Be Thankful Its 2010 My Friends

The dying minutes of 2009 cannot come quick enough for most people. Its been a rough year. The financial crash that began in 2008 has changed the world we know forever. Governments around the world began regulatory reform on a scale we haven't seen since the end of World War II, and there is no end in sight to what they may do in 2010. Most people's wealth has been significantly depleted in 2009, and many Baby Bloomers who were heading for retirement in 2010 have had to reconsider. Jobless data indicates any recovery in 2010 will not create the necessary amount of jobs we need to get back to where we were in January 2009. The war in Iraq may have wound down, but Afghanistan has been rekindled with the insertion of 40,000 new troops, and with the botched attempt of another airline bombing on Christmas Day it looks like Yemen is going to be another front in the war against terror. The economies of the US, UK and Europe are on a downward spiral that, despite what the media and the Obama administration print, has no end in sight and is likely to cripple generations to come. Taxes are going up. Healthcare is a black box in the US. Detroit is, well, Detroit. And the Dollar is under siege, leading many to wonder whether their assets will be worth anything close to what they are this time next year. Politicians in the US, UK and France were all caught with their hands in the cookie jar at some point in 2009, leading to a distrust of the people that will have repercussions in elections ahead. Michael Jackson is dead. Tiger Woods was perhaps the biggest shock and disappointment of 2009. Who would have guessed that the first Billionaire in sports with the cleanest image would turnout to be an adulterous sex addict? No, there isn't much to look back on in 2009 that we want to hold on to, we are going into the new year with our faith in government, nations and people fully tested this past year.

Recruiting: Strategic Game Changer in 2010

How good is your recruitment process? Do you have one? Do you care? You should. It may be a recession out there but there is a lot of talent looking for the right place to call home as we close the first decade of this century and go into what will be the defining decade of the first hundred years of the 21^st century. Yet many companies, big and small, don’t follow a recruitment process that defines who they are and what they are looking for, nor does it leave candidates with a positive impression of their company. There are clearly exceptions in the market that value their recruitment activities and have invested appropriately in process, people and communication, but they are just that, exceptions. It is imperative for companies, big and especially small, to have a well-defined strategic recruitment process that is followed and respected culturally. Companies that fail to do so will be at a strategic disadvantage to those who do. And when it comes to recruiting talent, every company, industry and geography is your competitor in the decades ahead.

Ten Minutes That Mattered

As I sit in BMI's Edinburgh Airport lounge, waiting for my flight to Brussels, I came across a great snippet in Forbes under the heading 'Ten Minutes That Mattered'. Often in business and life, an important conversation, a made or missed connection, or even an intrusion of pure fate redirects our thinking and actions for years afterward. I have a few of those in my life, like the time my brother called me in Brussels to say 'Go see my friend the recruiter, she can get you to the US'...and she did, but with a detour that took me to FreeMarkets, the company that changed the world of doing business with invention of the online reverse auction for purchasing and strategic sourcing. Or the time my 8th Grade Football Coach, Greg Shields, marched on to the Volleyball court and yanked me out of practice to say 'what the hell are you doing messing about with a volleyball when you should be out on the football field hitting somebody?'. That started a 12-year football career that has taught me so many things about life and business that I can't imagine what would have happened if Coach Shields didn't care enough to barge in and break-up Volleyball practice. 

No, we all have Ten Minutes That Matter...tell me about yours?

Do We Celebrate the Wrong CEOs?

A good friend of mine just sent me an interesting article from another blog that I want to share. As a follow-up to my Leadership series, have a look at what Professor Morten T. Hansen from UC Berkeley and Herminia Ibarra, Professor of Organizational Behavior at Insead, have to say about the myth of celebrity CEOs. There are two key issues for me - the first is the article's point about CEOs that perform and those that don't. The second is a deeper issue we have in America of turning certain profiles into celebrities. I have already commented on how in America we turn our politicians into celebrities, a practice the rest of the world do not adhere to, even if they are married to celebrities and models, but what the article below highlights is that some CEOs have latched on to the media's thirst for creating celebrities and are riding the wave of their star status to stay in the job far too long when they haven't performed. Have a look at this article and tell me what you think.

The Hangover - A Chicago Story of drinking the Economy and Politics Cocktail

A few weeks ago I was in Chicago on business and had a very interesting conversation with a British company that recently established its US headquarters there. Through its Public Relation’s firm, Chicago’s Trinity United Church Of Christ, the former Church of the Obama’s that was a source of much scandal during last year’s US Presidential elections, approached the company. As a business process outsourcing company, the British firm is a welcomed entity to Chicago given its investment will create jobs and positively impact the local economy. The Reverend Otis Moss III, current head of Trinity United, met with the President of the company and proposed a very interesting partnership.

Nomadic Experiences Today

A big part of being a Nomad is experiencing things you normally wouldn’t if you stay in one place. And to really appreciate this you need to have a mindset of living in the ‘Present’, otherwise you just don’t “catch” the wonderful things happening around you every day. Now that may sound ‘obvious’, but the reality is most people – no strike that – the majority of people don’t live in the present. In fact most people spend the majority of their time living in the future, or God forbid, the past. Now there is nothing wrong with focusing your efforts on attaining goals and objectives that are ahead of you, and there is certainly something healthy about remembering and appreciating your past. But if you fail to be aware of your present then you will miss out on the many simple pleasures life gifts you everyday. And as a Nomad, I am even more blessed to experience some amazing things on my travels.

