Innovate and Propagate

Last night, on My radio show "Expandiendo Horizontes," (Yes, The Jenius is bilingual), Dr. José Cruz, CTO of Commoca was asked what he felt the government needed to do to make a real difference in Our current economic growth. His answer was simple: "Diversify and take risks."

Dr. Cruz pointed out what hundreds, if not thousands, of Us have been saying in almost metronomic fashion: Manufacturing is not the economic engine of the future. In the interest of keeping the messsage simple, the strategy now is "Innovate and Propagate."

To Diversify requires letting go of elements that are no longer relevant (or as relevant) to the current economic climate. Why anguish over "the needle industry" when that industry had a fork stuck in it 25 years ago? Why continue to "recreate" tax breaks and subsidies when those strategies have been proven barren all over the world? (It's not an "advantage" if everyone else has it, or has something better.)

To Take Risks is to complete the letting go of the familiar and embracing the new. For The Fools in government this means (A) Letting go of their traditional power base and (B) actually learning something constructive for the Island's sake, not their own personal gain. The odds of that happening are squarely in the realm of imaginary numbers related to the last digit of pi.

Innovate and Propagate is simply to take charge of Our economic development to the fullest extent possible, relegating The Fools to the farthest fringes possible. We create the New Economic Reality of Puerto Rico by implementing projects and companies that leapfrog (Dr. Cruz also used that word) The Fools' ignorance and propel Us into a better competitive position, company by company, industry by industry.

Propagate means We communicate to the world what We are doing, on an individual, corporate and industrial level. The global economy is no longer one of nations getting together to hammer out trade agreements: it is about individuals coming together to forge opportunities and the means to exploit them. Yes, exploit, as in "To utilize; to make available; to get the value or usefulness out of." Unlike The Fools who exploit Us negatively, We can--We must--exploit opportunities positively. And We must make it Our greatest priority in the next few years or risk losing another generation. We are here to make sure that what was done to Our Generation, to Us, will never--never--happen again.

The Jenius Has Spoken.