NB: At the end of this article is a Video that is a Must Watch, probably the most eloquent presentation I have ever seen.

I am starting to realize that excitement can be counterproductive to writing a blog, but at the same time I cannot help it when am bubbling with an idea I just learned and am dying to share, so that is my excuse if your find this article digressing, I believe strongly in the video By Shashi Tharoor Shared by Manu Chandaria on an email this morning (yes… yes.. am name dropping.). This is probably the best way to start my week, in the knowledge that we still have as individual and as a country a chance to make a difference and completely re-brand ourselves.

Ecc 9:11 I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favor to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.

This chance presents itself in form of soft power and the internet, where we can tap into our potential and let the world know us as a great tourist destination, great athletes, lead flower exporter and probably come up with new brand identities just like India and China have done.

We usually do what we do because of one of a combination of three reasons,

  1. We are threatened or by force
  2. We are paid to do it, or
  3. We do it because we agree or like the ideas.

The term Soft power was coined by Joseph Nye’s of Harvard University and he says it’s the ability to shape peoples preference by attracting and co-opting them into your ideas and in the process achieving everyone’s objective, its contrasts to hard power that uses coercion (force, intimidation,) and payoffs.

Just a few years ago the mention of India would conjure in my head images of elephants, overcrowded streets , street magicians and snake charmers, today the mention of the name brings images of an advance Information and communication Technology (ICT) hub, another country would be china, that would invoke fear of communism, suppressed freedom of speech Tiananmen square massacre, and cheap plastic poor quality products, today china is the source of high quality affordable goods and a fast growing economic super power, this two countries have changed their public image in less than 20 years!\

In contrast, a year after 9/11 America lost its soft power, due to the Bush administration application of hard power, the US got an extremely negative public perception resulting to poor foreign relations with former allies. With the election of an African American president, Barrack Obama who had managed to endear himself to the world using soft powers, Americans won back the trust and confidence of the world, same with Tiger woods’ and his personal problems, with the recent Nike commercial and his public appearance he might win back his fan base.

Bringing it home, I see allot of great ideas that have failed due to either the lack of or poor application, this are the likes of the Michuki rules, najivunia kuwa mkenya campaign, the National dress, and many others, at this point you can probably understand why Makmende was such a phenomenal , Kenyans (certain generation)understand it and identified with it, the same applies to internet solutions like face book, YouTube and twitter, just to mention a few, which have managed to achieve phenomenal internet growth by providing solutions that users identify with.
So applying this online, if you want to be successful on the internet, your solution has to be able to co-opt the users and create a sense of ownership among them.

As a young person the internet is the wealth equalizer, it’s a flattener that allows anyone from Nanyuki to New York an equal platform to talk to the world and give your contribute, it’s the 21st century gold rush and you are either digging or design denim jeans for those digging. We might not have hard power, we are not likely to get serious hard power, but we have soft power and we have the internet, (this will eventually give us hard power which we might not need anyway) and in the process of co-opt others in what we do, we will help our country grow and will move us from poverty to prosperity.

The Video Below is a Must Watch… just make a quick vote for it on the comments box below…

If that link fails to open, you can watch it here http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/videoshow_ted/5284245.cms

After watching this video, what do you think of the local politicians?