The Thing About Leadership - Its Never About You

As a management consultant, I have the privilege of working with lots of brilliant, successful people, and from all over the world. And you know what their downfall typically is? Their own success. It’s an all-too-familiar story: entrepreneur starts a company, makes a brilliant call or two, makes a bundle, and then suddenly, miraculously, from then on he can do no wrong. But that’s not how it works. There’s an expression in investing: “Past performance is no guarantee of future results.” Well, guess what. That expression applies to everything and everybody – entrepreneurs, executives, managers, business owners etc...

A Thanksgiving Toast: Here is to Uncertainty!

As I spent my first Thanksgiving abroad in 5 years, I couldn't but help to feel homesick, lonely and missing out on what is arguably the best US holiday in the annual calendar. There have been many blogs and articles about what Thanksgiving is, its origins, and how Americans come together in a very special way during this last Thursday of every November, so I won't bore you with another version. However, I did want to share with you a wonderful piece from the New York Times that my cousin Ric sent me. It captures the Thanksgiving spirit but also brings to light some of the discussions we have been having recently on the 6 Basic Human Needs, particularly the need for uncertainty (which some of you are still resisting based on your e-mails to me!).


So thank you Uncle Ric for sharing this piece with me and thinking of me as you all sat around the table in Orange County this Thanksgiving. I wish I was there with you! Happy Thanksgiving to all and lets raise a glass to what the future will bring, unbeknownst to you and me...

Published November 25, 2009

EDITORIAL

A Thanksgiving Toast

Sitting down with friends and family today, there will be thanks for the steady currents, flowing out of the past, that have brought us to this table. There will be thanks for the present union and reunion of us all. And there will be prayerful thanks for the future. But it’s worth raising a glass (or suspending a forkful for those of you who’ve gotten ahead of the toast) to be thankful for the unexpected, for all the ways that life interrupts and renews itself without warning.

What would our lives look like if they held only what we’d planned? Where would our wisdom or patience — or our hope — come from? How could we account for these new faces at the Thanksgiving table or for the faces we’re missing this holiday, missing perhaps now all these years?

It will never cease to surprise how the condition of being human means we cannot foretell with any accuracy what next Thanksgiving will bring. We can hope and imagine, and we can fear. But when next Thanksgiving rolls around, we’ll have to take account again, as we do today, of how the unexpected has shaped our lives. That will mean accounting for how it has enriched us, blessed us, with suffering as much as with joy.

That, perhaps, is what all this plenty is for, as you look down the table, to gather up the past and celebrate the present and open us to the future.

There is the short-term future, when there will be room for seconds. Then there is the longer term, a time for blossoming and ripening, for new friends, new family, new love, new hope. Most of what life contains comes to us unexpectedly after all. It is our job to welcome it and give it meaning. So let us toast what we cannot know and could not have guessed, and to the unexpected ways our lives will merge in Thanksgivings to come.

Perspectives - The Wall Street Bonus Scandal

There has been a lot of controversy about the enormous bonuses going to various folks in the financial industry. The population at large is pretty angry that bankers are handing out tens of billions of dollars after running the world economy into the ground and then accepting bailout money from the taxpayer. There is a lot of pressure from the public to curtail those bonuses, and lawmakers are marching to the beat. Of course like any good public lynching, the media has been fueling the public’s fire and casting an A-List of evil culprits in Goldman Sachs, Citibank and a host of other Wall Street and City names. And while I agree the public has a right to be mad about the kind of sums these companies are paying out, I believe there is a lack of perspective from the media, the politicians and the public in general. In fact, a 360-degree view of the bonus scandal is appropriate.

There are essentially 2 views currently being debated in the Press: one that vilifies Goldman Sachs and others for paying such vast amounts of bonus to so few in an industry principally responsible for the collapse of the global economy, and the other that defends these bonuses in the name of capitalism. In fact, some would argue this is about socialism taking on capitalism. Unfortunately, nothing can be more inaccurate than labeling either of these views as socialism vs. capitalism. It is over simplistic journalism that is popular and convenient given we are going into a big election year on both sides of the Atlantic in 2010. I would like to offer a couple of different perspectives on the bonus fiasco.

People - Part II The Need for Certainty and Uncertainty (6 Basic Human Needs)

Welcome back to the second in a series of blogs on People. In my previous post (4 Nov, 2009) I introduced the 6 basic needs that our brain has intellectually: certainty, uncertainty, significance, love and connection, contribution and growth. Understanding the 6 basic needs is key for leaders to manage their people and for the individual to better understand their relationships. Lets focus on the first two needs in this post, the need for certainty and the need for uncertainty.

Russians Play Chess, the West are Playing Monopoly

One of the perks of being a Nomad is you get to meet interesting and diverse people everywhere you go, and hear and see what they think about current events which offer a different point of view. We may not realize it, but we are in the midst of some huge shifts in world politics and geo-dominance. The world is changing around us at a speed never before seen. I like to stop sometimes and ask people from different backgrounds what they think of things that are happening in the US and the West in general, that impact all of us. The responses are always insightful and give food for thought, given we in the West don’t always think through the consequences of our actions, policies and sometimes in-action, to the rest of the world. This is both irresponsible and dangerous given we have created a global economy that we have been the engine to for over half a century.

