In short, live to 'excel' & not stop. I agree. Japan, Libya, and Why Leaders Should be Paranoid - Rosabeth Moss Kanter - Harvard Business Review

Japan, Libya, and Why Leaders Should be Paranoid - Rosabeth Moss Kanter - Harvard Business Review:

paranoia has a negative connotation, I trust finding a worthy competitor, or set goals for oneself to achieve would equally work, as it depends on what each person's personal drivers might be.

"The positive paranoia mantra: Imagine the worst, and create the best. That's a good lesson for leaders under any circumstances."

YouTube - Counterfeiting In China

YouTube - Counterfeiting In China

Dan Chow, law professor at The Ohio State University talks about the problem of counterfeiting in China. He says there is no silver bullet to stop this practice and that some local authorities in China often approve of it because it strengthens the economy.

LinkedIn crosses 100m member mark, proving the recession is not bad for everyone [infographic] | The Wall Blog

LinkedIn crosses 100m member mark, proving the recession is not bad for everyone [infographic] | The Wall Blog

nice one indeed. must read, click through when you have time.

meanwhile, the all important pic:

Turkey becoming key business gateway also? Turkey, the EU and the Mediterranean uprisings | Czech Position

Turkey, the EU and the Mediterranean uprisings | Czech Position: "Turkey, the EU and the Mediterranean uprisings"

This is a great if maybe slightly long but insightful article.

Separately, I heard UK has been helping turkey in the background re EU membership and lobbying, if that is really the case, then, this could yet be another great diplomatic manoeuvre.

Given the latest turmoil in middle east, Turkey might and probably will become the best gateway for the region, not only politically but also business wise.

For leaders of the business world (bigger SMEs, mid market firms that look for regional & international growth, namely our typical CXOs, min.CEO of firm with £3m/US$5m profit), get yourself ready now, if not only to visit Istanbul if you still have never been.

Key challenge is where do you start?

if you qualify, ping me, I know some family dynasties there (some promised to help us to launch it there), and maybe I can link you up when we have some adhoc CXO Istanbul private gatherings.

"Grandfather of Allergy" Dr. William Frankland, A life in Allergy :: The Anaphylaxis Campaign

A life in Allergy :: The Anaphylaxis Campaign:

So proud to know that our friend Bill is so famous! ;-)

Dr. A.W.Frankland – “A Life in Allergy” – Part 1
www.anaphylaxis.org.uk/information/about-us/a-life-in-all...


Celebrating a Century of Progress in Allergy
A film celebrating the centenary of the only cure for allergies and the life and work Dr William Frankland – the UK’s oldest serving doctor, has been produced by Dr Sophie Farooque, who was the UK’s first allergy trainee and is now the country’s first allergy consultant to have been an allergy trainee. The film will be shown at the 2011 BSACI Annual Meeting on July 11th.
bsaci.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&...

Another article courtesy of BMA (pdf): bsaci.org/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_downlo...

"A great supporter of desensitisation, Frankland has noted that the rise in allergy can be linked to our increased cleanliness and the levels of hygiene in modern life. 'We don't set off our immune system early on, we are too clean. In the former East Germany for instance, with very poor work and housing conditions, people were less allergic'."

Nice video. #think: Freddie's posterous - Home

#think: Freddie's posterous - Home: "smartel"

nice..

Will it work? luxury+social media.. same target audience??Neiman Marcus challenges in-store customers to earn mobile game rewards -Luxury Daily-Mobile

Neiman Marcus challenges in-store customers to earn mobile game rewards - Luxury Daily - Mobile:

It would be curious to see.. when I go to Neiman Marcus.. do not see many social media type audiences..

It would be great to see if this would really work.. not likely both parties would be happy to share their findings..

its like Harrods join forces with foursquare (who has many more users btw!) or with the uk local rummble.. are they even still around?

fact of the matters are these:

1>Internet, people rarely pay for things, except things that are standardised and have slight/better discounts, e.g. banking/insurance/DVDs/film/theatre tickets etc.

2>Mobile, people pay even more rarely, mostly subset of 1>

3>social media mostly make money for the platform and technology providers who have scale... number of the B2C successes are few & far between (unless it is part of the wider marketing mix, like for Dell etc.) to add incremental value..

