I am currently at a Nigeria Digital in Health Conference where we are speaking about the possibility of a central digitized health information system to deliver better healthcare across the country.
I walked up earlier to some participants and asked them – Do you think this will work?
One person says – No, it won’t work.
Why? I inquired further.
He said to me, Simi, I think this is a jamboree. Before we start speaking about digitization, what about the other issues? When was the last time there was light in UCH? He then added he was leaving the conference soon to go and do something more meaningful.
I smiled and asked another person – Do you think it will work? He said ‘Yes, I think it’s a solution that is long overdue’.
2 people, 2 approaches to problem solving.
As I thought deeper at these approaches, I realized what played out in front of me is a representation of the 2 kinds of people in our country. 1)The people that acknowledge that the problem is an elephant, but we can start by attacking the tusk…..2) Another that believes our problems are insurmountable, and they don’t only believe this, they give up, spread the despair and disbelief further.
I like the latter, as they are realists and can help you capture what you have not considered. They don’t deceive themselves, they are real with the issues. The problem however with this approach is that these people get conclusive with the magnitude of the challenges and rather than use that to spur further questioning and critique needed to find solutions, they call it impossible to solve and walk away – leaving the fight for the next generation.
I however love the former. They are typically the people that get people though the wilderness to the promise land. They wield hope in the face of adversity and dare to take action. They refuse the inertia that keeps systems down and generate enough internal force that the external bows to. They acknowledge the overwhelm but also dare to imagine the way out. Previously unimaginable things like an aeroplane defying gravity in a 14 hour flight, or finding the cure for sicknesses or moving Singapore from Third World to First all happened because of these set of people.
My question to you is this –
Which are you, or rather, which will you rather be?