This weekend I had brunch with a senior Russian diplomat in Brussels. It was a social affair and given I didn’t ask his permission to blog about our conversation he shall remain nameless. The discussion was very interesting and it was a breath of fresh air to hear about how things have evolved in Russia and the former Soviet states, as well as to learn about the continued challenges the region and its people face. And in case you were wondering there was no vodka involved, just good tea. But what was really intriguing was when I asked the question ‘What do Russians think about President Obama and his Administration?’

The Choice of Giving

I was reminded this weekend about one of the greatest attributes of Americans. Americans give more to charities, causes, aid and relief, and non-profits than any other nation in the world. The statistics on this fact are mind boggling, and moreover this high level of giving has been going on for over 60 years. But what makes Americans stand out when it comes to their generosity?

This weekend I was back in Pittsburgh for a number of events that included the wedding of two close friends and the 10^th Anniversary of the non-profit organization I am on the Board of, The Coro Center for Civic Leadership. I also attended a dinner hosted by the McGuire Memorial, a non-profit organization in the Pittsburgh area that I was not familiar with but is well known for its annual golf outing hosted by ex-NFL star Tony Dorsett, quite an event in the Pittsburgh social calendar for the past 15 years. Both the Coro event and the McGuire Memorial dinner really highlighted America’s obsession with helping others who are in need. You can find more information about Coro and the McGuire Memorial Foundation at these links www.coro.org and www.mcguirememorial.org.

What is interesting about America’s culture of generosity is that it is primarily driven by its people not its government. This is a stark difference to the majority of other nations in the world who tend to ‘budget’ for aid and assistance through government organizations. In fact, until ex-President George W. Bush’s second term in office, the US government had one of the lowest rates of aid and assistance records in history. U2 lead singer Bono spearheaded the effort to convince President Bush to change this track record and much to his credit he did. The US government is now one of the largest donors of aid and assistance to the world since 2005 thanks to the work of Bush and Bono. However, no other nation in history has given so much to charities, non-profits and the like than the American people. Why is that?

My firm belief is that it comes down to the freedom to choose to give, supported by a culture of creating wealth and abundance. American people are free to choose to give to any cause they wish, and it is this freedom that drives up the scale of giving. Americans have enjoyed relatively low taxes for the past 25 years, and this policy of low taxes and creation of wealth has left many Americans in a position to give. And give they do. Here are some key stats from the National Philanthropic Trust to ponder:

·      - 89 percent of households give

·      - The average annual contribution for contributors is $1,620.

·      - According to Giving USA, American giving reach a record high in 2007, with donations totaling $314-billion.  Giving has since dropped by 2% to $308 billion in 2008.

       - Charitable giving accounted for 2.2% of gross domestic product.

·      - Historically, charitable giving rises about one-third as fast as the stock market.

·      - 86 percent of wealthy donors said they are most motivated to give by the notion of "meeting critical needs" and 83 percent said "giving back to society" is motivational.

It is this freedom to choose to give that is the key driver behind American generosity. This is very different to many other nations and cultures where giving is a social obligation taught at very young ages, no different than paying taxes or bills. Americans give because they want to, not because they have to, and it is this important nuance that is behind this massive scale of giving.

Sister Mary Thaddeus Markelewicz is the Executive Director of the McGuire Memorial in Western Pennsylvania, and runs a 500-person organization just like a CEO runs a company. Her track record over 21 years of transforming a small non-profit into the magical place that McGuire Memorial is today is frankly remarkable. Sister Thaddeus, as she likes to be referred to, told us a story at Sunday night’s dinner that I think captures the spirit of America’s giving culture. The story goes something like this: one day a man meets God and asks what is the difference between Heaven and Hell, Lord? The Lord shows the man to two doors. He opens the first and motions the man inside. The man sees a room with a big round table. The table has a big pot of delicious smelling stew in the middle. There are a dozen people sitting around the table and they are physically disabled, having short arms and looking very very gaunt and unhealthy. They have long wooden spoons and try to feed themselves the delicious stew but their arms are too short for the long spoons and hence why they look so gaunt and in poor health. The man is very distressed by what he has seen, and the Lord says this is Hell. The man then steps into the second room and the setting is much the same, a big round table, a big bowl of delicious smelling stew and a dozen physically disabled people sitting around the table. But this time the people look very healthy and happy, smiling and laughing with each other unlike the other room. They have the same long wooden spoons and short arms, but it is a very different picture from the previous room. The man steps out and the Lord says this is Heaven. The man says ‘I don’t get it’. The Lord responds that in the first room the people are so preoccupied with feeding themselves that most of the food is wasted because of their short arms and long spoons, resulting in the ‘hell’ we see. But in the other room, the people have focused on feeding each other, using the long spoons to help and care for each other, hence well fed and healthy, resulting in ‘heaven’.

I think the story speaks for itself. Choosing to give is a powerful thing. And giving is not just about your wallet, it can be your time and your intellectual property. Many non-profit organizations need the help experienced people can bring to help them achieve their goals. A few years ago I decided I wanted to give back and chose to focus on three areas – Leadership, Education and Foreign Affairs. They are personal areas of interest. Serving on the Board of Coro fills my Leadership box, I am still looking for the right opportunities to give back in Education and Foreign Affairs. If you have any ideas please give me a call or drop me an e-mail. The goal is to make a difference and with Coro I know we are making a difference. Coro Alumni have gone on to do great things, and there are many examples of these given over 1000 young leaders graduate from the various Coro programs in across the US each year. But the key to me is that I chose to help Coro and that has made all the difference.

