Huma on Business

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Summary: The traditional Maasai, who many may consider backward and ignorant, may actually be using very advanced ideas within their lifestyle, and these ideas lead them to have more cool and “satisfying” lives. Maybe we can learn some lesson from them if we also want to be happy and cool, and have a fat bank account in the process.

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A lot of people would say that the Maasai are backward and have refused to change with the times. They would say that their lifestyle is unsustainable in the modern world, and that keeping and considering livestock as wealth is a very backward idea. They would say that money is the new deal, and that driving in an air-conditioned car to work in an office for nine hours is the peak of success - on and on they would go. But have they really looked deeply into what they are doing, or to the actual reasons why these guys (Maasai) don’t seem to be very motivated to change? Maybe it’s because their lifestyle is actually more advanced than ours. Let me explain.

Right now, I can confidently say that there is nothing like “African Culture” in existence. We all think that such a thing exists; living in grass thatched houses, being broke and without food, thinking stupid thought, fighting your brothers while considering foreigners to be gods, dying of simple diseases. All these things paint a picture that “African Culture”, whatever it may be, is equal to shit that needs to be flashed down a toilet. A good thing then, that it actually doesn’t exist; there are hundreds of different cultures within the African continent all being very different form one another (at least there used to be).

There is nothing like “Kenyan Culture” in existence either. That idea is just as fictional as “African Culture”. Kenya has about 42 tribes each with its own characteristic culture; one of those being the Maasai culture.

The Maasai have many things within their culture, but what I want to focus on here is their habit of keeping large numbers of cows, sheep and goats, and walking around with them all day every day - Moving from one place to another always looking for greener pastures. It is possible that many other cultures also used to do the same thing, but it is only the Maasai that have endured even as modern cities are built around them.

The Maasai walk around with their cows even in big cities like Nairobi, and they see nothing wrong with this. Many people look at them from their posh cars and feel ashamed; they feel that the likes of the Maasai are the one that are “pulling the rest of us down”. They feel these chaps are ignorant and “ape like” and should be forced by all means to abandon their cows and go to school to learn that a concrete house with AC is important, and human legs are useless; there is a thing called “a car” these days.

I used to think like this too, until today.

It was about 12:30pm, the sun was hot and directly overhead. I was walking to my next assignment; on Mombasa road from City Cabanas toward the airport (Business is tough I tell you). Unlike most Nairobians, I usually walk so that I can exercise and also save money in the process, I only have 7 clients anyway – no rush. So, somewhere in between City Cabanas and “Fair n Lovely” (or is it “Nice n Lovely”) there is land owned by the airport, and on this land there are no buildings at all – just grass and bushes. I usually cut though the bushes, as a shortcut, to get to one of my clients.

As I walked through the bush I saw this large herd of animals slowly moving through the bush, and somewhere on one end a man and a child. They seemed to be father and son. The father was holding a long wooden stick and the son was also holding a stick, only a lot smaller and thinner. The son seemed to be excited about something shaking his stick and behaving as if he wanted to jump like the Maasai normally do. The father was behaving like he is calm and only partially interested, but I could see from the small smile hidden on his face that he was feeling proud and excited too. I guessed that the father had been teaching the son something new about their culture and that the son was all excited about the new knowledge, but the father was trying to stay calm – but he was happy that the son was absorbing the info like a sponge. What father wouldn’t be proud if his son was swallowing his teachings whole and acting all excited about it?

Anyway, they proceeded to sit beside what appeared to be a huge anthill – a tree was casting a shadow on it - and on and on they went, chatting away. I passed barely 3 meter away from them and they didn’t even notice me, like I was just part of the landscape.

A thought entered my head. It grew.

These two “guys” appeared to be backward, but they seemed to be way happier and satisfied than I was, WTF! They are supposed to be miserable in their backwardness, but these two are enjoying life. And a father is even teaching a son the “ropes” of what it takes to do nothing but bask in the sun the whole day!

