Ruben Vardanyan, evolutionary visionary, Co-founder of the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative, UWC Dilijan, FAST, International School of Leadership and Professional Development “Matena” and other projects.
Part 10
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- Determine the extent of digitalization required. Cutting-edge technologies are changing the nature of infrastructure, markets, products, business structure, and production organization. Due to the COVID-19 restrictions, a significant part of the interaction, as already mentioned, has shifted online, which contributed to the explosive growth of tech companies, which have multiplied their economic and financial figures, including capitalization. Meanwhile, many other industries hit the skids. I am convinced that the recession will be overcome by those who can best adapt to the new normal. The Airbnb example shows how a seemingly doomed company was able to rebuild itself, radically change its business model, and offer users a convenient service, which today connects more than 4 million hosts and more than a billion guests in virtually all countries of the world.[i]
Personal data is commodified in a new economic formation known as surveillance capitalism.
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Of course, one must clearly realize that the achievements of the new technological revolution can be equally used to make good and bad things. The boundaries of the private are getting more and more blurred. Personal data is commodified and becomes the most valuable resource on earth in a new economic formation known as surveillance capitalism. At the same time, companies that are missing out on digitalization will become invisible to customers and partners and will gradually sink into obscurity and cease to exist.
“The choice for mankind lies between freedom and happiness and for the great bulk of mankind, happiness is better,” wrote Orwell in his novel 1984. On one pole are those who choose the comfort and security that can be provided by AI and voluntarily give the system and corporate giants access to their personal data, while the other pole is populated by marginalized people who resist digital totalitarianism. In this sense, finding the right balance is important in order to turn digital platforms into interaction venues, a tool for expressing trust and strengthening reputation.
Between 8% and 10% of children across Armenia do not go to elementary school at school starting age.
Photo credit: The Aurora Humanitarian Initiative ©
- Create a free economic, scientific and technological zone in Armenia. As a member of the EAEU on the one hand and an EU Associated Country on the other, Armenia can become a location where the production of equipment essential for the modernization of the economy not just of Armenia but of other countries, namely Russia, is established, solving the problem of the supply of equipment and technology. This will allow several aims to be achieved: attracting investment from international (in particular European) companies that are interested in collaborating with Russian partners but which are constrained in their cooperation; restoring Armenia’s scientific and technical legacy dating from the period of the USSR, which was partially lost in the 1990s, attracting back Armenian specialists throughout the world who left Armenia during that period, and creating a technology hub; reducing levels of unemployment and labor migration, by creating a region of cutting-edge development.
- Modernize the mining and metallurgical industry. Along with the extraction and processing of stone, this industry is no less important than technology and alternative energy, agriculture and agricultural processing, as well as travel industry and financial services, for achieving effective economic growth based on increasing labor productivity while creating new jobs. The modernization of the industry will require the abandonment of methods for the development of mineral deposits that cause irreparable damage to the environment and human health, the modernization of technological processes and the use of digital technologies, the development and implementation of environmental standards, land reclamation and restoration of water bodies, a revision of the taxation system, factoring in current trends, affecting the global mining sector in general and local specifics, and attracting investment.
- Reform the education system, starting with preschool education, focusing on the best international standards. Already 20 years ago, as part of the Armenia-2020 project, we identified education as one of the priority areas for Armenia’s shift toward the hub model. On the one hand, education is the largest modern industry that sees a constant growth in demand outstripping supply, which results in a significant contribution of this industry to the economy. On the other hand, though, this is the area that spurs the development of all other industries—and talents play a key role here.
This paper will not dwell on the problems of preschool and school education—instead, I will just say that between 8% and 10% of children throughout Armenia do not go to elementary school at school starting age, a situation that is unthinkable in a country where secondary education is compulsory.
In my opinion, the benchmarks in the process of reforming higher educational institutions can be, above all, Armenian universities listed at the top spots of the world’s most prestigious education rankings and, secondly, an increase in the export of educational services by attracting a larger number of foreign students. To do this, we need to make international announcements for President jobs at Armenia’s leading universities and seek applicants among world-renowned scientists, create boards of trustees, and hire notable researchers as deans at various departments. For example, among the rectors of Russian universities, eight have historical ties to Armenia.
The model we inherited from the Soviet times, in which scientific research hubs are separated from higher educational establishments, also calls for reform. Practice has shown that this model is less successful than the Anglo-Saxon one.
Obviously, due to the increase in life expectancy and the dim prospects of retirement benefits, people will have to stay in the labor market as long as possible and, therefore, engage in lifelong learning. Probably, higher education in its current form is not the best fit for it, which means that, in addition to universities, it is necessary to create centers for additional education, professional and personal growth, and leadership skills in Armenia. One of these centers, the Matena International School of Leadership and Professional Development, is being created in partnership with the Moscow School of Management SKOLKOVO; in the near future, it will launch the first program, Executive MBA, designed for C-level executives and business owners.
- Engage young people (aged 25–35+). We see how in developing countries the fortunes accumulated over the past three decades of rapid economic development are going to the generation of today’s 20–30-year-olds, who, before even reaching middle age, become owners of enormous financial resources. Business has grown significantly younger: an active economic life often begins as early as 15 years old, thanks to the opportunities made available by digital economy. It seems that, for the first time in the history of mankind, we are faced with the fact that the transfer of knowledge and skills does not go down from the older generation to the younger, but vice versa. Young people’s unorthodox views and independence of judgment make us reevaluate many of the features of our current situation.