People - Part I The 6 Basic Human Needs

People. People, People, People. You hear companies say it all the time. “Our people are the best.” Or another favorite is “Our people are the most important thing.” I even worked with an operations leader once who used to refer to our people as ‘people assets’. He was Detroit bred so he gets a pass from you touchy feely crowd. But unfortunately statements like these are more often buzz words without concrete meaning. I will be writing a series of blogs on people in the coming weeks and months because I believe now more than ever in corporate history there are opportunities for people to make a difference and for companies to differentiate with their people. And I fundamentally believe we can use the learnings from the dynamics of people management in the business world in our own personal interactions with people, be it family, friends or perfect strangers.

So where to start? The subject of people is as broad as the philosophical question ‘Why?’ Did you ever get that question as an essay in philosophy exams? I was fortunate to come across it twice in my academic days, once in high school and once in college. As my classmates scribbled away hundreds of words in response (this was pre-laptops in the class room sadly) I answered the question ‘Why?’ with ‘Because!’ the first time, and ‘Why Not?’ the second time. I won’t disclose my grade just yet but here is a hint - both teachers gave me the exact same grade. Now you might ask what does this little story within a story have to do with people? Okay, to bring this all back to the subject I have to tell you my grade to both those questions…I got 100% on both exams. As shocking as that may seem looking back, the point I’m making is simple, to the point and concise are almost always the best way forward. The same should be applied to people.

So how do you take one of the most complex, sophisticated and arguably intelligent animals in the universe and make them simple? I have always believed the answer lies in understanding what the fundamental needs of a human being are, and then catering to those needs. Its that simple.

I’m going to digress one more time by talking about me – I have a diverse background and my career is similarly broad. My experience can be described as a general manager with core skills in sales, business development (yes the two are different), operations and customer delivery. I am also a consultant in several areas of expertise. I am really good with customers and I am a very compelling salesman. But my biggest spike is people. That is what I do best. I assemble the right team of people and I make them perform at the highest levels. It has become a passion for me and to try and be as successful as I can with people I have studied the question ‘Why do we do the things that we do?’. I want to understand how does the brain work and why do humans act the way they do? (I’d like to pause here to call out one of my readers, lets call him Larry which is not his real name. Larry has become my ‘grumpy old man’ reader, like those two guys from the muppet show. He always writes me after my blogs to voice his opinion and I truly welcome and value them. I have asked him to post his comments but he is a bit shy I guess. Anyhow, Larry wrote me after my last blog to say I always talk about myself in my posts so I wanted to apologize to Larry up front for talking about my passion for people. Sorry Larry.)

So let me wrap up this first posting on people by saying this – to manage people successfully its not enough to set up a people culture in your organization and be positive all the time. In business there are times when we have to do hard things and say hard things. To get this right in the heat of battle its important that leaders and followers understand what makes people tick. I believe this means understanding the 6 basic human needs that the brain has. I’m not talking about sustenance or water, but rather the basic intellectual and emotional needs that each human being has, no matter how old, what nationality, what profession, where they live etc.

The 6 basic human needs are:

1)          the need for certainty;

2)          the need for uncertainty;

3)          the need to be significant;

4)          the need for love and connection;

5)          the need to contribute;

6)          the need to grow.

Think about these 6 and tell me if you think the list is incomplete. But I warn you, its not. We will dive deeper in understanding the 6 basic needs in my next People posting. Until then, be good to yourself wherever you are today…I’m boarding my plane to Newark. Cheers! 

McDonald's Shuts Down in Iceland

McDonald’s will close its doors in Iceland at the end of October. There are no plans to return. This was an article in the back pages of newspapers here in the UK yesterday. It didn’t get much headlines and people went about their business, ordering skinny lattes and munching on any one of three dozen fast food options that are available at any city, town or village here. I read the article and moved on to more interesting news like Agassi admitting use of crystal meth. But as the thought of 300,000 Icelandic people sitting down to eat their last Big Mac this week in Reykjavik lingers in my mind, it hit me that the implications of McDonald’s woes are lost to us.


Now personally, I haven’t touched any fast food since 2003, a decision I made when my weight was out of control and the need for a lifestyle change was overdue. And when I say I haven’t touched any fast food since 2003, I mean exactly that – no McDonald’s, no Burger King, no Taco Bell, no fast food whatsoever. So I don’t really care if McDonald’s shut down all their stores around the world. But the reality is that most people depend on fast food chains for a good part of their meals each week and the primary reason for that is the low cost of these meals. Lets put aside the nutritional argument as to whether this is the right thing to do, and lets focus on the economical aspect.

In the US you can get 99c menus that many struggling parents feed to their children several times a week. Young people can get by with as little as $10 a week to cover several meals thanks to cheap fast food. And there is diversity and choice - you can pick from a multitude of burger joints (Micki Ds, Burger King, Jack in the Box etc.), Fried Chicken (KFC, Popeye’s), Mexican (Taco Bell, Del Taco), Chinese, Italian and sandwich joints like Arby’s. The average meal costs less than $3.5 at these places and you get quantity and a host of chemicals that are proven to have you returning for more. From my personal experience I would argue it is as difficult to kick fast food ‘addiction’ as it is smoking and drinking.

