3 Ships Voyage to Sustainable Development
All this pandemic and quarantine has been making me think a lot about myself, about the world we live in and I’ve come to realize it once again: we know nothing. Life is uncertain and times like these just make it clearer. Stability isn’t a perennial thing. Life is unpredictable. "Life is a journey not a destination”, you might have heard it before. What is useful to me, might not be very useful to you. What means something to me, might have a different meaning to someone and there’s nothing wrong with it, actually that is gold. Diversity and different perspectives are pivotal to better face life's uncertainties. Diversity is what made us rich as a civilization. Writing from “the heart” doesn’t mean it’s less special than formal knowledge, by formal I mean that kind of information taught in school. It means that it became somehow part of you, it was so meaningful to you that it became part of you, part of your everyday life.
Science is good, science is great! Don't get me wrong. Hard skills are needed in this globalized tech world. But times like these get me thinking how soft skills are (I’d dare to say) the roots of everything. What are seeds and tools for, if the soil isn’t fertile, right? It got me thinking about the past and what would be the essence of us. Let's travel back in time, shall we? We’re time observers now. We’re in the Paleolithic, we’re witnessing our ancestors 30,000 BCE. Have they attended formal schooling? Or Getting an appointment with a personal trainer so they could be physically and mentally fit to finally prey on that mammoth that lives near that natural bridge over there? They had “nothing” and yet produced the first accomplishments in human creativity. So, they had everything they needed. Of course, the hard skills are the seeds and tools. We’ve discovered it, developed it, it became teachable. But in the beginning, there was soil only and those people have conquered the world with flexibility and adaptability enough to get them here in 2020. The soft skills are the soil.
Now imagine those Maritime Explorers 500 hundred year ago. Compass, ships, and stars above their heads. Could you imagine dozens of men sharing the same ship, navigating uncharted waters without the proper skills set? Especially the soft ones? That would be a nightmare. I’m personally convinced that soft skills are the most essential ones that anyone must develop. What are the tools and seeds for if you don’t know what to do with it? If you don’t know how to use them? When to use them? We evolved and only because we live in society. As much as hard skills we should all nurture soft skills, be conscious about that. Soft skills is where any sustainable project should be underpinned. Everything is out there, we have everything we need. We just need to pay attention, and nurture awareness. In addition, I believe that there’s no one size fits all kind of solution. However, I’d suggest to you the “3 ships” as a good starting point to guide any “maritime adventurer” who dares to get a sustainable and everlasting project.
1. Entrepreneurship
Is the capacity and willingness to develop, to organize and manage. It became a very trendy word in the business world, but I’d say it’s something we should all carry in life. I believe It’s more about curiosity and being a doer. We should nurture ways to develop long lasting curiosity for life, regardless age, belief, gender or anything else. Children are so curious, why can’t we keep such an attitude for life?
2. Leadership
Leadership is not some mystical quality that only a few people have. So, how may we develop leadership? Why should one pursue the traits of a leader? In a scenario that suggests more cooperation over commanding and controlling, it seems fair enough some sort of leadership education that empowers us to become a better version of ourselves, no? There’s myths that associate leadership with hierarchical positions, and I’m not talking about them. I’m talking about finding a way to develop on some level some leadership traits (like for instance confidence, problem solving, decision making) in everyone! It's about developing autonomy. You don’t have to be at the top to lead, you can lead from any position.
3. Partnership
This one is about cooperation. Finding people with mutual interests or that are at least willing to learn and understand your perspective is crucial for any endeavor. Remember: We evolved as a social species, “Rome was after all not built in one day”, nor was it built by one person alone.
Conclusion
That's all for now, I hope you've enjoyed our brief voyage on the “sea of ideas". As I mentioned above, there's no one size fits all kind of thing, and I personally dislike formulas like 3 steps for something and other ready-made recipes. My main goal here is to entice your curiosity, so you build your own ships and pick up the tools that suit you and your projects the best. Don't forget: curiosity is the key.