Today, I decided that I am going to start recording my life experiences - the things that are worth telling and remembering, the ones not worth letting go, but learning from. I'm compiling for that one day, and reading chronologically, to look back and smile. Today, I begin writing about today, and step into tomorrow cramming posts about yesterday, so as to one day be able to compile it all.
This summer I am interning (Google BOLD) at Google in Chicago, working in the Consumer Packaged Goods under Catherine Roe. I am just getting started, and I am truly excited about what I'll be putting my efforts to over the next couple of months, and the quality of people in my team, especially those guiding me. The following is a blog post from the CPG blog about the Zero Moment of Truth that I really enjoyed. Lets make the case for online marketing's influence on consumer decisions.
I recall my father, Ysaac Akinin, saying once: "products on the shelves, most likely, don't get a second chance to a first impression." The depth of this statement in the areas of marketing, product diffusion and adoption and general merchandising is unique. Keep this phrase in mind as I go over a consumer's Moment of Truth.
The term "First Moment of Truth" (commonly called FMOT) was coined by Procter & Gamble in 2005 to define the first interaction between a shopper and a product on a store's shelf. This moment was considered one of the most important marketing opportunities for a brand, as P&G asserted -- and others believed -- that shoppers make up their mind about a product in the first few seconds after they encounter that product for the first time. While this first moment of truth is still important, the rise of full internet adoption and increased search engine use often lead to many brand interactions taking place between a consumer and a brand before that consumer ever sees a product on a shelf. This phenomena is what we are calling the "Zero Moment of Truth", or ZMOT.
We've pulled together some data which supports this new phenomenon.
SKU proliferation in the marketplace and more complex product ingredients, additives and benefits (i.e. anti-wrinkle, probiotics, acai, stevia) have given consumers more reason to turn to search engines to help them in the decision-making process.
P&G and other companies have started to re-evaluate a brand's true First Moment of Truth. For example, Peter Hoyt, Executive Director of In-Store Marketing Institute, talks about P&G's shift to focus on the notion of "Store Back" -- equivalent to what we are calling the Zero Moment of Truth.
What does ZMOT mean for marketers? It means that marketers need to button up their pull marketing strategies, not only the push strategies, and find ways to connect the two. Marketers need to ensure that a consumer has a consistent and positive experience -- from the Zero Moment of Truth to the point of purchase and beyond -- by getting in front of a consumer with the right brand message early in the process of discovery, and staying there along the way. (credit: Jenny Liu) This is potentially the second chance to a first impression!
It took me a while to make some time and write about our amazing experience in Medellin, Colombia. I'm late in writing it, perhaps, because I couldn't find the time I thought this incredible trip required for me to sit down and in retrospect give a full recount.
To begin, we are honored to be the first students in the history of the University of Chicago to obtain the Dean's Fund for Student Life Award twice in the same year.
Our team: Alberto Da Costa, Guimar Vaca Sittic, David Akinin, Pedro Sanchez de Lozada
Although I arrived earlier with my father, Ysaac, older brother Abraham, and Pedro, our week started on Sunday May 16th, when Alberto and Guimar got to Medellin. Now before I even jump in to the details of the competition, I must say that Medellin, Colombia is a beautiful city, filled with lovely, friendly people- something I had never seen before.
Abraham Akinin, Pedro Sanchez de Lozada, David Akinin, Ysaac Akinin
More than a recount of the competition (which I can talk about at another time and place), this post deserves to highlight Medellin's hospitality above all. My father came along for the trip because he wanted to meet Humberto Fernandez and Margarita Fernandez (unrelated, by the way) to push for the sale of a soymilk production plant for El Programa Para La Ayuda A La Ninez. However, instead of it seeming that he went to sell something to them or start a business with them, it appeared as if they expected their family. We hadn't stepped in Colombian land, and there they were- Humberto, his wife Carmen Beatriz and Margarita, in the airport waiting for us. Behind them, another gentleman, William- a friend's uncle, who had non-egoistically given us accommodations and transportation for the whole trip, as well as his unconditional friendship.
We stayed in a finca in Lomas del Escobero. Stables, the view, the service, the Zorro-style decorations- it was our mansion for a week. The air we breathed those days, the sights we saw every morning and the foods we enjoyed, marked our every second.
