Five years ago, I thought the problems facing developing nations could be solved simply by the introduction and implementation of solar energy, by in fact providing governments a strategy to eliminate the need to buy foreign fuel to generate electricity (keeping in mind these nations are borrowing foreign money to buy foreign fuel), while improving economies, stimulating growth and improving the health of its citizens, not to mention the environment, in general. I thought real independence for these mostly freshly-minted sovereign countries was within reach.
After all, a hundred years ago and more colonial administrators enabled the construction of power plants around the equatorial belt to process raw material in local factories, taking advantage of cheap labour and ensuring efficient shipping, not to provide street lighting or air conditioning.
The leaders of this world, our world, need to take notice of bureaucracies in place thwarting the great intentions of people who can take what is good about humanity, such as our notions of getting along and sharing the fruits of our labour, while ensuring our children will grow up to be happy, to be educated and employed to the best of their ability, and enjoy life as was also expected by those people who survived the Great Catastrophe and evolved over thousands of years of migration and struggle across an era we now call The Stone Age.
Even those cave dwellers, the men and women and their ancestors having survived the sudden collapse of the Ice Age and who found shelter and lived in cold, damp caves, for want of a better house, knew that without the sun the human race would die. They continually sought the light that rose in the east each day. Sad but true, children will leave behind the comforts of home and family, to seek a better life, for an ideal mate that lies somewhere over the horizon; eventually some will return with tales of wonder and splendour, some will not; adults will seek the riches of others obtainable beyond their borders, to seize the opportunity of improvement. It's in our genes.
Those aforementioned bureaucrats need to leave their ivory towers and begin to solve the problems we the world are facing and not be the problem.
There are truly many solutions available today that by harnessing nature can provide energy in a manner both renewable and sustainable, yet all require capital to build, manage and maintain. Since the Industrial Era set the world ablaze, populations around the world have boomed that, try as we might, have not been abated by several rather devastating wars and catastrophic pandemics, augmenting the occasional earthquake, volcano and tsunami, interrupting lives and killing indiscriminately. Death, for all of us, is inescapable and accidents are unavoidable. Life involves tackling challenges and making decisions, and effecting change for the cause of good.
I, together with the people who launched Solamon Energy, took a straight-forward message from our comfortable homes in Canada out into the world: our sun's rays are free, and the technology and systems required to convert daylight into energy would simply require people to work alongside to achieve an elemental goal of delivering power to the people. With this power in their hands, and not controlled by a foreign utility or off-shore corporation, they could filter and pump desalinated water, and irrigate lands, provide cold storage for food and medicine, and offer light to schools and homes, among the many other beneficial uses of electricity, of raw energy.
We thought, with the many new technologies being added to our expanding shelves, solar panels would span both rocky fields and sandy deserts, and shade livestock, while also cover parking lots and shade cars. We thought blooming cell phone towers could benefit from solar power - rather than relying on diesel generators or remote transmission lines - and communities could gather in central locations to power their new devices, whether at bus stops or cafes. We thought much-needed homes could be built en masse and supplied their electricity from communal solar farms.
We took our message of hope first to the democratic leaders of the Caribbean islands, from the large to the small, and then to the Sandinistas who ruled Nicaragua and had fought for power and their independence... yet to learn they would prefer to dam valleys and flood the lands of indigenous populations; and to the Sri Lankans who had fought a costly Civil War for over two decades and, upon its cessation, needed to rebuild their country, their beautiful isle, without the assistance of an unsympathetic United Nations. Micro-grids are their answer.
After the fall of Ghaddafi, we took our message to the Libyans, and to many other African nations, and last year ended up in Ghana at the height of the Ebola crisis and as Boko Haram was escalating its activities in neighbouring Nigeria. The Libyans who we met in various European cities were well aware solar power could easily be generated on a very large level across their sunny country, and were prepared to deploy the funds being returned to them to finance the launch of an ambitious program that would electrify their nation and set the bar for all of North Africa and the Middle East, given the knowledge oil was a scarce resource on which to bank the future.
