Welcome to a new year and a new semester. Have you decided on a resolution or have you set a goal for yourself yet? If you haven’t done so yet please allow me a suggestion. Why not solve a problem? I don’t mean a personal problem or goal either like lose weight or exercise more. I mean tackle a major problem like child abuse, animal cruelty, illiteracy or the potable water shortage. In the process you could make millions.
Last semester my students and I worked on a composition project. After we studied and discussed the internet video Shift Happens by Karl Fisch we brainstormed and made several lists of problems humans face. We ended with a master list of almost 50 problems. Students then wrote about solutions to some of the problems. I read some very creative and thoughtful compositions.
Some of the students viewed the video with shock at all the predictions about rapid change and the problems that might result. I see the video differently and shared some of my thoughts with my students. I agree with Winston Churchill who said, “The optimist sees opportunity in chaos.”
Many self-made millionaires have one thing in common. Where others saw problems and complained they saw problems and said, “There’s got to be a better way.” Then they looked for solutions, solved a problem and made money.
Late last year I read A Contract with the Earth by Newt Gingrich and Terry Maple. They outline multiple ways we can do our part to help clean the planet, reduce global warming, etc. In some cases those who dedicate themselves to one of the ideas outlined in the book can make millions of dollars. I consider this a very American approach to a problem-innovate, fix something or make it better and make lots of money in return. Others have done it so why can’t you? In her book The Shock Doctrine: the Rise of Disaster Capitalism Naomi Klein gives dozens of examples of companies and individuals who have made money from misery.
Vice President Al Gore has made millions of dollars in the global warming business. He’s done his part to make it front and center as one of the most important problems on the planet. He created a new concept called green consciousness through his lectures, documentary and books Earth in the Balance and An Inconvenient Truth and has made lots of money at the same time. President Bill Clinton made nearly ten million dollars last year as he did good work in the A.I.D.S. business. Carmakers receive millions of taxpayer and private donor dollars to build more fuel-efficient cars and to find alternative fuel technologies. They stand to make billions with their new cars and technologies.
In one school of thought they argue we build colleges and universities to prepare leaders in all professions to go out after graduation and solve problems in their chosen fields. Have you decided what you will do with your education? What problem or problems would you like to solve or at least make better in your profession? All professions face problems and as each field progresses new problems arise. With progress come problems.
Maybe you can’t end world hunger but you could do something to alleviate the problem and reap a reward in return. Maybe you don’t have to fix such a humungous problem. You could work on something smaller. You could find a cure for the cold, a better way to keep newspapers dry during rainy season, an easier way to clean windows or a safe way to fight mildew or termites.
Just keep your eyes open and your brain engaged as you move about your day and you’ll find manifold problems, inconveniences and exasperations. Watch Donny Deutsch’s The Big Idea weeknights on CNBC. His guests will inspire you. Every night Deutsch interviews inventors, innovators and entrepreneurs who have made millions of dollars or soon will with their products or services. They talk about what motivated them to solve a problem or to find a better way to do something, the obstacles they overcame and the steps they took to succeed. Many of the guests have certain qualities in common. I won’t tell you what. Watch the show and figure it out for yourself.
This year will pass us by quickly so will your time in college. Before long you’ll enter your chosen field. What will you contribute to make the world a better place? I tell my students we owe a lot to a lot of people who’ve made our lives more bearable. We owe a debt to scientists, inventors, doctors, engineers, architects, teachers, nurses, soldiers, entrepreneurs and farmers. They’ve given us a lifestyle kings wouldn’t have imagined 100 years ago. Solve a problem. You could make millions and make the world a better place.
Copyright Bert Lorenzo, 2008
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