November 28th - Election time #qin14 & #glpol

November 28th is coming up rapidly - and my biggest fears are that our political parties are not ready to make the necessary adjustments in their politics to form a BROAD and LASTING coalition. I think that the time for comtemplation and reflection is too short - unless we narrow the topics that will be debated in the very short election campaign.

My hopes are that the different political parties will be solution-oriented - and look at areas where they can agree upon - and not so much where they disagree. That would make a difference. 

Another dream that I have is a bigger focus on integrity and honesty among our leading politicians. We HAVE to be able to trust them - and not copy the Danish heritage that unfortunately is not something to look up to. The case of Lars Løkke in Denmark is not looking better from a Greenland perspective - and we can do better than that.

The topics I have in mind for the upcoming election are these:

1) How to create and sustain GROWTH

2) How to make personal AND group responsibility a common issue. We need to stand together if we want more independence. 

3) Welfare - how to balance effort, opportunity, equal rights and child governance

4) Reforms in public sector

No. 1 is not a new topic, but nonetheless an very important area, where we need concrete ideas and priorities. We NEED to make the necessary commitment between public sector, private sector and the educational system to create the foundation for growth. There are some very easy ways to pursue for quick action. The construction/housing area, where better and more even planning will create local jobs and apprentice positions. The incitament structure for companies to invest should also be looked into, since especially targets the smaller and medium size companies.

No. 2 is primarily a CHANGE IN ATTITUDE, which makes it a long-term area for action. My belief is that we have to boost the personal responsibility combined with a group responsibility (typically in our families), since this goes well with our culture, where we are often dependent upon eachother - and make joint decisions and thus solutions unlike the Western culture, where individuality takes a bigger place.

No. 3 is essential. We have to take better care of our children. MIO (Commisioners of Childrens office) recommends an early approach towards the young parents and children from 0 to 2 years old to enforce a good beginning. Our legislation is relatively good in the Children rights area - we just do NOT uphold the law in the Municipalities.

No. 4 is equally crucial. Let's start reforming public sector. We need to rationalize, we need to cut down spending and simplify the current structure of public sector. We have basically copied the Danish system that supports 5 mio. people unlike our scattered 56.000 souls. This can be done better. A few tips in this end: - buy more service locally, empower the Municipalities to make more decisions, simplify rules, and use outsourcing of public sector tasks to private sector - either on negotiable service contracts or simple bid structures.

Does the above mentioned solutions seem simple? Yeah, I guess they are. That does not make them easy, but nonetheless necessary, in my opinion. So Greenland: WAKE UP and make things happen.  What do you think?

Motivation #personaldevelopment

What drives you forward? Money, fame, results or inner satisfaction. You have your own motivation, which can differ from other people around you. Have you thought about how much being motivated means to you? 

Have you notices how things that you are motivated to do is so much easier to accomplish? Well, if you have not noticed then start doing so. Try to map the things that drives you. If you become aware of the things in life that gives (or takes) motivation there is big chance you will succeed with whatever you do. Motivation is the most powerful tool we humans have. You can change the World itself if you are motivated enough to do so. Maybe not the entire World - but at least YOUR World, which can be more than enough. I believe in the power of attraction. You attract the things in life that you are ready for - and thus you can also influence WHAT you do in your life. To me motivation is an essential tool to achieve the goals that I set out to reach, no matter if it is personal goals or goals in a business sense that usually are more specific. 

Why a picture of Gandhi? Because he was highly motivated to change not only his own World, but the World of his fellow beings. Actually I see more and more young people being inspired by this. How you might ask?  

I see that more and more social entrepreneurship is happening. And the Youth are driving it - highly motivated to make a difference in the World. THAT is motivation in a highly motivating way. I get motivated to see my fellow human beings act in social consciencious way - how about you? And how do we activate more people to make a difference?

Revolution in Greenland #futureplan & #vision

The past week has been somewhat of a tumultuous ride! On one hand it is a fantastic experience to withness that we as a population finally rise to oppose a corrupt regime - on the other hand it doesn't do any good for our collective selfworth. So how do we climb back onto the reindeer and set out a new direction in Greenland.

Well, first of all there is an election coming up in less than two months. We need to have good candidates for the election that have integrity, honesty and hard work ethics as a background. And then we have to make sure there is a BROAD coalition after the election among the political parties in Inatsisartut (our Parliament) when it comes to the essential topics such as 1) business development, 2) reform of our economy, 3) the educational system and finally, but not least 4) the children area.

To be more specific, my ideas for a structured approach would be:

1) Work out a plan with the Business Assocation & the Workers Association and listen to their concrete action ideas for kicking business development from talk to action. The plan should include very specific goals with attached money so the parties will be committed.

2) Implement the top tier of the recommendations set forth by the Council of Economy. There are very specific recommendations that are feasible to implement immediately - and some are linked to reform of the social system, the tax system and the financial spending of public sector. This is probably the most difficult of my suggestions, because this WILL affect a lot people.

3) Make a joint plan between public sector, private sector and the Teachers Union (IMAK) with allocations of funds. The plan should include actions towards the teachers, the elementary school leaders, the parents and the support system (Inerisaavik/Ilinniarfissuaq). And first of all there should be a joint decision to RAISE the bar of the educational quality and thus the results from elementary school all the way up to University.

4) Look at MIO's recommendations - the Children Parliamentary Commisioner - and commit to implement the top three recommendations. As a start let us try to uphold the actual legislation that is already in place. This is something we fail to do today.

Okay, it is not a final solution to our miserable position. But it is a start - and it SHOULD be something ALL political parties in Greenland could agree to. 

Please feel free to comment. We NEED the input from outside - we need help! But I believe this is a good thing - and a sign that we are maturing as a nation.

Are you a talker - or a doer? #action

Most of us are a little of both - being both action-oriented and talking about doing things. However recently I have noticed that there are quite a few people being so much more talkers than doers, and that this has an effect on my patience with people around me.

I notice that I have way more patience with doers than talkers. Quite frankly talkers can piss me off when all they do are talk, talk and talk with no actions. And on the other hand I can accept that doers make mistakes because they are action-oriented. They seem to get things done, and of course that gives a higher chance of failure or making mistakes. Do we need both? Yes, I guess we need both talkers and doers - but in every society there has to be a balance.  

In our political system there seems to be a huge overweight of talkers - and very few doers. Also there seems to be a lack of people with understanding of economy and the dynamics that drive the national economy. In every country this is a challenge, but for Greenland is nothing less than an achilles heel. 

What will I do myself to change things in Greenland - apart from talking?

I will involve myself in different aspects of life here in Greenland that can change things around in the long run. Two concrete areas that badly needs to be revitalised or reinvented:

1) The educational system - with a special focus on elementary school

2) Young entrepreneurs and start-up help  

Both areas are either not working well or malfunctioning right now. So I will use all my skills, my network and my energy to find solutions that can work LONGTERM - and with a broad coalition, so there is a chance that the solutions will be sustainable. 

Back to my initial agenda. Do you know people surrounding you that are either clear talkers - or absolutely doers? Have you noticed the difference in the way you interact with them? Do your trust in them depend on them being a talker or a doer? And have you thought of what you are yourself? 

Have more than one plan #future & #vision