Critical thinking skills and vision a bigger challenge - ICASL chairman

When the 27th National Conference of The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka (ICASL) began last week, ICASL chairman, Preethi Jayawardena reminded that last year, they said that critical thinking skills and vision were the new currency of the 21st century.

Now, these things have become more critical than ever before in the present challenging times, where we are in a state of flux, uncertainty and change. On the other side of the globe, Brazil, Russia, India and China known as the BRIC bloc are transforming the global economy. Thus, the local fold has to run faster than ever, to stay where they are.

The theme of this year's conference was `Transitioning Trends.'

The conference was told that, `When others are running faster than ever, and we are running as fast as we did; we will reach the winning line - but not as winners.'

The conference helped open the mind space of participants to understand global trends and help us in transition to the required state. The conference took the participants through the macro economic changes required and then looked at aspects of leadership development, technology, marketing and strategic planning which they said has to be harnessed to achieve success and create a better tomorrow.

Dr Howard Nicholas, a senior lecturer at the Institute of Social Studies, Netherlands, who was the economic advisor to the Ministry of Finance and Planning, here, from 1986 - 1991 said that Sri Lanka had long sought a development strategy which would yield growth rates around the double digit.

And with it, to significantly raise living standards of the majority of the population and appreciably reduce poverty levels. Disillusioned with recipes originating in the West, Sri Lankan policy makers, intellectuals, and others have begun to look East and specifically to China, for new inspiration. Dr. Nicholas, attempted to show that this shift in focus could be precisely what Sri Lanka needs, at least at the economic level, if double digit growth is to be more than a pipe dream.

Hilmy Cader, CEO and senior International Consultant of MTI Consulting, is the author of internationally acclaimed publications. These publications are used by MTI clients in over 20 countries.

Cader, said that in an increasingly inter-linked and highly competitive global market, countries face stiff competition. Traditional industries are threatened by forces such as low cost/mass scale production, China being an example; intellectual hubs India being an example and free trade via WTO and the all-powerful technology factor.

In some cases, this threatens the very survival of a country. It also provides great opportunities for entrepreneurial and knowledge based countries such as Hong Kong, Singapore, Ireland and more recently UAE.