Ernesto Sirolli: Want to help someone? Shut up and listen!

Translator: Joseph Geni Reviewer: Morton Bast

Translator: Alenka Bizjak Reviewer: Lenka Tušar

Everything I do, and everything I do professionally --

Vsega, kar delam, in vse, kar delam poklicno –

my life -- has been shaped

v svojem življenju – sem se naučil

by seven years of work as a young man in Africa.

v mladosti, v sedmih letih dela v Afriki.

From 1971 to 1977 --

Med letoma 1971 in 1977 –

I look young, but I'm not — (Laughter) --

izgledam mlad, pa nisem –

I worked in Zambia, Kenya, Ivory Coast, Algeria, Somalia,

sem delal v Zambiji, Keniji, na Slonokoščeni obali, v Alžiriji, Somaliji

in projects of technical cooperation with African countries.

na projektih strokovnega sodelovanja z afriškimi državami.

I worked for an Italian NGO,

Delal sem za neko italijansko nevladno organizacijo

and every single project that we set up in Africa

in vsak projekt, ki smo se ga v Afriki lotili,

failed.

je propadel.

And I was distraught.

In bil sem zbegan.

I thought, age 21, that we Italians were good people

Pri enaindvajsetih sem bil prepričan, da smo Italijani dobri

and we were doing good work in Africa.

in da v Afriki delamo dobro.

Instead, everything we touched we killed.

Pa nismo; vse, česar smo se dotaknili, smo uničili.

Our first project, the one that has inspired my first book,

S prvim projektom, ki je bil tudi navdih za mojo prvo knjigo,

"Ripples from the Zambezi,"

Sapice iz Zambezija,

was a project where we Italians

smo se Italijani odločili,

decided to teach Zambian people how to grow food.

da bomo Zambijce naučili, kako pridelovati hrano.

So we arrived there with Italian seeds in southern Zambia

In tako smo šli s svojimi italijanskimi semeni v južno Zambijo,

in this absolutely magnificent valley

v to prečudovito dolino

going down to the Zambezi River,

vzdolž reke Zambezi

and we taught the local people how to grow Italian tomatoes

in učili lokalno prebivalstvo, kako se pridelajo italijanski paradižniki,

and zucchini and ...

pa bučke ...

And of course the local people had absolutely no interest

Seveda lokalnih prebivalcev to ni prav nič zanimalo,

in doing that, so we paid them to come and work,

zato smo jim plačali, da so prišli in delali

and sometimes they would show up. (Laughter)

in včasih so celo zares prišli.

And we were amazed that the local people,

Zdelo se nam je nepojmljivo, da se ljudje tukaj,

in such a fertile valley, would not have any agriculture.

sredi tako rodovitne doline, ne ukvarjajo s kmetijstvom.

But instead of asking them how come they were not

A namesto, da bi jih vprašali, kako to, da ničesar ne gojijo,

growing anything, we simply said, "Thank God we're here." (Laughter)

smo si preprosto rekli: »Hvala bogu, da smo prišli.

"Just in the nick of time to save the Zambian people from starvation."

Ravno prav, da Zambijce rešimo pred stradanjem.«

And of course, everything in Africa grew beautifully.

In kakopak je v Afriki vse čudovito uspevalo.

We had these magnificent tomatoes. In Italy, a tomato

Zrasli so nam prekrasni paradižniki. V Italiji paradižnik

would grow to this size. In Zambia, to this size.

zraste do tolikšne velikosti. V Zambiji pa je tolikšen.

And we could not believe, and we were telling the Zambians,

Nismo mogli verjeti in Zambijcem smo govorili:

"Look how easy agriculture is."

»Poglejte, kako je kmetovanje enostavno.«

When the tomatoes were nice and ripe and red,

Ko pa so paradižniki postali lepo zreli in rdeči,

overnight, some 200 hippos came out from the river

je ponoči iz reke prišlo 200 povodnih konjev,

and they ate everything. (Laughter)

ki so ves pridelek pojedli.

And we said to the Zambians, "My God, the hippos!"

»O bog, nilski konji!« smo rekli Zambijcem,

And the Zambians said, "Yes, that's why we have no agriculture here." (Laughter)

oni pa so odvrnili: »Tako je, zaradi njih tukaj ni kmetijstva.«

"Why didn't you tell us?""You never asked."