Before you have a coronary on this last remark, hear me out. In 2003 I use to eat 3 or 4 fast food meals a week, usually McDonald’s or a competitor of theirs in Belgium, called Quick. I had my last meal at McDonald’s in spring of 2003, a last supper if you like. I ordered a Big Mac (a favorite since 1977 when my parent’s gave me my first Big Mac in Paris at the tender age of 5), a McBacon, a large fries and a large diet coke. I enjoyed every bite of that meal. But here is the point – today, more than 6 years later, I can still taste every bite of that meal in my mouth. I can do the same for other fast food meals like KFC, Taco Bell and Quick that ate years ago. They all have distinctive tastes that stay in your system forever. You can't say the same thing for that gourmet meal you had at that Michelin star joint in Leith, or London, or San Diego. The folks at these companies have figured this out. You can say the same for Doritos and Ruffles chips (crisps for you Brits). Candy bars all have the same taste everywhere in the world, regardless of where you buy them. A mars bar is a mars bar no matter where you buy it, and they taste exactly the same in Las Vegas as they do in Frankfurt. Which brings us back to the Icelandic people’s woes as they lose their little piece of globalization forever.

McDonald’s is shutting down due to the rising cost of doing business. They have 3 stores in Iceland and are busier than ever – which makes sense since the country’s economy crashed in the last year as the first and most extreme victim of financial legislation. People are struggling financially in that country and so they flock to McDonald’s where a meal is cheap. However, as economies contract and currency’s lose value, the cost of importing supplies following the crash of the krona in addition to high tariffs have doubled the cost of meat, cheese, vegetables and other products, making it impossible to be profitable. The ingredients for hamburgers must be imported according to McDonald's regulations and this means importing everything from the buns to the packaging, mostly from Germany. According to the McDonald’s importer, the cost of a bag of McDonald’s approved onions is now higher than a bottle of high-end alcohol. They can’t make any money even if their stores can’t keep up with demand.

And this is the reminder I feel so many in Washington, London and the general public need. Businesses exist to make profit. If they can’t make profit then they shut their doors and go do something else that is profitable. Individuals don’t work for free. Neither do businesses. If your boss said come work for me for free, what would you do? 99.9% of you would leave and do something else. A business is no different, however, the losers are different. The losers are the people. No more McDonald’s fries for people in Iceland.

The first McDonald's restaurant opened in 1993 in Iceland's capital city Reykjavik. The first person who took a bite out of a Big Mac on the island was then-Prime Minister David Oddsson. The importer will replace McDonald’s with Icelandic burgers made from local Icelandic ingredients. The people of Iceland will get their cheap fast food and it will probably be a bit healthier than McDonald’s, but it won’t taste the same. Choice has lost out to the crash in Iceland. Is it possible we could see the same thing happen closer to home? How would you cope if your favorite fast food joint shut down? 

A British Prime Minister, NFL and a Nomad

Sunday morning and I’m at Edinburgh Airport waiting for a flight to London Heathrow. I have business meetings early Monday morning so decided to spend my Sunday doing a bit of shopping and catching up with some old friends. The BMI flight is over an hour late from London so we are delayed. My Star Alliance Gold status gets me access to their lounge and I am enjoying Scottish short bread with Starbucks quality coffee for breakfast. Finally they call boarding and as I make my way to the gate I am met by a flood of Scottish NFL fans wearing jerseys from all around the League. Philadelphia Eagles, San Francisco 49ers, New York Giants, New Orleans Saints, Arizona Cardinals, and of course Tampa Bay Buccaneers and New England Patriots.

You see, Tom Brady, Bill Belichick and the rest of the New England Patriots are in London this weekend to play the Tampa Bay Bucs in week 6 of the NFL regular season. The annual NFL game at Wembley Stadium is the highlight of the British American Football calendar, with Wembley selling out to a capacity crowd of 85,000. London has made a bid to host a Super Bowl in the next 10 years and the NFL are taking a serious look at the proposal. Most Americans may cringe at the thought of their national event going to London, but it makes a lot of sense from a marketing and revenue perspective. In fact, there is even a proposal to expand the league with a full team in London. No doubt the logistics of having one or even two teams in different time zones is a nightmare. Think about the physical toll it would take on teams having to travel to the UK to play, and what about the London team itself having to travel to places like San Francisco, Seattle or San Diego to play a regular season or playoff game? Still, expanding its market to include the UK population would be greeted with approval (and cash) from the likes of Pepsi, Reebok and Gatorade.

And so as I watch these die hard American Football fans standing in line at a remote airport in the North of the UK, with their jerseys and baseball caps, spending their hard earned money to fly down to London and no doubt take Monday off work (productivity hit?), I think I have seen it all…until I board the plane. As I made my way through the first class cabin I come face to face with Prime Minister Gordon Brown as he takes his seat in the first row. Dressed in suit and tie, Gordon looks very tired as he settles into his seat and immediately goes head down to read through a 3-inch stack of paper. He looks like a management consultant, over worked, ruffled hair, and aging by the minute. I was a bit taken aback to be honest, by his shriveled look. He was also unshaven which was very unusual for a Prime Minister, but then it is Sunday morning and Gordon was no doubt up in Edinburgh for an engagement with family and friends the night before given the British Prime Minister is in fact Scottish. We can forgive him his appearance this fine fall morning, he is after all human like the rest of us, and deserves a weekend ‘off’ with his family who likely don’t get to have a Saturday night with him all that often.