Lomas del Escobero
David Akinin and William
The competition was scheduled to start on Wednesday, but I decided to go earlier to become familiar with the people, the place and plan a solid strategy for the rest of the week. The two following days were a mix of sightseeing and meetings with different companies that were going to participate in the challenges. I met with executives of Bancolombia, the VP of Marketing of Suramericana (insurance company) and a Director of Enlace Operative, a Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) company, among other businesspeople affiliated with the companies we were to research a few days later. These meetings gave us a better understanding on how business was handled in Medellin.
Guimar recounts: "We were all very excited when the first day arrived. After meeting all our competitors that came from around the world, we sat down to listen the challenge presentation by a company called conTREEbute. This environmental, green, for-profit company showed their case and their actual problems to penetrate into the Colombian market."
Winners of conTREEbute Challenge
We prepared case study responses to live problems of countless companies including conTREEbute, colombiaMODA, Everfit, Levi's, Enlane Operativo and Suramericana. We were faced with expansion, outsourcing, financing, innovating, marketing and consulting challenges. Our team opted by implementing a plan with guerrilla marketing strategies that would have high reach to people and at the same time be cost-effective for the company taking into account the limited budget they had given us at the beginning, for campaigns liek Levi's. In some cases we accuded to executives in the area, like Joe Siegelman, founder of Office Tiger, and today Petro Tiger. Our presentations consisted of different schemes that would allow the companies to grow at a fast rate and at the same time not loose control of their financial statements.
EAFIT Organizers and BizInk participants
The final challenge presented consisted in developing different collection methods for micro-insurance premiums and potential channels of distribution that would help the company adopt these cost-effective strategies and provide a personalized service. I researched all night FACECOLDA, the academic journal of the insurance industry, at the EAFIT library. In addition, we met throughout the week with several employees of the company, and the founder of Banco de la Mujer, today Banca Mia- Margarita Fernandez.
Although we had won most of the challenges, the peer review challenge was something that hampered our chances from the very beginning and something we could not recuperate during the following days. At the awards ceremony I was awarded the "Best Prepared" Individual Award for the International Challenge and our team awarded the 2nd place internationally.We learned the importance of putting networking to practice when one is in a new environment. We met people, we worked under stress, early in the mornings until late at night.
Team holding check at Finca: Akinin, Sanchez de Lozada, Da Costa, Vaca Sittic
Humberto and Carmen Beatriz treated us better than one would expect to be treated by their family. In a letter to them I wrote as I departed: "You welcomed us the 15 and until the last minute of the 23rd of May, you were with us sharing, guiding and difussing happiness. Although for you it is the everyday land, for us, Medellin was 'wonderland' and 'the land of gold, milk and honey' of Latin America."
Dinner with Humberto and Carmen Beatriz Fernandez
We left Medellin with a considerable addition of friends to our facebook and blackberry lists, pictures in our cameras, memorabilia in our bags... but beyond all those material gains, we returned with a bond amongst us stronger than ever, an unforgettable experience that will bind us and our careers forever to that beautiful city and its people.
Last week, I had the honor of being recognized by the University of Chicago with:
The Humanitarian Award The Humanitarian Award is presented to students who have lived a life of honesty, integrity, and responsibility, with a demonstrated commitment to the welfare of the greater community.
The Maroon Key Society The College's honorary society, members serve as advisors to the Dean of the College and the Dean of Students in the College. Nominees must be second or third year students in the College who have been especially active in cocurricular activities, who have good communication skills, and whose academic performance has been strong with a minimum overall grade point average of 3.0.
I could not have done this without the inspiration of those around me and the countless experiences that have shaped who I am, what I do, and why.
For more information about college awards, visit: https://studentactivities.uchicago.edu/involved/sla10.shtml
Many communities have that one or two organizations that bring their people together several times a year for events, sports and whathaveyou. In the inner-city of Chicago, the community of Canaryville, has its baseball little league, an organization that has been up an running since the 1950s.
Johnny Kozlar and David Akinin
1955- Canaryville Little League, the beginning.
In the past years, as it came to my attention last summer through my friend Johnny Kozlar, the management of the organization had been decaying, it was much less transparent and the general experience of those who actively participated wasn't the same.
The Old Field
Johnny and I, along with some other peers at the University of Chicago- Dyia Aboasha and Rob Serpico, immediately decided to get involved and bring in our experience, ambition and spirit to start the organization anew, leave behind a transparent, efficient and organized model for this and potentially other communities to follow.
