Alusine Barrie - Three Simple Steps To Discover What You Are Really Good At

I was in a conversation with graduating university students in the past two weeks and this question came up. A young lady was asking me how she can discover what she is really good at. In this quick post, I would like to share with you what my response was, In the hope that it may help you or someone you know. 

Disclaimer: As you might already notice through my blog and other work, I am a big believer that your best outcomes as well as the key to transforming the lives of those around you lies in doing work you're passionate about. When you heart is engaged, hard work and motivation are not so difficult to generate as compared to when you're working against yourself. 

Here are my thoughts on the matter...

What do others find boring/tedious that you enjoy spending time on?

For years I have been creating videos where I teach various subjects and make them available to students and teachers through my YouTube channel, the Youth Stand's Facebook page and various groups on WhatsApp, spending mys meager earnings at a time I was not working. Second, Learning a foreign language, especially if you do not have the means to travel to the native country is a task considered too tedious for many. But, for years I have enjoyed taking on new languages (currently it's Arabic) and enjoying the hard work of speaking them. I have tried many other things such as playing football when I was young, but the task seems so tedious and I always wondered why it seems so easy and fun for my brother and my other friends. Every path involves working hard, but if you find something you enjoy/seem to do well at with little effort compared to other people, that is a pointer to what you should be doing. 

Poll your friends - they might blow your mind like mine did

I did this myself once and the results blew my mind. I was watching a video on YouTube when someone suggested polling my friends. So, I called in two of my closet friends at the time and asked them two questions:

"We've been to school, worked and studied at college together. I am thinking about what I am really good at and should focus on. I am asking you because I trust you and would like to you help on this. the only rule is you have to be honest with me." Once they agreed, then I asked them the following questions, listened (without judgement) and made notes. I reminded them that the second question is even more important. 

1. What three things would you say I am really good at/you like about me?

2. What three things do you think I need to improve/change if I am reach my highest potential?

To be honest, I only polled two of my friends (10 people were recommended), but what they had to say has been of so much help to me in a way I cannot express. They highlighted strengths I've always exhibited and they admired in me that I never knew and made me realize some of my biggest weaknesses and areas I need to improve to reach my fullest potential. What they told me that day has since been on my mind and taken into consideration whatever I am doing. The key is in talking to people you really trust and making sure you remind them to be honest with you. 

Try a lot of things - you might just stumble upon your talent

This is one of those simple concepts that can change your life. The truth is that only a few of use are lucky enough to discover what we are talented at a young age. We may have shown these things when we were little, but due to society, we were forced to move on to other paths. For most of us, we have to discover what we can be truly good at. The best way to do this in my view is to try a bunch of different things. The younger you are, the more important this is for you. If you don't know what you are really good at/enjoy doing, don't rush to settle upon a career path, by trying different things you will discover it. 

This doesn't always have to come from you though. For instance, when I graduated from high school, I was set to go into law/economics straight away. However, I was given the opportunity to go to teacher training college. At first, I didn't want to, event thought most of my volunteer times during school were teaching! I can say I was mostly listening to society telling me to become a lawyer. After a great deal of stubbornness, I agreed and that has since been the path that's given me the most meaning and enjoyment.

If you're older, don't lose hope. A great way of going about this is to consider aspects of your job/career that you seem to enjoy the most and work towards being as close to these as possible. You can also engage your manager/employer about this so that they may help find you these opportunities. This is what that employer should ideally want. Organizations incur many material and immaterial costs when employees hate their jobs/find them boring.

I hope this helps you in your quest to discover what you are truly good at. 

#Empowered Young People Really Can Transform Africa#

Sierra Leone has COVID-19 and all its many problems. Do Black Lives really matter to us right now? (forgive the sarcasm)

Thank you Sierra Leonean-Americans for enlightening me this past weekend about the brutal and subtle yet pervasive reality of racism against black people in America.

While countless numbers of people the world over (black as well as white) far removed from the immediate vicinity of George Floyd's death are out in the streets, getting together in halls and social media platforms pushing for justice and an end to the clearly racist killing of black people in the world’s most famous democracy, there are some who think this is the time to remind us that we’ve got problems too and must focus on those. Others choose to say “but, oh there are some good white people too”.

Well, to be honest with you, if had not had the opportunity to be invited by my partner to attend an event organized by Americans (black and white) born and or living in Sierra Leone to seek justice for George Floyd's death and the deaths of so many black people in the hands of the police, I might have ignorantly been among these people who think we should focus on our own problems and remind people about my ‘good’ white people experiences. Even though my partner (who’s Sierra Leonean American) in so many conversations explains how blatant and pervasive the reality of race is, I never grasped its seriousness and effects as I did this pas weekend. The list of countless names of black people killed by the hands of police in 2015 alone couldn’t fit the two large-sized papers displayed on the pillar! The event was a blasting realization of my ignorance about race, helped me recollect the moments I have experienced racism (here in my own country). But above all, I learned from the many people who expressed their sadness about this injustice.

