- being part of an outcast
- not having that many friends
- definitely not part of the cool gang
-....and maybe had the odd imaginery friend or two
- which most likely meant you had more chance to imagine and most certainly have a go at building a spaceship then getting a girlfriend!
this allows time for the brain to think, focus and mature in other areas which become useful tools for when reaching adulthood. Well for the guys at least don't worry about it - you are the luck few.
If one wished to decipher a plotting email, I would have read Harry Potter...in French! So a few tips for when writing an email, kindly consider a few factors:
1) it consumes time...so get to the point quick
2) consumes data --so be sustainable
What you need to do,
Think like a game of chess, so imagine and write for the 3emails ahead, with the first email showing all the options and then slowly using that as a wireframe to narrow down untill completion - (generally) try to keep it 3 emails of responses to achieve a task!
Get agile, every email should bring about a product action, and prevent someone from causing a ripple affect of inefficient emails - which means someone just lost lots of time from their life!
Be AGILE = consise, clear, to the point and considerately anticipate the reader of what they might have to think and do as a result of your email, so save yourself, the reciever and their reciever some trouble have an agile email strategy ;)
So came across this interesting ranking of universities - 'The 10 Colleges Most Likely to Make You a Billionaire (Harvard Is #1)'. And to be frank I am not too sure what I exactly thought about it on first instance...If you attend/ed one of these institution - did you get a small feeling of confidence?
Having visited both the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, with always feelings of a strange and almost mystical buzz in the air to want to actually study and immerse oneself in seeking knowledge. On both occasions I could not help but think, 'damn this would have been a good place to be, hmm maybe should have studied a bit harder..' (it should be noted folks were a tad quirky to say the least, I imagine more than most normal/not privileged enough may like, or even simply be able to relate to...intellectually/socially). This being in comparison the energetic campus, big family, outgoingsy, 'LAD' nature of the Mighty Loughborough!
Wait, wait, wait, hold on your horses Mr Ahmed! REALITY CHECK. So these great manifestations of the best educational institutions that churn out world leaders, business leaders and of course billionaires educated by the best educators (that money can buy)! why are we still living in times of such great disparities in the world? Why do we still have poverty? Why the wars..why why why - especially when these globalised brands hold their value/worth due to the fact that they attract the best global minds to their campuses. Really, what should be happening is that the kids of these rulers who have been empowered with best researched knowledge to bring the best changes - should be going back and making those positive changes rather than it becoming 'fashionable' trend to flounder their certificates to their local communities! That simply defeats the purpose of education all together.
I guess the most terrifying fact of the matter is, the real value of having powerhouse educators on your certificate, is your alma mater, your gang. Your group of friends who you know will be leading the most prominent organisations in the world, so out of the pride of 'helping your own', you will turn to those folks at first instance. Not saying it is a bad thing, but in the wrong 'hands', will most certainly be about gaining the advantage over your competitor and amassing the most 000's on your end of year balance, driven by the best minds, whom really should be put to use to solve the greater pressing issues.
Every single one of those universities has a greater responsibility to ensure their students who become these 'great' people know wield positions of power, with great power comes great responsibility.
It is sad that one goes through the education system from an early age not really enjoying it, but rather having sub-consciously pummeled to the back of the mind that, we need to study to get into a ('good') university, we need to get into a ('good') university to get a ('good') job, we need a ('good') job to get a ('good') salary, we need a ('good') salary to create a ('good') family - and the cycle restarts.
Food for thought: If you find yourself financially left short and/or in a job you are not really enjoying - most likely you did not follow the cycle properly. And if you are on the other side, in a job you enjoy and are well rewarded for it - most likely your parents were 'strategically smart' or wealthy enough to send you to the 'best' of everything in the cycle (i.e. the best school, the best university, that got you the best job..etc)...
In summary, the fact of the matter is this cycle will continue to fuel the need to educate for financial gains and create closed circles which will divide society further..and further. Education throughout time, has always been about seeking knowledge for the betterment of the individual and humanity at large, and this really needs to be revived again to create an equal playing field.
Solution:
Is it a wonder why there is such thing as the 1% club? I would like to ask - should such institutions be held accountable to educate their students about the responsibility that they have to give back.. I know that some of these big institutions have begun to have a social change in attitude to open education, social enterprise and leadership so maybe it is time to bring a world wide ranking of the mostsocial universities? A ranking that would measure their alumni's social impact/capital, we would sure see universities competing to bring about greater goods and hence evolve the perception of how universities are ranked.
Let me try and persuade you a little; across the globe we have already begun to see a social revolution from digitally, your facebook, to the Arab Spring and to enterprises actually instilling KPI's withing their strategic plans not to bring about positive impacts on society (eg;Sainsbury's) but also see sustainable business growth. This decade more so then ever, where the fast evolution of technology plays a significant role for businesses to survive, it's going to be a battle for best talent. How we define 'best talent' will change from
Do you belong to one of these alma mater/cliques/gangs?