After my surprise of bumping into ‘the man’ (at least in these parts), my business mind took over and I quickly started to assess the Prime Minister’s entourage. He sat in seat 1A and his security man sat next to him in seat 1C, wearing a suit and tie, looking fresh and rested, with an ear piece and armed no doubt although you couldn’t see anything. Behind him were two more men in suit and tie, but their facial expression and body language suggested they are aides to the Prime Minister, not security. As I waited for the NFL fans to stow away their bags and take their seats (this lot don’t travel much I deduct), I turned my attention back to Gordon and there he was, head down, scribbling ferociously on his stack of papers like a teacher correcting term papers. And then it hit me! I looked up in the overhead compartment and saw two briefcases staring back at me. Could it be? Was I looking at the British Prime Minister’s equivalent to what we Americans call ‘The Nuclear Football’? Way cool…

As I took my seat (9D, exit row in economy, best seats in the house), I couldn’t help to marvel at British society. The Prime Minister is on a commercial flight and everyone around me is so relaxed that I realize the only guy who is excited is me. I talk to my neighbor in 9F and turns out he is a St. Louis Ram’s fan (really??) who masquerades as a banker during the week. My new friend tells me the Prime Minister is often on this flight to and from London and always travels commercial. What? He never takes his own plane? Turns out he doesn’t have one. The Royal Air Force only give him a plane for big international flights when he has a huge entourage, otherwise he takes whatever commercial flight is available. “Tax payers won’t pay for private jets,” my neighbor tells me. “They are in government to work for us, not the other way round,” before turning the conversation back to more important things, such as will the Rams fire QB Marc Bulger any time soon?

Now can you imagine politicians and leaders in the United States flying commercial? Would the President take a commercial flight from his hometown of Chicago back to DC? Better yet, can you see the Speaker of the House fly commercial from San Francisco each week? What about Senator John McCain? And if they did, how would people react? Would they be as civil as the British are by politely leaving them alone? My flight was full but not a single person interrupted Gordon as they boarded the plane. That would never happen in the US.

You see, politicians in America have become celebrities. Somewhere along the line the tables have turned on we, the people. It used to be it was an honor to serve us by running for office. You went to Washington to get things done for your constituents. And you had to be qualified to represent the people who were sending you, so that meant you actually had to have accomplished something in your life in order for people to have confidence in your ability to serve. The British are fighting hard to keep that tradition. Career politicians are being targeted by the Press to prevent them from winning elections, or in cases where they snuck into office, from being re-elected. If you have paid any attention to the British news the past several weeks, auditors have been reviewing politician’s expense reports and making them payback illegitimate expenses. Gordon had to payback over £12,000 ($19,500). People are just not putting up with politicians who don’t know their place. They don’t care who you are.

And so as we prepare to land at London’s Heathrow Airport and I sign off, it is the nomad in me that is satisfied today. For without venturing out in the world you can’t be at places like this…places where Prime Ministers, foreign NFL fans and a nomad come together for a short plane ride.

Detroit: When are you going to Fix Yourself?

I was reading Evan Newmark’s column in the Wall Street Journal called Mean Street today. The title is What Will Become of Detroit? Don’t Ask Steve Rattner. If you don’t know him you should check him out, I have been following his column for a while and if you read through the entertaining writing style you will appreciate some of the points he makes on contemporary issues. To summarize Newmark’s point in today’s article, he questions whether there was any merit to sinking $100 Billion of US taxpayer money into GM and Chrysler, and wonders if we will ever get out money back. Now the topic of bailing out the Auto Industry is subjective for many people, even emotional for some, and there can never be a consensus on whether the Bush and Obama administrations did the right thing, but Newmark makes a great point about the need for introspection, in this case by Steve Rattner, the ex-Auto Czar.

In my view it is unimportant what Steve Rattner would find on introspection, he is passé and history will judge him accordingly. However, I’m more interested in when Detroit will do a little introspection? Lets make this real to you and me. American cars are generally inferior at every level to foreign vehicles. Fact. Quality is horrendous, design is mediocre at best, performance lacks on every level, fuel efficiency is a ‘buzz word’ and safety is questionable. Broumand’s opinion. Add to this point of view that consumer confidence is basically gone due to the financial state of these companies, and the credit crunch has hurt the dealers’ ability to leverage leases and auto loans, and you are left with big corporate shells that will require big government intervention for years to come – the cash for clunkers exercise is a great example, although arguably its Toyota, Honda and Hyundai that won big. When will the people inside Detroit do a little introspection and begin the process of saving themselves?

As we grow old waiting for Detroit, we should ask ourselves about the relationship and/or experiences we have with Detroit’s auto industry – and I stress Detroit’s auto industry, not the rest of the healthy US auto industry outside of Michigan.

For me, I have two experiences that have formed my opinion of Detroit. The first was in February of 2007, when I rented a Pontiac in San Jose, California, for a two day business trip. Driving to my client on interstate 280 at 7:45am, my brand new Pontiac with less than 3,000 miles, lost control at 40 miles an hour, spinning twice from the fourth lane to the first lane, where the car stopped facing oncoming traffic, and was subsequently hit by a BMW X5 and its Chinese female driver who’s facial expression I will never forget. My car did two flips and fell to the side of the freeway. Lucky for me, my seat belt was on and my instinct was to let my body go limb, so I came out of it without a scratch. But the car was totaled, and it took Avis three weeks to let my company know that the car was faulty and hence why I lost control at 40 miles an hour.

