Motivational speaker believes knowledge is power

Motivational speaker and writer of Own Your Industry Douglas Kruger is a well-known motivational speaker in the Roodepoort area.

Kruger grew up in Roodepoort and was the head boy at Allen Glen High School in 1998. He now lives in Weltevreden Park.

He grew up in a middle-class family and explained that at times it wasn’t that easy as his parents were struggling to get by and this helped Kruger with his will to succeed in life. “I believe that most people can be successful if they change their way of thinking about things,” he said

According to Kruger, the different ways of thinking starts with our schools. “At my seminars I always ask people what an old industrial building reminds them of, what does it look like to them? And they always answer that it reminds them of a school.”

He explains that they are not wrong. “The Industrial Revolution and the school system are exactly the same. The pupils show up for school and the bell rings that signals them to go to the class where they form a line outside the class. The teacher calls them in to their work stations where they are forced to work in silence without saying a word. Halfway through, they break for lunch and after that a bell rings again that signals them to form a line again outside the next class. The same happened at the old Industrial Revolution plant where a bells also signalled the workers to form a line where they would enter into the factory where they would work quietly at their work stations.”

Kruger asks,“What’s the problem with this? Well, it teaches our children and ourselves to be quiet and accept whatever we are told by the teacher.”

He explains that this prevents our children from speaking up and failing at times by making mistakes. “If you should ever fail, this is how you should fail: gloriously, aggressively, go down in flames,” because if you fail, it forces you to find another way to do something.

“This will also force and aid you to love knowledge. You will realise that the more your read, the more you know, so read more. If you don’t know something, Google it, and it’s actually a chapter in my new book.”

He explains that there are three parts to success if you are a businessman or a scholar. “These three parts are knowledge, personality and sustained publicity. I always use the example of Nigella Lawson. She might not be in the top 10 best chefs on television and she may not know the most, but she earns more than those top 10 chefs combined. She has all three elements that make her an expert in her field. She has the knowledge, she has a huge personality and she is great with her publicity in the media.”

He concluded and said, “You are not separated from your goals by a number of years. You are separated from your goals by a number of actions. It’s not up to years, it’s up to you and your actions.”

Details: Douglas Kruger info@douglaskrugerspeaker.com