We cared not who ruled these countries or to whom they prayed. Teach a man to fish, so the saying goes. In each country, we were treated by our hosts with respect. There has been never of shortage of either the product nor the expertise to deliver power to the people. There has never been, nor will there ever be, a shortage of capital to power the people. Power does not come out the barrel of a gun, despite the opinion of a minority. Power can be bought, however. A century ago, the world was engulfed in a horrific war which took the lives of many millions on several fronts, and displaced many millions more who sought a better life, and in particular a better life for their children.
I have found people tend to do what they are told. There are people who speak, and speak well, and people who listen, and listen well. Some do both. Money speaks volumes, and can easily influence opinion and decisions, and access to capital is paramount to the success of any venture or idea. People of all varying professions need to understand their role and, when acting together, can effectively execute change with money in hand. Business plans are written with an eye to executing change for the benefit of achieving a desired goal, where the benefits for all are plainly written in black and white. For lack of better definition, these are the rules for all to see and adhere to.
Londoners, and Britons in general, were aghast in 1915 that commanders of high-flying Zeppelins would break the rules and be so cruel as to drop bombs on their city and that the resulting explosions spread not only panic and fear but kill and maim innocent people. Americans were equally enraged to hear German torpedoes fired from lurking submarines in open seas would sink ships carrying their neutral passengers. War is terrifying. People who are comfortable have no reason to fight, to harm a neighbour or engage an enemy in a fight. Yet, people are people, and people do fight. Some are leaders and most are followers, but all want a better life for their children.
Land is limited. Water is limited. Air is limited. Humans have fought for all three, and still do. The implementation of solar power requires land. The acquisition of land requires permission.
Solar power is not a panacea to the troubles of the world, but leaders - especially in developing nations - not intent on creating empires but a solid foundation for a prosperous tomorrow, and intent on preparing for a peaceful future, where the sun's light is a warming and nurturing beacon of hope, and a source of power, for at least another 10 million years, one to help feed the people in this period of climate change and to educate their children in this period of admitted destabilization and critical upheaval, to ensure a diplomatic system across the planet of mutual understanding and admiration among unique nations, and their cultures and customs, while we still have time.
Canada, for example, can take the bull by the horns and assume a leadership position on behalf of all developing nations. Canada is a diversified nation and has a dearth of talent to assure change for the positive. It is a country with an array of technology, whether solar-powered or not, to deliver change. Its recently elected leaders in Ottawa profess real change and this is their opportunity, and they must seize it, and now do so on a global level, by not building a bigger bomb but extending a hand of friendship, of assuring trust and providing a beacon of hope, of offering light in a darkened place.
These leaders of Canada can act not by merely admitting and re-settling a few thousand refugees, but by providing power and a sound plan for development, and self-sustainability and the empowerment of future generations to build their own countries in the lands they love, and welcome and invite foreigners to visit and to share their cultures and customs with open arms and friendly smiles. It is a big world out there and we really do not have to destroy it.
We can and should learn from the experience of our ancestors and understand the fundamentals: we're here for a short time, so let's try and enjoy it, though not necessarily in a cave.
Monday, November 16, 2015
Tuesday, October 6, 2015
Friday, September 18, 2015
A Human on this Earth, Business and Money
A long time ago, in one of my classes at the Trebas Institute in Toronto, I taught students the four stages associated with the Business Life Cycle, which are: Introduction, Growth, Maturity and Death. As surely civilizations come and go, from those now long-forgotten that preceded the Stone Age, despite the hard work and sacrifice of many people to keep them alive, so do products, brands, companies and industries. Over the past century there are many unique businesses now extinct, as each relied on the careful balance of selling new versus old product.
Success or failure relies on human decisions, based on opinion, deciding simply yes or no. Each decision has an impact. Businesses do not make decisions, people do. Businesses do not have a conscience, people do. People can easily impact businesses by the purchase decisions they make. In this sense, people can equally impact a business by choosing to be employed by it or not. Time is what matters, and people have little of it to spend.
By typically generating revenue quarter upon quarter, and thus delivering results, established product lines are trusted by ruling leaders of corporations, providing ownership the requisite confidence in their decision making ability and enabling them to keep their jobs year after year. It is a fact, however, the introduction of new product costs money, to not only introduce new product to the board and to its executives, and to the company on the whole, as well as to distributors and the vaunted media, but most importantly to the consumers expected to buy the product.
