Does education kill creativity?

I’m no teacher, but it surely is a profession close to my heart through my good experience with some excellent teachers and lecturers in the past, whose style of mind-stirring teaching was not less than fundamental to growing some of my most cherished passions, above all my passion for autodidactism (self-learning), research and analysis.

In my free time and during my 5 years of entrepreneurship, I developed this weird hobby of reading a lot about education history and futurist idea’s, in an almost daily dive into the world of knowledge and how it was transferred throughout history, transcending the chronological barriers of class, race, knowledge-level and age, and in some cases even barriers of time, geography, language & culture.

His work is a “must-know” for any modern teacher, I passionately believe. Therefore, it would be more than sufficient to refer to a true scholar and a gifted, intelligently & lamely entertaining, speaker in the field on transforming education for future generations:

 

Sir. Ken Robinson, with his all-times top TED talk with the title: “Do Schools Kill Creativity”.

 

And a wonderful animated presentation, narrated by Sir. Ken Robinson, on the same topic with title: “Changing Education Paradigms”.

ما الشئ الذي يمكن أن يضحكك ويبكيك في نفس الوقت؟

.الغباء “الذكي” والذكاء “الغبي” يضحكاني ويبكياني في الوقت ذاته، وكلاهما غير منتهي

If you’re given a chance to choose a career for a lifetime what would it be and why?

A professional footballer! Preferably, a famous & successful one!

Allow me to elaborate on my silly fantasy & non-fading youth dream.

If I were to become a successful professional footballer, a few far years ago, like the ones displayed above, I would have ruled the world. I would have done what I do best and like most while having the prospect of future financial stability and even a bit more than that (just a bit).

Like the “usual stuff”, owning my own house, car and having a solid study private fund for the education of my children (assuming I won’t be affluent enough to start an own university). But the prospect of leading a “mediocre but stable” life, was fiercely encouraged by my caring environment (you know, like yours).

Lionel Messi

Let alone the other “benign side effects” that come with professional football careers, like having good health and a perfect condition. I would also undoubtedly have had enough free time to exercise other hobby’s and even make a second career out of them like becoming a book author, or owning a record label that makes only my albums, listened to only by my family.

I would have travelled the world and learned at least 5 languages at a decent level. And off course, I would have also started my own business to unleash my entrepreneurial energy and creativity into something brilliant, useful or new. I would have started a number of non-profit organizations aimed at alleviating poverty, advancing free education or improving health conditions of the unprivileged ones among us.

If I were to become a professional footballer, I would’ve had the chance to meet  likes of Maradona, Pele, Zidane, Ronaldo (the only one) and Messi. I may have even been able to meet politicians and world and business leaders. I wouldn’t have minded the 30 seconds of fame bestowed upon me, featuring me endorsing a famous sport brand; not at all! I would’ve done it for free!

Clarence Seedrof

But I also would have had the honour of meeting the likes of Clarence Seedrof, the all time best Dutch player in achievements, who built a stadium in his native-country Suriname and many other non-profit initiatives across his homeland. Or Nigel de Jong, the other Dutch player, who transformed his addiction to sport-cars into a flourishing second-career business, catering for, among others, the UAE high-affluence exclusive cars market.

 

George Weah @ AC Milan

The “worst case scenario” would’ve been achieving what Geroge Weah has achieved through professional football. The famous Liberian football player who only peaked after 29, playing for PSG in France and later AC Milan in Italy, winning the first European Best Player award for a non-European, in 1995, next to becoming FIFA’s World Player of the World.

George Weah, a degree holder in Management.

The same football player crowned his career by his pursuit of a degree at a university in Miami, USA, after his marginal defeat in the national election of Liberia to Mrs. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who had what he did not have back then, a degree. The former professional footballer turned active politician and country leader, earned a Masters degree in Management from Devry University in Miami in 2013.

 

George Weah’s Election Loss

I guess if you can become a professional football player nowadays, you truly can become anyone and achieve anything.  All you have to to do is to start kicking a ball at a younger age, aiming at… some goal!

I should have become one and pursued my very first true passion, shouldn’t I?

Is it too late?

What is education, to you?

Education to me is everything that I am able of observing and/or absorbing, whether it makes sense or not. If it does, then it has value. If it does not, then it still has value by triggering my curiosity & passion for research & analysis.

A favourite quote in this sense is: “I’ve never let my school interfere with my education”, by Mark Twain.

“If you can’t explain it simply, you do not understand it well enough”. Do you agree?

