Entrepreneurs without money (XXIII): El Salvador possible entrepreneurship journey with China. Spatial thinking has to be learned.
Good morning.
I would like to share some thoughts which were not revealed yesterday about the spatial context. Probably because I was thinking only about the specific example of El Salvador-China new commercial relations. 
But it is important to address the relevance of learning to think in spatial terms since kindergarten. I believe our educational system doesn´t provide this specific crucial mental capacity. Yet. Please think about the spatial thinking as learning to do things as a hummingbird. Have you seen that hummingbirds seem to be static when they are moving their wings so rapidly?
Dan Roam does a nice job drawing a distinction between our “verbal” and “visual” mind by using a fox and hummingbird analogy.
Even when building LEGO structures we utilize linear thinking.
Let´s get it. My generation X, Millenials, and Gen Z were taught in pre-school how to think linearly. We were taught to do things following a line, by steps. After step 1, we are instructed to do step 2 and then step 3. And this goes on. This is a linear way of looking at things. Education has been designed as such. Even if we play with volume figures or LEGO, we are always thinking linearly. And this continues over primary, secondary and high-school. Only if you have the choice to apply to engineer careers, our brains get some paint-brush of spatial thinking. What if your choice is not engineering, but liberal arts or history or literature.? What if your call in life is not engineering? But music, or sciences? If spatial thinking is not taught at schools, linear thinking prevails… and we have to see the strategy in other terms. Mintzberg thinks spatially. And guess what: Mintzberg has a mechanical engineering degree too. Mintzberg last blog publication shows spatial thinking when he writes about strategy as seeing: http://www.mintzberg.org/blog/strategic-thinking-as-seeing
Spatial thinking helps us to know our mobile and static spot in the universe. And by writing this, with all the new mobility technologies and transportation inventions, we have a new movable panorama in front of our eyes. Kids have to learn since kindergarten that, their space is more than the static lieu where they live, study and play. Their spot is also a domain of their movement: when they walk, run, or use a bike-car-train or bus. Once kids understand this, they are able to see that other kids have the same rights of space and movement, in their own reference group, regardless of the race, economic situation or their peer parents.
After pre-school, kids grow, and they have to acquire more spatial thinking skills through the primary-secondary stages. We live in societies. And our local spaces are restricted by boundaries. In addition, our extent spaces are beyond the country of origin. Where my space ends, another human being has their own space. And there is another kid in China, or in Switzerland or in Argentina, which is becoming acquainted with this too. And all these kids who are learning, are getting lessons in spatial thinking: there are regions or zones which are public (do not belong to anyone but the state). If these areas are not good, kids have to grow with the idea of improving them (not just for them, but for the rest beyond their country frontiers). And these spatial boundaries are dynamic. We can move. By moving ourselves we can be efficient and minimize costs, and we can use our areas effectively in whatever business we wish to create.
For example, a simple decision to work at home is an option to explore for corporate offices. How many women couldn´t continue working after marriage and kids, just because there was no work at home policy? With technology, we can work from home, and have meetings via video-conference, WhatsApp, etc. We don´t need a corporate office. What we will need is help to learn a stay-at-home mom schedule. Of course, there are crucial meetings in which people have to interact in person and this can be handled. 
But think about all the office space that can be used for other purposes, instead of a corporate fixed cost. Corporate offices can be reduced by half, and this space can be used for other purposes in the society: education for example. Education has to be done in person-socially because people create social ties in person, not with the mobile. Faith in others is nurtured socially. Kids and teenagers need to learn to socialize, debate, discuss, make agreements, share, fight with ideas, not with guns, enjoy the closeness of others. And the place to meet is the school, or the university, or the coffee-shop, or the picnic at the park or the cinema, or their favorite sports location, a church, etc. The sense of community by sharing with others has to be a force for good. At some point in time, by using spatial thinking, kids and teenagers will meet naturally to plan how to help others in need, will create entrepreneur projects for collaboration, and not to plan gang wrongdoings such as stealing or killing others. Our future education system has to teach spatial thinking with ETHICS.
With the Internet, kids can see the world through the eyes of other countries, other continents, other societies, and the educational system has to help them to see a contextual analysis as normal components of their spatial thinking. If kids and teenagers are taught to learn there is more than their own spot in their country, they will start to create ideas or prototypes of doing things in other countries, or on the air, beyond the planes.
The Value of Visualization in business performance management, by Colin Horner.
Finally, as a reflection: we do not know if there is possible life in other planets or galaxies, and all those resources can be used to care and protect our planet or to help to educate people. Fix the inequalities through education. We always have to start from the inside-out. Repair our planet earth, before going to other galaxies or planets. Kids have to grow up knowing about how can they use their intelligence and limited resources using the spatial thinking with ethics. On planet earth first, before trying to move to galactic dimensions.
On my next post, we will continue with the cultural context. Thank you.
Source References which inspired me to write this article:
https://www.visualthinking-sa.com/the-value-of-visualisation-in-business-performance-management/
http://www.mintzberg.org/blog/strategic-thinking-as-seeing
https://blogs.articulate.com/rapid-elearning/essential-guide-visual-thinking-e-learning/
Disclaimer: All the presentation slides shown on this blog are prepared by Eleonora Escalante MBA-MEng. Nevertheless, all the pictures or videos shown on this blog are not mine. I do not own any of the lovely photos or images posted unless otherwise stated.
Eleonora Escalante Strategy 