"No Politics, Just internet" has shaped the last few months of my life and business. Building schools in Afghanistan and supporting Afghanistan's educational system has inspired the Afghan Development Project and with it the Afghan Business incubator.
Fabrice Nadjari and Varial visited us a few times and discussed their incredible adventure in the Whakan corridor, a narrow sliver of Afghan land between Tajikistan, Pakistan, and China.
What attracted me to their project was their personalities and the vision for a positive side of Afghanistan. Afghanistan's cultural traditions are overwhelmingly interesting, but as a businessman operating a social and digital media distribution platform, I see the potential in developing educational content and developing Afghanistan's Economy. Fabrice and Varial allowed us to use one of their fantastic photographs, which is the current wallpaper of the Afghan Development Web TV, and I am in the hope to have some of their videos on Film Annex and the Afghan Development Platform.
On May 18th, I was honored to attend the opening of their show in NYC, "Whakan An Other Afghanistan." On May 19th, I wrote a blog about the Facebook IPO and mentioned their event. On My 26th, Varial looked at his numbers and wrote me this note: "Hi Francesco. My god you have a power of influence. 4000 views through your post last Friday haha!" and he attached this simple screenshot of the Analytic of their traffic:
At the end of the day the artist, the educator, the philanthropist, the men, and women who dedicate their life to good deed need exposure and promotion, and the simple act to write a blog can make a big difference. Why does one blog get 4000 views? Simply because I have nurtured my leadership in the topic, spent time on defining the keywords to send the message narrow and wide, and have created alliances with other thought leaders willing to support my vision or criticize it for a constructive future.
Michael Sweeney has mentored and educated me thorough out this journey and today he prized my writing skills; it made me smile and blush. Roya Mahboob has been my mentor and inspiration on Afghanistan, and today during a conversation about the value of blogging, she has confirmed her satisfaction on her new passion for writing and her interest to build a network of Social Media teachers and Bloggers for the 40 schools we are working with.
Building schools in Afghanistan, supporting Afghanistan's education and economy starts from your words and your will be a relevant thought leader and not a thought follower. Here are a few hints.
Ask yourself those simple questions:
Are you or your company a "Thought Leader"?
In what subject or what topic?
How do you quantify your leadership?
