New Year's Diet?

Since I stopped playing football I’ve always weighed in at around 77KG. On the 1st January last year I weighed 77.3KG. I’ll check tomorrow to see if I managed to lose that recalcitrant excess over the course of 2011 (note I am still contemplating a late night bike ride in my garage just to be sure), just don’t ask me to even think about doing any muscle tone comparisons…. Maybe one day when the kids are a lot older that might be a possibility…

The Gift of Giving

I had wanted to publish this particular post before Christmas Day but three kids and a sleep deprived wife put paid to that idea… I was thinking about the whole present giving thing which is obviously very common at this time of year. It’s interesting now seeing it, and Christmas more generally, from a new, third perspective. The first perspective is mainly the receiving of presents and the wider Christmas experience (childhood), the second is much more focused on the exchange of presents and where you contribute to making Christmas happen (early adulthood), and the third is as a parent where you are often watching other (very generous) people giving presents to your prodigy, and where you are much more involved in the providing of the Christmas experience.

During that first experience I recall the quantity of presents being the most important thing – my brothers and I always counted up our “main” (not stocking filler) presents each year, and then tried to eke them out over not just Christmas Day, but also Boxing Day and even December 27th in some years.

In the second phase the quality of the present became much more important; I am a firm believer in the system that my family-in-law have instituted over the last few years where you pull a single name out of a hat in September, then everybody writes a letter to Santa Claus in October, and then you have 2 months to find a high quality present that you know that the “unsuspecting” recipient actually wants in December.

As a new entrant to the third phase of Christmas, my overriding feeling is that I really only want a limited number of presents for the kids. I also desperately hoped that each time they opened a present that they would play with it for an hour or so before they thought about the next gift to unwrap (this was, thankfully, how it worked out with Maxime this year). In an ideal world I would also love to get to the stage where after the receipt of a new toy or at a point in time just afterwards, then there is a selection of an old toy that can be given to some other child who is not as lucky….but maybe that’s me being just too much of a dreamer… As for presents for me in this new third phase? Well if I am going to get presents, then I still hanker for a small number of quality ones. I also genuinely don’t mind if they come in the January sales. If anything the thing that struck me is that who actually gave me the present is what is important. There are certain people who could buy me absolutely anything, even dull black socks and an awful badly fitting cardigan (illustrative example only you realize!), and I’d just be happy that it was that particular individual who offered me something. The other thing which struck me this year is that now, after 3 kids, I have a much greater appreciation of the time it takes for someone to go and actually buy, wrap up and transport (or search online, purchase and get delivered) a present. This year, this new third experience also represented a shift of stress between the generations. In the past it has always been my and Sandie’s parents who have had the stress of organizing Christmas. This year everyone came to us and I have to say it worked very well. It certainly relieved the stress on the parents and they had a great time. Thankfully for Sandie and me the Christmas stress this year was bearable (especially because Mum came back to clean the house on Boxing Day), so maybe this year has served to identify a few new key ingredients for a successful Christmas recipe for the years to come.

Christmas Turkey?

When on the 23rd December the highlight of your day is heading off to the supermarket to do some food shopping at 8.15 in the evening, then you can easily judge the quality of the last 24 hours. After getting up at 6AM to get some good quality work done, things then started to go badly with my key present having to be taken back to the shop where it was purchased because Mrs. O’Brien had read the small print in the instruction manual, as opposed to the large print written on the outside of the box, and decided that it didn’t cut the mustard. By midday, one step back to take two forward quickly felt like one step back to take another three backwards as I carefully crossed off a number of things on my to do list that will just have to wait until January. Thankfully mother in law present purchasing was delegated in the afternoon meaning I could actually complete my working day. After a few more relatively successful hours of work, the tired and cranky twins dominated the end of the afternoon – the only glimmer of light was a quick visit to speak to my bank manager (and you thought enjoying going shopping was bad!). As for the evening event? Well the supermarket was absolutely mobbed with huge numbers of French people trying to buy foie gras, alcohol and supermarket grade aftershave, so in an effort to maintain my sanity, I made sure I took my time and bought an extra bar of Nestle chocolate to eat as I glided around the aisles of Carrefour. I’m now very much looking forward to going to see Pich in Orthez with Maxime tomorrow morning!