Johnny Kozlar, David Akinin and Dyia Aboasha
Mark Baker helped us create our official website, www.canaryvillelittleleague.org. We met with the St. Gabriel's Athletic Association and the Parish to get their approval back in 2009. We presented them with our plan of management, an ambitious plan to renovate the entire little league stadium, and our qualifications. Months went by and we saw ourselves holding biweekly sign-up days at the Boyce Park building in Canaryville, aggressively fundraising in the surrounding neighborhoods, including Hyde Park where the University of Chicago is based and reaching out to the entire community to come out, support and sign their kids up.
St. Gabriel's Board and University of Chicago Contingent
The beginning was tough- the community was a bit skeptical of our potential- as any community would be with outsiders who propose to renovate their estate and manage an organization free of cost. I remember our first sign up day, when the first parent walked in... The parent was eager to sign his son up for the Little League, as he'd be off the playstation for a change. He said "I'm happy someone is doing this, we didn't think there'd a be a little league this year". Immediately, I felt pride for what we were doing; the thankfulness in each of the 250+ parents who walked in to sign up their kids in a two month period, is the highest form of payment I could ever receive.
Meeting with Coaches at Boyce Park
Many parents approached us about not being able to afford the participation and uniform fee we were charging, and despite our fundraising (a $35,000 campaign which was mainly for the field rennovation), our Excel spreadsheets indicated that we could not sponsor as many players, as the need expressed. In turn, we developed a system whereby anyone who signed up would get 10 raffle tickets to sell. The system was simple- they'd keep the revenue from the ticket sales, which in fact covered exactly the league's fees, and they just had to return the tickets to us. Basically, we are probably one of the few leagues were any player can play for free if they so desire!
Hands-on! (David, Johnny, Dyia)
Uniforms, we ordered from Texas, the Cool Breeze technology- official MLB apparel. We held our uniform pick up days, and till this day we're dealing with exchanges here and there, but couldn't be happier about our choice.
In the meantime, we had hired all the contractors that'd renovate our field, mainly from the local neighborhoods in order to put back the money we raised to those business, but some from other states, as we were after quality and expertise at large.
David Akinin and Johnny Kozlar, Renovation Underway
Renovation in Process
Among the many fundraisers we've held and plan on holding throughout the summer, we had concert nights, car wash weekends, Elvis Night, and many more.
Grass Delivery
Inflield Red Dirt
Despite the differences, the bumps along the road, the hours of planning and arguments, the experience has been one that has shaped me and my peers infinitely. It has brought us strongly together, helped us grow in many respects and increased our pool of values and appreciation for community needs in a manner that will remain unique.
Stocking up the Concession Stand
First Game 2010
Opening day was Sunday May 2nd 2010. It kicked off with a community parade, where nearly 700 people walked the streets in a way that I've never seen any other community do before. The route kicked off from Boyce Park where our operations had started, and arrived at 455 W 45th Street, where the new Canaryville Little League baseball field awaited its new owners, the community of Canaryville. If it wasn't for the help and unity of the entire community, none of this would have ever been accomplished.
We had a beautiful kick off ceremony, in which over 300 helium balloons signaling the US Flag colors were let go by all the innaugurating players, as hundreds of parents clapped and cheered.
Girl's Red Sox Team
Canaryville's Phillies
Girls Minors' First Game
T-Ballers
I picked up the microphone and said "Let the Games Begin", and Kozlar responded "Play Ball!"
The following is an excerpt from the Chicago Maroon Newspaper's April 20th Editorial:
Undergraduate Liaison to the Board of Trustees
For the office of undergraduate liaison to the board of trustees, the Maroon endorses second-year David Akinin. Akinin, who ran for the same position last year, showed a thorough understanding of the liaison’s somewhat limited role and demonstrated a keen interest in SG affairs. Akinin has been active on a number of SG committees and has considerable knowledge of issues pertinent to the student body. The Maroon was impressed by Akinin’s ability to convey his ideas, and we expect that he will be a passionate and articulate voice for student concerns.
I am running for the position of Undergraduate Liaison to the Board of Trustees, and I welcome you to participate actively in these year's elections by voting on April 20th-22nd at sg.uchicago.edu.
