Havel and his cause
Observer December 20th, 2011
First Gorbachev, then Walesa, then Havel. First a trickle, then a contagious flood of protest, leading finally to the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989. The world has a lot to thank these men for. Havel suffered persecution and imprisonment for his convictions and still found the fire to sustain and mobilize dissent. A writer of clarity, and wry with it, he laid out the systemic trickeries for all to see. A cogent voice. And as the international following grew, he saw how that could help from the outside, to forge change inside his country. Many presidents who are loved abroad, are a little less loved at home, and this applied at times in his case too. But still, and despite some controversies, he remained a quietly powerful, deep-thinking, widely respected leader. He and his Charter 77 and Civic Forum colleagues set the model for a peaceful transition of power from communism to democracy. The Arab spring and Russian autumn may still glean and build from the peaceful Velvet Revolution that he led.
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Slow news weeks, not
Observer July 13th, 2011
July/ August was in past times the ’silly season’, when improbable stories got through the copy taster and into print. This time, in the UK, the establishment, including past and present governments, the media, the police, the regulators, are all caught up in a story that will run and run. The phone hacking scandal gets worse and worse, having reached a new, deplorable low with allegations relating to the hacking of missing Milly Dowler’s telephone in 2002. The story is now gaining also a global traction with US shareholders mobilizing. At the heart of it, the concentration of power in the UK media in the hands of News Corp., the dubious panderings, promoted by this over many years, and an alleged coverup of criminal activity in hacking telephone messages and paying the police for tipoffs. Reputations are dissolving fast, and what, for a former communication chief himself, was David Cameron thinking when he forged ahead, against many contrarians, in hiring Andy Coulson? As to the heroes of the piece so far? The Guardian for tenacity, Vanity Fair for a June in-depth, pulling the story through, and the New York Times. If journalism and its ethics are in the dock, some beacons of good practice must also be credited with bringing the broader and deeper story to light, disheartening as the detailing of it may turn out to be.
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Swallows of some remorse
Observer November 30th, 2008
In the past month or so, some regrets expressed in the midst of the newsflow on the ongoing global financial and economic crisis. Alan Greenspan put it on record that he had been mistaken in assuming that banks could properly self-regulate. More recently some of the excesses of executive pay for poor governance and performance is being partly paid back or forgone, at UBS and AIG. And this past week Sir Tom McKillop, apologised to shareholders, customers and former and present employees of the Royal Bank of Scotland, for the state the bank has gotten into, now majority owned by the British taxpayer. Genuine and public apologies are of course rare, and possibly even rarer are public acceptance and forgiveness. Nothing can now cancel or make much redress for the coming global economic downturn. Though such contrition wins attention, the players that more likely deserve recognition are those banks that held firm during the boom times, that did not succumb to the seduction of easy money and the pressure to pursue it, but held steadily to a conservatism that by today appears to have served them well indeed.
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Leadership of the free world
Observer October 22nd, 2008
On the day when Britain’s shadow chancellor fought allegations of having sought donation funds from a foreign tycoon, into the email from a loose connection pops what seems like a friendly directive/ solicitation to cast a foreign vote in the US presidential campaign: Delicately worded and urging the checking out of virtual votes from all over the world. If it’s a campaigning ruse, it’s a clever one to measure, evidence and magnify grass roots preferences on a global scale. The map today, no surprise, strongly favours Obama. One can’t but feel sorry for the McCain campaign’s being left standing on this. And a little uneasy at the scope creep. The US election is for US citizens, but we do now have, and more so than ever before, a global politic. While the US may not be the largest or even the greatest democracy, it certainly remains for now the one with the greater latitude of power. And for that, citizens everywhere will want to have confidence in the choice of America on 4th November.
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Buffet in Europe
Observer May 20th, 2008
Warren Buffet is touring Europe this week, redressing (overdue) a perceived lack of prominence for Berkshire Hathaway in the European arena. IMD must be cock-a-hoop to have secured him for a 45 minutes’ broadcast to alumni and corporate clients, as well as a session with student MBAs. But then IMD does the business of business schools better than anyone else. At least on this side of the pond. At 77, the famous Buffet wisdom just keeps on flowing. And the wit as well (he’ll have a go at succeeding himself..). He gets close to Mother Teresa in terms of the venerability in which he’s held. All the more remarkable that he appears not ever to have fallen into the trap of believing his own public relations. With all the noise and urgings around about ‘authenticity’, Mr Buffet comes across as the most original, real deal. So much talk of love and passion, the ‘right’ parents, and choice of spouse, and not a curling toe in sight. While he evenhandedly has backed both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton in the current Democratic nomination process, I’d vote for Buffet himself to lead the charge to rehabilitate the US in the eyes of the world. He travels well.