So what’s the deal here? Why has the culture of these chaps endured, and why do they seem so satisfied like they are not going to change anytime soon.

What I am writing here is the result of this thought process. I didn’t do any research into the Maasai culture or anything. I just used my assumptions from what is stereotypic of what people think of a typical Maasai world over, plus some observation from this particular event.

Here we go:

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The Maasai herd cattle for a living. And it appears to be all they do.

From what I gather: for food they mostly drink the blood of the animals and also the milk. Both of these appear to be readily available at all times. So we could say they have guaranteed food at all times.

They wear simple garment made from leather + red shuka (I wonder why they like red, why not green or orange). So we could say that the chance of a Maasai missing clothes is about zero.

Physically they look hardy, tough, and able to withstand all manner of harsh situations, even outright confrontation and fights. They are almost always slim (thin?), carry a strong wooden stick, and also a sharp knife covered in a leather sheath. From these we can deduce that they are ready to defend their livestock, and at the same time they have all equipment needed for a “kitchen” and general survival. So we can also say that they travel through life light, and with no need to own or drag around too many useless “junk”.

I wonder what the women normally do at home, I don’t know enough to say for sure. But the women never seem to be out in the field with the cattle like the men. Maybe they are busy taking care of the children, preparing some vegetable soup, applying make-up, painting their nails, gossiping, engaging in petty rivalry, and whatever else women may do at home, who knows.

Anyway, from what I observed from this particular duo, the Maasai take life easy. They sail through it with minimal effort; engaging in only a handful of repetitive task everyday - very boring, we could say, but quite efficient.

All these guys have to do every day is release the cows, then follow them around the whole day, maybe take an occasional nap under a tree, then bring them back home in the evening - very simple. And life goes on.

The cows eat grass, fatten, and then get eaten by the Maasai. In fact the Maasai mostly don’t kill the cattle; they just inject a blood vessel on the neck, collect the blood then let it clot a little, after which it is prepared like meat. There is also the milk from the cattle too. All manufactured from the grass by the cows.

(Come to think of it I wonder why no humans evolved to eat grass directly, and cut-out the “middleman” – oh wait! There are vegetarians! I can’t imagine how this story will compute for them.)

The cows also multiply by themselves. While grazing, they have sex with each other and produce offspring – automatically. All while the owner is sitting under a tree watching from a distance.

The cows also adapt to nature automatically; sickness, weather changes, availability of pasture, ET c. The natural processes of evolution keeps the animals well adapted to whatever the circumstance they find themselves in. Very little input necessary from the owner.

All the Maasai need is large tracks of land with pasture on it. And maybe some form of birth control so they don’t become too many and overwhelm the cattle (and in this they appear to have actually succeeded – their population, compared to their land, seems to be manageable).

Whatever the Maasai can’t get directly from the cows, they get by selling or bartering their cattle in exchange for currency or directly for what they want. For example, a Maasai could theoretically trade in maybe 4 cows for an IPhone 5.

Also they have so much time in their hands which they could use to invent stuff, think about the “meaning” of life (which amazingly they haven’t done – along with the rest of Africa, shame on you!), or just do whatever their hearts desire.

Lessons from the Maasai:

As a budding businessman these are some of the lesson that I got from this. Maybe they are completely useless, but time will tell:

1. The Cows: Invest in or create small business ventures that are self-sustaining and have a “life of their own”. By life of their own I mean the businesses can reproduce by themselves, evolve in relation to their environment, and most importantly have a built in sense of self preservation. Have a lot of these cows, not just one.

The “Cow” part seems to be the most complex to put together, since it appears to be the equivalent of the creation of new life. It involves mastering all the things that make a business work; product development + R&D, sales and marketing, market research and business plan development, accounting, public relations, human resource management + motivation, outcome mapping, politics, et c.

