Our environment is full of
problems and I think it would be out of place to confine this assertion to any
particular country. Its like almost everywhere one turns to, there are problems
waiting to be solved.
According to Wikipedia, a
problem is, “…an obstacle, impediment, difficulty or challenge, or any
situation that invites resolution; the resolution of which is recognized as a
solution or contribution toward a known purpose or goal.”
There are problems in education,
aviation, security, transport, telecommunications, and energy, to mention just
a few. They manifest in different forms - financial meltdown, food and water
scarcity, hunger & starvation, poverty, diseases, climate change, wars, armed
robbery, ethnic and religious tensions, corruption, class struggles, poor
infrastructures, electricity outages/shortages, transport accidents, resource
control issues, piracy, counterfeit products, inefficient services and so on. These
can be very embarrassing and frustrating, to say the least.
Perhaps the only good thing to
note about problems is that they bring along something good - they bring money
along with them. Yes, another way to spell P-R-O-B-L-E-M-S is M-O-N-E-Y. This
is because problems give people the opportunities to offer solutions and solutions
are valuable to people who experience them. So they (the beneficiaries) become
willing to pay for them (the solutions). There is nothing wrong about this. It
is something that is natural with humans. They like to pay for problems solved
because value has been created.
People go to work because of
problems; businesses are setup because of problems; Non-profit/governmental
organizations exist because of problems; and governments assume authority
because of problems. So, yes, problems mean money - if only we would stop
running away from them. According to Richard Bach, "Avoid problems, and
you'll never be the one who overcame them." Robert Frost said, “The best
way out is always through.”
Now, the kind and quality of
solutions we offer, determine the amount of money we can ultimately make. This
must be the reason why, for instance, demand for bus tickets will always trump
demand for motor cycle tickets to the same destination. The solutions presented
here are just worlds apart.
Our solutions need to be “specific-problem-targeted”.
This means that they must clearly fit and totally solve the specific problem(s)
for which they are created. For instance, there is no need to use, even the
cheapest, aeroplane to chatter people on roads. Sophisticated, Yes! “Specific-problem-targeted”,
No!
You see, no matter how
sophisticated a solution might be, if it is not the most fitted and suited one
that can precisely hit a specific problem and neutralize its challenges and
frustrations, all the resources deployed towards developing it can be safely declared
as mere waste and an abuse. Little wonder failed projects abound everywhere. According
to Roger Sessions, just “global IT failure costs the world economy a staggering
$6.2 trillion per year”. Try and compute the cost of project failures across all
the sectors of the global economy. What waste!
Problems are meant to be solved,
but the person who wishes to confront them must first see himself or herself as
“the solution” that can then proceed to proffer and implement solutions. “The
problems of the world cannot possibly be solved by skeptics or cynics whose
horizons are limited by the obvious realities. We need men who can dream of
things that never were” (John F. Kennedy).
The problem here is that problems
don't care about protocol and due process. They just want to be resolved quickly;
else they will grow into very burdensome sizes. I am sure that the current
European financial crisis that plural continents are coming together to address,
must have been screaming for the attention of just one or two nations for many
years. This means that what we DO or DON'T DO can eventually affect everyone
else. Hmm!
So, let us not insist that we
must receive a purchase order or a go-ahead from someone else before we can
start solving our problems. Let us roll up our sleeves, put on our thinking
caps and galvanize ourselves into an unstoppable force that is linked together
for result because, people, it is time to work and there is work to do.
These problems… (Sighs!)
Thank you.
Peter Uwadone
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