I don’t agree. And I’m up to absorbing the heated fury and outrage this may cause, contradicting a saying by the great Albert Einstein.

It is true that “simplicity is the ultimate sophistication” sometimes, especially when it comes to the ineradicable human behaviour when conveying a certain level of class, wealth or intellect, attaching “sophistication” to a standard set of habits, customs, tones of voice and body-gestures that have nothing to do with how true sophistication defines itself.

But, using the same logic, simplifying complicated things may be the ultimate complication! It can, indeed, very well be a sign of insufficient grasp of a subject or an idea disguised with “oversimplification”. Also, not being able of conveying own understanding to others is not an automatic sign of lack of knowledge.

Some people may be pure geniuses in their understanding of some very complicated areas of knowledge. But the moment you ask them to explain their understanding to others in simple words, they fail dramatically. It’s probably because their analytical mind is more conditioned or trained to deal with complexity instead of simplicity, with absorption of abstract & contradicting idea’s in what what seems like a introvert brain-storm (divergent thinking) instead of convergence of knowledge (convergent thinking).

It does not subtract from their understanding of the topic, but it does highlight their shortcoming in other areas like teaching abilities, pedagogic abilities and social skills. I believe that this is what distinguishes a teacher from a stereo-typical scientist or a researcher. And it’s no wonder, as such, that education, teaching and pedagogy have become separate scientific disciplines of their own.

1. Who said that the likes of Einstein & Tesla were good teachers?
2. Did Shakespeare teach language or did he rather make his writings (his individual creativity) transform language?
3. Did Maradona, the genially talented football player, succeed as a football coach?

What is the different between “quality control” & “quality assurance”?

Quality Assurance is a managerial concept aimed at assuring high quality of processes, permeating the whole (or essential parts) of business conduct, while involving all professionals in the process.

Quality Control is a corrective concept aimed at evaluating a product (or service provision) in its final result, carried out by some specialized professionals.

Example:

Editing of text in writing and validation of software in software engineering are forms of Quality Assurance. Proofreading of texts in writing and testing of final software are forms of Quality Control.

Which industries are most booming during “Ramadan” and “Eid Al-Fitr” in the Middle East?

1. Food:  it’s booming shortly before Ramadan & during and after Ramadan, celebrating Eid, performing “Zakat Al Fitr” (the equivalent of Thanksgiving in the US) and the end of fasting by buying all kinds of delicious foods and sweets enough to cater for collective social gatherings designed around “enjoyment of food” and often characterized by excess (thus excessive purchase) to convey generosity and avoid “shortcoming”. 
2. Cloths & apparel: Only towards the end of Ramadan: mostly the very last few days, because of a general “last-minute mentality” & to enjoy possible retail discounts.
   
3. The advertisement industry: through a thriving TV industry tailored around advertisement, with all kinds of religious & entertaining programs including hosted shows by big brands and more frequent commercial-break interruptions. 
4. Transportation and airways: Ramadan & Eid are social events encouraging social togetherness by nature. You could also argue that people during day-time in Ramadan reduce their transportation time as a result of preferring to stay home and avoid heat and compensate for this greatly by having a longer (transportation-heavy) social night life.
5. Electronics: especially smart-phones and smartphone gadgets. Sales of smart-phone may show rise only towards the end of Ramadan, as a way of “changing old with new”, following the very (religiously taught) tradition of Eid that underlies the habit of the massive buying of new cloths. Or as a result of traditional buying gifts to dear ones. 
6. Electrical appliances: these are said to be booming too shortly before & during Ramadan, especially refrigerators to provide cooling for saved-up-for-later food, by those who need a new better one and air conditioners to provide comfort in times of abstain from eating food and drinking water (cooling effect) in mostly warm regions.

What is more important “acquisition” or “retention”?

None of the two yet, as the definitive answer depends mainly on the phase of business life cycle the company finds itself in and as a derivative thereof, the customer life cycle. In any event, it is a rule of thumb, that you should not be a business that loses clients “carelessly”. 