My second experience was more recent. In July, I took a trip to San Diego to visit my family and check in on my house in Las Vegas. I had booked a compact car at Hertz through the internet for a total of $110, including all taxes, for the week. When I arrived at the Hertz facility I was impressed to see a fleet of bright yellow Corvettes. As I checked in at the counter I asked whats up with the Vettes? The attendant chuckled and said “GM went bankrupt the other week and begged us to take these babies off their hands at fire sale prices. They are fully loaded with GPS and sports package, brand new.” I asked how much they rent for and he did a quick calculation on his computer and said I could have it for an extra $10 a day, all in. So for $180 I rented a convertible Corvette ZR 1 with less than 1500 miles and set off for my 5-hour drive to Las Vegas.

Now let me tell you, the car gets looks everywhere you go, and it is fast, opening up once you reach 60 miles an hour speeds. The car is nervous, like a sports car should be, and handles fairly well. But with a price tag of $106,000 you have to ask is the car worth it? My $50,000 BMW Z4 3.0si handles much better than the Corvette. For $106,000 you can compare the Corvette ZR 1 with a Maseratti Spyder, Audi R7, or Jaguar XK, and only less than $15,000 than the Aston Martin V8 Vantage. The Corvette just does not stand up to any of these cars from a quality, design and performance standpoint. Its not value for money at over $100,000, and it lacks the class you get with German, Italian or British cars. So if this is the best Detroit has to offer then no thank you.

Which begs the question should GM stop making the majority of its mundane brands and concentrate on building profitable businesses around its core brands like the Corvette and the Cadillac? With a century of history and brand building, Corvette and Cadillac are renowned worldwide, but the quality and class just isn't there anymore. Should GM change its name to The Cadillac Corporation and make money instead of being a “general” jack of all trades, but master of none? 

A little introspection is long overdue in Detroit, I’d say 20 years overdue, and as a taxpayer I don’t want to bankroll their denial anymore. If I did I would choose to buy their shares.

If a Homeless Man has a Dog, is the Dog Homeless?

Walking the streets of Edinburgh over the weekend, I came across a number of homeless dogs. Or at least that is how I perceived them as I strolled down George Street on a chilly Saturday afternoon, and saw a variety of breeds lying under blankets with their homeless owners asking me for my spare change. Having owned three labradors some years ago, I am one of many dog lovers who has experienced the joys (and frustrations) of raising puppies and watching them become grown best friends. My labs were incredible friends, loyal, caring and each of them having their own unique personality and character. As I recalled my three four-legged friends from days gone by, I got to thinking whether a dog would agree with my view that in fact he is homeless. What would the dog think?

per⋅spec⋅tive

–noun

the state of one's ideas, the facts known to one, etc., in having a meaningful interrelationship: You have to live here a few years to see local conditions in perspective.

Do you remember the first time you truly grasped the concept of perspective? It was like the fog clearing for me. I was in business school (that late believe it or not) and my Professor was unfortunately not very good, a fact that is supported by the sad truth that I can't remember her name. While she was not very good compared to some of her more impressive peers, for one lesson she did fascinate us with the importance of using perspective as a powerful tool in our day-to-day business dealings. She taught us the importance of understanding others' perspective in order to get across our own. She took the time to ensure we grasped the notion that understanding does not mean agreeing, but by understanding we have a better shot of connecting.

Some of you may be wondering why it took me until business school to grasp this simple concept, but think about it. When are we ever taught about perspective? They don't teach it at school, in religion or in sports and extra curricular activities. If anything, we are taught belief systems that are meant to define who we are, who we hang with, how we roll...dig deeper into society and you will see my point: gangs don't teach their members to understand the perspective of rival gangs; businesses don't teach their employees to learn from the opposing communication and positioning of competitors; political parties focus more on ridiculing the opposition during campaigning than understanding in the hope of connecting with opposing party members and, more importantly, voters; communities focus on, well, the community, and leverage things like local sports teams, the arts and festivals to bring people together. And so on. No, everywhere I look its clear the world tries to bring people together by focusing on what we have in common as opposed to share what is unique about each and every one of us.

With that perspective, I would argue I was lucky to learn about perspective so early in my life. Most people only grasp the notion when they are older, way older.

Perspective. Okay, so what?

Let us look at why it is so important to understand the power of perspective and then apply it in our world. Let me share an interesting example.

Some years ago I was involved with a client who had authored an incredible business book on managing diverse cultures. This client is a renowned consultant who earns his living by helping companies better understand other cultures in order to better manage their international business and teams. He has trained thousands of employees of Fortune 2000 companies all over the world in the art of managing cultural differences. My client told me a story about the challenges he encountered when one of his clients, a very large South Korean conglomerate, loved his training and his book so much that they translated it into Korean and distributed 30,000 copies in their organization without his permission. In short, they ripped off his book and distributed it to their staff (this is one perspective).

What happened next is truly remarkable. My client at first was enraged and got on the phone to his attorneys who, smelling deep pockets, wanted to sue international copyright infringement. The aggressive call to arms of the attorneys quickly reminded my client of his area of expertise - cultural differences. Instead of looking at this infringement of his intellectual property from his perspective, he decided to look at it from their perspective. He quickly realized that the South Koreans were in fact honoring him by paying to translate his work and then handing it out to 30,000 staff – they were so taken by his work that they went to all this effort and expense. After all, his book was not available in the South Korean language, or any Asian language for that matter. Reflecting on this further, my client came up with a proposal. He contacted his client and asked for a meeting. He flew to Seoul and sat with the clients to discuss his book. The conversation went something like this:

"Dear Korean client, you have bestowed the highest honor on me by investing your resources in translating my book and gifting it to so many of your hard working employees. I am very humbled and honored to help them and you with your business. Because my book is copyrighted internationally and I don't have a publisher in South Korea yet, would you be interested in helping me publish my book in your country?"