I’m an economics and international relations major in the college, raised in Venezuela, but moved to Miami in 2003, where I served as President of Krop's Student Government and Liaison to the School Board. I am running for Liaison to the Board with a passion for progress and fair representation. I have actively participated in SG and the Chicago Coalition of Colleges- served on two vital funding committees that benefit the way our RSOs pursue their interests on campus- the Uncommon Fund and Annual Allocations, as well as CORSO, which approves new RSOs on campus.
The Liaison is appointed to bring our voice to the Board of Trustees. Other than meeting with Administrators and Student Government, the Liaison is required to attend the Board’s quarterly meetings. Since the Trustees have busy schedules, by the time they come to the meetings, discussions on issues have already occurred and thoughts been shaped. What’s worth having a voice, if we will only be heard when the conversations have already taken place?
When elected, I will bring us to the discussions early on, and I will create a website through which issues will be available to everyone in the University community so as to include them in the process. I’ve already met with Andrew Alper, the recently appointed chairman to the Board and he’s willing to work with us. My platform: A voice, a website, transparency, support for increasing financial aid (UNDERGRAD and GRADUATE FUNDING) and diminishing budget cuts, encourage tactful expansion and strengthen relations with Hyde Park. I plan on increasing communication channels by tapping into our most impactful resource- Advisers. Through them, I'll send out surveys that target specific issues on campus to fairly represent the opinion of our student body.
I understand this may be a one man role, but nonetheless it is not a one man show. As early as elected, I'd start working on establishing relations with committee members, the slate and administration. I believe in expanding the role of the Liaison rather than aiming for a vote, yet first we must increase our impact where we have been given a chance to speak!
I hope to be able to work with the Chicago Maroon to publish an article once a quarter briefing my fellow students on my endeavors. I am for a wider recognition of SG presence and as such will push endeavors to get more access to students, by having elected officers present at big events, surveys through advisors, and much more.
Please message me to learn more about my campaign!
Below an interview with the Maroon from my initial candidacy (last year):
Addition [4/20]: For a current interview visit www.chicagomaroon.com
What do you think the role of the liaison is when it comes to political disputes of the University (such as the union contract, or divestment from Darfur in previous years)? I think the Liaison is elected to represent the Interests of the Student Body to the Board. If there’s a considerable amount of Students Petitioning for a specific issue, that has the potential of affecting student and/or campus life, is it the Liaison’s responsibility to be completely effective in conveying their purpose. It is part of the Liaison’s role to guide the students through their ways of expressing discontent or desire for change. Even if the Liaison was unsupportive of a certain issue, his function would be to make himself available and representative of all students for equal.
Do you support adding a voting student member to the board of trustees? No. I believe that we (the students) were given the opportunity to sit on the Board to brief and shape policy, issues and agendas. It takes more than two decades of age to understand the complexities of every action and policy they implement, and therefore, it should be left to the Trustees to make the ‘executive decisions’. I think that instead of focusing our manpower in pushing the board to give us a vote, students could be bringing about much greater change by spending time understanding our community and campus, their interaction, and the economic drift that changes it on a daily basis
What organizations have you been involved in on campus? Sit on the Annual Allocations Committee (Student Gov), President at Chabad; Student Rep. for the Coalition of Chicago Colleges; Info Primary for MUNUC; Assistant Chair for ChoMUN; Treasurer of Jewish Action; Rep. for PSAC; Board Member of the Uncommon Fund, Member of the Gilbert F. White Leadership Program; Student Government Proxy, Entrepreneurship Club, Inter-House Council
What types of events do you think you could provide as liaison to give students more access to the board of trustees? I’ve attended this year’s open forums with the President and some Vice-Presidents of our University, as well as a Brown Bag lunch with the newly appointed Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Andrew Alper. I would definitely keep these types of events coming. To give students the opportunity to first-hand interact with their administrators and trustees is a much stronger cause than attempting to gather data to represent them. In addition, I would hold office hours once a week and publish them on a website that I have promised to make, where all issues and BOT plans would be published for Students to view, comment on and cyber-discuss. This position requires that one reaches out to students in every way possible, and as long as I am elected, the University community will see my efforts focused on reaching out extensively to the student body through online forms, blogs, emails, surveys, by coming up to them in campus to talk or survey them. I have proposed to utilize our academic advisors to distribute quarterly surveys for students to answer. This is the best way of reaching out to undergraduates if one truly seeks to be representative of the whole. The position of Liaison is geared towards representing undergraduates at our institution, but seeing that Graduate students are not represented in this year’s election, I understand that the focus of the position changes to a great extent. We NEED to reach out more to each and EVERY one of our schools. People have things to say, ideas to implement and others to disagree about. Graduate funding is a huge issue In campus and we need to tackle it in our primary agenda. For this, I’d hold public meetings with Students at both the Graduate School and Undergraduate level to interact more firmly and share concerns. A Liaison should tie together students and their Student Government and not just focus on the Board of Trustees. Most of this position is about establishing relations on behalf of the students with Trustees and administrators. It is through these relationships that the Liaison can truly make change, bring about progress and let students truly be interested in what’s going on at their University. Student Government doesn’t do a great job in portraying a presence in campus, and one of my goals is to do so. Let’s make SG popular, desirable, liked- a government for the students by the students.