Forward Thinking

I suppose with only two shopping days left before Christmas it's time I stopped doing emails and did my bit to stave off a double dip recession.... Thankfully I'm not completely starting from scratch, but it promises to be a fun two days. Motto for the next 48 hours: Keep calm and carry on....

It’s Christmas, roll out the lonely Belgians

We are now home in Biarritz from Pau for Christmas. It’s going to be a family affair, and with both grandmothers and a culinary competent au pair close by, it promises to be very much a gastronomic gathering. As a sort of preventative action, I’ve already set up the bike trainer in the garage. So far I’ve done the Belgian Tour of Flanders twice over the last two days (and ridden the horse once). Seeing video images and the funny red bricks of Belgium always brings back happy memories, and hearing the music that I used to listen to during the spell I lived there (predominantly Mika...), brings an additional smile to my face. It’s just a shame that I’m all on my own in my garage – surely it would be more fun to actually go out riding with someone else, if only the rain would just stop…

The Generation Game

Last night I had to pick my Dad up from the hospital after a routine check-up. It was funny because after 21 plus years of being completely dependent, and then a further 13 of semi-dependence/independence (which obviously will continue now there are three small grandchildren running around), for the first time it was me taking him under my wing as I signed his discharge form to allow me to take him home. However before I start to think that I am ascending to the head of the family or anything like that, Maxime brought me back down to earth this morning when he started making very sensible suggestions even before I managed to think about them e.g. the idea to put some cold milk in a mug of too hot hot chocolate. Maybe when Maxime realizes that running around in public half naked isn’t socially acceptable then we can install him as our new patriarch.

Exhibitionist Saturday

My Dad named my regular Saturday trips with Maxime to the riding stables following by McDonalds our "Naughty Saturday". Yesterday, when I found Maxime running around half naked (the wrong half) in the McDonalds (outside) childrens' play area because his trousers were supposedly wet (something he hates), I thought a better name for our outings might be "Exhibitionist Saturday". Thankfully another thing that I've learnt by having three kids is to not be ashamed by this type of thing. We calmly put the underpants and trousers back on, and then finished our ice creams.

Having 3 kids helps you...

Learn how to survive on more disrupted and generally less sleep, lose all semblance of muscle tone, keep your weight down simply by being constantly on the go, learn how to appreciate leftover food (the unfinished meals of your children), learn how to not do emails at the weekend, learn how to multi-task (preparing microwave meals with one child under the other arm or combining child with riding competitions), learn how to prioritize (which one of these three crying children do I need to pick up first), learn what self sacrifice really means, learn that drying yourself with a wet towel after everyone else has had a bath is not the end of the world, find points in common with other people e.g. clients or anyone you happen to cross in a doctor’s waiting room or hospital accident and emergency department, be at peace with a permanently untidy house, learn about idle threats and to only say what you feel confident about being able to carry out, be less picky about food (anything is good so long as it is hot and manages to cover at least 2 of the major food groups), watch less TV, see your friends less, drink less alcohol, see your parents and parents-in-law more, drink more alcohol, read less, keep up to date with current affairs less, talk with your partner less, enjoy business trips more (more sleep and time to think), enjoy business trips less (it’s not nice to be away from them), learn where the washing machine is, do your weekly shopping more quickly, pay more for your weekly shopping and appreciate 10 minutes of peace and quiet more.

Time for a decision

After my recent trip to South Africa where we are trying to decide our exact plans for 2012, and as the Euro crisis rumbles on with no particular (happy) end in sight, something that has struck me a lot is the importance of timing of any particular decision. There are always multiple ways to skin any particular cat and the decision outcomes can be varied, but it is clear that whether or not a decision you take is the right one rests heavily on the exact moment the decision is taken. In turn, this also means that it may well be quite valid to reopen, or even reverse, a previously taken decision if key assumptions are different at a later point in time. This doesn’t naturally sit easy with someone like me who has a “tick box” or “cross it off the to-do list” type mentality, but I suppose it’s just something else you learn, or at least start to appreciate better, as you move through life.

