Well, well, well. As a wholehearted proponent of re-imagining boundaries, I am enamored by the intersection of seemingly unrelated elements. Such a mix has the potential to ignite previously untapped value propositions. And, I am also a big fan of humor, as an ingredient of creative thinking.
So you can imagine my interest in the results of the recent presidential election in Guatemala. It reminds me of my meeting a couple of years ago with Jon Gnarr, the comedian elected to be the mayor of Reykjavík by a populace who wanted politics re-imagined.
According to Reuters: “Jimmy Morales, 46, sailed to victory with 67.5 percent of the vote in October on an anti-corruption platform in Guatemala’s presidential election. As a former comedian with no government experience, he has some unorthodox policy plans: he will tag teachers with GPS trackers to ensure attendance and give poor kids smartphones.
He plans to start with a pilot program in schools in 45 of Guatemala's municipalities, and said it would cost the government nothing.
"We are going to give (the telephone companies) school and government walls to paint their brand logos on to compensate them," said Morales, adding that he has been in contact with Telefonica, Tigo and Claro, some of the country's largest telecom operators.”
Bold ideas, coming from a complete outsider, on a new type of public-private partnership to tackle a major societal issue. Now, let’s see if El President can follow through.
