Promote the change you want to see

Don’t just complain; use your skills to help solve our economic woes

SOUTH Africans’ confidence in their country remains low. A recent global survey of people’s attitudes by Pew Research Center confirmed that there is widespread discontent with the current state of affairs — similar to the findings of other surveys completed this year.

In the 2016 results, South Africans were found to be more dissatisfied than in any other year in the past eight.

The survey found that 74% of respondents were dissatisfied with the direction in which the country was going, compared to 49% in 2014. The reasons cited were low levels of economic growth, a lack of employment opportunities, increasing inequality and corruption.

What concerns me most about this finding is the persistence of unhappiness and disgruntlement with the status quo — with few taking action to change things.

Every member of society has a right to express dissatisfaction with the current state of affairs, but, at a certain point, we need to take individual actions that will help change things, especially if we hope to achieve the economic improvements that many of those surveyed believed would be possible in the near future.

The Pew survey found that 62% of South Africans believe the situation will be better next year.

Our economy will require significant collective action to change the status quo — after all, there is power in numbers. However, this should not prevent people from doing what they can to effect change at an individual level.

Merely expressing hope, instead of despair, about the economy can go a long way towards changing the tone within our communities and, eventually, the rest of the country. This is how economies are able to shift from an era of low performance to one of good growth levels. By simply improving one’s own morale and levels of positivity, one is actively playing a role in shifting overall sentiment.

As individuals, we also need to start challenging ourselves to identify the specific actions that each of us can take to contribute to the changes we would like to see in the economy. Mahatma Gandhi was on to something when he said you must be the change you want to see in the world. Be that change for your own community or your country.

That is far more effective than expecting others to effect that change for you, while remaining unhappy until they do.

Next time you hear someone pointing out the challenges that plague our economy, encourage them to state what actions they are taking to contribute towards changing the situation.

For example, because some of us are concerned about unemployment in South Africa, we are playing our part in investing capital in small businesses that need the money to grow and to create jobs.

Others are addressing the job creation challenge by sharing their skills with others so that the unemployed develop skills sets that have value in the market. Education is another major area in which much change can be achieved if only people started taking action at an individual level.

We all have talents, passions and abilities — it is high time we redeployed those towards addressing the economic issues that plague us the most.

As Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said during the Discovery Leadership Summit 2016 in Sandton, Johannesburg, this week: “South Africans need to ‘turbocharge’ their efforts, ideas and financial resources to create greater economic momentum”.

He reminded us all that our levels of inequality, economic participation and unemployment are unacceptable. As such, this is not the time to sit back and be disgruntled — it is time to take action and change the status quo.

“Our collective focus now has to be to grow our economy. The key is to create unity of purpose. We need to have a culture of sharing, contributing and benefiting . . . It is up to us to put our best foot forward,” Gordhan said.

We are fortunate to be part of an economy in which there is much to be hopeful about — the future looks bright. As such, we should all be taking active steps, however small, to ensure that this hope becomes reality.

Sikhakhane is an international speaker and an executive at Circle Food Group, with a business honours degree from the University of Cape Town and an MBA from Stanford University