Combating the Dynamic Service Industry

Gone are the days when the world profoundly focused on products during the industrial revolution.  It is a different case with the current 21^st century that is highly service and information oriented through information communication technology (ICT). 

The ‘optical lens’ through which we view the universe is ultimately influenced by the upgraded information technology. He/ she who shall not embrace technology shall artificially be selected against in the service industry.  

Complexity is not difficulty, but rather a route to simplicity. Professions and industries shall best be transcended through global, national or local partnership for development.  They should further welcome and conform to the changing trends in approach of issues rather than sticking to old dogmas. 

Project innovation through design thinking should be a norm for every profession and industry. It entails reframing experiences of processes, services and products to bring about better desired outcomes. Skills, unlike talents, are easy to identify. Sometimes we don’t need skills but rather the appropriate talents to play change agents of fields. This is not rocket science! You can be qualified but not talented to be a change agent. 

It’s so absurd for many graduates are qualified and unable to interpret information for personal and professional development. My dear ones, it’s not about who finishes worst or best, but rather he who conforms appropriately to the dynamic demands of the world. He who best interprets information rises on top of that field, and is a potential change agent, for we are in an information era. This simply implies survival of the fittest. School doesn’t provide it all. It’s your personal initiative to go an extra mile to learn how to interpret information to survive. 

A great deal of energy and focus should be directed towards industrial and professional capacity building rather than capacity development. This is pretty much an appropriate sustainable approach to development in the 21^st century. 

Uganda is on the verge of population explosion. Seventy-eight percent of its population is comprised of youth. This implies that more than ¾ of professions or industries are either run, or are soon to be run by youth. Are we prepared for the change? Have we prepared the youth to interpret information and not deviate from the set professional or organizational missions to undesirable ones?

I am not optimistic and neither pessimistic but rather empirical. Having the ability to read patterns is a key to predicting the probable future. Sticking to old dogmas is living in a ‘P.O. Box era’. It is not about who starts or finishes first, but rather who accomplishes the set goals and objectives in the set timeline. 

Any profession or industry that does not respond to the changing world demands, is equivalent to a dog barking at the moon. Talents will take you to places, but it’s the characters that shall keep you there.