Stepping into a new era
Jan Muehlfeit, Chairman of Europe Microsoft Corporation
What is technology today? What is and what is not technology? A new Mercedes has 16 computers in it and 60% of the whole budget is related to these computers. So, what is Mercedes building, cars or something else? Technology is deeply transforming most businesses, related or not with technology.
The more technology we have, the more a commodity it will become. And, thus, the more important human capital or human potential will be. Is the educational system preparing students so that they can develop their potential?
School, and society at large, is obsessed with the things that do not work, with what is wrong, with failures. We should be devoting more time and energies not to weaknesses but to strenghts: the development of people should focus on the strenghts of these people and not in trying to develop (in vain) their weaknesses. And this development should be based on self-awareness, on knowing who you are and what you can and/or want to do.
We need a new education model. Technology will change education in three ways at least:
- Enabling individual learning.
- Learning will be much more global.
- Learning will be collaborative.
How to change things? Leadership is not about the what and how, but about the why, about having and sharing a vision. Managers can motivate, but leaders can inspire.
Discussion
Q: What should universitties do? Muehlfeit: the major gap in education today is we don’t teach self-awareness, so that we don’t understand who we are and, thus, we don’t understand the others or the world. We have to learn from young people.
Q: How should we do that? Muehlfeit: we have to apply technology to all aspects of life.
Q: How do we let people that are inspired or that have a vision to advance? Muehfeit: Decide, act, follow what you are doing and correct according to your observations. And we can help people in these four steps: helping them to decide, to take action, to follow and monitor their acts and to react and correct.
