I'm not a president of course. And as a matter of fact, I’ll never be
one. And that’s not through a lack of ambition. Ambition should be made of
sterner stuff! I’m not thick-skinned
enough. Being a president is an overly demanding job. And your life is forever
in the public spotlight. People hold all sorts of flattering and scathing opinions about you. You're
the most influential person in a country. And in equal measure, you’re the
subject of scorn and all sorts of condemnations. You’re the CEO of a mammoth
corporation. So whichever way you look at it, this is a job and a half. You're
supposed to be the grand all-seer, the master planner, and the disciplined
tactician. You're supposed to mind the bottom line, and the heartbeat of the economy.
You’re supposed to be consistently aware of all imminent risks and dangers
confronting a nation, and pretty much everything that determines a county's
progress on the world stage. It's a heck of a job being a president. Definitely
not a job for lesser souls.
Yet I can think of a whole host of candidates in many countries who sign
up for just such a job without the requisite skills or the foggiest idea of what the job entails. And I
think that's wrong. And it saddens me when lesser mortals take on jobs they are
not in the least qualified for. It sets the standard very low. It pulls down a
nation. Ordinary citizens become obsessed with aiming for the lowest common
denominator.
It's the economy, stupid!
If I were president, I’d place the economy at the heart of everything
else. I'd go out of my way to ensure the economy functions optimally. Because for
the most part, that’s all that truly matters. If the economy functions well, employment
opportunities are created everywhere and citizens are content. People have opportunities
to dream, and plan, and make things that they can sell. In that respect, they lend
their hand in building an economy. I'd give dreamers an opportunity to try out all
sorts of plans they can conjure up. I'd credit failure. Because it’s only when
people have an opportunity to try out a whole bunch of things that they get to succeed.
And fail. So I’d give incentives to dreamers and encourage them to keep trying.
I’d incentivise success of course, but I’d make sure those who stumble are not
hung out to dry.
A skills-driven economy
If I were president, I’d insist that good education and skills are the foundation
upon which knowledge generation rests. I’d incentivise eager young learners and
instil a sense of creativity in them. I'd bolster the adoption of technology
and make sure every sector optimises use of the prevailing technologies at any given time. Some
of these things need to be forced through. I'd go out of my
way to make sure a platform is laid for the proliferation of technologies. Mine would be a technology-driven country!
A safe vessel in stormy seas!
If I were president, I'd keep my eyes on the horizon and look out for any trouble that may
besiege the ship. Through my intelligence agencies and spies, I'd cultivate all
sorts of information to better understand potential threats on the economy. I'd
get my spies to diligently search for and analyse a plethora of information so
we can better anticipate trouble. I'd engage in a little bit of strategic
planning to best determine which direction my nation is sailing. I’d rely on
data and charts to anticipate trouble and be assured that the ship is sailing
towards our desired destination. If there are strikes that may affect perceptions
about investments in my country, I’d quickly snuff those out by instructing corporates
and unions to get their act together. I'd impose tight deadlines on the different parties to sort out their squabbles (instead of standing by idly
while strikes drag on for months with damaging effects on the economy). I’d
expose the glaring disparities between the salaries earned by mine executives
(where executives get performance bonuses even in a climate of decreasing
profits and sliding share prices) and blue collar workers. Using vast datasets available
in the market, I’d get my quants to conduct complex statistical analyses and highlight
the glaring inequalities and inequities in the economy. These I’d use when holding
meetings with the different sectors. I’d insist on making data-driven decision
making the epitome of my presidency.
I'd want to ensure that my creative scientists and technologists are
hard at work envisioning solutions to improve things in my country. Technology
always widens the cake and gives us options to make things better. I'd want technology
to be top of the agenda at all times. I'd give app developers all sorts of incentives to
dream and create innovative technologies in all spheres of life. I'd identify
strategic assets such as platinum and coal and drive mines and companies to do
more with these. I'd not want my country to miss out on commodities booms and windfalls that sweep the world every now and then. Such windfalls are golden opportunities not to be wasted.
A knowledge-driven economy
Knowledge drives the economy. It's what makes it resilient. And sustainable. I'd
want all schools to be centres of technology and excellence. I'd insist that
all companies, state institutions and municipalities become creative and embrace
the ethos of knowledge. Efficiency would be the key driver of everything. I'd
insist that institutions such as the Independent Electoral Commission for
instance make full use of technology and adopt electronic voting or tallying systems.
The same thing would apply to the Motor Vehicle Licencing and Home Affairs departments.
I’d insist on full use of biometric and electronic systems to minimise fraud and forgery.
I'd create incentives to reward early adopters of technologies in a bid to urge
everyone along. I'd make sure I embed this type of thinking into the minds of
the nation. I'd push my nation to always strive for a higher purpose. I'd do most
of these things and more. If only I were president. But is this the only way
there is? Probably not.
So it turns out that relying solely on government is not the only way
there is. But of course you already know this. For most so-called public duties
or services, there is always a matching private solution. Indeed the much quoted JFK line: "ask not what your country can do for you.. but what you can do for your country". Granted that public services
are the responsibility of government, but nothing stops imaginative citizens
from fashioning their own solutions to help government or to help themselves. As the
cliché goes, the only guaranteed way to have a future you want is to create it
yourself. I read that up somewhere. And I quite like it. So that’s the code I’m
gonna live by. I'll do most of the things I've written about in this article. And more. Whatever is within my control or capability. So what's yours? Ever fantasized about being a president? What
would you do differently?