It is not an easy decision to introduce new product, and much can go wrong. Early discussions among chief decision makers include the numerous variables associated with an assigned finite budget, and whether - if successfully introduced - the business will actually be able to achieve sales projections and service the product by attracting, hiring, training and retaining a suitable workforce from the top down, while also writing an appropriate set of guiding principles for the company to assure growth and their ability to compete on several levels, locally and globally.
Prior to the introduction of new product, any business must be able to first define a quantifiable base of consumers that needs the product and therefore will buy the product, before determining a strategy to effectively and efficiently reach them wherever they live. Hence, it is incumbent for the marketers, or a third-party professional agency, after much deliberation to eventually offer not only a value proposition for the intended consumer but a comprehensive plan to succeed after evaluating all advertising, public relations, direct selling and promotional options.
Everything is a people business.
To compete and grow, the business must know its consumer can afford the new product. One step beyond, the business must know the consumer is willing to spend their money on a new product. At this stage, it must convince the consumer of their need and the (critical) value the new product will provide once purchased, given the competition and their new product on store shelves, not to mention other priorities facing the consumer. Adult humans have time to spend, and in return are paid for their time - if found productive and hence generate profit for the employer.
Although much can go wrong, people are the biggest risk for any business. But, by working, they do have disposable income, The majority of consumers, when it comes to the purchase decision process, will not take a risk on an unproven and unworthy product; if the product is deemed too expensive when compared to similar product, its days on the shelf are numbered. If a product is deemed bad or proven useless due to the introduction of one cheaper and featuring better technology - offering consumers an improved life and lifestyle - the inferior product will die.
At the end of the day, businesses must invest a lot of money in the introduction of new product to grow and survive and ensure they can remain competitive by being profitable, but if the product is competitive and generates a profit, they are assured a competitor will want a piece of the pie and introduce his own new product into the market cheaper and faster. People make these decisions.
Life is short for a human on this planet, in relative terms, especially if talking to a geologist. Upon surviving costly childhood and risky teen years, regardless of his employment, a productive adult could impact a community that might certainly enable his memory to live on in the community, until eventually swept under the proverbial carpet by more relevant people and their deeds. Sadly, but likely, these memories will be enveloped by a nation of people, and one day all lives and legacies will be forgotten, especially if the nation is swept away by the forces of nature.
There is always a realm of possibilities available to adults with respect to being productive and the responsibility of joining the workforce and accepting a wage in exchange for time spent on the job or doing something else, even nothing or as little as possible in order to live another day. Yet there are people in the corporate world who need to sell other people a job; companies need people after all. Companies also need to compete and to survive they need to remain profitable. Therefore, companies must continually increase revenue and decrease costs to compete and survive.
Sometimes, for a variety of reasons, a company cannot hire enough people and to compete must offer a higher wage to attract employees. Facing competitors employing cheaper labour, they become unprofitable and die. Sometimes, a company chooses not to invest it profits in new technology, and cannot compete against the competitor who does, and dies. Sometimes, a company will die if it cannot - given all the choices a company must make - afford to buy advertisements on television, not only in one city but across an entire nation and in fact globally, while the competitor can and does.
As a human eventually dies, while united under one banner for a moment in time, civilizations do not escape death either, and many - if not all - simply disappear from our history books, regardless of their impact, their innovations or collective deeds on behalf of humanity. Life for a soldier at war, while doing his duty, might be short, while life for his company might be a bit longer, as well as his battalion, though life for his army will end, if the war is lost. People, whether employers or employees, feel the need to make an impact; thus some purchase decisions are based on whether to support a local business or a major corporation.
In the music business today, artists compose songs, and these songs when collated comprise albums, and several albums recorded similarly comprise catalogues. In general, the lifespan of a song is short - as it climbs "the charts" and then falls within weeks - and, if followed by a series of equally popular songs, the album too will enjoy a lifespan of its own, maybe months, and given the success on radio and television and possibly online, the band may live on longer to write and record more albums over years, but if they break up and go their separate ways, the catalogue they leave behind will live on for decades, possibly forever. Maybe.
