tural region ofthe Cape,is that all thefarmersthere grow potatoes and onions. It is kind of given in the commu nity that for four hundred years they've grown potatoes and onions and therefore they will grow them for the next thousand years. But this one farmer said,"There are two things1 can'tchange.I can'tchange the weather and I ean't change the soil conditions. But what 1 can change is the crop."So he switched to plums for export and he now has the most profitable farm in Clanwilliam because he worked out what he could and could not change. So those three golden rules 1 would say you should think about in terms of your future planning for your own career, for your own business or what have you.Keep opposites in mind.Lookfor peripheral threats and opportunities which are going to become central fairly quickly; and thirdly, work out precisely what you can and cannot change so that you can exact maximum leverage out of the things you can change and you can adapt to the things that you can't. What are the myths? What are the myths in society? A myth is a thing that is widely believed but is not true. Well, the most important myth, particularly in Johan nesburg,is 'high walls will save us'. This is where eve ryone builds high walls around their houses.You put up your wall to six foot,your neighbour puts his up to nine. You put yours up to nine,he puts razor wire on his wall. You putrazor wire on your wall,he buys a rottweiler,he buys a gun. And so it goes on. And you actually think you are safe behind those walls. But you're not. Walls always come tumbling down. Whether it's the walls of Jericho with afew blasts ofa trumpet,or Rome or Con stantinople. When rich people have surrounded them selves with high walls,inevitably the poor people have climbed overthe walls.Theonly way you purchase long term security is if the people on the other side of the wall are sufficiently busy that the last thing that is on their mind is climbing your own walls. There is an old saying,"Idle hands make mischief." The modern say ing from an American priest is,"Nothing stops bullets like jobs." Whichever way you take it, that is the only way one is going to have long term security. Which means,that of course business in this country and eve rybody else must try and create this all inclusive casino where everybody is coming in to place bets on the ta bles,open new business and so on and so forth. That is whatis called equality ofopportunity.It won't be equal ity ofoutcome because,like a casino, you have winners and you have losers.And you are going to have winners and losers at opening up businesses.People are going to go bankrupt. But actually, they say that failure is the stepmotherofinvention.Ifyou fail afew times you even tually get it right. So that is what is going to purchase long term security in this country-actually creating this all inclusive casino here,NOT building high walls. The second myth is that a good education can guarantee you a job. Now this was true in the 1950's and 60's, that's 30 years ago-think of it. I'm pretty old! But in the 60's you could get ajob if you were well educated.1 did Latin and Greek at school at the best classical school in England and I did Medieval philosophy at Oxford and 1 knew 1 was going to get ajob! However, times have changed. I was in Australia last year talking on the East coast of Australia in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Canberra, Brisbane, and the re markable feature about these presentations was the number of young people whocame up to me afterwards and said,"You know Mr Sunter, your points on educa tion are absolutely right. We were given pieces ofpaper by serious looking teachers at school called certificates and by serious looking professors at University called degrees.And when we try and trade these pieces of pa per in the marketfor ajob,wefind they are worth noth ing.Zilch,zippo,nothing. We have been totally conned by the Australian education system." And that applies as much in Europe,America,South Africa-other than at this school! Because that little programme that you are beginning to run out there on businesses absolutely reflects whatevery school in this country should be do ing because 95% ofthejobs in the world today are be ing created in small businesses,medium size businesses and micro businesses. I don't know how many schools in this country formalized a business development pro gramme. So you have kids coming out of school who have no feel whatsoever for that area ofthejob market where 95% of the opportunities are being created. It's nuts, absolutely nuts! The related myth is that if1 don'tgo to university I must be a failure. This comes from the British who are tre mendous intellectual snobs. They've forgotten their roots. If you go back-I'm sure all of you have studied history - to the mid eighteenth century in Britain and you read the biographies ofall the people who invented those marvellous machines like the spinning jenny,the flying shuttle,the powerloom,the steam engine and the steam locomotive;noneofthem wentto Oxford orCam bridge and most ofthem were Seots! And what's more, they were backed by Yorkshire and Lancashire entre preneurs who never went to University either. So Brit ain became the number one nation on earth in the nine teenth century on the baeks of a whole bunch of smart non-graduates ofthe eighteenth eentury. But of course, what happened when they became wealthy was that the sons and daughters ofthe mill owners didn't wantto get their hands dirty producing things so they did go to Ox ford and Cambridge and then they ran India! But of course,India would never have happened if you hadn't had these incredible people producing things in theeight eenth eentury. Now in South Africa you can see exactly the same attitude. You go to a eocktail party and you ask a parent what his kid is doing. He'll say very loudly if the kid is at a university doing a degreein such and such. If the kid is at a technikon, he'll apologize! It's ridicu lous. Ridiculous actually if you look at the successes in society now.As manycome outofTechnikons and Tech nical Colleges or start work when they leave school as they do coming out of University. I'm not saying you shouldn't go to University if you can -obviously you should.Butdon'tconsider yourselfafailure ifyou don't, that is the more important point. Another myth is that crime doesn't pay. Crime pays! Crime pays. Crime pays handsomely and that is why everybody is turning to crime and,until you have ajudi cial system which whackscriminals ifthey turn to crime, you are not actually going to stop it because if every body is a gambler and you have actually go to make it the misery side ofeommitting a crime loom big in peo ples minds if they going to actually say,"Well,I might actually go and rob that old woman but perhaps I shouldn't because I will be given 20 years in jail if I do." That is the only way you actually stop crime is if you have ajudieial system where retribution is certain if 18 Kearsney Chronicle 1994
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