Break those imaginary chains
Many of us are inhibited by our own misguided, outdated beliefs
THE world continues to witness shocking attacks by extremist groups — the most recent being the Paris assaults a week ago. We mourn with the families of the victims, as we do with many others who continue to suffer in similar incidents worldwide.
I can’t help but notice that something has changed in the world’s response to the news of such incidents. Suddenly, we are realising that it is incorrect to blame the entire Muslim community for the actions of a sub-group.
Even US President Barack Obama chose not to make any associations with Muslims in the speech he delivered in the wake of the Paris attacks. We have finally dropped the labels.
The challenge with labels, though, is that some of us internalise them and let them define us long after society has stopped using them against us. Given South Africa’s complicated history, it is no surprise that the negative classifications from our past are still internalised by many of us to this day. These “labels” can act as devices that limit the potential of our own entrepreneurs.
One reason not enough of us are embarking on the entrepreneurial path is that we have allowed some of these negative labels to define us.
For example, people who grew up in disadvantaged communities still carry around the “inferiority” complex put on them from the apartheid era. A complex that prevents us from aspiring to build entities of significance because we might not see ourselves as worthy enough to be employers — even though we need more people to become creators of job opportunities to reduce unemployment.
Our parents may have been raised to be workers, but the same does not need to hold true for us. However, we cling to this belief, even when there are opportunities in abundance. We are imposing our own glass ceiling.
Motoring magnate Henry Ford once said: “Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t, you are right.”
We need to stop letting limiting labels define us. Otherwise we will never be confident enough to become entrepreneurs who thrive alongside those who came from better circumstances.
But labels cut both ways — those who label themselves as superior need to wake up to the reality that the best business partner might come from an economic environment that is dissimilar to theirs.
Teams composed of individuals from different backgrounds have been consistently proven to be more effective in business than ones which do not.
Our history has divided us into social classes, but our future does not need to perpetuate this fallacy.
Social class is just one angle. We could pick from many. Gender and race are the prominent ones when it comes to doing business in South Africa. Some entrepreneurial opportunities are still being dominated by one race or gender. More of us need to be trying to change the numbers, rather than accepting them as the norm.
Age is another label that we tend to cling to. From: “I’m too young to start the entrepreneurial journey,” to: “I’m too old to start.” Some people who are long past their 30s or 40s still do not believe they have the necessary experience to run a business. What about the value of life experience? The list of first-time, second-time, third-time successful entrepreneurs is endless, as is the list of those with years of experience. There is not one label to define the kind of entrepreneur that will succeed over others.
This has been a special year in the way many external forces have been moving towards the elimination of long-standing labels and stereotypes. In 2015 we have dissociated Muslim communities from attacks by extremists and, with #BlackLivesMatter, have called attention to the unequal treatment of different races in the US.
Even the entertainment industry has been promoting the dropping of labels this year, with movies such as Mad Max: Fury Road and The Intern brilliantly challenging the stereotypes we hold about gender roles, age and work experience.
It can take decades for these changes to take effect. But it does not need to take us that long to notice the labels that are internally inhibiting us from becoming successful entrepreneurs.
The first step is to acknowledge their effect on us — the way they influence anything from our confidence levels, to hiring decisions, to what deals we go after and which ones we pass up. The second step is to let them go.
Entrepreneurs are leaders of change. But, really, the biggest change starts within oneself.
People . . . still carry around the ‘inferiority’ complex put on them from the apartheid era