Or why the Pen is still mightier than the sword!

COMMENT, USA & Australia — The modern world of business and politics run on words. It has ever been thus.

The importance of words will only increase in a world of information, services, creativity and increasing automation of the means of production.

It has been my experience dealing with governmental and business leaders that the primary separating factor between those who got the ‘good’ jobs, and those who didn’t was self-expression with words. (Remember I have consulted or educated people at all levels of government and business life.)

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Your child needs mastery of words and ideas.

Why Words, why now?

But the critical importance of words is truer than ever. Especially as a multi-national globally-connected world of business and politics is evolving.

Your child will grow up into this world.

A multi-lingual world. Most importantly a world of words.

For your child to prosper in this world, they must be a master of words and ideas!

Quite possibly and preferably in more than one language.

This is a new world where creativity, artistry and all other forms of self-expression will form part of the business and political process.

For most of us except a few artists and performers, this is a new world of words.

To Maximize Your Child’s Opportunities Teach them Words!

Self-Expression is what made the USA powerful, and self-expression is what Australians are learning to grow in international stature. (And remove the dreaded cultural cringe).Words and expression are what the post-Napoleonic French and Victorian English used to rule their Empires.

What is self-expression with words?

Part of this is confidence. Most people intrinsically get this.

But a confident child without connections (generally by birth) will struggle in the fields of business or politics.

The reality is a mastery of words reinforces confidence and self-expression in all situations. It is the confidence to choose the right words in any situation. Few are born with it.

This is a truth covered with euphemisms in job ads.

What then is more important than any other single factor in the success of your child, in business or politics?

Words.

If you want your child to have the best possible chance in the worlds of business or politics, then the secret is to ensure their grammar and vocabulary is rich and layered.

Not only with words, but ideas.

Big ideas.

The biggest ideas of all are Plato, Locke, Hume, Milton, Adam Smith and later Nietzsche, Freud, Jung, Keynes, and so on.

This is what makes a child a great thinker, but also allows them to shine above those born in even the richest families.

Big ideas are what the rich try to give their children.

Words are an advantage that can be improved by almost any child.

Intimate knowledge of words and ideas.

It is in my experience expression of big ideas with words is the major edge that wealthy children who are less bright, have over those who are very bright but from average backgrounds.

This eloquence with words is the single biggest determinant of political or business success. This applies to parliamentary staffers, CFOs, CEOs, politicians, ministers, more especially ministerial staffers, and assistants to top people.

It matters less the idea than how you say it.

A brilliant idea said badly or not heard will get nowhere. Great ideas do not win alone.
To some extent Tier 1 universities and private schools automate this process.

But I have met many brilliant PhDs driving taxis because they could not get a job, because of their lack of expression in the language of the country they call home. The world runs on words.

America, especially, is a country of words… being a country created on big ideas, and ruled by laws.

Sadly a bad idea, said eloquently and forcefully will likely be adopted over a better idea.

But a few leaders mangle English?

Some leaders may mangle the English language, but often have the advantage of a well-connected father.

For example, Bill Clinton has had less advantages than many other leaders. He is well regarded globally because of his sheer eloquence and command of words.

Also some CEOs are so great they make it regardless of grammar. In some industries,like manufacturing, big words can be a handicap to success.

However, we are entering a world of creativity, big ideas and design. Those diamond-in-the-rough success stories will become rarer than they already are.

Why learn self-expression with words?

If your child is bright, in the top third of his or her class, it is a pity not to maximise his or her opportunities. Many other children who have simply not had opportunities, suddenly spark when fed big ideas. Many children are simply bored.

All children should have the best possible opportunity.

For your child to get a seat at the table, in one of the better universities or to have a better life, they will need good command of language.

More importantly to be a well-rounded person, it is important to read intelligent works such as Adam Smith, Locke, Hume, Mills, Ben Franklin and others.

In other words the Enlightenment leaders that US, French and other countries history were profoundly affected by.

Grammar is a secret!

But more than that, if your child wants a chance of a legal, consultancy or other well-paid job, they will be continually constrained by poor grammar.

Poor grammar prevents otherwise good ideas being expressed well.

Poor grammar is the number one barrier to command of language. Not only native English languages, but foreign languages that may become increasingly required later in life in this new type of global world.

Unfortunately many schools these days have reduced the importance of grammar, and in some cases eliminated it completely.

The French and Europeans are generally far better placed to profit from a multi-lingual world. Grammar is taught to rich and poor alike in France.

7 ways to insist on Grammar and ‘narrow the gap’

• Insist on grammar in your schools
• Insist on spelling and grammar from your child’s teachers
• Write your congressman or elected representative and tell them why
• Go to the library and privately teach your child grammar
• Insist your child study spelling and grammar
• Give them books of big ideas to read
• Read aloud to them big ideas from adult books at an early age…

Surely there’s another way?

A few leaders may have poor grammar, but were more often than not born with connections. Few have had to pull themselves up by their bootstraps.

A few are lucky. But luck is fickle.

For our children luck can be improved with preparedness.

The single biggest difference between rich and poor, recognized intellect and wasted intellect is language and vocabulary.

Grammar is the first rung on the ladder of lifelong learning.

Take care,

(feel free to comment below!)

Christopher

Thanks to Wikipedia Commons for the baby image