Hi, I am Max, currently 20 years old and from Germany. No matter who you are, I appreciate you for taking the time to read this letter.
I have always been fascinated by economics and what humanity was able to achieve through economic thinking. In the last centuries, the main factor for the improvement of overall quality of life has been the economy. Driven by an intrinsic urge for innovation, companies and enterprises all over the world developed and improved product after product, service after service – questioning the status quo, and thereby bringing an immense, formerly unknown amount of wealth and unbelievable technological advancements to all of us.
Because of this, I find that studying economics and business is not only, as Ben Bernanke pointed out once, quite challenging, but also highly interesting. Understanding how big companies operate, how they work and how they can be managed and maneuvered – all of this knowledge is of monumental importance for making the enterprises of tomorrow even more efficient, more sustainable and more innovative than they are today. And because this is exactly what I want to do in the future, I am currently pursuing a degree in International Business Administration.
However, I believe that in the future, good knowledge about economics, finance and business won't be enough to tackle all of the challenges a company will have to face in order to stay excellent. Climate Change, Digitization, Globalization and the COVID-19 pandemic, all of these phenomenons seem to have two things in common: Firstly, they cause our already fast-paced world to move even faster. Secondly, they demand a completely new type of thinking and a drastically – not to say radically – new approach to problem-solving.
This is where informatics comes into play. As William J. Clinton once stated, education and information are becoming increasingly important in the new economy. I am amazed by how fast digital technology managed to change business models, societies – and really the whole world. And even though so much has changed already, there is so much potential that is yet to be utilized.
I firmly believe that the way in which companies approach, adapt and utilize technology is far from optimal, and can be improved substantially. Social Networks with their mundane, dopamine-driven feedback loops are having devastating effects on the humans using them. Applications sell the private data of their users to third parties. And many firms in general do not see a satisfying Return On Investment regarding the adaptation of new technologies such as IoT, Blockchain or Asset Tracking. My goal is to change that - by helping companies with adopting digital technologies. This is why I decided to get a background in informatics as soon as I could, even if it meant that I had to work for my High School Diploma at home after work for two years straight. I firmly believe that in the future, a solid foundation in informatics will be indispensable for almost everyone who wants to tackle the business challenges of tomorrow.
I want to contribute to solutions that will master these highly difficult challenges of tomorrow. And through doing that, I want to improve the world and the situation of the people that live in it – even just a little bit. That's what drives me and that's what motivates me to go above and beyond, even if it means that I have to make sacrifices. I think that my generation is a special one. We were born into a world with an unbelievable amount of wealth and almost limitless opportunities. However, at the same time, humanity is on the verge of losing their most valuable resource – Earth.
The United Nations Environmental Report of 2019 sent a pretty clear message: The planet is dying at an alarming speed. Over 1.000.000 species are facing extinction and about 23% of the agricultural areas are damaged beyond repair. I want to stop this trend and help to make corporations and their products not only more efficient and more sophisticated, but also more sustainable and less harmful to the environment. I am confident that my understanding of digital technology will help me tremendously to achieve this goal, even though I am aware that it is an even harder one than just making enterprises more profitable. But, as Ernest Hemingway once wrote: "The world is a fine place and worth the fighting for".
That is what motivates me, and that is what I plan on doing – at first by obtaining the knowledge that is necessary and then by applying said knowledge in order to contribute to the creation of companies that are long-lasting, innovative and keep shifting the paradigm - for a better, cleaner and more vivid future.
