On humility and learning from everybody
It’s crucial to take a sense of humility into the world. By the time you make it to a top graduate school, almost all your learning has come from people who are smarter and more experienced than you: parents, teachers, bosses. But once you’ve finished at Harvard Business School or any other top academic institution, the vast majority of people you’ll interact with on a day-to-day basis may not be smarter than you. And if your attitude is that only smarter people have something to teach you, your learning opportunities will be very limited. But if you have a humble eagerness to learn something from everybody, your learning opportunities will be unlimited.–Clayton Christensen, Harvard Business Review
Know of any good blogs on Costa Rica, Panama, or Central America?
International travel is one of my biggest passions. I love to experience other cultures and ways of life. Within the past couple of years my passion has been centered around Central and South America. The people are warm, hospitable, and the food is exciting. In 2009 I went to Peru, visiting Machu Piccu, Lima & Cuzco. In less than three months I will be traveling to Argentina to spend some in the capital city Buenos Aires and wine country of Mendoza.
Being the planner I am, I’m already planning next year’s trip, which will be to Costa Rica. It will be one of many fact-finding trips to the region, since I am considering living abroad for a few years after I finish grad school in Washington DC. I’ve already picked up several books and read them cover to cover. Now I’m seeking out blogs on Costa Rica, Panama, or Central America in general. If you know of any, please do pass them on!
Rant: Why I believe African tech needs an ombudsman
First, what in the world is an ombudsman?
By traditional definition, an ombudsman is a person who attempts to hear out complaints between two entities and investigates whether or not there is a case to be heard. Many newspapers (remember those?) have an ombudsman that receives letters to the editor that are usually submitted by critical readers of the newspaper or its writers. The ombudsman works for the newspaper, but allows the citizen to voice their opinion in a setting built to hear complaints and determine whether they have any merit. The ombudsman is supposed to be neutral and act as an advocate of the citizen to the newspaper. Got that?
A good example of an ombudsman to the international aid business would likely be someone like William Easterly, a New York Times writer who blogs over at Aid Watch. Many people love him and many hate him, but one thing is for sure, he says what needs to be said as though he were a modern-day prophet. He blogs passionately and calls out large entities on what they might be doing wrong in order that they might change their habits and become more effective and responsible to the people. I have great respect for the man. Sometimes he is wrong and more often he is right, but he is willing to admit to any mistakes he might have made in his statements as long as there is fact to prove it. In my opinion, he is a great ombudsman who is badly needed in the constantly-troubled and corrupt international aid business.
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Tips & ideas on Argentina travel
Continuing my love for South and Central America, I am traveling to Argentina this October for 10 days for my honeymoon. Destinations on the itinerary are Buenos Aires and Mendoza. Have you been there? Have any tips or ideas to offer on places to eat or visit? Feel free to leave them in the comments, as I would love to hear from you.
The power of unconditional love
“The power of unconditional love. I mean, there is no power on earth like unconditional love. And I think that if you offered that to your child, I mean, you’re 90 percent of the way home. There may be days when you don’t feel like it — it’s not uncritical love; that’s a different animal — but to know you can always come back, that is huge in life. That takes you a long, long way. And I would say that every parent out there that can extend that to their child at an early age, it’s going to make for a better human being.”–Warren Buffett
Interesting links of the day
- Kenya ICT Board to offer grants for (local) digital content and software applications
- Does the size of that Gucci logo tell you something about the wearer?
- Twitter Hiring White House Liaison To Help Politicos ‘Tweet More Effectively’
- 12-year-old Ghana boy crowned the national winner of the Doodle 4 Google ‘Love Football’ competition
- Cartoons in Burkina Faso inform locals about computers and the internet
6/10/2010 Update
The glorious nature of a blog is that you can write whenever and whatever you want. However, that comes with its fair share of consequences. You cannot expect to gain a “following” if you don’t blog often and frequent. But, then again, maybe that’s not your intention of blogging in the first place.
My intention was never to gain a following, but simply to allow for an outlet when the moment struck me. So here’s that moment.
Today I was inspired by a post called “300 Words” on Hugh MacLeod’s blog that was basically a call on writers to produce at least 300 words of writing every day. While I might not be able to produce 300 words every day, I’ll try to produce something of interest.
For those not in the ‘know’, nearly all of my time has been swallowed up in African Tech Network. The growth of ATN has been tremendous to say the least. We currently have users from 12 African countries who work in the arena of technology. I am squeezing every hour of my time to improving the site and make it more useful as a resource for technologists. All in all I am happy with the progress.
If you are interested in what I am working on/talking about, follow me on Twitter. Hardly a day goes by I am not conversing on Twitter. And, I promise, most of what I say is not pointless psychobabble but meaningful quips about exciting things.
What of the elections currently underway in Sudan?
Having kept my thumb on the political pulse of Sudan since the days of the admirable John Garang, yes, I’m keeping an eye on the elections currently underway. My thoughts?
Well, considering that these are the first multi-party elections to happen in Sudan in nearly 24 years, I’m more surprised by how many people are complaining than how the process is going with its delays and many, many problems. I mean, sure, I would be angered if I were a citizen trying to vote and found the voting station closed or disorganized. But really, what should we expect given the circumstances in Sudan? If you’ve ever been to Sudan, you would understand why I say this.
Now whether or not I expect to be pleased with the outcome, that’s a whole other story. My hopes are not high given that Khartoum will continue to have its death-grip on that country, trying to stifle any progress or sort of human rights, and that so many major political parties have withdrawn from the elections.
