"People" the smart investment!

For thousands of years we were hunter gatherers, then one day someone scratched the earth and placed a seed into the ground. For five months or so nothing happened and people laughed at the idea. Then the farmer harvested not ten but fifty times what the hunter gatherer could gather. At different rates people trained in this new way until 90% of people moved away from hunter gathering. We called it the agricultural revolution.

Then along came the industrial revolution. Through mechanisation, economies of scale, process improvement etc. We managed to produce fifty times more than we had been. Once again we adapted at different rates and 90% of the population got out of farming.

We are now experiencing the latest revolution that we have come to call the knowledge revolution. It is not the electronic revolution or the cyber revolution. It is a revolution of the brain; people are creating entirely new ways of doing things on a daily basis. Examples are the electronic and cyber revolutions along with the banking revolution. Great minds are changing how we have always done things.

Businesses like Google and Apple are a great example of the knowledge revolution. These businesses are based on allowing their staff to create new ways of meeting customer needs. These business are not ten times better than others, they are fifty times better. Are you sitting back and watching these business scratch the earth to plant seeds.

The knowledge revolution recognises that working harder at what you do is only staying alive. The knowledge revolution recognises that one of your staff has the next great idea, the next thing that will make you 50% better than you are now.

The knowledge revolution recognises that we need to shift away from controlling our staff to do as we say into creating a culture whereby our staff can challenge what we do to create something new.

Why is this happening all of a sudden? Because in the past ten years we have learnt so much about how the brain operates. The knowledge revolution is because we now have the technology to switch on parts of the brain that have been underutilised in the past. Sport is a great example of how much can be achieved through training the brain.

Think of it from an individual point of view. Traditionally we have been told (mostly by our parents) that we must invest in property. If we do well our house will appreciate 10% a year on average which equates to 100% over a ten year period. So a $100k house becomes a $200k house over ten years. Take away the cost of maintenance, renovations and interest and recalculate how much profit was made. Then to sell it means you have to buy again at the new higher prices. I’m not saying house investment is a poor investment; it is a great way to save your money.
Other investments may include shares, business etc.  Returns go up, however; so does risk.

What is the one thing that will produce for you the greatest income over a lifetime? No not houses, the answer is you. You are the constant form of income and your wealth is directly related to your income. What if you could increase your income by 10% each year? Would that make you more than a house investment? What if you could increase your income by 50% as many people have done. What if you were to invest in $10,000 in your own development every year? What result would that give you? Would it be a wise investment if it increased your income by 20% every year? What if investing in yourself or your staff increased your income by 50 times?

The people and the business that are at the forefront of the knowledge revolution are not scratching the soil, nor are they building machines or improving processes. They are investing in themselves and their staff, sowing seeds to be harvested, building mind machines that will revolutionise the way we do business. Recognising that they must seek out a different opinion to their own, that they must embrace change to significantly change their path through life.

Most of us have sat back and watched others become fifty times better. How long are you going to watch them harvest before you start planting seeds.