Unproductive Talents could change the World

All people, when born, are endowed with talents. Intellectual talents. Artistic talents. Sports talents. Manual talents. Emotional talents. Spiritual talents. Some in bigger amount than others, but in the end… talents!

These talents have the inherent potential of creating value. Paid-for value or non-paid for value but value nonetheless. These talents mean that every human being comes to Earth endowed with the tools it needs to develop and prosper, to pursue its happiness. Only those talents are not always discovered, nor put to work, nor efficiently allocated. And sometimes, even though they are discovered and put to work, they don´t do it in an environment of affinity. So, if I asked the question “Do you feel you are working where you like the most and where your talents are being fully used”? , I think “No” would be the winner.

Talents with inherent potential of value creation which are not discovered, developed and allocated are assets, or resources, that do exist but are not put to work. Which leads me to think that poverty is a matter of wrong economic and political policies rather than anything else. The world would be by far more wealthy and just if everyone could work where he or she is most talented and likes best working at. And neither Governments, nor International Organizations, nor Economists put that statement as a possibility. Rather, it is seen as impossible, because “talent” is, at present, not measurable.  So, the best “possible” solution has been, for more than two hundred years, a mix of market mechanisms and Government actions. Despite the time elapsed and the resources involved in all these years, the outcome remains the same: more people live in poverty than in prosperity in the World. And they are fed up with it.

If all talents were discovered, developed and put to work, the economy would produce a bigger and more valuable output, which in turn could provide bigger valuethat could be given to people who produce such value. My content is that talent can be discovered, developed and put to work as well and efficiently as we have learned how to put to work financial, industrial and natural resources. The first step is to acknowledge that talent is a resource, perhaps the biggest, most valuable resource humanity is being gifted with, continuously. A constantly renewable resource we are underestimating, undervaluing and misusing.

The Internet is creating the environment that is increasingly allowing people to discover, develop and put to work their talents.  The tool is there, and it is fine-tuning itself each time more. What rests is political will of making a big shift in the Theory of the whole system, from the development of nations towards the development of talents, as a better and shorter road to the Wealth of Nations and of People. During more than 200 years all focus has been put in developing financial, industrial and natural resources.  It is time to change the focus, and it must been done from the outside, since problems will not be solved by those who created them

Alfredo Barriga