In general, the new artist does not care about album sales or touring revenue, though he or she does care about recognition, about being heard. They care about the impact they make through the statements found within each of their songs and collectively on their albums and ultimately their catalogue. This is the legacy of the artist across all civilizations: the impact they make on others, and the decisions these consumers make based on the opinions formulated upon hearing their music (or seeing their art) and responding to the message behind the music.
Artists are not afraid to introduce new product. Unfortunately, in most cases, it is the lack of capital that stops them from reaching their audiences across the world. Records labels, and they too have a lifespan, have only a limited amount of time and resources to devote to new product introductions, while balancing budgets based on catalogue sales. New songs, similar to the film industry, are released daily. Humans, however, only have enough time to listen to so much music, and watch so many films.
(This is also true of the investment industry, as there are new companies with new product appearing each day armed with business plans to do well, but only so many firms with so much money to invest in their introduction, based on their ability to assign humans to evaluate them. So, they rely on old "tried and true" product, a catalogue of investment product, graded and proven to generate results.)
Since the introduction of broadcast technology, and radio stations, and the new product each week that feeds the minds of their listeners around the world, it is important that while we recognize the lifespan of a song is short indeed, as is one's own life, it is thus the impact we make that matters the most, This is what we must do with our time over our life. Each business - owners and managers - as well must also reflect on the impact they make, and the impact of their profit, on people and our environment. It matters. Their decisions matter, despite how long or short we or they are here.
New media online still has the opportunity to make dinosaurs out of old broadcasters.
Success or failure relies on human decisions, based on opinion, deciding simply yes or no. Each decision has an impact. Businesses do not make decisions, people do. Businesses do not have a conscience, people do. People can easily impact businesses by the purchase decisions they make. In this sense, people can equally impact a business by choosing to be employed by it or not. Time is what matters, and people have little of it to spend.
By typically generating revenue quarter upon quarter, and thus delivering results, established product lines are trusted by ruling leaders of corporations, providing ownership the requisite confidence in their decision making ability and enabling them to keep their jobs year after year. It is a fact, however, the introduction of new product costs money, to not only introduce new product to the board and to its executives, and to the company on the whole, as well as to distributors and the vaunted media, but most importantly to the consumers expected to buy the product.
It is not an easy decision to introduce new product, and much can go wrong. Early discussions among chief decision makers include the numerous variables associated with an assigned finite budget, and whether - if successfully introduced - the business will actually be able to achieve sales projections and service the product by attracting, hiring, training and retaining a suitable workforce from the top down, while also writing an appropriate set of guiding principles for the company to assure growth and their ability to compete on several levels, locally and globally.
Prior to the introduction of new product, any business must be able to first define a quantifiable base of consumers that needs the product and therefore will buy the product, before determining a strategy to effectively and efficiently reach them wherever they live. Hence, it is incumbent for the marketers, or a third-party professional agency, after much deliberation to eventually offer not only a value proposition for the intended consumer but a comprehensive plan to succeed after evaluating all advertising, public relations, direct selling and promotional options.
Everything is a people business.
To compete and grow, the business must know its consumer can afford the new product. One step beyond, the business must know the consumer is willing to spend their money on a new product. At this stage, it must convince the consumer of their need and the (critical) value the new product will provide once purchased, given the competition and their new product on store shelves, not to mention other priorities facing the consumer. Adult humans have time to spend, and in return are paid for their time - if found productive and hence generate profit for the employer.
Although much can go wrong, people are the biggest risk for any business. But, by working, they do have disposable income, The majority of consumers, when it comes to the purchase decision process, will not take a risk on an unproven and unworthy product; if the product is deemed too expensive when compared to similar product, its days on the shelf are numbered. If a product is deemed bad or proven useless due to the introduction of one cheaper and featuring better technology - offering consumers an improved life and lifestyle - the inferior product will die.
At the end of the day, businesses must invest a lot of money in the introduction of new product to grow and survive and ensure they can remain competitive by being profitable, but if the product is competitive and generates a profit, they are assured a competitor will want a piece of the pie and introduce his own new product into the market cheaper and faster. People make these decisions.
