Love sharing these posts from Dr. Perman.
Malala and Will.I.Am
How is a multi-millionaire music mogul like the most recent winner of the Nobel Peace Prize?
Last week, Will Adams, known as Will.I.Am, founding member of the Grammy-winning Black Eyed Peas and highly decorated artist, writer and producer, debuted his latest “wearable.” That’s the familiar name for electronics that double as apparel, like the watches Apple and Samsung have launched as the next step in smart technology.
But Will.I.Am has a larger motive than generating income with his wrist-worn device, known as the PULS, as he has already achieved financial freedom many times over – no, he is spearheading this project as an enticement to attract young people into studying STEM – science, technology, engineering and math.
He believes it’s wrong for so many of our kids to be left behind in science education, and his hope is that if he shows how his ascent out of the same rough neighborhoods they live in led to massive success, it will inspire children to take responsibility for their own progress and apply their creativity to spawn new ideas, new products and new breakthroughs.
He had no particular training in these areas at first, except a burning passion to get it done and a willingness to do whatever it takes. Yet, he served as Intel’s creative director and was a seminal influence on Beats Electronics, purchased by Apple for three billion dollars – so when he speaks, his authority rings true. He wants to represent that to the younger demographic so they participate fully in the technological revolution.
At about the same time that he was being interviewed about his intention to expose kids to a better way to tap their potential, a seventeen-year-old girl from Pakistan was being recognized as the youngest-ever recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize – Malala Yousafzai, noted activist who risked her life for her principle, was acknowledged for her pioneering work in educating young women in countries that had previously denied female children the right to advance and contribute intellectually.
Malala had been blogging for the BBC about the Taliban’s dogma disempowering young women since age eleven – but two years ago, a gunman took matters into his own hands and shot Malala in the head. Miraculously, she not only recovered, but doubled her determination to make a difference in the lives of young women all over the world.
These two leaders are pulling in the same direction – vast untapped resources are available to us right in our own homes, if we will only make it easier, instead of harder, for our young people to express themselves. In music, in sports, in fashion, we are comfortable using our youth as role models – it’s time to expand that into business, ethics and technology. Like ten-year-old entrepreneur Cory Nieves demonstrates with “Mr. Cory’s Cookies,” young people have been exposed to more by their teen years than most of us had learned in thirty – let’s drop our biases and bring children to the forefront, to give them the best opportunity to prosper and add value, for the benefit of all.
Dennis Perman DC,
for The Masters Circle
