Why Not Innovate, Pilipinas?
Our Filipino brains have sadly grown acclimated to a culture of acceptance and resignation. The sad fact of the matter is that the path of least resistance is the path most taken. The status quo has allowed us to be at our most glaringly indifferent — as such, most of us have blindingly accepted our fate, mucking and muttering that “this is the way it’s always been, and this is the way it’ll always be.”
Applied to the context of business, entrepreneurship, and social development — this pervasive mindset has led to an unimaginative culture of copy-and-paste — sadly, the majority of us Filipinos don’t like creating or inventing new things; We would much rather see what the other guy is doing — and if it seems moderately successful, we default to flat-out xeroxing mode a.k.a. legalized piracy of business models. The copier tries to be competitive the best way he knows how to — by simply slashing prices down by 20%. This results in a devolution of value, forcing a downward spiral which simply erodes what was initially created (let’s not get into a philosophical argument of competition being good for the consumer — yes, i agree with you. But i’m just trying to illustrate a point on our copy-and-paste culture).
In a landscape of business monotony, the only way out and the only way through — both as an entrepreneur and as a country — is to embrace innovation. As is the mantra in my Business Innovations Class, there is simply no choice in our world today but to “Innovate or Die”.
Innovation. I’m such a staunch advocate of this philosophy, mindset, and phenomenon. And it’s simply because i believe at the very core of me that it’s what can and will drive our nation forward — whether in the context of the next great Filipino industry or a bold new way of tackling our nation’s problems, from education to healthcare to livelihood.
Innovation is about solving problems that bring revolutionary value into the world. It’s about leapfrogging from where we are to a trajectory that we previously thought unreachable. But more than that, innovation is the relentless power of ideas realized. The act of creation is not the innovation itself. There has to be created value for something to be truly called innovative.
But the bedrock of innovation is embracing a mindset that is both wide and askew.
Disciples of the innovation company IDEO will be familiar with the term Vuja De’, the unknown brother of Deja’ Vu. Whereas Deja’ Vu is the nagging feeling that something new seems hauntingly familiar, Vuja De’ is quite the mindbend — it’s looking at things you see everyday with entirely new eyes.
But more than Vuja De’, our minds have to be open to a plethora of constantly fresh and new thinking. We have to fill ourselves up with mindjunk — stuff you might not use now or ever, but on-call when your brain starts acting all creative, and could very well deliver your proverbial Aha! Moment.
It is this spirit of innovation and new, diverse thinking which gave birth to The WhyNot? Forum (http://www.whynotforum.com), a forum and online movement for Inspiring Filipino Ingenuity.
The Why Not? Forum is a smorgasboard of great, brave ideas — an open-source innovation soup that will hopefully inspire other Filipinos to connect adjunct thoughts, take impactful action, and weave together new breakthrough ideas — redefining and challenging the inertia of the status quo. All in the spirit of positive change for the Philippines.
Hacking away to it’s very core, the WhyNot?Forum has a simple message to all Filipinos — Ask “Why Not?”
And in asking that simple question, we begin to unshackle ourselves from our limiting mindsets and transition into the WhyNot? philosophy : Think New Thoughts. Share Big Dreams. Do Brave Things.
What drives the WhyNot? forum? It’s using the word “inspiring” in “inspiring Filipino ingenuity” both as an adjective and a verb.
“Inspiring” as an adjective because WhyNot? embrace an open-source spirit — the online videos celebrate the great thinking and actions of Filipinos and share these with the world — Filmmaker on the Edge Quark Henares, Alternative Educator /RockEdPhilippines founder Gang Badoy, The Philippine Women’s Everest Team, Creative Guru Jim Paredes, Education Reform Champion Fr. Jomar Legaspi, Illusionist Erik Mana, Animation Advocate Grace Dimaranan, Mr. Pagsi, Third Way Senator Kiko Pangilinan, Dakila Collective, and so on and so forth …
“Inspiring” as a verb because we want to do just that — inspire more Filipinos to churn out innovative ideas. With the advent of technology, the WhyNot?Forum democratizes access to great Filipino speakers. Now, any kid in a far-flung province with access to an internet cafe can just log-on to the website, view the videos, make fresh connections, and come up with something new.
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So be inspired and inspire with us. Spread the word on www.whynotforum.com. And in so doing, help us spark a thought revolution — a nation of Filipinos asking themselves that simple yet powerful question, “Why Not?”