»Zakaj nam tega niste povedali?« – »Nikoli niste vprašali.«

I thought it was only us Italians blundering around Africa,

Mislil sem, da po Afriki blodimo samo Italijani,

but then I saw what the Americans were doing,

nakar sem videl, kaj so počeli Američani,

what the English were doing, what the French were doing,

kaj so počeli Angleži in kaj Francozi

and after seeing what they were doing,

in ko sem vse to videl,

I became quite proud of our project in Zambia.

sem bil na naš zambijski projekt prav ponosen.

Because, you see, at least we fed the hippos.

Mi smo vsaj nahranili nilske konje.

You should see the rubbish — (Applause) --

Morali bi videti,

You should see the rubbish that we have bestowed

res bi morali videti, kakšne bedarije smo namenili

on unsuspecting African people.

nič hudega slutečim Afričanom.

You want to read the book,

Preberite si knjigo

read "Dead Aid," by Dambisa Moyo,

z naslovom »Jalova pomoč« avtorice Dambise Moyo,

Zambian woman economist.

ekonomistke iz Zambije.

The book was published in 2009.

Knjiga je izšla leta 2009.

We Western donor countries have given the African continent

Zahodne države donatorice smo v zadnjih 50 letih

two trillion American dollars in the last 50 years.

afriški celini nakazale dva tisoč bilijard ameriških dolarjev.

I'm not going to tell you the damage that that money has done.

Ne bom vam govoril o škodi, ki jo je ta denar povzročil.

Just go and read her book.

Raje si preberite njeno knjigo.

Read it from an African woman, the damage that we have done.

Naj vam afriška ženska pove o škodi, ki smo jo povzročili.

We Western people are imperialist, colonialist missionaries,

Zahodnjaki smo imperialistični, kolonialistični misijonarji,

and there are only two ways we deal with people:

ki znamo z ljudmi ravnati samo na dva načina:

We either patronize them, or we are paternalistic.

smo pokroviteljski ali pa očetovski.

The two words come from the Latin root "pater,"

Obe besedi izvirata iz latinskega korena »pater«,

which means "father."

kar pomeni »oče.«

But they mean two different things.

Njuna pomena pa sta kljub temu različna.

Paternalistic, I treat anybody from a different culture

Če sem očetovski, z ljudmi iz drugačne kulture ravnam

as if they were my children. "I love you so much."

kot s svojimi otroki: »Tako zelo vas imam rad.«

Patronizing, I treat everybody from another culture

Če sem pokroviteljski, pa z vsakomer iz drugačne kulture

as if they were my servants.

ravnam kot s svojim služabnikom.

That's why the white people in Africa are called "bwana," boss.

Zato belce v Afriki imenujejo »bwana«, šef.

I was given a slap in the face reading a book,

Klofuto v obraz sem dobil tudi ob branju

"Small is Beautiful," written by Schumacher, who said,

Schumaherjeve knjige "Majhno je lepo,"

above all in economic development, if people

ki trdi, da predvsem za gospodarski razvoj velja,

do not wish to be helped, leave them alone.

da je ljudi, ki nočejo pomoči, treba pustiti pri miru.

This should be the first principle of aid.

To bi moralo biti prvo načelo pomoči.

The first principle of aid is respect.

Prvo načelo pomoči je spoštovanje.

This morning, the gentleman who opened this conference

Danes zjutraj je gospod, ki je otvoril to konferenco,

lay a stick on the floor, and said,

na tla položil palico in nas, vas vprašal:

"Can we -- can you imagine a city

"Si sploh lahko predstavljamo, predstavljate mesto,

that is not neocolonial?"

ki ga ne zaznamuje neokolonializem?«

I decided when I was 27 years old

Ko sem bil star 27 let, sem se odločil,

to only respond to people,

da bom ljudem samo odgovarjal,

and I invented a system called Enterprise Facilitation,

zato sem razvil sistem, imenovan Pospeševanje podjetništva,

where you never initiate anything,

pri katerem ničesar ne poskušaš sprožiti,

you never motivate anybody, but you become a servant

nikogar ne motiviraš, ampak postaneš služabnik

of the local passion, the servant of local people

lokalnih strasti, služabnik lokalnih prebivalcev

who have a dream to become a better person.

s sanjami, da bi postali boljši ljudje.