After a 8 minutes and 46 seconds of silence (this was how long those three white police officers were kneeling on George’s neck back and knees) and calls for justice, a microphone (wiped clean every time btw to avoid spread) was passed around for attendees (seating 6 feet away from each other) to express their views on the matter of race in America. Many people spoke, expressing their encounters with racism in America, their constant worries about their children, of their brothers being arrested (the stereotype that black men are a threat), their experiences in American embassies being yelled at under the sneering looks of white people scrutinizing their fit to get US visas, the experiences of a black girl being told by her white friend that they could no longer play together because her white parents say they can’t play with the black girl etc. etc. I had something to say myself at the moment, to remind them about how they could start making a change here in Sierra Leone (where a lot of racism exists) but I didn’t need to say it, they all knew. Instead my chattering muffled away and I finally started to listen, intently.

People where not just being sad and grumbling by the way, they were suggesting ways to tackle this important matter. In my broad recollection of their contributions, the solution is two part; work hard to actively participate in voting to put the right people in the right places as those elected will eventually be making the laws. Second, become aware of racism in your home, in your parenting, and in your workplace and stop and correct racist acts (small and big) directed towards anyone – shame racism everywhere you see and feel it (both in your words and in your actions). One key thing I also learned was the importance of not patronizing the ‘oppressor’ – who are clearly the white people condoning and promoting racism and benefiting from its privileges.

Among the many suggestions, one that I really liked was from one lady who showed us a book of values she put together that she uses with her children to teach them about values such as respect and love for everyone. I think this was beautiful and profound since children get schooled into racism and accepting (if not participating) in it during childhood in their own families.

So, my word to you is this, Sierra Leone has its many problems some old some new including Covid-19. But we should never detract attention from a matter of such importance by drawing these parallels. It is not that these problems are not real and affecting us, but drawing these parallels will only serve to take attention from this big problem our society faces.  We as African, should actually know better…

Shame racism everywhere you see and feel it.

Thank you all for enlightening me about racism…

Thanks,

Alusine Barrie.

Alusine Barrie: Enterprise is the way - How People Who Want To Make An Impact End Up Becoming Entrepreneurs

If you pay attention as you grow up, you'll start noticing those things that are consistent about you; the things you care about, your likes and dislikes, the kind of people you enjoy to work with, environments that bring out the best in you and the types of problems you enjoy tackling and how you enjoy approaching them.

One of the greatest challenges I have observed people who want to have an impact face (especially those who start non-profit organizations) is the constant frustration to keep an organization running (with sufficient financial resources primarily) while staying true to their mission and vision. In the quest to gain funding from donors who have their own agendas and templates, who have their own preferences or may not see the urgency and dynamics of the problem you are trying to solve and how you want to solve it, it's a constant battle to explain and convince, and living by the whims of people who may not understand your approach.

People like these are leaders and are not afraid to work and give everything to the things they care about. But it's so hard sometimes to convince donors about why and how things should be done. They may feel slowed down, have to bang their heads a thousand times to close down a piece of funding and constantly have to live in the worry of whether or not they can fulfill their organization's basic responsibilities. These frustrations I have seen are what have driven my interest into utilizing the power of entrepreneurship to reach the impact I want to have. And this is becoming more and more evident as I continue to meet people striving to have and impact.

People like Bill and Melinda Gates are a striking example in this regard. With their wealth, they set up the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation through which they tackle big causes like poverty and health care especially in the world's poorest countries. As Arnold Schwarzenegger said, "any idea is great, but if you don't have the money, you can't implement anything". Steve Jobs (co-founder of Apple) also had this to say "I think money is a good thing. It allows you to invest in things that don't have a short term payback."

Many who embody the traits of an entrepreneur (a.k.a proactive leader), actually don't think they do. This is exactly how I have seen myself for a very long time. However, entrepreneurs are just people driven to change things, whose character helps them see opportunities and solve problems around them. This is the definition of leadership at its core too. In my view, entrepreneurship is a more proactive form of leadership and change making; one that takes into account of this reality. What entrepreneurship does is that it gives you the space and resources to see the change you want to see the way you want to see it. NOT how the donor wants you to reach it.
Many people who end up becoming entrepreneurs are people who care deeply about a problem or cause and use their enterprises as a way to have the impact they envisioned. For many entrepreneurship is just a necessary step to reaching their purpose in life. The image of the business prodigy who started selling at the age of 10 doesn't fit many of us and definitely doesn't fit many number of  those who have created the greatest enterprises in history.