The South Korean conglomerate happened to own several publishing houses and jumped on the opportunity to buy the rights to his book, not only in South Korea but also China, Mongolia, Nepal and Japan. My client sold several million copies of his book over the next few years in the region and profited from his relationship with the big conglomerate. This does not make the fact that the company had infringed on his copyright and illegally translated and distributed copies without his permission okay, but by taking the time to understand their perspective and where they were coming from, he was able to think through a better outcome. Had he chosen to sue the company he would have been well within his rights, but I'm not sure anyone would have truly won from that scenario. A little understanding went a very long way in this instance.

Back to the Dag…"You like Dags?"

The opportunity to see from another perspective and then form an understanding is all around us every day. The world has changed in an irreversible way at least 3 times in the last 10 years by my count:

2001 – 9/11

2008 – Global Financial melt down

2009 – Barack Obama elected US President

Now everyone will have a perspective on whether these 3 events are irreversible changes, whether there are more than just these 3 events that truly have changed the world, whether they are positive or negative, who is to blame, who is right and who is wrong, whether they have impacted us at all etc. Regardless of how you view it, we are in need of greater understanding and connection today than ever before. Whether it is with our bankers, our public servants, our customers, our friends or other countries and faiths, we lack the perspective that is needed to ensure greater understanding and connection in our world today.

As for the homeless mutts…well, the truth is those dogs are happy animals. They get to spend all their time with their master, the person they want to be with the most. And they help these homeless people in ways no charity or pocket change can, by being loyal friends who love and respect them no matter what. It’s a heck of a relationship and I’m not sure they would give it up for anything in the world. But then that’s just my new perspective.

Maui, TJ & Asia - Aug 2005

Lets Get Started...

Welcome!

Like many bloggers it took me some time to decide whether to do this or not. What pushed me over the edge was simple - blogs can influence, blogs can inspire, blogs are alive. It hit me when I started to read a friend's blog about his 6 month study in Australia - not only am I able to keep up with his adventures, but through my pal I'm learning about life in Adelaide, the culture, the challenges he faces as a visitor and some of the random things that have happened to him that are lessons to us all. It comes down to this, my life is a little richer thanks to this blog.

Another old friend of mine uses her blog to teach creativity and marketing, what she does for a living. Now I don't always agree with my friend's point of view, but the fact that she gets it across and I can read and react to it makes for an interesting dynamic in our relationship. In reading her blog, I have come to appreciate my friend more than I used to when we worked together in one of the world's largest media companies almost 15 years ago. Back then she was a creative director and I was an account executive, and needless to say, we didn't see eye to eye on everything. E-mail was fairly new back then, and the internet, at least in Brussels where we were based, was pretty much non-existent in the work place. Would we have benefited from blogs, social networks and public profiles to bridge the gaps in understanding? I think the answer is without a doubt, yes.

So I decided to move forward with this blog. What will I blog about? Bear with me, the answer is not that simple. There are too many things to talk about in the world today, but I believe a blog is either subject specific or character specific. Since I don't want to talk politics, religion or philosophy, I have opted for the latter. This blog is an extension of the author, my experiences, my views and my interests, and this is a vehicle to share it. I look at life as a privilege, a gift that each of us receives at birth and its up to us to do what we will with it. I don't believe in the notion of 'inequality at birth'. I am a firm believer in the individual, and the power of each of us to make a difference at some level in our own lives first, and then in others'. So at the core of my blog I will focus on the individual and individuals experiences, individual accomplishments, individual failures, individual lessons, individual questions and individual beliefs. In short, this blog is going to be about lots of different things.

NO BOUNDARIES

Growing up in London and Brussels, I was often faced with lots of rules. I discovered early in my life that while necessary, I did not like boundaries because they were often imposed by others and failed to recognize my individual circumstance. Surely you know what I mean? For example, why were we never allowed to sit where we wanted in class back in elementary school? Every day for an entire year, we were expected to sit in the same seat all day long. One day, in fifth grade, I came into class and decided to sit in a different seat. What happened next was fascinating. First, the boy who usually sat in the chair I was occupying stood over me and scowled, not knowing what to say or how to react to this unexpected and unwelcome act of defiance. Before he had a chance to decide what to say or do, the girl sitting in front of him was screaming at me that I was in the wrong seat and needed to move, pleased with herself for pointing out my 'mistake'. As more of my classmates turned around in their seats to see what all the commotion was about, the teacher walked over and asked me to 'take my seat'. Having challenged the boundary of assigned seats, I gave up and moved back to my usual place, feeling both violated and misunderstood. Shouldn't I be free to sit where I want? Surely life is more interesting if we could change our seats once in a while? After all, the class room looks a little different from the first row than from the fifth row, does it not?

So I became someone who believes in pushing the boundaries but with some strict principles:

Principle 1 - never break the law when pushing the boundaries;

Principle 2 - never push the boundaries at the expense of another person;

Principle 3 - its not a game, its about challenging the status quo. Its the difference between settling for 'you can't' and asking 'why can't we?'.

So with this bit of background, you will understand why I wanted to limit the boundaries on this blog. If anything, we are going to broaden the perspective by touching on all the areas that make an individual exactly that, an individual.

So to help me launch this blog, I'd like to ask you to take a moment and ask yourself what makes you great? What do you bring to those in your life that only you can bring? Why are you so appreciated by others? And in case you have forgotten, you do matter to someone somewhere.