So what you do -- you shut up.

In kar storiš, je, da utihneš.

You never arrive in a community with any ideas,

V skupnost nikoli ne prideš s kakršnimi koli idejami,

and you sit with the local people.

ampak z domačini sedeš za isto mizo.

We don't work from offices.

Ne delamo v pisarnah.

We meet at the cafe. We meet at the pub.

Srečujemo se v kavarnah. Srečujemo se v pubih.

We have zero infrastructure.

Nimamo nikakršne infrastrukture.

And what we do, we become friends,

In kaj se zgodi? Z ljudmi postanemo prijatelji

and we find out what that person wants to do.

in tako izvemo, kaj nekdo želi početi.

The most important thing is passion.

Najpomembnejša je strast.

You can give somebody an idea.

Idejo že lahko nekomu podariš.

If that person doesn't want to do it,

In če je ta oseba noče uresničiti,

what are you going to do?

kaj boš potem?

The passion that the person has for her own growth

Strast, s katero ljudje hranimo lasten razvoj,

is the most important thing.

je najpomembnejša.

The passion that that man has for his own personal growth

Strast, ki jo vložimo v osebni razvoj,

is the most important thing.

je najpomembnejša.

And then we help them to go and find the knowledge,

Ljudem pomagamo, da si poiščejo znanje,

because nobody in the world can succeed alone.

saj nihče ne uspe sam.

The person with the idea may not have the knowledge,

Človek z idejo je morda brez potrebnega znanja,

but the knowledge is available.

a to znanje je na voljo.

So years and years ago, I had this idea:

Zato sem pred mnogimi leti dobil tole idejo:

Why don't we, for once, instead of arriving in the community

zakaj ne bi namesto tega, da pridemo v neko skupnost

to tell people what to do, why don't, for once,

in ljudem govorimo, kaj naj delajo in česa ne,

listen to them? But not in community meetings.

ljudi raje poslušali? Ampak ne na srečanjih skupnosti.

Let me tell you a secret.

Naj vam zaupam skrivnost.

There is a problem with community meetings.

Srečanja skupnosti imajo eno težavo.

Entrepreneurs never come,

Podjetniki tja ne hodijo

and they never tell you, in a public meeting,

in nikoli vam ne bodo javno povedali,

what they want to do with their own money,

kaj bodo storili s svojim denarjem

what opportunity they have identified.

in katere priložnosti so zaznali.

So planning has this blind spot.

Načrtovanje ima torej svojo slepo pego.

The smartest people in your community you don't even know,

Najpametnejših ljudi v vaši skupnosti sploh ne poznate,

because they don't come to your public meetings.

ker ne hodijo na javna srečanja.

What we do, we work one-on-one,

Naše delo poteka 1:1

and to work one-on-one, you have to create

in da bi to lahko izvajali, je potrebno ustvariti

a social infrastructure that doesn't exist.

socialni sistem, ki še ne obstaja.

You have to create a new profession.

Izmisliti si moramo nov poklic.

The profession is the family doctor of enterprise,

Ta poklic se imenuje družinski zdravnik za podjetništvo,

the family doctor of business, who sits with you

družinski zdravnik za podjetje, ki sedi z vami

in your house, at your kitchen table, at the cafe,

v vašem domu, v vaši kuhinji, v kavarni

and helps you find the resources to transform your passion

in vam pomaga najti način, kako vašo strast preoblikovati

into a way to make a living.

v nekaj, s čimer se lahko preživljate.

I started this as a tryout in Esperance, in Western Australia.

S tem sem poskusno začel v mestu Esperance v Zahodni Avstraliji.

I was a doing a Ph.D. at the time,

Takrat sem pisal doktorat

trying to go away from this patronizing bullshit

in iskal načine, da zaobidem to pokroviteljsko sranje,

that we arrive and tell you what to do.

ko mi pridemo k vam in vam govorimo, kaj morate storiti.