Do you plan on studying abroad or take time off in the next year? No. I will be matriculating at the University all three quarters in Chicago and giving my best to this position
What do you believe were the last liaisons' biggest successes and biggest failures in the last year? Where you feel they failed, what would you have done differently? The Liaison did a great job with the immediate response to a sexual assault case that had developed in the University by developing the Working Group on the Sexual Assault Policy. It demonstrates the sort of action that a Liaison must take in such instances- gather a group of students representative of our UC and produce a document/argument that would be used appropriately by Trustees and administrators. The liaison had a great relationship with the Graduate Liaison, which strengthened their voice. Nevertheless, there was much more work that could have been done- lobbying, representing, showing up. A great majority of our student body doesn’t know who our Liaison is; a great majority of them doesn’t know what a Liaison does. ‘Transparency’ the word everyone runs behind, is worthless if one isn’t going to be visible in the first place. I would have reached out to students more often than by email letting them know that there would be a brown bag lunch with x and y. If the position was all about setting up dates for lunches, we would be running to become facilitators, not liaisons.
Why should older students trust a second-year to understand the complex issues of our campus? This is a job that requires building relationships, and I am looking forward to strengthen them over the years. I have dedicated this year to understanding our university, Student Government and our administration. Of the candidates, I am the most involved in campus and with Student Government, its funding bodies and the Chicago Coalition of Colleges. I understand how our funding bodies work and I’ve served in Annual Allocations and the Uncommon Fund this year, positions that few students, oftentimes seniors fill. I have the maturity and capacity it takes to establish relationships with Trustees and Administrators and expect to be taken seriously. I am the founder of Shoes4Africa, Inc. (DBA Help4Africa), a non-profit that sends shoes to impoverished communities in Nigeria and the Ivory Coast, www.World2Save.com and www.onejewonestory.com. I was the President of a High School in Miami that enrolls over 4,000 students, and the Liaison to the School Board of Miami-Dade. Students should feel assured that by electing me, they are putting someone on the job that cares about what will happen to this position next year, someone who will keep his word and be ready to be accountable- someone with a passion and a will.
Is there anything else that you feel is important for us to know about yourself or your candidacy? I’m an economics and international relations major in the college, born in Venezuela, but lived for the past seven years in Miami. I am fluent in Spanish, French and Hebrew. Although I did not win the elections for Student Government at the beginning of the year, I was the only one of the non-elected candidates to attend all Student Government meetings, and even proxy for every one of my class’s representatives various times, including some from other classes. I understand bureaucratic systems, but better yet, I know this position is not about what you can do in the meetings, but outside of them.
February 19th, we landed at London-Heathrow. This, in fact, was my first trip to Europe, and I was lucky enough to be going with three great friends from the University of Chicago: Pedro Sanchez de Lozada, Guimar Vaca Sittic and Rodrigo Blandon.
This trip, unlike others I plan to take some day, wasn't solely for the touristic purpose; we were taking ten days off from school to compete in the final round of the Entrepreneurs International Challenge at the London School of Economics.
Guimar, David, Rodrigo, Pedro
The final round of EPIC, www.lse-epic.com, consisted of 9 teams from Malaysia, India, UK, Netherlands, Canada, Argentina and USA. We were the American team: four Latinos from Venezuela, Chile, Argentina and El Salvador, respectively.
In any case, we landed on a Friday, and the competition wasn't until the following Monday. The excitement took us around, made of us better friends, had us experience new routes, meet new people, see new things, taste new flavors, and cheer louder and stronger than we ever had before. To us, the fact that we were already in London, funded by the Dean of Students, meant we were already winners.
