What do you do in the midst of chaos?

Perhaps a little inspiration from nature…

Ants are celebrated insects because they know how to bring order to disorder.

They have a clear strategy and command structure that enables to achieve much.

Picture the anthill.

Some are humongous and towering.

But they’ve been modelled and fashioned by these minute creatures in the most patient of ways.

This same lifestyle isn’t just confined to ants.

Termites, bees, dung beetles are more examples of minute creatures doing extraordinary things.

But let’s picture the weaver bird.

This unique bird is known to make nests with a complex network of tunnels to ward off predators like snakes.

These creatures use raw materials that are abundant in nature to produce masterpieces that are appealing to our eyes.

Ants use sand to build ant hills…

Bees produce wax and honey after visiting flowers around us…

Dung beetles use available cow dung…

Weaver birds use dried grass to make their nests….

We might be tempted to write off these raw materials because of their abundance.

Infact, dried grass is somewhat chaotic and disorderly.

But these creatures pick up what seems useless and disorderly to create order and a home for themselves.

There’s a story these creatures are telling us.

Sometimes (if not most of the times) what we need to succeed is actually all around us – it’s abundant.

Economists instead tell us that value exists in scarcity.

But what if the scarcity is related to creativity that could translate what’s abundant into something of value?

Think about the thousands of graduates being released by universities every year.

Today a degree seems accessible to anyone.

It’s available – it’s abundant.

This has created chaos and disorder.

Look at our job market…

Having a degree doesn’t matter so much today in the job market as it did 20 years ago.

There’s jostling, undercutting and canvassing while looking for jobs even if one is most qualified because a degree isn’t enough.

So what will draw our value from a degree certificate that looks all so ordinary?

INNOVATION

Innovation is creativity applied to what exists to make a product a market needs.

It’s not reinventing the wheel – probably it could be thought of as pimping up the wheel: the alloy rims, the bolts etc.

A graduate has what’s available to everyone – a degree.

But s/he could take knowledge from that degree and convert it into a skill (or get a skill outside their qualification altogether).

Picture a graduate armed with a chemistry degree.

What knowledge have they acquired?

They’ve gained insights into matter – solids, liquids,  gases…

They’ve gained insights into:

what makes medicine work…

what makes detergents work…

how to make biogas…

how to compost…

how to manufacture/recycle plastics…

how to filter water etc.

They might not have learnt these exclusively from class but can apply their academic knowledge to them.

SO WHAT AM I SAYING?

A degree is only as good as what you could innovate out of it…

Given…some jobs will require degrees.

But we seem to be venturing into a world where information alone just doesn’t sell because Google and ChatGPT give us everything on the palms of our hands.

Instead, what you can do with the knowledge you have is what will matter.

That’s food for thought for any degree holder today.

It’s not a wasted qualification.

What’s needed is mental adjustment to innovate and make market sense today.

#justsayin