Today Gordon Brown stood up in St Paul’s and gave a speech urging the world’s financial institutions to follow the kind of basic, simple guidance we would give our children about being honest, straight forward, sensible etc.  He was suggesting that rather than follow the current US catch phrase of There is No Alternative (T.I.N.A), we should be guided by the African response to the this The.M.B.A, There Must Be Another way.  He pointed out a lovely coincidence, themba means ‘hope’ in Zulu. 

On this, I’m with Mr Brown, there is always another way, you just have to shift your perspective, seek other views, look beneath, behind and to the side of the issue.  It is all too easy to  say “I had no choice.  There was no other option..”   If something is unacceptable, we shouldn’t accept it, that in itself is another choice.

Creativity and innovation don’t usually come easily; it took Edison thousands of experiments to perfect his light bulb. The fact is, he had a number of key criteria that he needed his light bulb to fulfil for it to be acceptable.  If we set the right criteria, then we are more likely to come up with an acceptable solution.  Well done Mr Brown… Themba!!

“History teaches us that men and nations behave wisely once they have exhausted all other alternatives.”    Abba Eban

“Man has no choice but to love. For when he does not, he finds his alternatives lie in loneliness, destruction and despair.”

Resources:

• Daily mail article