4> truth is that people would still trust/prefer offline relationships..

therefore, this would only work if Neiman Marcus is using this campaign to:

a.) as call to action of their present customers who has an Android phone. (do they know who already has an android phone? and do they know how to download this application in-time for the 'excitement'??)

b.) using the application to reach more target audience for Neiman Marcus... (personally don't think they overlap much... but I have no clue, please do tell me if you have the information!)

but then again, it is great that they are doing this, as otherwise, we will have no innovations.. but it would only help if they share at least some high level insights..

so much is at stakes though (luxury B2C brand, and further series of fund raising), most likely this will be last we hear of it!

"Game face
The partnership between Neiman Marcus and Scvngr is an example of how a luxury brand can be an innovative leader in the retail industry by leveraging a social game.

Incorporating the interactive game with the retailer’s Big Night Out campaign creates a stronger community engagement.

“Scvngr has over a million players nationwide and we liked the idea of interacting and engaging with a new audience,” Ms. Gierhart said. “We believe that the digital- and mobile-based program Scvngr developed will appeal to this customer by creating a fun and interactive shopping experience.”"

Photos of Japan After Earthquake and Tsunami - Photographs - NYTimes.com

Photos of Japan After Earthquake and Tsunami - Photographs - NYTimes.com

Sobering...

Help our friends in OTSUCHI prefecture Japan Society of the UK - Make a Donation to the Japan Society Tohoku Earthquake Relief Fund, help local people

Japan Society of the UK - Make a Donation to the Japan Society Tohoku Earthquake Relief Fund

It's been awful as my friend's family is in Sendai and the coastal towns of Otsuchi, Kamaishi and Miyako.

They were unable to contact any of them for several days and they are still missing a cousin and an aunt. Luckily, the majority of their family seem to have escaped, although they are now suffering food, water and heat shortages and have lost their houses.

We encourage people to donate to the UK Japan Society appeal:www.japansociety.org.uk/donate/
If you, or anyone you know, would like to donate, it would be mush appreciated. If in the "claim gift aid" section you write OTSUCHI, the money will go directly to a local charity in my friend's mother's hometown.

Also, one of Jetro's clients emailed this morning to say that if "Friend of Intralink" is put in this box, they will match donations up to a total of £10,000.

If your corporation want to do some matching fund, please do get in touch!

The British Red Cross is donating to the Japanese Red Cross, but the money will not go to any other charities over there so if there is more donated than the Japanese Red Cross can use for their activities, these funds will be used for later disasters elsewhere.

This is totally understandable and necessary, but the problem is that this seems to be the main charity that British people are donating to, thinking their money is going to Japan but it may not. This is why they support the Japan Society.

more pictures of Japan aftermath from LATimes: Otsuchi, Japan — Reiko Miura, 68, cries as she looks for her sister's son

Rescue workers amidst the rubble as they picked their way through the shattered city of Otsuchi.

A ship is seen perched on top of a house in the tsunami devastated remains of Otsuchi, Iwate prefecture.

Brilliant insights shared by Lord Turner, FSA Chair, but 2keyPt?? Leverage, Maturity Transformation & Financial Stability: Challenges Beyond Basel III

Leverage, Maturity Transformation and Financial Stability: Challenges Beyond Basel III:

it was big shame that I missed the speech last night, but as many great regulators nowadays, his speech & slide decks are already available from FSA site!

It is ashame that the regulatory structure of UK will yet be changed again... but one thing I have observed, which is key challenge for maintaining any financial industry, which is this:

1.) is it feasible for any of mathematical genius to 'predict' what the intricate and maybe less inter-linked companies, markets, & instruments might behave in a continuously changing financial, geopolitical & natural disasters afflicted world??

2.) have you also noticed that Cash was not mentioned in the slides and only twice in passing in the speech??

This is the reason why GamBond®and how we work together with industry to create a custom but focused default risk insurance industry. It is so paramount as we recognise that one can only predict so much regarding how industry perform and KPIs defined/measured, but by focusing on cash flow and with the value chain, GamBond® know how to rate, monitor and put a price on future default risk(s) of a sector worldwide.

It is very different view to look at the situation but in short, we DO NEED a different view to rate, monitor industries from a long perspective. This will re-focus how companies are formed, structured, and run.. we need to cut these endemic short-term-ism as too many companies and people get hurt!

What do you think??

"Between 2007 and 2009 the global financial system suffered a huge crisis, with major harmful macroeconomic effects. In response, a major programme of regulatory reform has been launched and is part complete.

Last year we agreed a major reform of bank capital and liquidity standards – Basel III.
This year the Financial Stability Board will decide measures to address problems created by systemically important financial institutions (SIFIs) – by banks seen in the past as ‘too big to fail’.
These changes will make a major difference..."