We saw the Big Ben, rode the London Eye, admired the view from the London Bridge, had Beer at the pubs, called out for the Queen from right outside the Buckingham Palace, stayed at cozy hostels, and I even experienced a beautiful Shabbat (different from what I had ever been to) in the heart of London.
Martin Kelly, IBM and David Akinin
London Eye and Big Ben, from London Bridge
The competition started on Monday. We were intimidated by some teams, but there was something inside of us, perhaps a strong bond we built over the weekend like we couldn't have at the University in two years, that reassured us, inspired us and made us feel like brothers.
It was very similar to the Apprentice, had four parts: a Sales Challenge, a Strategy Challenge, a Marketing Challenge and finally, the Social Enterprise Challenge.
Day 1, Sales Challenge we sold Mother's Day cards in the streets. Our strategy: focus on the London School of Economics strip. We sold to students, professors, staff. We didn't take no for an answer. We'd walk blocks with people until we made a sale. Persistence proved to champion: 168 Sterling Pounds.
Day 2, Strategy Challenge we presented a business venture based in El Salvador called Somos Soya (See blogpost about Entrepreneur Idol 2009). A soymilk production plant that would establish a breakfast supplement program for kids in public schools. We got full funding: 284,000 Sterling Pounds.
Day 3, Marketing Challenge 7digital.com came looking for ideas and we were eager to give them. They're in the process of launching a new and exciting product: "Locker Plus" and wanted marketing insight. We made a powerful presentation on Prezi.com, renamed the product, created a new image, gave Search Engine Optimization advice and pay-per-click marketing suggestions, and dressed up Guimar as a Cloud (see: cloud computing) and had him talk to London about getting on the Cloud... the judges voted for our proposal!
Day 4, Social Enterprise Challenge seeducation.com sponsored this event. We used Somos Soya, and added to it an additional Social Component- The Chutney Cooperative. As usual, we gave out soymilk samples, gave an in-depth, passionate presentation, supplemental materials and a business plan. But that wasn't it; we had to collect signatures in the streets (over 130), funding from random people who supported our project and win the vote of other competing teams ranking presentations.
Rodrigo, Pedro, Guimar, David
We won! We placed first in every challenge, accumulating a total of 40 out of 40 possible points-the first time a team got perfect scoring in the international challenge.
It was an "EPIC" experience for us all! We made friends around the world, celebrated at the Penthouse in London, made our country and university proud, but most importantly took home with us an experience that will mark our lives forever.
Last weekend, my brother Arie and I, were invited to spend the weekend with the Guillens at the Palmer House Hotel in Chicago, where the Sox Fest 2010 took place. When it comes to having a good time, I must admit it, it happens with the Guillens.
Arie had joined them a day earlier, so when I got to the hotel on Friday I asked him to meet me in the lobby and show me around a bit. Everywhere we went, people would say "there goes Ozzie's body guard, Arie"! I couldn't believe my ears, eyes... In less than a day he was almost as famous as Ozzie.
Anyways, I greeted Ozzie and Ibis, his wife, and later on their kids, Ozzie Jr, Oney and Ozney. What an amazing family I must say- the love in the air, the spice in their speech, the comedy in their dialogue, the kindness in their home, all come out to light seconds after you meet them.
To sum the weekend in a blog post would be a very difficult post. From renting out night clubs and partying all night with Ozzie Guillen and Freddy Garcia, dining at the finest places, munching with the top players at the PH of the Palmer House... to a warm good-bye, this is definitely a weekend my brother Arie and I will not forget...
Minnie Minoso (First African American Player in 1951 in Chicago) and David Akinin
By the way, you should all be on the lookout for the acclaimed www.ozzietalks.com !
Ozzie Jr. Guillen, Arie Akinin, Oney Guillen David Akinin, Freddy Garcia, Gledys Garcia
Jews are a famously accomplished group. They make up 0.2 percent of the world population, but 54 percent of the world chess champions, 27 percent of the Nobel physics laureates and 31 percent of the medicine laureates.
Jews make up 2 percent of the U.S. population, but 21 percent of the Ivy League student bodies, 26 percent of the Kennedy Center honorees, 37 percent of the Academy Award-winning directors, 38 percent of those on a recent Business Week list of leading philanthropists, 51 percent of the Pulitzer Prize winners for nonfiction.