Unfortunately, 30 years of independence, which our ancestors had spent centuries aspiring to, did not turn Armenia into a country capable of keeping young and talented individuals from emigration. Most of the Armenian youth currently do not participate in our country’s political processes and do not hold memberships in any political parties, mainly because none of the current political forces in Armenia offers an ideological platform that would unite people. We must make every effort to keep thinking, determined, persistent youth in Armenia and in the Armenian world, those who have working imagination and a proclivity for self-expression. This requires letting these youths lead the charge when it comes to reforms.
- Empower women to participate in social and economic life, as well as in governing the country.
An important aspect of the Dilijan Community Center’s operation is self-realization for women, and their involvement in the socio-economic life of the local community.
Photo credit: IDeA ©
According to former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, “there is no tool for development more effective than the empowerment of women and girls.” Raising the question of the greater political and economic representation of women, I, of course, do not mean quotas, but the need to embrace the principles of meritocracy. A 2011 study at the BI Norwegian Business School, led by Professor Martinsen[ii] and based on the survey of personality traits of 3,000 managers from various fields, showed that female leaders outperform men in four of the five categories: ability to take initiative, be clear and communicative; ability to innovate, be curious and have an ambitious vision; ability to support, accommodate, and include employees; and ability to set goals, be thorough, and follow up.
Women in Armenia are usually more overloaded with work than men and at the same time, for the most part, remain powerless and downtrodden.
The world is witnessing a transformation of the traditional distribution of family roles, when a man acts as a breadwinner and protector, while a woman is a keeper of the hearth. Armenia is no exception, either, especially since, due to the difficult political, economic, and social plight of the 1990s, high unemployment rates, forced labor migration, etc., the role of men in Armenian families has changed dramatically. They have no certainty in the future; they are afraid of losing their incomes and their social status. This often gives leads to internal frustration, which sometimes manifests in compensatory responses: aggression and intolerance. As I have already mentioned, a big problem in Armenia, especially in the political sphere, is the prevailing atmosphere of rogue machismo, when any communication comes down to asserting one’s own superiority in the eyes of others without trying to have a conversation and jointly find solutions.
The woman, on the other hand, acts as a kind of social stabilizer, smoothing out rough edges and ensuring adherence to the unwritten code of social behavior. Sadly, today, women in Armenia are usually busier with work than men: it is women who are burdened with unpaid work caring for their families, children, the sick, and the elderly. At the same time, for the most part, they remain powerless and downtrodden: they endure domestic violence, suffer from lack of decent job opportunities, and face professional segregation and gender pay gap.
It is essential, however, to take into account that education begins in the family, and the leading role in it is typically played by the mother. Today, almost any homework can be automated, but only a mother can give a child the energy and love that shape their personality and spur their development. I believe that finding a harmonious balance between preserving the traditional family with its values and creating conditions for the empowerment of women, their self-realization, and greater involvement in social, political, and economic life will help to solve many problems and to achieve greater resilience of local communities and the country as a whole. Men should also be affected: their role in society will change as they take on nontraditional gender roles, such as raising children.
Changes need to affect different levels, including the level of “invisible institutions,” in particular prohibitive attitudes, signaling the unacceptability of practices, such as gender selective abortion, which harm a country facing a demographic crisis.
- Restore respect for the family and family heritage. The key to the success of any nation and any state, according to Confucius, is a strong family, a system of values, traditions, and rules, as well as a leader with noble and lofty aspirations. I am deeply convinced that the family community is one of the pillars of identity, thanks to which Armenians, wherever they live, have been and continue to be a single ethnic group for centuries. Unfortunately, in the 20th century, when the role of the state and its institutions increased, the family community began to lose the function of an institution serving the transfer of traditions and knowledge. With the modern context in mind, we need to rethink the role and place of the family, find a harmonious balance in the distribution of functions between the family and the state, revive the value of personal and family reputation, restore respect for one’s name based on the contribution of the family (dynasty) to the development of the country and society.
We need to rethink the role and place of the family in Armenian society in the modern context.
Photo credit: Internet resource
- Debunk myths about ourselves and about the world in general. Myths and legends are an integral part of the cultural matrix of every nation. Here we are talking about blinding and dangerous delusions that substitute reality and prevent us from making decisions that are comparable to the challenges and threats that actually face us. As I have already noted, blinded by our victory and the illusion of our invincibility, we failed to ensure the security of Artsakh, and the security of Armenia itself came under threat. We need an unbiased, evidence-based analysis of our past and present to help us understand what our strengths and weaknesses are and decide together how to build the country we want to pass down to our children, effectively using our assets and deftly bypassing the limitations. To accomplish the tasks set, it will be necessary to create an open information space and develop a system of effective measures to combat fake news and accounts of events.
Sure enough, this is just a broad sketch, which will have to be widely and openly discussed, revised, and reworked.
[i] Airbnb: Fast facts. URL: https://news.airbnb.com/about-us/ (Date accessed: October 12, 2021).
[ii] Øyvind L. Martinsen. Personality for Leadership // BI Norwegian Business School. – 20.03.2014. URL: https://www.bi.edu/research/business-review/articles/2014/03/personality-for-leadership/ (date accessed: 22.09.2021).
To be continued