One of the kids at school asked me to make a video to be shown as part of the opening of something called the South African Ideas Festival. Student run (and Bezos paid funded I believe) I was happy to comply.
Here is what I was asked to speak to:
A few words about inducing impact in communities, entrepreneurship, being a change maker, seeking the different path in life and following your goals and dreams. It can be around 90 seconds or a max of 120 seconds.
Cool. No sweat. What I ask my students to do should be this constrained.
Below is what I offered up.
In Greek Myth, Athena—who is the god of war but also of reason and justice—is born fully grown from Zeus’s head.
Ideas often feel as if they come out of our heads this way shiny, golden, and powerful. Our wholly formed, idea will lead us on to victory, make us famous, and bring justice to the world.
The digital age has reinforced this myth. An algorithm springs from your head today and you sell it tomorrow for billions and billions: Facebook. Twitter. Uber.
Except . . . .these are some of our worst companies. They are shiny and powerful but bring only the victory of wealth to those who hatched them. They do nothing for beauty or justice.
And this is not how ideas of value work.
Any ideas worth giving life to must be nurtured hour by hour, day by day and year by year. The nurturing of your idea is what makes you better because your idea only matters in as much as it helps someone else live and thrive.
Who it helps live and thrive—and how it does this. You have to work at that day by day and year by year.
The world needs exactly zero additional billionaires with the grace of Elon Musk. If that’s your goal, please go elsewhere.
Serve others or go away.
I know, you want to make it rain, the money to fall on you.
But in nature, when it rains on my garden it rains on yours as well. I can’t make it rain on me alone and if I do I become like Silicon Valley and Wall Street, drowning in money and unrooted from even the most common ethical standards while my neighbors suffer without a drop of cash. That is not a good model.
A 500 million-dollar yacht is not a sign of success. It is a sign of emptiness.
If all you want is the best toys, go away.
But if you want the grandchildren of your enemies to thrive alongside your grandchildren then get busy. Take your idea and nurture it.
Because obstacles are not your master. They are what you turn into opportunities.
And money will not be your keeper if you learn to live more joyfully—on less cash—than anyone who works for you.
After all, life is who you have, not what you have.
And time is yours too. To savor. To treat as an engine. To mark with the hallmark of purpose. You doing your thing in service of the world.
Starting now.