Life is short for a human on this planet, in relative terms, especially if talking to a geologist. Upon surviving costly childhood and risky teen years, regardless of his employment, a productive adult could impact a community that might certainly enable his memory to live on in the community, until eventually swept under the proverbial carpet by more relevant people and their deeds. Sadly, but likely, these memories will be enveloped by a nation of people, and one day all lives and legacies will be forgotten, especially if the nation is swept away by the forces of nature.
There is always a realm of possibilities available to adults with respect to being productive and the responsibility of joining the workforce and accepting a wage in exchange for time spent on the job or doing something else, even nothing or as little as possible in order to live another day. Yet there are people in the corporate world who need to sell other people a job; companies need people after all. Companies also need to compete and to survive they need to remain profitable. Therefore, companies must continually increase revenue and decrease costs to compete and survive.
Sometimes, for a variety of reasons, a company cannot hire enough people and to compete must offer a higher wage to attract employees. Facing competitors employing cheaper labour, they become unprofitable and die. Sometimes, a company chooses not to invest it profits in new technology, and cannot compete against the competitor who does, and dies. Sometimes, a company will die if it cannot - given all the choices a company must make - afford to buy advertisements on television, not only in one city but across an entire nation and in fact globally, while the competitor can and does.
As a human eventually dies, while united under one banner for a moment in time, civilizations do not escape death either, and many - if not all - simply disappear from our history books, regardless of their impact, their innovations or collective deeds on behalf of humanity. Life for a soldier at war, while doing his duty, might be short, while life for his company might be a bit longer, as well as his battalion, though life for his army will end, if the war is lost. People, whether employers or employees, feel the need to make an impact; thus some purchase decisions are based on whether to support a local business or a major corporation.
In the music business today, artists compose songs, and these songs when collated comprise albums, and several albums recorded similarly comprise catalogues. In general, the lifespan of a song is short - as it climbs "the charts" and then falls within weeks - and, if followed by a series of equally popular songs, the album too will enjoy a lifespan of its own, maybe months, and given the success on radio and television and possibly online, the band may live on longer to write and record more albums over years, but if they break up and go their separate ways, the catalogue they leave behind will live on for decades, possibly forever. Maybe.
In general, the new artist does not care about album sales or touring revenue, though he or she does care about recognition, about being heard. They care about the impact they make through the statements found within each of their songs and collectively on their albums and ultimately their catalogue. This is the legacy of the artist across all civilizations: the impact they make on others, and the decisions these consumers make based on the opinions formulated upon hearing their music (or seeing their art) and responding to the message behind the music.
Artists are not afraid to introduce new product. Unfortunately, in most cases, it is the lack of capital that stops them from reaching their audiences across the world. Records labels, and they too have a lifespan, have only a limited amount of time and resources to devote to new product introductions, while balancing budgets based on catalogue sales. New songs, similar to the film industry, are released daily. Humans, however, only have enough time to listen to so much music, and watch so many films.
(This is also true of the investment industry, as there are new companies with new product appearing each day armed with business plans to do well, but only so many firms with so much money to invest in their introduction, based on their ability to assign humans to evaluate them. So, they rely on old "tried and true" product, a catalogue of investment product, graded and proven to generate results.)
Since the introduction of broadcast technology, and radio stations, and the new product each week that feeds the minds of their listeners around the world, it is important that while we recognize the lifespan of a song is short indeed, as is one's own life, it is thus the impact we make that matters the most, This is what we must do with our time over our life. Each business - owners and managers - as well must also reflect on the impact they make, and the impact of their profit, on people and our environment. It matters. Their decisions matter, despite how long or short we or they are here.
New media online still has the opportunity to make dinosaurs out of old broadcasters.
Monday, September 7, 2015
Choral debut of Toronto Valour Ensemble released
As many of you know it was the vocals that differentiated our many Raw Energy bands, and although many of you may wonder how I got involved in a choral album (it is a long story), be assured the vocals on Sacrifice and Solace will astound you, not to mention the overall message behind this project. Lest we forget. Free previews of each song are available via CD Baby and feel free to leave your comments.
Choral debut of Toronto Valour Ensemble released
Choral debut of Toronto Valour Ensemble released
Thursday, September 3, 2015
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)