In his book, “The Golden Age of Jewish Achievement,” Steven L. Pease lists some of the explanations people have given for this record of achievement. The Jewish faith encourages a belief in progress and personal accountability. It is learning-based, not rite-based.
Most Jews gave up or were forced to give up farming in the Middle Ages; their descendants have been living off of their wits ever since. They have often migrated, with a migrant’s ambition and drive. They have congregated around global crossroads and have benefited from the creative tension endemic in such places.
No single explanation can account for the record of Jewish achievement. The odd thing is that Israel has not traditionally been strongest where the Jews in the Diaspora were strongest. Instead of research and commerce, Israelis were forced to devote their energies to fighting and politics.
Milton Friedman used to joke that Israel disproved every Jewish stereotype. People used to think Jews were good cooks, good economic managers and bad soldiers; Israel proved them wrong.
But that has changed. Benjamin Netanyahu’s economic reforms, the arrival of a million Russian immigrants and the stagnation of the peace process have produced a historic shift. The most resourceful Israelis are going into technology and commerce, not politics. This has had a desultory effect on the nation’s public life, but an invigorating one on its economy.
Tel Aviv has become one of the world’s foremost entrepreneurial hot spots. Israel has more high-tech start-ups per capita than any other nation on earth, by far. It leads the world in civilian research-and-development spending per capita. It ranks second behind the U.S. in the number of companies listed on the Nasdaq. Israel, with seven million people, attracts as much venture capital as France and Germany combined.
As Dan Senor and Saul Singer write in “Start-Up Nation: The Story of Israel’s Economic Miracle,” Israel now has a classic innovation cluster, a place where tech obsessives work in close proximity and feed off each other’s ideas.
Because of the strength of the economy, Israel has weathered the global recession reasonably well. The government did not have to bail out its banks or set off an explosion in short-term spending. Instead, it used the crisis to solidify the economy’s long-term future by investing in research and development and infrastructure, raising some consumption taxes, promising to cut other taxes in the medium to long term. Analysts at Barclays write that Israel is “the strongest recovery story” in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Israel’s technological success is the fruition of the Zionist dream. The country was not founded so stray settlers could sit among thousands of angry Palestinians in Hebron. It was founded so Jews would have a safe place to come together and create things for the world.
This shift in the Israeli identity has long-term implications. Netanyahu preaches the optimistic view: that Israel will become the Hong Kong of the Middle East, with economic benefits spilling over into the Arab world. And, in fact, there are strands of evidence to support that view in places like the West Bank and Jordan.
But it’s more likely that Israel’s economic leap forward will widen the gap between it and its neighbors. All the countries in the region talk about encouraging innovation. Some oil-rich states spend billions trying to build science centers. But places like Silicon Valley and Tel Aviv are created by a confluence of cultural forces, not money. The surrounding nations do not have the tradition of free intellectual exchange and technical creativity.
For example, between 1980 and 2000, Egyptians registered 77 patents in the U.S. Saudis registered 171. Israelis registered 7,652.
The tech boom also creates a new vulnerability. As Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic has argued, these innovators are the most mobile people on earth. To destroy Israel’s economy, Iran doesn’t actually have to lob a nuclear weapon into the country. It just has to foment enough instability so the entrepreneurs decide they had better move to Palo Alto, where many of them already have contacts and homes. American Jews used to keep a foothold in Israel in case things got bad here. Now Israelis keep a foothold in the U.S.
During a decade of grim foreboding, Israel has become an astonishing success story, but also a highly mobile one.
This past winter holiday season, I embarked on my first trip to Israel through the Jewish Learning Exchange Program. The experience is ever reminiscent in my mind, the memories flow from corner to corner-this one's going to be an unforgettable one!
Every step I took in 'the land' felt like recreating history... I heard once more the stories about the exile, the battle between David and Goliath, the creation and destruction of the temples, and many more. Yet, this time the stories were filled with evidence, with sites to see, rocks to touch, remnants to put together.
The array of feelings felt throughout the 3 weeks is inexplicable through a blog- the energy that flowed, the excitement that drove- all things I'd never felt before.
With cousin Paul Levi and his son Asaf
At the City of David
Wall of Lament
Tito Isaac Benarroch, Tita Luna y Tito Alberto Benzadon
Minnie Minoso
