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I’ll admit being glued to the TV set during the US presidential campaign two years ago. Obama and his message of hope and idealism captivated me and for the first time in my life I felt genuinely interested in politics. The positive tenor of Obama’s campaign and his ideas for transparent government made me believe that politics could be changed not just in Washington but worldwide. “Yes We Can” soon became the battle cry for millions across the world who asked for the same change from their government leaders. The internet was buzzing - 1.23 billion searches on Google for “Yes We Can” surpassed even ”Obama” . In other words, Obama’s message for change had surpassed his popularity or must I say, it became the reason for his popularity.
But after year and a half of Obama’s presidency, I feel disillusioned. I think Obama has lost the opportunity to enable the change he promised and that his supporters voted him for. From immigration reforms to “dont ask, dont tell” policies, it still remains to be seen what Obama can actually get done. Even though Obama’s administration is credited with passing recent healthcare reforms but it is short of its its initial mandate to provide coverage to every American. The final bill was full of backroom deals and special provisions for certain States and companies favoured by lawmakers. What happened to transparecy in politics?
One problem seems to be Obama’s chronic compulsion to debate issues and build consensus instead of leading people through difficult choices. In Washington, it is difficult to build consensus when Republicans and Democrats thrive on scoring political points over each other. Instead of asking the Congress to come up with ideas, Obama should lead from the front. He has the mandate of people of America and arguably the entire world.
People want to be led more than inspired. After 9/11, George Bush didn’t ask the country if we should go to war. Instead he made his decision first and then rallied Americans. We may disagree on Bush’s policies but his leadership during the aftermath of 9/11 is arguably the most decisive and unifying one.
Obama has inspired millions but can he lead? That’s the real question. People are still hungry for a strong leadership. Rather than relying on lawmakers to introduce sweeping reforms, Obama should lead from the front - with a clear vision and resolve. He shouldn’t second guess on promises he made to Americans. People still want immigration reforms, financial regulations and the wars to end.
In his defence, Obama received a baggage of problems from the economy which was in tatters to two wars in which the enemy seemed to be gaining momentum. But he has the unique opportunity to deliver on the message of hope. If it cannot be done now, then I doubt if people will ever believe that “yes we can”.
Every now and then, entrepreneurs surprise the world with their innovations which are hardly transformational - they are disruptive. Square is an example of one such disruptive innovations in recent times. For small retailers, especially those that are mobile, taking credit cards can be expensive and cumbersome. Square has come up with a solution for retailers to accept payments via customer’s iphone. It comes with a free magstripe reader that connects to the iphone and works on iphone application that authorizes credit card, captures customer’s signature and emails the receipt.
Why is this interesting? Besides technology, it is disruptive in how it could change retail payments industry. For anyone, who has run a small store or a business would empathize how difficult and costly it could be for small business to accept cards.
Square is different. Retailers need no merchant account, no contracts, no monthly minimums, no set up fees, no monthly fees - meaning thousands of dollars in savings in each month and hassle-free service for small retailer. It comes with free card reader and a relatively low fee of 2.75% + 15c on card swipe transactions. That rate could save millions for mid-to-large retailers too. All in all, this service could give large banks and payment gateways run for their money as they cannot go on charging high fees/ squeezing out margins from small retailers.
Now that is a disruptive innovation.
With G20 in Toronto this weekend, protests have been a common sight on Canadian news channels. I fail to understand the point of both G20 and its protesters. No one is getting the job done.
Leaders of G20 meet and come up with communique - list of non-binding agreements. This time it was about reducing fiscal deficits in respective countries. Well, good luck with that America! Waste of time - regional summits have proven to be more productive than global summits that are increasingly becoming photo-op for world leaders. What a waste of everybody’s time! Not just time but money too!!
Canadian Government reportedly spent over $1 Billion in security arrangements for G20 in Toronto. And then it still couldn’t stop protesters torching police cars and damaging public property. Shame on those hooligans! They grabbed attention but no one has a clue what these protesters stand for. In my opinion, they failed to convey their message. And to the Government, we didn’t need G20 distraction brought to our cities.
When people are struggling with economy, such wasteful spending of billions of dollars aggravates that pain. After all, as always, you and I will have to foot the bill for all of this.
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How often do you follow your heart? If your answer is “always”, you are definitely a rare breed. For most of us, rationality takes over our gut feel and we let it drive our choices in important decisions. Changing career, finding soul-mate, starting a new business and this list goes on….our minds are processed to think rationally, analyze “what-ifs” scenarios and connect dots into the future. And technology takes it to a whole new level by automating the decision-making process.
But then why are most people still not happy with their decisions? Why don’t we feel right about such decisions. Mind and heart aren’t aligned and gut feel seems to overpower —- and all of a sudden, our “rational” decision feels like a compromise.
Steve Jobs sums it up in a great speech (see Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish). Our rational mind connects the dots in the future….creating apprehensions, fear of unknown to venture into something new. So we settle for less. Problem is not with connecting dots….it is impossible to connect dots into the future. You can only connect dots looking backwards. Even our stupid or irrational decisions make more sense when we connect dots looking backwards years later. So then aren’t we better off listening to our gut. I am not against rational decision-making but if it doesn’t feel right, don’t do it.
No point compromising…follow your heart and trust me, as Steve Jobs would say, you’d be able to connect the dots looking backwards ten years later.