The Idea Exchange

Since the fall of the Soviet Union the United States has been looked to as the lone superpower in the world. The US has the best technology, armed forces, established businesses, etc. Most other countries aren’t even close in any of these categories. This excellence has been reached through cultivating the brightest minds in the world and creating the most human value.

However, with the rise of countries like China and India, the question must be asked: Will these countries overtake the US and become a bigger superpower?

The answer, in my opinion (formed in large part by the outstanding book The World Is Flat) is no, at least not for a while. However, important changes need to be made in order for the US to maintain its lofty status.

First, a National Engineering Program absolutely needs to be formed to encourage kids to study to be engineers. Any kind of engineer is always in demand because of the brainpower that is required. With India likely surpassing the United States as the country with the most English speaking citizens in 2010, and the fact that India is sending more “Straight A” students to college than the US, something needs to be done. I think a national program should be formed to encourage this among students with some of these facts presented at a young age so that kids are motivated. I know several organizations like this exist, but nothing is truly making a substantial impact. I know I was never motivated to study engineering.

Having this foundation for students in the US will help catch up to the rapidly growing pool of Indian engineers who are just as talented if not more than the Americans.

If anyone is interested in looking into forming such an organization I’d love to hear from you. Any thoughts?

I ran across this outstanding list over at the Write Ideas Marketing blog. I tend to agree with most of her ideas, especially her take on Twitter about it being basically useless. I also am somewhat skeptical of her views on LinkedIn. I haven’t been able to use LinkedIn for much, and I’m curious as to how some of you may have used it or gotten much benefit from it before. I’d love to get some feedback.

I think the intersection between sports and business is fascinating, and this article from Fast Company on Lebron James is very compelling.

I think the NBA Finals in general can be related a lot to business. The Spurs showed how valuable the ability to handle pressure, teamwork, and experience are to success. Cleveland showed that no matter how good a few of your players are, you are still only as strong as your weakest link. These traits ring true in the world of business, and it takes sports to make them truly visible and easy to understand.

Many people these days are looking to make money fast. There are so many seminars, books, tapes, DVDs, and you name it out there promising you $500,000 in two weeks or something ridiculous like that. Many people believe that they can start their own business to make the quick buck. This is a valid option and one that takes a lot of courage and effort. The problem lies in the motives to start the business.

Many entrepreneurs are in business solely to make money for themselves. Most of these businesses will fail no matter how much work is put into them. The key to a successful business is focusing on the customer. The most successful business is going to be one that is built upon a business model that exists to make something better or to improve their customers’ lives.

Think about this if you have the desire to start a business. If you put your customers before yourself and build your business and products around what will improve their lives–yours will improve greatly as well.

As a young kid I thought that all the useful products and services in the world were created by these huge, rich, incredibly smart business people. I still had the same thoughts until just recently I’ve come to the realization that this isn’t true at all. Many successful businesses and innovative products were created by “Average Joe’s” that had a passion for what they were doing. So if you dream up any kind of big idea like being able to save the rainforests or creating a new cell phone gadget and you think to yourself, “Ha, yeah like I’d ever be able to do that,” make the next question to yourself be, “Why Not?”.

Why couldn’t you create a new cell phone gadget? Why couldn’t you save the rainforests? Sure, it isn’t likely that you can single-handedly dictate the state of the rainforests, but anyone can form an organized effort do to ANYTHING. If you can dream it, then why not try to do it if you’re passionate about it?

This blog is dedicated to finding opportunities and making a change in the world. Some may be much larger than others, but everyone has some kind of niche that they can improve upon if they make the effort. Maybe just creating opportunities for yourself is what you’re interested in, and you don’t really care about the rest of the world; you’ll find ideas here as well. Join with me in making a difference, and I look forward to making this blog a worthwhile reading experience!