What most people don't realize is that the traits like vision, purpose, passion, drive, decisiveness, persuasiveness, risk tolerance, flexibility, trustworthiness etc that make a great leader are also all the key traits that define an entrepreneur. For many, like the one I just met, entrepreneurship is just a necessary 'evil' to something else - to see the change they want to see while staying true to who they are and want to approach things.

There's one caveat though; Entrepreneurship is not an easy ride so don't get into entrepreneurship just for the sake of money. Choose a problem you deeply care about and enjoy working on. All those who have succeeded in building business have emphasized the necessity of passion in succeeding as an entrepreneur. See my earlier post on why doing work you're passionate about is the only legitimate shortcut to success and fulfillment: http://theyouthstand.blogspot.com/2019/07/the-only-legitimate-shortcut-to-true.html.
Thanks,
Alusine Barrie.

Whatever the circumstance, Just do the next best thing, there's always one!

Every once in a while we all come to the cross roads. Facing a failure, challenge, doubt, anxiety or any other difficult situation? That's perfectly fine, now just do the next right thing. No matter the circumstances you face, favourable or not so favourable, doing doing the next right thing is a choice that's always available to each and everyone of us.
However, this doesn't just have to do with facing challenging situations. In fact, good times, when everything seems amazing is usually a time of great peril for many people. When all is well and good we can easily forget what brought here and this far, we forget to nurture important relationships, we slack on our efforts, it's easy to take on character eroding tendencies that undo our sense of self.

Or sometimes we just get tired of the daily grind, we get burned out in our jobs, work, and in our relationships.
We also make mistakes, big and small. To all these, I say to you just do the next best thing.

No matter the cross road you find yourself in, there's always a next right thing to do. You may not have been been able to see it yet, but there's always a best thing to do. Take time to look deep within, most time your guts and your instincts know us more. We all know deep down when something feels right and it doesn't. Our circumstance and challenges grow larger and cost us more when we fail to listen to our inner voice pointing us to the best course of action.
However, it is good to always remember that the next best isn't necessarily the next most comfortable thing, the next easiest thing, or the thing that will make everyone around you cheer you on. The best thing in every situation is just the best.
Just do the next best thing!!

How do Sierra Leone’s Leaders Make Decisions – why credible data is necessary for a better nation

How do Sierra Leone’s Leaders Make Decisions – why credible data is necessary

Conversations that can transform Sierra Leone; Discussing the power of credible national data in aiding Sierra Leone’s businesses, organizations and most importantly its policy makers make more informed decisions.

The task of Sierra Leone’s leaders and policy makers is not an easy one. National development; the social and economic transformation requires foresight and the ability to plan into the future. It requires decision makers to have access to and base their decisions on reliable and timely information about Sierra Leoneans and Sierra Leone’s present and past as basis for planning and implementing policies that achieve the best outcomes for the country. The logic of my thought today is simple; we elect national leaders and give them the huge responsibility of making our lives better, but if (when asked) we do not give them the (right) data they need to make informed decisions, the whole nation suffers, as it has been for a very long time in my own opinion.

This past Friday I was in a conversation with a group of fellow young Sierra Leoneans and we were having a conversation about the importance of data in decision making. As the discussion went by, it slowly became clear that without rigorous, timely, and reliable data that reflects the real Sierra Leone to guide our policy makers, the decisions they make will inevitably be constrained and be overshadowed by faithful guesses their own humanly biases at best.

Actually, if there’s something worse than not having data at all, it’s misleading data. Here is where the daily Sierra Leonean has a lot do to help him/herself and the rest of their community. When there are censuses and surveys conducted by government, we often look at the enumerators/data collectors and the exercise light-heartedly. However, if one knows the number of both daily and long term decisions that will be made based on that data, one would treat with its due seriousness. When we refuse to give information to data collectors, or give them false information, we are causing ourselves our very own harm. The scariest part is when the government or its related agencies hire us to collect data and we think we are being smart by sitting in our own house and fill up the ledgers with made up information. Ultimately, this data collected will be processed and will form the basis of national decision that affect our daily lives as Sierra Leoneans.  

This tension culminated in small group activity in which we divided trainees into 4 groups and each group was tasked to make the same decision but each group received a varying amount of data to support them in their decision making challenge. The first group had no data to aid them, the second had 25% data, the third 75% and the fourth had access to all the data needed for them to make a good decision. This was a vivid illustration of the power of data as each group had to prepare a presentation to showcase their decision and justify the basis of their decision.  

Actually, the activity showed us also that without good data to rely on, decision makers can still sometimes guess their way to a good decision. However, this is what precisely we don’t want. We don’t just want Sierra Leone’s leaders to have access to data, we want them to believe deep down and absurdly, ensure themselves that the relevant mechanisms are put in place to put correct data into their hands.