Determining whether “acquisition” or “retention” is better at any given phase, depends on many factors that need to be calculated carefully, like:

1. The phase of business life cycle the company is in. A start-up will have a different strategy than a mature business geared towards more acquisition.
2. Is it B2C or B2B?
3. Are you selling products or services?
4. Service or product life time: once per month or once per 5 years?
5. Market competition: how fiercely do you have to fight for customers?
6. Necessity of acquisition; do you actually have to acquire customers intensively or do they choose you willingly?
7. Necessity of retention; Do you have to retain customers or do they come back every time “voluntarily”?
8. The type of product or service you’re selling in terms of high-loyalty products, luxury products, basic products, FMCG etc.
9. Market micro-economics: like purchase-power & competition.
10. Business sector: a B2C translation agency for only certified translations of official papers (diploma’s and ID’s) may choose to concentrate on acquisition and word-of-mouth marketing, since repeat purchase is unchangeably low for this specific service.

Most experts would put retention higher on the importance-list than acquisition, taking all pro’s and con’s into consideration, for reasons related to the researched fact that the cost of acquisition is 2,5 times the cost of client retention in relation to ROI. Although this percentage fluctuates regularly, sometimes claiming that retention’s ROI is 3 times that of acquisition, it has always had a non-variable & consistent advantage in favour of retention.

It basically means that it costs much more to attract new customers (without necessarily converting them into buyers) than to actually invest in current customers who already performed a first purchase. Furthermore, your existent client base is the livelihood of your business at less cost, while acquisition is like taking a wild guess in terms of expected ROI, but a certain loss in terms expenditure.

Others would argue that no retention is possible without acquisition preceding it, in the first place. How could you retain a “client” that you haven’t acquired yet? That client is non-existent and you should acquire him/her first.

It’s your say based on a more detailed and subjective approach, that leaved little space to philosophy and more to factual data and market research findings.

You are HIRED, if you can answer this job-interview question!

This is a real question that was put in a job interview and the only person that got the right answer got the job.

 

Question:

You are driving along in your car in a wild stormy night; it is raining heavily when you pass by a bus stop. And you see three people waiting for a bus: an old lady, an old friend that once saved your life and the perfect partner you have been dreaming all your life.

Which one would you choose to offer a ride knowing very well that your car is a two seats car and that you can give a ride to only one person?

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My answer:

My first automatic action will be slowing down the car, near them.

After exchanging greets with my friend, I will offer him a ride, adding to it “or do you think WE should help others out first & go and catch up later”? This will initiate a “consultation-session”, short & harmless.

Why so? Because it will provide me with INFORMATION to make a better decision or at least make a weighted decision.

1. I can offer anyone of them a lift. But who actually needs MY lift?! (no one yet)
2. Is it not possible that each one of them (or some) already called a dear one to pick them up at the bus stop during such an angry stormy night?
3. Who said the bus isn’t coming or that they don’t prefer to take it (be it late)?
4. My first action will be asking them whether they need a lift from me and/or whether they’re getting picked up soon by someone. (asking first or just doing is very culturally determined)
5. This will still be a well-meant offer wrapped-up in a reasonable & sober manner, since they all can see the small size of my car and see that I actually stopped.
6. They will engage in a spontaneous social interaction, either consulting each other, favouring one another or explaining one’s urgent need to be first. Or giving me the right (order) of choosing based on their attitude.
7. My offer has open validity & genuine attached to it. I’m also flexible; I can go and come back. They can help me decide who’s first, who’s next, who’s third OR who’s thankful but needs no lift!
8. They can also help me decide intuitively: who’s a friend worthy of a reunion, who’s an old truly needy person & who’s a truly potential dream partner based on attitude & not only looks or dreamy fantasies, based on their own calculation of what I’m supposed to do according to them!

Don’t judge a book by its cover, for the inside pages may be blank & waste your time, money & good intentions.

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I believe (but I may be wrong) that this question aims to examine abilities & competences such as:

1. Research valuation & research skills
2. Identifying needs vs improvisation & imposition.
3. Soberness & rationality in judgement vs emotionality & bad or pretentious impulsiveness.
4. Pro-activity & backing good intentions by deeds & words.
5. Being direct & frank vs being complimentary & vague.
6. Conveying honesty, fragility & transparency.
7. Altruistic traits vs egoistic traits.
8. Communication skills.
9. Group management skills, discussion & leadership by consultation.
10. Situation analysis & hard-decision-making skills.

Off course, I realize that I won’t have enough time to come up with such a “perfect behaviour answer”. But I think I will take my time until someone stops me or get lost in logical thinking.

ps: actually the right answer is supposed to be much simpler. You can look it up in Google, I guess. Thanks for reading! 🙂

Who Has Impacted Your Leadership the Most?

My father,

with his tireless instillment of the importance of knowledge seeking, critical thinking, truth telling and caring for the weak, even when not around all the time.