Green leadership

http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/jan2009/tc20090122_745205.htm?chan=top+news_top+news+index+-+temp_technology

Interesting story about how green can US become.

I was always wondering why the grid was the only remaining network that is still not’ intelligent’.  Will the smart grid value chain be longer enough for the economy recovery?

All the components of a leadership speech were there in the Obama speech the 17^th Feb. in Denver: self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, social skills.

The chewing gum pack theory

I was waiting at the airport departure gate when I felt like it was time for a quick breath  refreshing with a chewing gum. I have kept for a while now this Chinese chewing gum pack that I re-filled frequently with local gum. I don’t know why I keep it, makes me remember the Beijing good times, a sort of plastic ‘Madeleine de Proust’. 

Now I realized that it was a good idea to keep my old Asian receptacle because for a couple of times, this pack proved to be a good conversation starter.

There was first this student at CEIBS at the airport who asked why I got this Chinese pack while I was waiting for a flight for Paris. Discussion revolved around interesting topics:  how bad Chinese executive managers need help in their struggle for going abroad, how thrilling it is to start working in China and to see the world from a challenger’s view…

Second was during this interview with during a case done end of 2008, a due diligence project. Build up acquisitions was a large part of the strategic audit and we discussed for two hours about their strategy in China following this chewing gum exotic pack conversation. From this conversation, we built an interesting relationship based on trust.

Yes sometimes, insignificant whim used as a (n)ice breaker can leverage business networking.

Vamos 2009

Nietzsche’s Twilight of the Idols opens with 44 aphorisms. Four “Questions of Conscience” as an illustration of my favourite 2008 thoughts I wrote this year:

 

You run ahead?  Are you doing it as a shepherd?  Or as an exception?  A third case would be the fugitive. First question of conscience.

Sichuan Earthquake:

Billions of Yuan were donated just after the terrifying event. For the first time, this money came not only from government support, traditionally compelled to protect its citizens from cradle to grave but from private donors for the majority, companies include. Sign that an emerging middle class, less controlled, is cultivating a more self conscious public opinion independent from the State. Sign also that information is less controlled by the system, more twittered, flowing through alternative canals, and more directly impacting the local Chinese awareness.