And so what I did in Esperance that first year

Tako sem tisto prvo leto v Esperanceu

was to just walk the streets, and in three days

samo hodil po ulicah in v treh dneh

I had my first client, and I helped this first guy

dobil svojo prvo stranko. Pomagal sem človeku,

who was smoking fish from a garage, was a Maori guy,

ki je v garaži prekajal ribe. Bil je Maor

and I helped him to sell to the restaurant in Perth,

in pomagal sem mu, da je ribe začel prodajati restavraciji v Perthu,

to get organized, and then the fishermen came to me to say,

da se je postavil, skratka. Nakar so do mene pristopili še drugi ribiči:

"You the guy who helped Maori? Can you help us?"

»Si ti tisti, ki je pomagal Maoru? Lahko pomagaš nam?«

And I helped these five fishermen to work together

In tako sem pomagal tem petim ribičem, da so delali skupaj

and get this beautiful tuna not to the cannery in Albany

in da so svoje čudovite tune namesto v tovarno konzerv v Albanyu

for 60 cents a kilo, but we found a way

in namesto za 60 centov na kilogram

to take the fish for sushi to Japan for 15 dollars a kilo,

uspeli prodati za 15 dolarjev v suši restavracijo na Japonsko.

and the farmers came to talk to me, said,

Prišli so kmetje in mi rekli:

"Hey, you helped them. Can you help us?"

»Hej, ti si pomagal ribičem. Lahko pomagaš še nam?«

In a year, I had 27 projects going on,

V enem letu sem prišel do 27 tekočih projektov,

and the government came to see me to say,

ko je do mene pristopila vlada:

"How can you do that?

»Kako ti to uspeva?«

How can you do — ?" And I said, "I do something very, very, very difficult.

Odvrnil sem: »Naredim nekaj zelo, zelo težkega.

I shut up, and listen to them." (Laughter)

Utihnem in jim prisluhnem.«

So — (Applause) —

In tako

So the government says, "Do it again." (Laughter)

mi reče vlada: »Stori to še enkrat.«

We've done it in 300 communities around the world.

Uspelo nam je v 300 skupnostih po svetu.

We have helped to start 40,000 businesses.

Pomagali smo zagnati 40.000 podjetij.

There is a new generation of entrepreneurs

Nova generacija podjetnikov

who are dying of solitude.

zdaj umira od osamljenosti.

Peter Drucker, one of the greatest management consultants in history,

Peter Drucker, eden najboljših managerskih svetovalcev vseh časov,

died age 96, a few years ago.

je umrl nekaj let nazaj, v starosti 96 let.

Peter Drucker was a professor of philosophy

Peter Drucker je bil profesor filozofije,

before becoming involved in business,

preden je stopil v poslovni svet.

and this is what Peter Drucker says:

In Peter Drucker je dejal:

"Planning is actually incompatible

»Načrtovanje je nezdružljivo

with an entrepreneurial society and economy."

s podjetniško družbo in ekonomijo.«

Planning is the kiss of death of entrepreneurship.

Načrtovanje v podjetništvu predstavlja poljub smrti.

So now you're rebuilding Christchurch

Zdaj torej prenavljate novozelandski Christchurch,

without knowing what the smartest people in Christchurch

ne da bi vedeli, kam želijo najpametnejši ljudje v Christchurchu

want to do with their own money and their own energy.

vlagati svoj denar in energijo.

You have to learn how to get these people

Nauučiti se morate te ljudi prepričati,

to come and talk to you.

da pridejo k vam na pogovor.

You have to offer them confidentiality, privacy,

Ponuditi jim morate zaupnost, zasebnost,

you have to be fantastic at helping them,

biti jim morate v nenadkriljivo pomoč

and then they will come, and they will come in droves.

in takrat bodo prišli, prišli bodo trumoma.

In a community of 10,000 people, we get 200 clients.

V skupnosti 10.000 ljudi mi pridobimo 200 strank.

Can you imagine a community of 400,000 people,

Si predstavljate, koliko je v skupnosti 400.000 ljudi

the intelligence and the passion?

inteligence in strasti?

Which presentation have you applauded the most this morning?

Kateri predstavitvi ste to jutro najbolj ploskali?

Local, passionate people. That's who you have applauded.