At the end of the day, if our leaders don’t make our daily and long term decisions based on credible data, what are they making them based on? Our leaders are not magicians, their decisions come from somewhere, let us all play our own part by giving them correct information with which they can make the decisions to mover our country forward. A food for thought for all Sierra Leoneans.

Hey mama, how are you doing?

It’s Friday and I have to say I’ve been thinking about you all day

It’s your son; I know I’m in here

In your heart, the safest place in the universe

Thank you for sharing your body with me and

For making me your heart a warm bed even in the harshest winters

                                              

Baba can rest in peace

And not be so worried that he went too soon

For you have made a perfect mother and father

Like a hen, you shielded your chicks with your last breath

Thank you for the battles you fought with all the hawks and witches of the world

I cherish the stories you used to tell us about how in those long nine months

Hassanatu and I would kick on your belly and all you could do was rub you huge tommy and smile

As you longingly wait for our arrival

You would go on and on talking to us as if we were already here

People would laugh and ask “What’s happening with this woman? She’s talking to herself!”

They thought you were crazy

You thought they were crazy too

In your old age, your battle scars shine brighter than gold

For Like the mother eagle, you flew the million miles to battle

For our million mile list of desires

I can remember your smile, when even in your sweat and thirst and empty stomach

You watched us scavenge our way through the food you made us

Thank you also for teaching us how to fly

Through the high tides and rough winds of life

Your role model and teachings are the strong wings on which I flap

Thank you mama,

For your love never goes away,

You’re the queen of my heart

Any other woman can only ever share that space with you….

Our New World Needs You To Wear A New Hat.The Case For Promoting Creativity

The old adage of 'Jack of all trades, master of none' is perhaps the clearest manifestation of where our society got it wrong when it comes to creativity and it's critical dependence on the number of experiences, skills and perspectives one has in order to be able to connect things in new ways and create never before seen transformation in society. However, as stubborn as society has been to see this reality, something else is forcing it to come to a new realization. The truth is, our new world needs Jacks of many trades. 

There is a slow but increasing realization that putting people in boxes and that old the ways of approaching our world’s most pressing issues is failing to produce fulfilled individuals and the outcomes we desire in society. Today more than ever, our rapidly changing world with its great opportunities and many challenges, requires the ability to think in new ways and the birthing of new and life changing solutions to serve the needs of a more connected and insatiable world.

Just like in the natural world, as technology-driven globalization sweeps us along, nations, organizations and companies of all shapes are left with a single option, innovate or die. As the state of the world and the priorities of donor countries and aid organizations evolve, doing good to the world is not spared either. Poor countries and non-governmental organizations in need of support are forced to face a new reality.

Perhaps, the winds of change hit businesses and multinational corporations the harshest. The world of business is facing rapid changes in how businesses compete, the new governance and global climate in which they must succeed. All this creates a new necessity for staying businesses to stay young and innovative to better serve a distracted consumer with a plethora of options to choose from.

All these larger forces have also led to unseen before changes to our workplaces and what it means to have a ‘successful’ career. Today’s workplace rewards the employee who is able to bring diverse skill set and perspectives to their teams, who can see and connect things in new ways and help their organization achieve desired goals. The old one dimensional career path that puts people into boxes no longer works. Individuals who want to succeed in the workplace nowadays have to bring diverse skills and experiences together to decipher problems and utilize new opportunities to solve problems in new ways.

The need to stay innovative and find new ways of approaching the world’s most pressing issues and concerns requires a societal shift in homes and schools (primarily) towards developing individuals with the capacity to see old problems in new ways, seek out new opportunities and tackle problems in novel ways. Thus a shift to make the promotion of creativity skills ubiquitous in our homes and schools is a central necessity for all individuals, groups, organizations and nations seeking better outcomes.

This is where Jacks of many Trades come in to save the day. Jacks of many trades can connect things in novel ways and thus give birth to new ideas, products and ways of doing things.

Schools and Universities have been painfully too slow to adapt to this new world. Schools should stop putting people in boxes and promoting the single career path that has failed to suffice in today's world. In fact, this culture of putting people in boxes goes starkly against one of the strongest theories we have in the field of educational psychology - Howard Gardener's Theory of Multiple Intelligence. According to Gardener, while our schools generally seem to design for and examine logical and linguistic intelligence, this is a very limited view of true human potential. There are all these other forms of intelligence that are left mostly undeveloped.
If there is a new mindset we have to inculcate in the minds of today's young generation, it is the appreciation that creativity hinges on the diverse number of skills, experiences and perspectives they can draw from to solve problems and create value for themselves and their communities.