How to get onto the road less travelled

There is a claim that some people are born more intelligent than others, and that this explains why some are more successful — academically or financially.

However, this claim is more folkloric than scientific. It is claimed, for example, that in Siaya County, there is such a high concentration of educated people that anyone driving carelessly on its streets is likely to hit a professor or lawyer. Is this academic endowment due to their eating of fish, as claimed by some? Likely not, for Lake Victoria is larger in Uganda and Tanzania than in Kenya. Why are there more entrepreneurs in Central than in Western? What is it that explains these differences in strategic capabilities?

The answer is: strategic thinking, or the use of our brains — which, unfortunately, is the less travelled route. Having a brain is one thing; using it well is another, and it is the latter that makes the difference, as Robert Frost wrote in the last stanza of his poem:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

The human brain is complex. In addition to performing millions of mundane acts, it composes concertos, issues manifestos and comes up with elegant solutions to equations. It is the wellspring of all human feelings, behaviour and experiences, as well as the store of memory and self-awareness. It is no surprise, therefore, that the brain remains a mystery to itself.

Adding to that mystery is the popular belief that humans employ ‘only’ 10 per cent of their brain. By extrapolation, it is thought, a person may harness this unused potential and increase his or her intelligence or business acumen.

But the popular notion that large parts of the brain remain unused, and could subsequently be ‘activated’ rests in popular folklore and not science.

Internal journey

Still, it has been shown that there are changes in gray matter and white matter following new experiences and learning. And while the brain represents 3 per cent of the body’s weight, it uses 20 per cent of its energy.

This means that the brain has very high potential, only that it is not all being used. Subsequently, no matter how intelligent one seems to be, a less intelligent person can be more successful by optimising the use of his or her brain. The question is, how easy is this?

If you were asked to travel from Nairobi to Barcelona (9,093.5 km) for a party, you would find it easy and attractive to accept the offer, as long as a ticket and visa are available. Similarly, an eight-country Euro tour, which includes over 60 hours in a plane, is fine with many people.

However, spending 10 hours of a weekend in prayer may not attract many people. This is because the journey it involves — the internal journey — is tougher, unpopular and unpredictable.

That many are unwilling to take the tougher, unpopular and unpredictable journey of the brain and soul explains why Kenya’s productivity is still so low.

It explains why some management teams have standard operating procedures (SOPs), that is, someone to think for them so that their work is only to follow some form of rubric. In this regard, corporations pay lots of money to compensate the high qualifications of their employees, only to give them SOPs.

In fact, some bosses work for their subordinates so much so that instead of the latter escalating solutions, they avoid to think and thus escalate problems.

The problem is that everyone seems to be trying to delegate the act of thinking, hence most meetings end with the phrase, ‘Let’s think about it till the next meeting’. Rarely any thinking takes place before the next meeting.

My fellow Kenyans, let’s take the challenge of following the less travelled route. This will reverse the assumption that some people are born geniuses and others morons; that some are born entrepreneurs and others labourers. Strategic thinking makes the difference.

The writer is senior lecturer, strategy and execution, and academic director, MBA programmes, Strathmore Business School.

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