A good and strong leader has his own goals and a hard worker will help to achieve these goals. Remember that creativity will help to achieve many goals quicker and with a better efficiency. You will boost your confidence as you achieve greater results!
- How Creativity and Innovation Generate Wealth for the Makers of Golf Balls in America as Compared to the Makers of Baseballs in Honduras and Costa Rica
A comparison of people who work in the same field reveals the advantage of innovation in creating wealth and escaping poverty. Remember that innovation makes a man walk in the image of the Creator and therefore places him above his fellowman who does not walk in creativity.
The world’s most efficient producers of baseballs for America’s national sport are found in Haiti, Honduras and Costa Rica. Baseballs are still hand-sewn as they were when they were invented. They have not managed to mechanize baseball production.
The wages of the world’s most efficient baseball producers are miserable. In Haiti, they are around 30 cents an hour. Every baseball is stitched by hand with 108 stitches and each worker is able to sew four baseballs per hour. This is done by hand. The balls are sold in the USA for about $15 each. Following the political problems in Haiti, much of the production was moved to Honduras and Costa Rica. Here the wage level is higher about $1 per hour.
Golf balls, on the other hand, are a high-tech product. One of its important producers is found in New Bedford, Massachusetts and wages are between $14 and $16 per hour. Research and development play important roles in the production.
The difference between the wages of a golf ball producer and a baseball producer are because one involves creativity and the other does not. Producing golf balls involves creativity, innovation and technological change. Producing baseballs does not involve creativity, innovation or technological change. Baseball production involves simple stitching by hand. The market rewards the producer of golf balls (whose production has added creativity) with an income of between 12 and 36 times more than the world’s most effective producer of baseballs.
- How Wealth Was Increased by Creativity, Skill and Knowledge on the Western Side of Cuba that Grew Tobacco, as Compared to the Other Side Which Grew Sugarcane.
From an economic point of view, Cuba had an absolute advantage in two tropical crops: sugar and tobacco. Tobacco was predominantly grown on the western part of the island and created a middle class. Sugar – grown on the rest of the island – created two classes of people: masters and slaves.
The cultivation and picking of tobacco created a demand for two specialized skills: tobacco leaves are harvested individually and the market price of the product depended on the creativity and skill of the picker.
Growing tobacco bred skills, creativity, individuality and modest wealth. While tobacco required skills, care and judgment, sugar only required brute force in cutting the commodity.
A skilled tobacco selector can distinguish seventy or eighty different shades of tobacco; whereas for the cutting of cane, timing is not important. Tobacco is delicately cut by the leaf with a small sharp knife, making sure that the rest of the plant survives. However, the sugar plant is simply brutally slashed with a big machete – no creativity; just brute force! Working with sugar is a trade; working with tobacco; an art.
The origins of the wealth of western Cuba and the poverty of the eastern part of the island are clear: the wealth and prosperity of the west are related to doing a more creative job – tobacco.
- How Creativity and Technological Change Generates Wealth for the Makers of Pyjamas in United States of America as Compared to Guatemala
Creativity gives rise to new technology and innovations that demand new knowledge. People are always paid more for their new knowledge, innovation and technological change.
In the 1980s, the following product information could be found on a typical pair of pyjamas sold in the United States: “1) Fabric made in the US; 2) Fabric cut in Guatemala and 3) Pyjamas assembled in Guatemala.”
The fabric production was a mechanized job involving creativity so that aspect of the job was done in the United States. Cutting and assembling was done in poor countries where they did not have creative technological changes.
One day, new laser technologies were developed which allowed high piles of fabric to be cut automatically and with high precision thus eliminating the need for cheap labour. Since cutting the fabric was now a technology based activity, it was moved to the United States. Sometime during the 1990s, a new text was found on pyjama labels: 1. ‘Fabric produced in the United States, 2. Fabric cut in the United States, 3. Pyjamas assembled in Guatemala’.
As you can see, creativity helps you to change the old ways of doing things by introducing new methods, ideas, or products. You will benefit from the privileges and outcomes of your ideas. This will make you competitive and you will learn how to win at all costs.
theaol@ymail.com
By Dag Heward-Mills