Tag Archives: benjamin franklin

Are We Really Using All Of Our Collective Brainpower?

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Say you have 2 rooms, Room A and Room B .

In Room A, you have 1,000 people and the two smartest individuals (based on job, test scores, etc) are chosen to be the problems solvers and inventors (designated by test scores).  The rest of the group watchs TV or even sleeps.

In Room B, you have 1,000 people , but all 1,000 to be potential problems solvers and inventors.  At specific time intervals (maybe ever Friday), all individuals are to write an idea proposal that will be presented to the group, and then will be voted on whether it should be considered for implementation.

Which Room do you suppose would be the most productive?  I believe that most (if not all) countries follow the Room B approach.

IMHO, the problem is that we aren’t really using our brainpower potential to its fullest.  I think if everybody started thinking of ideas instead of wasting so much time watching TV, many problems might be solved.

The reasons why most people are not in Room B are:

  • The complexities of the legal system.  Nobody wants to think of great ideas only to have them stolen by other members that know how to create patents and can secure financing.
  • We are not trained that way.  From childhood we are taught to be followers.
  • Lack of desire to learn.  Just learning to learn doesn’t work for everybody.  But if students are shown how what they are learning works in real life or can be used to problem solve or invent things, perhaps kids would want to learn.
  • Financing.  Creating prototypes cost money.
  • Self Confidence.  This is really a combination of all the above mentioned bullet points.

I wonder what the world would be like if we all did try solve problems?

Look at Benjamin Franklin, he didn’t start inventing things until he was rich and retired at the age of 43.  Until that point, his primary goal was running his newspaper business and becoming wealthy.  Could you imagine what incredible inventions could be in existence if he started seriously inventing things starting in his 20s?

Can you imagine what a radically different world we would live in if we all did use our brainpower to problem solve and invent a few things?  Which room do you think you are  currently in as work, Room A or Room B?

MR

Benjamin Franklin – Financial Hero

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My post today is about Benjamin Franklin (this sentence kind of reminds me of the start of a school speech, heh heh).

Young Ben

Benjamin Franklin

While he did provide some excellent financial advice in his “Poor Richards Almanac”, Benjamin Fraklin is my top financial hero for the following reasons:

List of reasons why Benjamin Franklin is my top financial hero:

  • Benjamin was born into a working class family and where he was the 15th out of 17 children.
  • He went thru a few different apprenticeships before settling on the printing profession!  Originally, he was destined for the church, then he had a short apprenticeship as a candle-maker (with his dad), but he didn’t like that.  As a Printer, he ran way from his first apprenticeship (it was to his older brother James).  The printing business was a business that Benjamin had great passion about.  There are stories of how he submitted stories to his brother James newspaper, under the pen-name of Mrs. Silence Dogood.  Using Mrs. Silence Dogood, he achieved this first brush of anonymous fame.
  • He only have 2 years of formal schooling (not that this was uncommon for the time…)  He actually said in his autobiography, that he failed at arithmetic.  But grammar was his passion and strong point.  Benjamin was self educated, but also got a lot of education from his father (who was also self educated).
  • Ben, later worked on his short falling and other deficiencies.  Ben later at age 16 went back and self taught himself arithmetic, and geometry too.
  • Benjamin, wasn’t a perfect kid.  Apparently according to his autobiography, he got into a small amount of mischief.  Luckily, he grew out of this… or did he?
  • Benjamin was a do-it-yourselfer. Apparently, his dad took him to see other workers, in an attempt to find an apprenticeship that Ben would like.  A side effect of this activity, was that Ben could fix small jobs himself.  He also developed an appreciation for the other working men of that time.
  • He treated other equally, no matter how much wealth they had.  As Ben became rich from his business, he still treated all people with respect and would hold conversation with them in addition to the more literate in his society.
  • Benjamin worked hard and became rich thru this own efforts and his ability to make people believe in him.  Being brilliant isn’t enough to be successful at a profession.  Both Warren Buffett and Bill Gates (the 2 rich men in the world), display the diverse skills that Ben first displayed way back then.  Ben got investors to invest in his Printing business, just like Warren and Bill Gates did in their beginnings.
  • At age 21, Ben organized a social meeting group called Junto!  This was a diverse group of individual that would meet every Friday evening in an attempt to better themselves and society.  The group was also called “Leather Apron Club”.  I think this would be pretty cool to have today.  Although with blogging, you kind of get that today  albeit in a different form.
  • Ben did things differently.  He believe in equal right for women (controversial for the day), lifted weights (when he was younger, I’ve never hear of someone back then doing this activity), swimming, scientist, etc.
  • Ben was an expert at seeing opportunities, and creating opportunities at work.

Ben didn’t get rich with his inventions (at least not the ones we are familiar with).  He really only get heavily involved with investion after he retire at 42.  And at that point, he was extremely rich.

The thing that impresses me the most about Mr. Franklin, was his tenacity…  If you read his story, it’s a story of overcoming problems to become extremely wealthy, and quite literally helping to create our country as it is today.

I attribute much of Ben’s success to his parents, and the way his father tried to find Ben an apprenticeship that Ben would be content with.  Most kids back then didn’t get that luxury.  Apparently, his dad also was respected, and people would ofter stop by and ask Ben’s dad for advice.  Luckily Ben was permitted to listen in on these conversations.

Anyway, this is why Ben is my financial hero.  If you get the chance, listen or read his autobiography, and any other book on him.

Wiki on Benjamin Franklin

Click here for a unusual Franklin Trivia link