World We Imagine Post 1

 

World We Imagine

After reading the quote from The Blue Sweater by Jacqueline Novogratz, I thought about what constitutes a change, the importance of change, and the kind of changes that are needed. A lot of changes were introduced to human histories, such as the industrial and technological revolution. While some changes may be significant and some may be relatively subtle, all of which have something in common: no changes are bought to the world without a cost. Taking the industrial revolution as an example, it allowed human to achieve agricultural improvement, economic advancement, and a redistribution of wealth and power (although an unequal one). The world was certainly redefined after the change, but at the same time, it also led to the start of large-scale human-caused pollution. The convenience and negative impact are both long-lasting and irrevocable. Just as Jacqueline points out in the quote, everyone is accountable for shaping the future and redefining the geography of the community. This is not only asking people to be the changes we want to see in the world, it is also asking us to be cautious with the changes that we make. Therefore, weighing the benefit and the cost of the changes before turning it into reality should be the main consideration for change. 

I remember watching an interview with Chamath Palihapitiya, founder of Social Capital, about his interpretation of changes and money as an instrument of change. One thing that sticks in my mind about the interview is his attempt to hold control of the money flow in order to hold the decision power to reallocate it toward his world view. His worldview may not be the best, but he gets to decide the type of business he wants to invest in, the kind of projects that will get his funding, and ultimately redefine the world. He has more power than the rest of us in changing the future of the community and makes a lasting impact. 

While I do believe that all changes are meaningful, some changes are more impactful than others. Creating an environmentally sustainable economy is one of the changes I aspired to make. This, however, is not something that I can accomplish by myself. The changes that I can currently make is limited in its scale and only has a micro effect on the world. Taking Chamath’s advice into consideration, my first step into making the world a more sustainable place starts from finding a job with favorable prospects for both growth and earnings. Public accounting is where I have determined to start my career. It is an ideal job because working at public accounting sets up well for management jobs in corporations, where ideally pays a lot. If I do not end up working for a big corporation, the accounting skills that I’ve polished from working at accounting firm will still allow me to make informed decision in the future when I invest in companies. Even though these all sound completely unrelated to bringing the changes I want to see in the world, I believe this is the right path to take hold of the capital and eventually the power to decide the companies that should stay to define the future economy.