Lokalnim, strastnim ljudem. Njim ste ploskali.

So what I'm saying is that

Želim povedati,

entrepreneurship is where it's at.

da je podjetništvo pač tam, kjer je.

We are at the end of the first industrial revolution --

Zdaj smo pri koncu prve industrijske revolucije –

nonrenewable fossil fuels, manufacturing --

neobnovljiva fosilna goriva, proizvodnja –

and all of a sudden, we have systems which are not sustainable.

kar naenkrat imamo tu sisteme, ki niso vzdržni.

The internal combustion engine is not sustainable.

Motor na notranje izgorevanje ni trajnosten.

Freon way of maintaining things is not sustainable.

Vzdrževanje s freonom ni trajnostno.

What we have to look at is at how we

Zagotoviti moramo

feed, cure, educate, transport, communicate

hrano, izobraževanje, prometno infrastrukturo in komunikacije

for seven billion people in a sustainable way.

za sedem milijard ljudi in da bo vse to tudi trajnostno.

The technologies do not exist to do that.

Nimamo še tehnologij, ki bi to zmogle.

Who is going to invent the technology

Kdo bo izumil tehnologijo

for the green revolution? Universities? Forget about it!

za zeleno revolucijo? Univerze? Pozabite!

Government? Forget about it!

Vlada? Pozabite!

It will be entrepreneurs, and they're doing it now.

To bodo podjetniki in oni to počenjajo že zdaj.

There's a lovely story that I read in a futurist magazine

Nekoč sem v neki futuristični reviji prebral

many, many years ago.

prisrčno zgodbo.

There was a group of experts who were invited

Neko skupino strokovnjakov

to discuss the future of the city of New York in 1860.

so leta 1860 povabili na diskusijo o prihodnosti mesta New York.

And in 1860, this group of people came together,

Tako so se leta 1860 ti ljudje zbrali

and they all speculated about what would happen

in špekulirali, kaj se bo

to the city of New York in 100 years,

z New Yorkom zgodilo v 100 letih,

and the conclusion was unanimous:

sklep pa je bil soglasen:

The city of New York would not exist in 100 years.

mesto New York čez 100 let ne bo več obstajalo.

Why? Because they looked at the curve and said,

Zakaj? Zato, ker so gledali statistike in ugotavljali,

if the population keeps growing at this rate,

da bo, vkolikor bo število prebivalstva še naprej tako raslo,

to move the population of New York around,

newyorčane treba preseliti in da bi to lahko storili,

they would have needed six million horses,

bi potrebovali šest milijonov konj.

and the manure created by six million horses

Konjskega gnoja šestih milijonov konj

would be impossible to deal with.

ne bi mogli obvladati.

They were already drowning in manure. (Laughter)

Že tako so se utapljali v gnoju.

So 1860, they are seeing this dirty technology

Leta 1860 so se torej soočali z umazano tehnologijo,

that is going to choke the life out of New York.

ki je pretila, da bo zadušila vse življenje v New Yorku.

So what happens? In 40 years' time, in the year 1900,

In kaj se je zgodilo? V samo 40 letih, do leta 1900,

in the United States of America, there were 1,001

je v Združenih državah Amerike obratovala 1001

car manufacturing companies -- 1,001.

tovarna avtomobilov. Tisoč in ena.

The idea of finding a different technology

Ideja, da je treba poiskati drugačno tehnologijo,

had absolutely taken over,

je popolnoma prevladala

and there were tiny, tiny little factories in backwaters.

in iz mrtvila so vzniknile majcene tovarne.

Dearborn, Michigan. Henry Ford.

Dearborn, Michigan. Henry Ford.

However, there is a secret to work with entrepreneurs.

Kakor koli, pri delu s podjetniki obstaja skrivnost.

First, you have to offer them confidentiality.

Kot prvo jim morate zagotoviti zaupnost,

Otherwise they don't come and talk to you.

sicer se z vami ne bodo pogovarjali.

Then you have to offer them absolute, dedicated,

Zagotoviti jim morate tudi storitve, ki jih boste opravljali

passionate service to them.

absolutno, predano in strastno.

And then you have to tell them the truth about entrepreneurship.

