Kids Don't Know What They Like

My brother is constantly taking his kids to knew things against their will but his justification is that "they don't know what they like".  At first, I thought this might be pushing kids to do things they don't like or an oversimplification but my opinion changed after watching the kids try new things.

I have watched my brother literally drag his kids to new activities.  These activities include activities like skiing and an indoor trampoline park in Anaheim.  In both cases, the kids were dragging their feet all the way and didn't want to do it.  Once they did it, they had to be dragged away from the activity because they liked it so much. 

It just made me wonder if everyone is like that as a child and if at some point they change or is this a fundamental personality reaction to the unknown?

Figuring out what you want is one of the hardest things to do in life.  I feel fortunate that I feel a sense of purpose.  I feel this is closely tied to my sense of curiosity which has been with me as long as I can remember.  But memory is short and this can only lead back to the argument of whether personalities are innate or learned.  I think it's a blend of both and I have seen my friends, family and myself change certain aspects of their personalities over the years. 

I believe that the cognitive power of the subconscious far exceeds the conscious.  I believe this to be the explanation as to why we wake up with better ideas than those we went to bed with and why sometimes we can speak or write eloquently about things that we have never considered consciously.  Our subconscious subtly guides our development and our environment toward some overarching vision for the future. 

The hardest thing in life has to be not having a sense of purpose.  I have seen great opportunity squandered and it's largely because the holder of great talents or resources couldn't figure out what they wanted.

Seeing new things and exposing yourself to new places, people and experiences can help you figure out what you want (or at least what you don't want) and ultimately help you understand yourself and maybe this is the greatest value of taking young kids out of the house.

Rejected Commencement Speech

My commencement speech for our upcoming graduation was rejected by "The powers that be" probably looking for some "cookie cutter store mannequin" but here it is anyway:

Commencement speech to the MBA class of 2013:

Good morning graduates and welcome everyone that has come to show your support for us and for this program.

When I talk to my fellow graduates, I can’t help but feel a high degree of excitement.  For a few, it’s the relief of finishing a difficult journey but for many, it is pure energy.  Many of us came back to school to acquire the business acumen, grow our business network and acquire the tools to become a better and more effective business leader.  These skills that would allow us to take ideas and ambition and turn them into viable businesses.  Now that we have these skills, we can’t wait to fully implement them.

The last five years have been an unprecedented time for our country and our economy.  We have seen many false starts, ups and downs in expectations.  I have heard some people begin to get more pessimistic and even lose hope.  At minimum, everyone seems to be distracted and reacting to the latest worry and the world is watching.  The world is watching North Korea, watching Europe, just watching.  And that is the crux of the problem, the world is watching.

With turbulence comes opportunity.  As the great Tom Callahan once said, “You’re either growing or you’re dying, there aint’ no third direction!”  He’s right.    Everyone that made investments in the future while others have been hindered by fear understands this.  While the world was watching, everyone that went back to school to improve themselves for the challenges of today and tomorrow understands this.  We understand.  We need to grow, we need to move, we need to be dynamic or we will decline.  While others have taken a diminished role or dropped out of the workforce entirely, we have signaled to the world through completion of this MBA program that we can do more and adapt to challenges of the future.

Despite all the turbulent news, things are still pretty good.  We are at the height of human possibility.  We can communicate and collaborate with friends and colleagues from all over the world.  Products and services are getting better and more elegant.  Consumer and business sentiment is moving toward more organic and sustainable practices and technology is moving to support that.  We are living, longer, healthier and more fulfilling lives.  We do not have to worry about Newport razing the tranquil fields of Irvine and instead our attention can focus on more long-term challenges.

This transformation in the human condition has largely been made possible by capitalism.  Capitalism has created the greatest advancement in human well-being in history.  Capitalism has showed us a way to avoid the tragedy of the commons since now individuals have stock in what happens.  Critics of capitalism tell us that it is wasteful and it is greedy but these characteristics are attributes of individuals that may practice bad capitalism, not of capitalism itself.  

Consumer sentiment on things such as the environment can change the objective of capitalism.  There is no reason capitalism can’t be green.  There is no reason capitalism can’t be sustainable.  Some of the best managed private forests in Washington and British Colombia have shown that companies can make a profit, and ecosystems can be preserved.  So long as we are all playing by the same rules and don’t abuse them, then the best and most efficient organizations will prevail.

As MBAs, we are at the forefront of capitalism.  Through our actions, capitalism will be executed and the image of capitalism will be expressed.  How are you going to portray that image?  How are you going to influence the views of others on capitalism and on business?  Is this relationship going to be us against them or is it going to be something else?

Most of us want to have wealth.  But before wealth can be distributed, it must be created.  At the core of capitalism is value creation.  When you ask an economist where value comes from, you can sometimes watch them visibly squirm as if you’d just asked your parents where babies come from.   Wikipedia and Yahoo! answers offer little guidance on this topic. The truth is value is created at an individual’s perception and therefore is hard to define.  I perceive value as a consequence of taking an idea and turning it into a product or service that is wanted.  Economic value is reaped when a market need is met and people adopt your services.  

Many of us went back to school seeking to improve our wealth.  Wealth, property etc are really just ancillary benefits from creating value.  Would you rather spend your energy fighting over a bigger piece of a small pie or making your pie bigger?  You always have to claim your slice but you will likely get a bigger slice if you were one of the key people in growing the pie.  If you want to learn how to become wealthy, you must really learn how to create value and that is the fundamental frame of mind of a capitalist.

The graduates and everyone here in attendance this morning are aware that we are at the end of one journey and the start of another.  So as we prepare to embark on the next phase of our journey, many of us are likely to be thinking about how we are directly or indirectly going to create more value.  We have a backlog of plans and have ideas keeping us up into the wee hours of the night as we wrestle on exactly how we are going to bring those ideas to fruition.  We now have a new network, a new set of skills and a new understanding to help us on this journey but ultimately it is up to us to create value.