A few weeks ago, I was listening to the BBC radio on my way to work, and they were on their “India Week” (which actually lasted about a month)! Anyway, they were talking to an Indian businessman about the rise of India and what is making India grow so fast all of a sudden?

He gave them an answer that was excellent in my opinion. He told them that a few years ago, he was at the US, and was meeting with a Silicon Valley CEO, who told him that the difference between Silicon Valley and the rest of the world is -

Here, we don’t shoot people who make mistakes …. we shoot people who don’t try

The Indian guy says the difference between India now and India 10 years ago is this mentality! In the past, noone was willing to try anything new because it might lead to failure and mistakes, which everyone was afraid of, now in India, people are trying and pushing the limit in every field in an attempt to innovate and stay ahead to survive in this world of fierce competition!

Here in Kuwait, we live in an environment that does not embrace challenging ideas or creating something new. We live in an environment where people are much more worried about making mistakes than trying something new.

People are not rewarded for innovating, they are rewarded for keeping things as they are and avoiding any problems!! So many people are content with just keeping their job by doing the bare minimum of what is asked of them and nothing more! Anything more, any new idea, would mean that there is a chance that it might not work out, so many don’t even bother!

I couldn’t stop thinking of that quote. When I remember it, I realize how much I could be losing by not trying to take risks. Everyone should think about this and how it affects them personally at work and at a personal level! As a culture, we all know that this is unfortunately true in more than one way, and that as a culture, we cannot advance unless we change this environment of suppressing creativity!