2. The Grass (pasture): This is the target audience that partakes of whatever it is the businesses have to offer. There are pastures that are greener and more nutritious that others, they fatten the cows faster and so make you to be able to eat meat more often (who said you have to be thin anyway). So you have to continuously be looking for greener pastures and then you direct your cows there to go and feast, and get fat.

A lot of people may not be comfortable with the idea that they are actually grass for some business to eat, but that is just the reality of the situation; specialization. We can’t do everything or get all that we desire by ourselves, many of the things that we want are very complicated to make (like a Samsung GS4). So the things you can’t do yourself some business somewhere can do for you – at a fee. So you are grass for some cows, while your cows are feeding on the owners of the cows that are feeding on you ;-)

3. Land (where the grass grows): the country. You most definitely need some level of control over the environment within which your grass and cows exist. That way you can exercises some level of control over the “weather” and “natural events”.

What this means is that geographical territories are not yet relics of the past, they are here for a few more decades – at least until humans can think more along the same “productive” and “objective” line. Until we build this heaven on earth, it is very risky to operate completely without boundaries; too many unknown. It also means that businesses cannot ignore politics – this is the weather that can either make the grass grow or die.

4. The Meat and Milk: This is the bottom-line, the reason you work so hard – Big money, ideas, property, toys to play with, offspring galore, ET c.

It is here that I must mention my little theory where I propose that the only thing important in this world is:

a. Producing offspring and
b. Generating new knowledge and tools to make the lives of said offspring easier than yours.

That’s all. All the other toys and distractions are just means to these ends. If you don’t do those two things then you are a total failure, no matter what you say, what you do, where you live, the toys you possess ET c.

If you don’t have offspring you will be forgotten (there is no heaven after death by the way!), and if you don’t produce new knowledge and tools then whatever offspring you produce are doomed to repeat the shit that you did – and maybe do a lot worse than you.

Anyway that’s just me; it’s open to debate (NOT!).

Back to the issue at hand; if you can create numerous cows, then all you have to do is release them upon the world and guide them to green pastures. And watch as they eat and convert the grass into juicy meat for you to eat! They multiply and adapt automatically, while you sit and enjoy all the free time in your hands – pursue your “productive” hobbies (along the lines of the “two golden objectives”).

You job will be simple: follow silently behind and chase off any dangers that might want to take advantage of your hard work. That’s all.

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Why then, you may ask, don’t I just get actual cows and live the simple life? The answer is simple; I have seen enough to continue believing that the mobile pastoralist lifestyle is not sustainable. I know enough about modern fighting techniques to confidently say that the Maasai are not equipped to deal with the dangers that lie ahead.

Modern people rarely fight with rungu and spears, they fight using tools like economics, psychological warfare, complex manipulation tactics, and automated (wildly destructive) devices. The Maasai’s land will be taken away from them by some hawkish/hyena/vulture business types who will slowly squeeze them and feed on them bit by bit until there is no more land for them to graze their cattle on.

The clever Maasai should apply their “advanced” model into a more modern infrastructure, like a ranch. Only then, maybe he can survive.

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Obviously in this world that we leave in there are people who have already figured this whole thing out. These are the kinds of people who build big businesses, fund startups, invest in stock market, sit in this and that board, and lobby favorable laws to come into force, ET c. They have fat cows that produce meat and milk for them continuously, while they lie and misdirect the rest of us down the wrong paths so we can be unwitting labor force in their businesses. They use various devices, appeals and tactics to numb our senses; religion, “capitalism”, “work ethic”, “thinking positively”, ET c. We follow their advices to no avail. Our children and grandchildren do the same shit we did, and the wheels on the bus go round and round.

In many ways then, the Maasai are actually cleverer and more advanced than many of us. They keep their eyes on the ball – not on petty distractions and temporary toys.

Huma on Business

Friday 11 April 2014

Someone just tried to sell me Life Insurance ....

Tuesday 28 May 2013

Business lessons from the Maasai culture