According to Wikipedia, Juan Enriquez is a Latino academic, businessman, author and speaker. He is a Harvard graduate who joined a multi-stage world sailing discovery voyage led by J. Craig Venter, who sequenced the human genome. In other words, he’s a bad-ass genius. Enriquez, who has published several books on Genomics and societal issues, recently delivered a Ted Talk on the difference between countries that succeed and countries that fail, and in his view it all comes down to values and how they treat people. If I tried to paraphrase the speech, I would not do it justice, so here is a link to it. Let’s help it go viral. Please take ten minutes to watch it, it will open your eyes. My thanks to Jerry Ascencio for sharing it with me.
Most of us have heard that it's not about what happens to you or around you; it's how you react to it. That discipline may be the single most important quality a person can possess when it comes to success. Talent is overrated, and luck is out of our control. Grit, on the other hand, is a superpower.
I believe deeply in taking the high road; it is rarely good to lose your cool, especially in business. It’s part of what we call emotional intelligence…However, it’s not always best to walk away from a fight. There are some things worth fighting for, and for the right reasons…Historically, NAHREP has been friendly with consumer groups. We have not always agreed on everything, but I respect them and have worked hard to have a good relationship with them. But…
I am a big believer in being authentic and original…Last year, I started playing with an idea about how entrepreneurship can close the minority wealth gap in America. I floated an audacious idea that the wealth gap poses an existential threat to America’s leadership in the world economy. That was an attention-getter! To develop my thesis on how to close the wealth gap, I thought about my observations in the housing industry. I realized that…