me Feeling Better About the World's Future
Here is a copy of a May blog that I did regarding time I spent with Peter Diamandis, and which appeared on the Huffington Post.
I feel better today than I did yesterday. I still know that there are problems with the global economy, that America's unemployment is still high, and that the housing market is still unsettled. Despite these facts, I still feel better, because I've just spent the last 24 hours with Dr. Peter Diamandis while he visited Lynn University to give our 2012 commencement address.
Peter is the author of the New York Times bestseller Abundance: The Future Is Better Than You Think and the CEO and founder of the X PRIZE Foundation, which awards millions of dollars to small groups of people who do extraordinary things. He definitely believes in the power of positive energy. However, the main reason I feel better is that during my visit with him, and in his commencement speech to our graduates, he laid out a compelling argument that even though the world may seem to be going to hell in a handbasket, in fact it is not. In his view the world that the class of 2012 is entering is a world where abundance, which he defines as providing everyone with a life of possibility, is within our grasp.
He starts by pointing out that the world today is so different from the world of just a few years ago, thanks in part to the rapid change in technology. For example, in Africa, mobile-phone penetration is growing exponentially, from single-digit percentages in 2000 to 70 percent by next year. This means that vast numbers of people with little or no education have access to the enhanced communications, knowledge, and power a cellphone provides -- including access to the Internet. As he puts it, "A Masai warrior with a cellphone has better mobile-phone capabilities than the president did 25 years ago." And as he told our students, the smartphones they were carrying to graduation provide better mobile communication than world leaders had just 15 years ago.
Peter essentially believes there are three main forces at work that, when coupled with the unprecedented power of growing technologies mentioned above, provide significant, abundance-producing potential. These forces include:
1.The do-it-yourself revolution that is allowing small teams of very committed people to do things that previously only large companies or governments could do. The successful Arab Spring revolutions and cases of individuals making real change thanks to their ability to connect with billions through social media and other communications technologies are all part of this force. "You and a small team of classmates can touch 1 billion people," he told our graduates.
2.The money that is flowing into world-changing innovation as a result of wealthy technophilanthropists (for example, Bill Gates and his mission to wipe out malaria) who are helping solve global issues such as unclean water, lack of energy, etc.
3.The rise of the poorest of the poor. The "bottom billion" are "plugging into the global economy" and are ready to become what he calls "the rising billion." According to Peter, "the Internet, microfinance, and wireless technology" have the potential "to transform the poorest of the poor into an emerging market force."
As he said, each of these three forces is amazingly powerful on its own. But together, with the growing potential of technologies, "the unimaginable becomes the now actually possible."
During our time together, we also talked about a topic important to both of us: innovation. If there is one thing that the students I have met share in common, it's their desire to make a difference in their world. This is good because, according to Peter, this desire is one of the key motivators that drive innovation.
For example, Peter wanted to make spaceflight more possible for more people. He said it took him 10 years to get the first X PRIZE for spaceflight started. But by the time it was awarded in 2004, 26 teams in seven countries raced to do something that experts (whom Peter defines as "people who will tell you exactly how something can't be done") said just couldn't be done by private firms: build and launch a spacecraft capable of carrying three people to 100 kilometers above the Earth, twice within two weeks. The $10-million X PRIZE launched an entirely new industry, pushed technological innovation. and helped make it possible for more people to experience spaceflight. This all started with Peter's desire to make a difference.
There are countless other examples of people, some famous and some whose names you've never heard, who are attacking the world's greatest challenges with new possibilities fueled by ever-improving technologies, in areas as diverse as food, water, energy, health care, and education. Although the challenges they take on may differ, all their efforts will help fulfill the promise of abundance for all people on the planet during the lifetime of our 2012 graduates.
This is the knowledge Peter Diamandis left me with, and this is why I feel better today than I did yesterday.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/thomas-kruczek/peter-diamandis_b_1519792.html
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