An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis
No one cares once you publish — Every book I have published so far, I published too soon. People are fascinated by the unpublished book but once it’s published its just one of millions.
As a part of my series about “Big Ideas That Might Change The World In The Next Few Years” I had the pleasure of interviewing Jarl Jensen.
Jarl Jensen is the inventor of over two dozen medical devices with issued patents having retail sales of over a billion dollars. As an astute “idea guy”, Jarl has applied his out of the box thinking to America’s economy in The Wolfe Trilogy series, ‘Optimizing America’, Showdown in the Economy of Good and Evil’ and ‘The Big Solution. As an experienced executive of several companies, he has a track record of success. As an author his ideas can do more then heal the sick, they can change the world. His ambitious ideas gives hope to us all.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit. Can you please tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?
As a kid growing up my father and I used to play a game of ideas. A random object would serve as the canvas for finding ideas and better yet the best idea. My goal in life is to make the world a better place by applying better ideas. As a father of three kids my home life always takes priority. I believes that ideas have a life of their own and as such they need nurturing just like my family.
Can you please share with us the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?
There are so many. But financially the biggest story was having two publicly traded companies send a LOI on the same day to buy my company. It led to a huge windfall. The negotiations were intense and playing one company up against the other is the secret sauce to getting high valuations.
Which principles or philosophies have guided your life? Your career?
Ideas are the currency of progress. First principles guides you through complexity.
Ok thank you for that. Let’s now move to the main focus of our interview. Can you tell us about your “Big Idea That Might Change The World”?
The fundamental problem for society is that the work we are doing collectively is not leading to a sustainable, equitable, aspirational, or even prosperous future. The Big Solution solves these problems and allows the work that must be done to become profitable and allows for engineering techniques to optimize opportunities leading to real across the board prosperity.
How do you think this will change the world?
I have been working on this for many years and to be honest there are many people who talk about the fundamental problems with today’s global financial system. The problem is that not enough people are even aware of this problem and how devastating it is to society today and the future for our kids. It seems this idea faces an unsurmountable level of ignorance that will be impossible to overcome. Nevertheless, I hope my books raise awareness so that we can go from today’s dystopian reality to a peaceful, prosperous future that many would call utopian.
Keeping “Black Mirror” and the “Law of Unintended Consequences” in mind, can you see any potential drawbacks about this idea that people should think more deeply about?
Many people find value in other people’s suffering. What is the value of food if no one is going hungry? What is the point of being wealthy if no one is homeless? Simply being aware that poverty can be eliminated makes people realize that they can’t just ignore the millions of people who die from poverty every year… The unintended consequence of the knowledge that a utopian world without the many global problems we live with today is possible but that knowledge ultimately means that decision makers are actually responsible for the ongoing genocide of the poor.
Was there a “tipping point” that led you to this idea? Can you tell us that story?
I am an engineer and an inventor so knowing how things work and how to make things even better is fundamental to my carrier. The basic engineering technique of design optimization simply states that if you control the inputs, you can control the output of any system, process, product, or everything in existence. This is what led to the big idea that the economy is not only controllable it can be optimized for things like opportunity, sustainability and even world peace. Ultimately, the economy can be engineered to create a utopian world without the many problems we face today.
What do you need to lead this idea to widespread adoption?
I need a grass routes movement. I need volunteers. I need awareness of this problem to rise to level of awareness of global warming so that the politicians can no longer ignore it. By the way this also fixes global warming.
What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why. (Please share a story or example for each.)
- No one cares once you publish — Every book I have published so far, I published too soon. People are fascinated by the unpublished book but once it’s published its just one of millions.
- Getting attention today is like yelling into a hurricane. Social media has become a profit center for Facebook. No longer, is social media a platform for the individual to be heard.
- People are too busy and have little time to think about anything but themselves and their personal problems. Books and storytelling may no longer be the best way to get new ideas out into the world. It is a struggle to get people to read my books even when they are free.
- There are a million other ideas out there. There are so many people who think they have it figured out. Most people believe that there is a political solution to the mounting problems in the world. The worst part is that they are so entrenched they have no capacity to entertain new ideas.
- There are topics that have been banned from public speech without the consent or awareness. For example, people do not speak of a utopian future. People do not speak of the Federal Reserve and its effect on society and the world. People do not speak of the Food and Drug Administration and how 60% of the population are obese and 40% are chronically ill. Why are these topics shunned and why are federal institutions not held accountable?
Can you share with our readers what you think are the most important “success habits” or “success mindsets”?
The most important success mindset is to know what you want in every situation.
The most important success habit is to do the most important thing first.
For peace of mind be happy with achieving three important things every day.
How can our readers follow you on social media?
I post quite a bit on twitter at @jarljensen. Also, check out my videos on my website at www.optimizingamerica.com
Thank you so much for joining us. This was very inspirational.
Jarl Jensen’s Big Idea that Might Change the World was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
