All posts tagged Recession

A DECLARATION OF ENTERPRISE

By Araceli On June 9, 2010 In ESSAYS, Uncategorized With 2 Comments Permanent Link to A DECLARATION OF ENTERPRISEPermalink

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We’re looking at the psychology behind the potential for a double-dip recession. It’s not necessarily a numbers-issue, or something you can predict. It’s a mental state of society. Do we have the capacity to rid ourselves of self-deprecation and complain-culture, and start to pivot towards possibility, dreams, and enterprise?

After the first recession in 2008, people lost their jobs, graduates were graduating into a cold, unfriendly market. But as soon as 2009 hit, there was a tangibility that people wanted to change – people wanted to move forward. And there was talk of support for enterprise, support for graduates, and we at THECUBE were born out of this new attitude – although, we have been privileged to find like-minded people who are ready to be contributors to this new way of thinking, such as RewireLondon, Launch48, Not Just A Label, Creative Boom, Idea Generation, E-Rejuvenation Centre, ECCA, to name a few, we’re already starting to see  that there’s a dip in enthusiasm and proactivity.

Flashfoward to now: the dust has settled. Many organisations that had promised to deliver change and support, have not. If this continues, and we continue to throw our hands up we will surely drive ourselves into another recession, because we’re not building the infrastructure that will lead to new employment and development of industries.

To take JFK’s famous saying: “Do not ask what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country” – we cannot just rely on the government to make it all better. We are asking for partnerships, collaborations and endurance from innovators to continue. We are also asking established corporations to step down and get into the grassroots and sponsor these innovations. We are asking people to put fear aside and dare to jump off the edge and go for their dreams. Only upon the attempt of an idea can you judge whether or not you can accomplish this, or if you are capable. You cannot make assumptions of your own capabilities.

If the Davids of this world are going to be fearless and embark on new enterprises, then the Goliaths have no excuse to be just as fearless in their support, incubation, and funding of these new ideas. It’s time for action and implantation, because it’s only through tangibility – real steps taken to secure our financial stability and growth – that we can prevent another recession.

Editor: Russell Thomas
Words: Araceli Camargo-Kilpatric

Creative Skills are Key to Success

By Araceli Camargo-Kilpatrick On January 13, 2010 In News With No Comments Permanent Link to Creative Skills are Key to SuccessPermalink

Creative Skills (Michelle Meiklejohn)

Here at THECUBE, we have a fantastic team behind us, making our centre the diverse and professional community that it is. We also have on board Russell Thomas – our intern at THECUBE.

We decided it would be good to get Russell’s thoughts on how to be innovative as a graduate and survive the ongoing recession. Read on to discover Russell’s thoughts on the subject…

For survival right now, creative skills are crucial. I think that my skills, compared to those of someone who has graduated from a corporate background, are much more useful, and allow for me to find and ultimately get more opportunities.

If we look at it firstly in terms of specific, personal skills, it makes more sense. Say if somebody graduates in Accounting, they’ll learn to be an accountant. Their skill is being good with numbers, however, anybody, in theory and practice to an extent can ‘do’ accounts – moreover, someone who is good with numbers is not necessarily invaluable. A calculator can do this. My skill is writing, being fastidious with grammar and spelling, and generally being adaptable (I’ll speak about adaptability in a bit) with what people want to say – taking someone’s voice and using it as a mouthpiece. Now, it isn’t as easy as using the linguistic calculator, a thesaurus. To write properly, to write for people, you need specific skills, and I have them. It isn’t as easily replacable as a person good with numbers.

In terms of general skills, I believe that adaptability is one of the most important. If you’re graduating – let’s extend the example – from an Accounting degree, that is what you are. There is nothing to fall back on. You have already set yourself a path and to stray from that path is to stray into something completely unknown, where your skills will be useless. It is a key that fits one, maybe a few doors. On the other hand, being an imaginative, creative person will work as a skeleton key to many doors. Being interested in many different things, being adaptable, is a quality that you’d like to think is only inherent in creative people. It doesn’t have to be that way, ‘corporate’ individuals should expand their horizons as well, but this is the way I work.

Because I haven’t set myself a profession to be ‘in’, like an accountant would have to do, I can go from writing a draft for a novel, to writing a business-minded white paper and the transition requires no additional training. I can write a poem one day and an ‘About us’ section for a fashion website the next. Seeing these opportunities is part of being interested and imaginative – envisaging where you could fit into any project. This in turn requires adaptability, and without this I think that people would be less successful. It works not just on this grand scale of what you want to do, but also with how you approach problems. Being creative means that you naturally have more ideas, more solutions.

It is not as black and white as this: I’m sure some accountants are adaptable and creative, but for the most part, we are split down the middle. I just don’t want to follow a set path. I don’t wear blinkers, I’m not reigned in. I do not see my future. In a corporate environment, you see your potential future everyday: your manager.