Sharing Our Knowledge and Experiences With Others

"I believe that children are our future

Teach them well and let them lead the way

Show them all the beauty they possess inside

Give them a sense of pride...

Everybody is searching for a hero

People need someone to look up to..."

- Whitney Houston.

The 2013 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) results were officially released yesterday by Education Cabinet Secretary, Professor Jacob Kaimenyi.
Thanks to both the overall and national schools rankings, I do feel there is an urgent need to rethink and actually do something about academic performance and the success of learning institutions in Kenya.

Sleeping Giants

A top performing school that I attended is now ranked 26th overall and 15th among National schools.
Looking back, Mang'u High School has always been among the top ten for decades, and has attained top position for a good number of years.

I do believe such drastic change in performance provides a most needed opportunity to reflect and identify the reasons why this and other schools are no longer performing as expected.
Also, and of more importance, this also serves as a poignant reminder of just how easily the mighty can fall. History has shown time and again, that the mighty do fall, with the following being both stages of decline and warning signs of impending doom:

1. hubris born of success
2. undisciplined pursuit of more
3. denial of risk and peril
4. grasping for salvation
5. capitulation to irrelevance or death

 Whatever has in KCSE 2013 happened to Starehe Boys Centre and School, Mang'u High School and others should be a case study for us all, a cautionary tale for top schools and a source of hope for those who refuse to believe that top positions are the reserve of a chosen few. Schools which have performed dismally in the past now know that they need not acquire a culture of submission and despair. Likewise, top schools that house the elite and have acquired status now realize they can no longer promote the belief that there is a special few.

The Author's Note in Samuel M. Wamae's 'How to Win in the Coming Jua Kali Boom' contains the following enduring insight:

Status, wealth or attainment are the result of endeavor and not natural endowment... people of status continue to fall from grace and others with humble beginnings attain prominence.

Now is the Time to Act

In view of the foregoing, what can we as individuals do to make things better?

I have in recent days decided to share my past experiences that resulted in exemplary academic performance for over a decade of my life (between 1987 and 1998), during which time I consistently attained top position and remained top in class both in Nderu Primary and Mang'u High schools. In both primary and secondary school, I witnessed near impeccable academic success - both mine and that of my classmates. There is something students, parents and educators can learn and gainfully apply from such that.

For this reason, I have already started writing this book and commenced speaking sessions. It is my understanding that if we share both our knowledge and experiences, we can positively influence those who need those insights most.

Today's students are undoubtedly facing a wide array of challenges both in their academic pursuits and other aspirations in life. True, they do have different distractions to deal with than we had.
While these challenges may be new, and the tools with which they'll be met modern, the values upon which academic success depends remain old.

It is for this reason that I have decided to fully address myself in activities whose primacy is improvement in academic performance for our children, for that is what matters most to them now.
In any case, twenty years of each person's life are typically spent in school. Two decades is a lengthy period of time, and worth taking seriously.

Learning, Sharing, Innovation, Collaboration and The AmateurProfessional: Charles Leadbeater's TED Talk

A friend recently asked me why and how I am especially passionate about my work (web/graphic design and creative writing). Another one complimented me on my profound Facebook and Twitter updates, and made an informed guess that I must be a dude who reads a lot. Which is true.

Earlier today, I was watching Charles Leadbeater's TED talk. Quite interesting and edifying  I must say, even though it was filmed four years ago. More importantly, this talk gave me the perfect content to wind up April's posts on Peter's Walkabout. Be edified:

Watch the talk, read reviews and comments and download the video on the TED web site.

In the above talk, Charles Leadbeater underscores a truth that many corporations and organizations are yet to embrace: the passionate and innovative amateur professional... accepting that you don't need a big organization to be organized.

The same message was delivered more recently by Jacek Utko in his TED Talk about good design. Jacek said,

you can live in a small poor country, you can work for a small company, in a boring branch, you can have no budgets, no people, but still you can put your work to the highest possible level. And everybody can do it. You just need inspiration, vision and determination. And you need to remember that to be good, is not enough.

Let us learn, share and realize that all one needs to put their work to the highest possible level is inspiration, vision and determination.

And the fact that everybody can do it. If only they can engage their talents, practise doing what they love and love their work.

Talent: Practice Doing What You Love, and Loving Your Work

"Your work is going to fill a large part of your life and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work.
The only way to do great work is to love what you do."
- Steve Jobs (addressing Stanford University students in 2005)

For a long time, there has been raging debate on the roles of both talent and practice in success. The ScienCentral Archive has a lengthy article that seeks to answer the question: Is talent something you're born with or can practice really make you perfect? You can read the entire article on Talent vs Practice here. Consider the following excerpt:

"Experts on expertise - who've studied the minds of experts in fields from sports to medicine - have the answer... that anyone with the right kind of practice will be able to dramatically improve their performance and it looks like they would be able to become experts with sufficient practice. "

In an article on expert performance and deliberate practice, K. Anders Ericsson underscores the notion that a high level of improvement can be achieved by deliberate practice. Experts are therefore able to find areas for improvement and focus their time and effort practising and improving those areas. That is what sets them apart form ordinary average persons. He writes,

“A lot of people like to do things that they’re already good at, but what deliberate practice says is that you need to find those things that you are weak at, since there’s room for improvement. That’s the activity you should focus on...”

As we seek to make ourselves better, brighter, faster, stronger, happier, healthier and smarter; we need to realize that the difference between ordinary and extra-ordinary is that little 'extra'. We can rise above our apparent limitations by practising.

One of the adverts I find inspiring focuses on 'the source of talent'. Following is the video and entire copy of the Wesbank TV ad.

WESBANK (The Source of Talent) TV ad

A recent study asked,
"Where does talent come from?"
Is it programmed at birth into a select few
Or is it something,
that can be drawn from you inch by inch?
Does it show itself a little more
Every time you challenge yourself?
What the study found was,
"Practice makes perfect"

Let us purpose to make the most of our talents. For those who find themselves in jobs that seemingly suck, learn how to love your work. That is the only way to doing great work.
We should always remember what Steve Jobs told students at Stanford University...

"...The only way to do great work is to love what you do."

Let us learn, share and become better at doing what we love.

Inspiring Adverts: Nokia '4th Screen' and Wesbank 'Source of Talent' Commercials

"Words are things
And a small drop of ink,
Falling like dew upon a thought,
Produces that which makes thousands
Perhaps millions, think."
- LORD BYRON

The Essence of copy writing in advertising

All adverts are crafted so as to attract the attention of the audience, long enough to facilitate the communication of a message that is memorable, and can elicit a desired action by the audience. The action in most cases is the purchase of a product or service, or making enquiries on the same.

In some cases however, all that is desired by the advertiser is that you remember the advert, and associate it with some feeling, preferably a gut feeling. That is how brands are built, FYI.

Thought provoking advertisements

Some commercials however go the extra mile and deliver messages that in and by themselves, are insightful. Whether or not you get interested in the advertised product or service.

Nokia N Series: The 4th Screen

The following Nokia commercial for the Nokia N Series, does just that. It tells a story that we can all relate to - the evolution f communication devices. Have a look at it:



Wesbank: The Source of Talent

This Wesbank advert underscores the need for practising. Practice makes perfect. Check it out:



And here's the entire copy of the above advert:

A recent study asked, "Where does talent come from?"
Is it programmed at birth into a select few,
Or is it something that can be drawn from you, inch by inch?
Does it show itself a little more,
Everytime you challenge yourself?
What the study found was...
Practice makes perfect.

Let us learn, share and communicate more effectively.