By Alec Hogg
Some of the world’s finest minds are grappling with what is correctly described as an education crisis. But they’re focusing in the wrong place. The problem does not lie with tomorrow’s leaders.
With the internet, broadband , Google, Youtube and TEDTalks, anyone with a cell phone has access to previously unimagined resources. Overlay the quick, eager mind of youth and to get that side sorted all you need is a facilitator, enabler or coach. Even within the limits of schoolrooms built for a different century.
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The real education crisis is among the supposedly graduated generation. Those unfortunate souls who have lost their curiosity or lack the humility (or self-confidence) to admit there is much they do not know. So they blunder on in ignorance, wreaking havoc through autocratic decisions out of place in our highly complex modern world.
An example is the way we all struggle with the concept of exponential growth. Designed as we are to think on a linear scale, the human condition struggles to absorb the impact of Moore’s Law – where technological progress doubles a product’s power and capacity every 12 months (but costs the same).
Exponential Organisations, born through the Internet, are disrupting industries everywhere. Airbnb has turned the hotel sector on its head. Uber is killing off taxis. 3D printing and robotics are destroying manufacturing. Bitcoin and the blockchain threatens traditional banking while Robo-advisors are doing the same to financial consultants. Driverless cars promise to transform the motor industry and advances in renewable energy will make white elephants of old-style electricity generation through coal and nuclear.
South Africa’s own Naspers has been a huge beneficiary of exponentiality with a $32m bet taken a decade and a half back on Hong Kong-based Tencent, now described as the best venture capital investment in history. In the sector where Tencent and other exponential companies operate, Moore’s Law has taken hold, slashing the cost of innovative alternatives, driving their super-charged growth. They have ushered in an age of widespread disruption.
Yet those charged with making investment decisions on behalf of clients are, for the most part, too heavily invested in what is rapidly becoming an archaic knowledge base. Too many lack either the time or inclination to keep reading, keep learning, and keep asking the right questions.
There has always been a danger in making decisions based on outdated information. But never before have the stakes been higher, both personally and nationally. We all need to embrace this new world. Especially those entrusted with finding the best homes for other people’s money: corporate executives, investment managers and Government officials.
