Watch "The Truth About Education and Why You Can't Solve Problems with RobHersov"...

What if school slowly taught you to stop thinking creatively?

Richard Perez argues we are born curious, experimental and driven to learn, then gradually trained into narrower ways of thinking. In this conversation with Rob Hersov, the head of UCT’s d.school explains why education, universities and businesses struggle with complex problems, and why creativity, failure and multidisciplinary thinking matter more than ever. They discuss: • Why education can suppress creative confidence • Why experts often jump to solutions too quickly • How design thinking changes the way people approach problems • Why engineers, lawyers and accountants struggle with uncertainty • Why failure should become part of the innovation process • Whether universities are losing relevance in the age of the internet • How South Africa could approach complex problems differently • The future of creativity, leadership and education • UCT’s d.school and its work across business, government and society From voting and gender-based violence to housing, water security and the future of universities.

This conversation asks a bigger question: are we teaching people to solve problems, or simply teaching them to follow established systems?

Watch "Helen Zille: The Burke saga, a response to Corné Mulder, and the battle for Joburg and beyond"...

Helen Zille left her husband, sons and grandchildren in Cape Town to chase what she calls one of the toughest jobs of her career: Mayor of Johannesburg.

In this wide-ranging conversation with Alec Hogg, she explains why she'd rather walk straight into opposition than repeat the "extortion" coalition deals that helped bring Joburg to its knees.

She takes on the DA's Mark Burke controversy and reveals what Henry Kissinger once told her about the DA's chances on the African continent.

Blunt, unscripted, and not without a fight.

Leaving the World Better Than We Found It...

There is a simple question that every generation should ask itself:

Will we leave the world better than we found it?

It is an important question because none of us owns the future.

We are temporary custodians of it.

• We inherited a world shaped by the generations before us. 
• They built roads, homes, businesses, schools and communities. 
• They made discoveries, created opportunities and passed on lessons. 
• Learned through their own experiences. 
• But they also left problems for us to solve.

Now it is our turn to decide what we will pass on.

Leaving the world better than we found it doesn't mean achieving something special.

It begins with the ordinary things.

• Picking up rubbish when we see it. 
• Planting a tree. 
• Looking after the water we use. 
• Treating public spaces with respect. 
• Helping a neighbour. 
• Giving a child encouragement. 
• Sharing knowledge. 
• Standing up for what is right. 
• Being honest when dishonesty would be easier.

These things may appear insignificant when viewed on their own.

But the future is built from millions of small actions.

We sometimes make the mistake of thinking that only powerful people can change the world.

We look for answers from governments, business leaders, scientists and famous personalities.

And wait for them to provide all the answers.

They certainly have responsibilities.

But so do we.

Every person leaves a footprint, but what kind of footprint do we leave behind?

Perhaps our greatest responsibility is to the people we will never meet.

• The child who will grow up under the tree we plant today. 
• The family who will benefit from a community project we supported. 
• The young person whose life was changed because someone took the time to encourage them. 
• The future generation that will enjoy clean water because we cared enough to protect it.

We may never know their names.

They may never know ours.

But that does not make our contribution less important.

That is what genuine legacy looks like.

Remember that leaving the world better is not only about the physical environment.

It is about the moral environment we create.

• Are we leaving behind more kindness or more bitterness? 
• More understanding or more division? 
• More hope or more fear? 
• More responsibility or more excuses? 
• More examples of integrity or more examples of selfishness?

The world our children inherit will be shaped by the values we teach them.

Children watch us.

• They see how we treat people who disagree with us. 
• They see how we behave when nobody is watching. 
• They see whether we keep our promises. 
• They see whether we take responsibility for our mistakes. 
• They see whether we help others or simply look after ourselves.

Our example becomes part of their inheritance.

That is why we cannot simply tell the next generation to build a better world.

We must show them how.

We must show that ordinary people can make a difference.

Perhaps we should stop asking, “What can I do to change the world?”

Instead, ask: “What can I make better today?”

• Make one relationship better. 
• Make one corner of your community better. 
• Make one person's day better. 
• Teach one child something worthwhile. 
• Solve one small problem. 
• Plant one seed. 
• Offer one word of encouragement. 
• Then do it again tomorrow.

That is how change happens.

Not always through grand gestures, but through ordinary people doing worthwhile things.

And there is another important lesson here.

• We will never leave a perfect world behind. 
• There will always be problems. 
• There will always be disagreements. 
• There will always be things that need fixing.

Our responsibility is not to create perfection.

• It is to make a positive contribution. 
• To repair what we can. 
• To protect what is valuable. 
• To improve what needs improving. 
• To pass the responsibility to the next generation with a little more hope than we received.

That is the meaning of stewardship.

We are caretakers, not owners.

The world was here before us, and it will continue after us.

Our time in it may be short, but what we do during that time can have consequences that last for generations.

• So let us leave behind more than possessions. 
• Let us leave behind good examples. 
• Let us leave behind stronger families. 
• Let us leave behind healthier communities. Let us leave behind knowledge, kindness, courage and hope. 
• Let us plant trees whose shade we may never enjoy. 
• Let us sow seeds whose harvest may belong to people we will never meet.