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Hostages to fortune
Observer April 13th, 2008
…recent weeks, some misses in terms of expectation management. First BA, with big pre-launch hype over T5, setting travellers up for unprecedented disappointment and tugging of forelocks as the rollout turned into a brouhaha of an all together different scope. Then Jeff Immelt of all people, no doubt in good faith, proclaiming on a Saturday Night Live as early as December 2007 that a 10 per cent growth in earnings was “in the bag” for 2008. On the latter Friday, a collective ‘Oh sugar’, as with the first quarter outcome, big dismay at the impact of financial market unravellings causing results below guidance and a course correction for the rest of the year. Testing times for predictions. But on the resilience of the respective reputations most pundits will likely bet on GE.
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Lost in translation..
Observer March 26th, 2008
Most of Easter in the mountains, in the good company of German speakers. And as a minority of one, obliged to speak German as well as able. An interesting experience, and reminder of that less-remembered fact among native English speakers that so many colleagues working globally have to formulate a thought in a second language to bring of their ideas and contributions. That demands a lot of energy, in keeping up with the gist of a conversation, let alone the nuance and looking out for the break in the flow. In the cut and thrust of English dominated business life, one can wonder how many brilliant half-formulated thoughts are lost to the brisk pace of the assertive global firm. Add the confusion of slang, idioms and jargon and heads may well reel. While there’s a lot of cross-cultural content by now in the development programs of global leaders, does the resulting behavior accommodate those few moments of extra time to gather all available contributions? Trying to function effectively, let alone excel in a foreign language, is a humbling experience, in which pulling one’s punches can easily become the default norm.
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The Transformers
Observer February 24th, 2008
…a professional friend, reporting of a respected talent. “…she’s become Head of so and so and Transformational Change, whatever that may mean”. That transformation word has the distinction of raising not only expectations but also hackles of the sort promoted by business jargon of uncertain meaning. Often contrasted with incremental change, and, presumably more effective towards a sustainable business future. Scanning the horizon for some examples, certainly IBM would be a standout, as would privatized utilities, otherwise Britain under Thatcher, the former soviet block countries, as they adapt to free markets, or China and India as they accede to global economic power. More tangible with hindsight and usually changing the game, requiring big shifts in mindset both internally and externally. ‘Transformation’ is quite likely the new ‘reinvention’… To help with meaning, a recent piece from McKinsey on the challenge of radical, fundamental change. Instructive, but still a bit short on those headline examples of global companies that really pulled it off.
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Data and denial
Observer October 31st, 2007
For the numerically challenged, a grreat little book, The Tiger that Isn’t, by Michael Blastland and Andrew Dilnot. Fit-for-purpose in times when spin has so often gotten the better of substance. If you suspect “the data” that underpins “the story”, the former Director of the Institute of Fiscal Studies offers clear and accessible guidance through the thicket. The book deconstructs and demsytifies statistics in an engaging way that deepens understanding based on our experience in daily life. While it won’t turn out armies of Carol Vordermans it advocates, as it teaches, a reluctance to accept the drama of headlines at face value. And it shows well the knowledge-at-large about both politicians and press in terms of selective opportunism in disclosure. So as ever, buyer beware.
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Into the public domain
Observer October 24th, 2007
Many freshmen CEOs this year at very big firms, and several of a younger generation. Of all the demands on a new man in the top job, it’s the exposure to investment analysts that probably brings, at least in the normal course of business, the most exacting scrutiny. Oftentimes, and even with some earlier experience with this audience, the onerous demands of roadshows and quarterly reporting can come as a shock to the executive system. Not only for the required command of detail and disclosure discipline, but also the amplification of every conceiveable nuance through live webcasts and media reporting. To err with this audience can have an immediate and visible impact on the shareprice. More challenging still when the new incumbent is relatively unknown. In many cases the mentoring and supervisory role of prior CEO as ongoing chairman will offer the market comfort, but the exposure is not for the faint-hearted and requiring of high levels of representational acumen. Along with a fair wind in terms of business fundamentals and outlook.
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