Prav jim morate povedati resnico o podjetništvu.

The smallest company, the biggest company,

Vsa, od najmanjšega do največjega podjetja,

has to be capable of doing three things beautifully:

morajo blesteti v treh stvareh:

The product that you want to sell has to be fantastic,

proizvod, ki ga želite prodati, mora biti fantastičen,

you have to have fantastic marketing,

zagotoviti morate fantastičen marketing

and you have to have tremendous financial management.

in imeti morate neverjetno finančno poslovanje.

Guess what?

Veste, kaj?

We have never met a single human being

Nikjer na svetu še nismo srečali človeka,

in the world who can make it, sell it and look after the money.

ki bi bil obenem zmožen izdelovati, prodajati in skrbeti za denar.

It doesn't exist.

Takega ni.

This person has never been born.

Ta oseba še ni bila rojena.

We've done the research, and we have looked

Delali smo raziskave in preučevali

at the 100 iconic companies of the world --

100 kultnih podjetij sveta –

Carnegie, Westinghouse, Edison, Ford,

Carnegie, Westinghouse, Edison, Ford –

all the new companies, Google, Yahoo.

tudi novejše družbe, kot sta Google in Yahoo.

There's only one thing that all the successful companies

Ena stvar je, ki je vsem tem uspešnim podjetjem

in the world have in common, only one:

po svetu skupna, samo ena stvar.

None were started by one person.

Nobenega izmed teh podjetij ni ustanovil en sam človek.

Now we teach entrepreneurship to 16-year-olds

Danes podjetništva učimo 16-letnike

in Northumberland, and we start the class

v Northumberlandu. Predavanje začnemo tako,

by giving them the first two pages of Richard Branson's autobiography,

da jim damo v branje prvi dve strani iz avtobiografije Richarda Bransona.

and the task of the 16-year-olds is to underline,

Naloga 16-letnikov je podčrtati

in the first two pages of Richard Branson's autobiography

na teh dveh straneh avtobiografije Richarda Bransona,

how many times Richard uses the word "I"

kolikokrat je avtor uporabil besedo »jaz«

and how many times he uses the word "we."

in kolikokrat »mi«.

Never the word "I," and the word "we" 32 times.

Besede »jaz« ni uporabil nikoli, »mi« pa 32-krat.

He wasn't alone when he started.

Na začetku ni bil sam.

Nobody started a company alone. No one.

Nihče podjetja ne ustanovi sam. Nihče.

So we can create the community

Ustvarimo lahko skupnost,

where we have facilitators who come from a small business background

v kateri bomo imeli pospeševalce z znanjem iz malih podjetij,

sitting in cafes, in bars, and your dedicated buddies

ki bodo z vami kot predani prijatelji sedeli v kavarni, baru,

who will do to you, what somebody did for this gentleman

ki bodo naredili za vas to, kar je nekoč nekdo storil za tega gospoda,

who talks about this epic,

ki vam zdaj tule razlaga svojo epopejo,

somebody who will say to you, "What do you need?

nekdo bo pristopil k vam in vas nagovoril: »Kaj potrebuješ?

What can you do? Can you make it?

Kaj znaš? Znaš to izdelati?

Okay, can you sell it? Can you look after the money?"

OK, znaš to prodati? Znaš upravljati z denarjem?«

"Oh, no, I cannot do this.""Would you like me to find you somebody?"

»O ne, tega ne znam.« – »Želiš, da ti za to nekoga poiščem?«

We activate communities.

Mi aktiviramo skupnosti.

We have groups of volunteers supporting the Enterprise Facilitator

Pri nas delajo skupine prostovoljcev, ki podpirajo pospeševanje podjetništva

to help you to find resources and people

in vam pomagajo najti sredstva in ljudi.

and we have discovered that the miracle

Spoznali smo, da je moč inteligence,

of the intelligence of local people is such

ki jo lokalno prebivalstvo premore, tolikšna,

that you can change the culture and the economy

da lahko spremenite navade in gospodarstvo

of this community just by capturing the passion,

te skupnosti le tako, da zajemate iz strasti,

the energy and imagination of your own people.

energije in domišljije svojega lastnega naroda.

Thank you. (Applause)

Hvala.