In today’s difficult economy, it’s common to hear new college graduates ask what’s next?

Many graduates are faced with uncertainty after school: How do they keep their degree useful and relevant, why they have to love what they do, and finding their niches in a world where being different requires gut and determination. Perhaps, what these emerging professionals need is a voice of inspiration that tells them to keep reaching for their goals.

At his Stanford University’s commencement address to the class of 2005, Steve Jobs gave an astounding speech, which is now dubbed one of his lasting legacies. The speech titled “Stay hungry, stay foolish” saw the late Apple co-founder share the story of his life, a masterpiece of self-reflection and inspiration.

What wows many about Jobs’ commencement speech were his deep thoughts embedded in it and how his stories that spanned five decades of life experiences, triumphs and challenges were effectively delivered in just about a 15 minute speech. Globe and Mail’s marketing reporter, Simon Houpt refers to Jobs as “A savvy communicator with a singular point of view.”

“Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That’s it. No big deal. Just three stories,” said Jobs, in his opening line. As it turned out, this wasn’t just another working class hero story or that of a self-made super entrepreneur, it was an open book into the life of a visionary; someone whose ideas continued to shape the lives of his admirers and critics, beyond the technological devices associated with his name.

One of Jobs’ stories was based on how he dropped-out of college in his first year due to finances and not exactly sure about what he wanted to do. He would later follow his curiosity and intuition by attending classes that had little to do with his college program. As it turned out, knowledge and skills gained from those random classes were crucial to designing Apple’s first product, the Macintosh computer.

“If I had never dropped in on that single course [a calligraphy class] in college, the Mac would have never had multiple type­faces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, it’s likely that no personal computer would have them,” said Jobs. “If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do.”

As the 2012 graduating students of Corporate Communications and Public Relations postgraduate certificate program prepare to go into the labour market and distinguish themselves among their “colleagues and competitors,” many will be faced with the challenge of connecting the dots. How their academic skills will be transferred into the work place. It is important for these graduates to believe that what they have learned, while in school will at some point be useful in their lives, regardless of the career path they choose to embrace.

“You have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life,” said Jobs.

When Super Bowl 46 kicks off on Sunday, more than 100million viewers, majority from North America will watch the game between New York Giant and the New England Patriots live on TV.

With the internet now in its maturity stage, significant percentage of sport enthusiasts from other regions of the word, largely Europe, Asia and Latin America are expected to watch and follow minute-by-minute live report online.

But this won’t be the case in Africa. I know what many of you might be thinking; Internet reach across Africa is still very low. No regular electricity, and of-course there are bigger issue that Africans are most concern about, separate from a lavish sport entertainment that is orchestrated to keep the American masses happy.

But here is the deal. American Football is just not a popular sport in Africa. Despite its glamour, the Super Bowl means very little to sport enthusiasts across the continent. In fact, while Americans are glue to their flat screen TV and will be hosting friends and family to Super Bowl party, Africans will be watching the bi-annual African Cup of Nations being hosted by Gabon and Equatorial Guinea. Soccer (or football as it’s called in many part of the world) is the number one sport in Africa, and it’s a big deal.

Whereas soccer is highly regarded as a beautiful game (the passing, dribbling, kicking and the display creative physical abilities), American football is known for its ruggedness, toughness and speed. A friend once refer to such comparison in regards to the two continents as “ironic.”  Any thought, assuming you get it?

That being said, while many Africans will be cheering their teams on Sunday at the African Cup of Nations, four prominent Africans will be on duty for their respective team – New York Giants’ Osi Umenyiora, Tony Ugoh, Prince Amukamara, and New England Patriots’ James Ihedigbo, all Nigerians ­– at Super Bowl 46 

In the coming week, I have task myself to write a profile article that will feature these four African super-athletes and published it in an appropriate medium targeted at Africans around the world, especially in Africa.

So check back on this blog next week to get a feel of what makes these Africans thick, in their pursuit of happiness and excellence far away from home, the motherland.

Dear Mitt Romney,

Congratulations on Florida. Now that you are again the front-runner, and your campaign focus is returning to President Obama, I’d like to call attention to a line you have used repeatedly: “This is a president who fundamentally believes that this next century is the post-American century.” I leave it to the president to describe what he believes, but as the author of the book “The Post-American World,” let me make sure you know what exactly you are attacking.

“This is a book not about the decline of America but rather about the rise of everyone else,” I note at the very outset. I am optimistic about America, convinced that it can prosper in this new world and remain the most powerful country on the planet. But I argue that the age of American unipolarity — which began with the collapse of the Soviet Union — has ended. For a quarter-century after the collapse of communism, the United States dominated the world with no real political or economic competitors. Its ideas and its model — the Washington consensus — became received wisdom everywhere.

Today we are in a different era. In 1990, China represented 2 percent of global gross domestic product. It has quadrupled, to 8 percent, and is rising. By most estimates, China’s economy will become the world’s largest between 2016 and 2018.

This is not simply an economic story. China’s military capacity and reach are expanding. Since 2008 Chinese naval fleets have escorted more than 4,300 ships through the Gulf of Aden. Beijing’s defense spending is likely to surpass America’s by 2025. For its foreign policy activism, look on any continent: A gleaming new African Union headquarters was unveiled in Addis Ababa, Ethi­o­pia, last week. The $200 million-plus complex was financed by China and inaugurated by a high-ranking Politburo member, who arrived with a check for $94 million.

(Source: CNN)