Because the greatest measure of a life is not what we managed to take from the world.

It is what we managed to give back.

We don't have to change the whole world.

We simply have to leave our little corner of it a little better than we found it.

And if enough of us do that, something remarkable happens.

Generation by generation, seed by seed, act by act, and the world becomes a better place.

The AI reckoning: Stafford Masie says jobs, healthcare & banking are all about to transform...

Your phone tells you which menu items will wreck your afternoon before you've ordered.

Your investment portfolio is run by an agent that never sleeps.

And the loyalty programme you've belonged to for years?

It might not survive contact with your own smartwatch.

At BNC#9, former Google South Africa boss and Discovery board member Stafford Masie skips the slides and goes straight for the uncomfortable stuff:

• an agent that hacked a gym booking system to get its owner into a full class,
• a compute shortage that's driving prices up even as supply grows,
• and a warning that South African businesses of any size could run with half the staff within three years.

He also names the healthcare boss he sent an unanswered memo to, live, on record.

This one is worth watching in full.

The Small Things That Change Our Future...

When we think about changing the future, we imagine doing something big.

• We imagine great inventions. 
• Major discoveries. 
• Important decisions. 
• Or heroic acts that change the course of history.

But perhaps we have it wrong.

Perhaps the future is changed by something much smaller.

• A conversation. 
• A kind word. 
• A lesson taught to a child. 
• A helping hand. 
• A decision to do the right thing when nobody is watching. 
• A seed planted in the ground.

The truth is that most of us will never change the world with a single action.

But each one of us has the chance to change someone's world through the small things we do every day.

And those small things can travel much further than we realise.

• An encouraged child today may grow into an adult who encourages others. 
• Someone who is shown kindness during a difficult time will remember it for the rest of their lives
• And pass that kindness on to somebody else. 
• A young person who is taught the importance of honesty will carry that into their family. 
• And their workplace. And their community.

One small action can become another, and then another.

Before we know it, the seed has become a tree.

This is important when we consider tomorrow's generations.

We cannot know what challenges our children and grandchildren will face.

We cannot predict the world they will inherit or the problems they will have to solve.

But we can influence the people they become.

And that begins with the small things. 

• We can teach them to say "please" and "thank you". 
• We can teach them to respect other people. 
• We can teach them that failure is not the end. 
• We can teach them to take responsibility for their actions. 
• We can teach them to help someone who is struggling. 
• We can teach them that their circumstances do not determine their character.

These may seem like small lessons.

They are not.

They are the foundations upon which strong families, communities and societies are built.

Sometimes we underestimate the power of example.

A child may forget what we told them, but they are unlikely to forget what they saw us do.

• If we want tomorrow's generation to be honest, we must demonstrate honesty. 
• If we want them to be compassionate, we must show compassion. 
• If we want them to respect others, we must show respect. 
• If we want them to have hope, we must live with hope ourselves.

We are all teachers, whether we realise it or not.

• Someone is always watching. 
• Someone is learning from how we respond to life. 
• Someone may be taking their cue from us when things go wrong.

That is why the small things matter.

• A smile matters. 
• A thank-you matters. 
• Keeping a promise matters. 
• Admitting that we were wrong matters. 
• Listening to someone who feels ignored matters. 
• Helping someone who cannot repay us matters. 
• Choosing not to spread anger or hatred matters.

None of these things will make tomorrow's headlines.

But they may make tomorrow better.

The same is true of the decisions we make about our communities and our country.

• Voting responsibly matters. 
• Looking after our environment matters. 
• Supporting local initiatives matters. 
• Speaking up when something is wrong matters. 
• Taking an interest in the future matters.

Change rarely arrives all at once.

It usually begins with ordinary people making small choices. Every day.

That is how progress happens. That is how character is formed. That is how trust is built.

That is how communities become stronger.

And that is how generations influence the generations that follow.

• So never tell yourself that what you do does not matter. 
• You may never know the full effect of a kind word. 
• You may never see the person who was inspired by your example. 
• You may never know how a small act of courage changed somebody else's life.

That does not make it insignificant.

A farmer does not dig up a seed every morning to see whether it has grown.

He plants it, waters it and trusts the process.

Perhaps that is what we need to do with our own lives.

Plant good seeds. Nurture them. Be patient. And trust that they will grow.

We are not merely living for today.

Every decision we make is, in some small way, helping to shape tomorrow.

So let us be careful about the seeds we sow.

• Let us plant kindness instead of cruelty. 
• Hope instead of despair. 
• Responsibility instead of excuses. 
• Understanding instead of division. 
• Courage instead of fear. 
• And character instead of entitlement.

We may not live long enough to see the full harvest.

But that should never stop us from planting.

Because the future does not belong only to those who will live in it.

The future also belongs to those of us who are preparing it.

And sometimes, the smallest things we do today become the biggest gifts we leave for tomorrow.