The Peoples' Birthday Weekend

The weekend was really good and we had most of the grandparents and au pairs across from Biarritz for cheese and chocolate cake to celebrate Maxime’s birthday. In actual fact Maxime’s birthday is today, the 5th, but we told him it was yesterday for the sake of simplicity…such blatant manipulation of the population felt like I was being some autocratic Soviet or Ex-Communist government, but on reflection it definitely served a (worthy) purpose. I hasten to add that I do have the people’s best interests at heart, and this is definitely not a case of me plundering my country for my own ends; in fact the only plundering done this weekend was Maxime who ended up receiving a huge number of presents, (virtually all of which seemed to be related to the Walt Disney Pixar film “Cars”),…hmmm there go our attempts to avoid having a spoilt brat. As it turned out Maxime was an absolute delight with his presents – he took his time opening each, and played with it before opening the next. He also spontaneously went around the house just before bedtime to thank people “for the day”, and give them each a kiss – it was such a good and heartwarming performance on his part, that only now do I realize it was just another delaying tactic to avoid going to bed (with his new “Cars” night light of course). That boy really is nobody’s fool.

Corporate and Entrepreneurial Parenting

This morning sees the end to my 3 days in charge of the household after Sandie came back home late last night after going off to Paris on Monday for work. Final result: Children still alive: 3, children deceased: 0, exhausted au pairs: 1, loads of washing: 16, visits to the doctor: 1 (Capcuine), average hours sleep per night: 6.5, number of work emails in my EMC inbox at the end of each day: 8, visits to the physio: 2 (Gaston), chocolate yoghurts eaten: 8 (Maxime), number of horses ridden: 1 (Papa), and number of black eyes: 1 (Gaston after falling out the car).

My key takeaways from the whole experience were that over the long run, one person can’t realistically manage 3 kids by themselves – given the jobs Sandie and I do, an au pair is an absolute necessity for us. Secondly, that whilst one is constantly busy with three kids, if you are just a tiny bit organized, then you can save yourself huge amounts of stress e.g. get up before the kids and be showered and dressed before the first cries of papa, maman – being ready for them means you can really focus on getting them out the door for 8.30AM. The other key bit of organization is always having their clothes ready for the next big event e.g. after they’ve gone to school, I put the 3 sets of pyjamas out in bathroom a whole 10 hours before they are actually required, and just as they are hitting the hay, I make sure they have full outfits laid out in the bathroom for the next day. I also removed the spontaneity of the weekly shop…when I went shopping I bought 7x2 evening meals, 7x3 pots of yoghurt or puree, 7x4 pain au laits (3 packets of 10), and at least 4 litres of fresh milk just because that never goes to waste. That, if you like, is what I refer to as “Corporate Parenting” – 12 years of working in big organizations has taught me the need to be organized and structured. However what I have also seen over the course of the last 3 days is that if you want to stay vaguely sane and not become just another expert of dirty nappies and hot milk, that whenever a chance to do something that you want to do presents itself e.g. read the Economist for 10 minutes, go for a run, ride a horse, then you must grab it with both hands, otherwise the window of opportunity closes just as quickly as it opened. This is what I will now call “Entrepreneurial Parenting”, and I am sure that the whole experience of the last 3 days will help me in my work life to be readier to respond to those little opportunities that present themselves….just so long as I’ve managed to get just a little bit more sleep.

All Good Things

Last Sunday saw the final show jumping competition of the season. I was delighted to have a double clear round – i.e. no bars down in either of the classes that I rode in. The minor change to Pich’s equipment, basically some new boots for his hind legs which force him to jump just a little bit higher, seem to have done his trick…(who said a bad workman blames his tools?)! After that little success it’s just a shame that the season has come to an end. It’s also a shame that I got flashed as I was driving home, and will no doubt get a speeding fine and lose a point on my license. Now that really did take the spring out of my step.

Happy Hotel

I’m now on the way back home. I am exhausted. Four late nights and three early mornings mean that I am very much ready for the weekend (and a little afternoon siesta today if I get the chance). Overall it has been a good week with some real highlights. Professionally the re-launch of the group in London went well, as did an initial meeting with a new client yesterday. I met a number of new people in EMC, and I also managed to do a few meetings in the members’ area of the Tate Modern gallery in London so that made for a nice change. Personally I was really happy to be back in Brussels for the first time in a while yesterday. It has been a long time since I was so happy to go back to a hotel – I “lived” in the Crowne Plaza in Rue Gineste for about a year or so when I was working at Fortis. Little had changed, including many of the people who worked there, and I was happy to see the colourful carpets, big beds and black and white mosaic bathroom floors again. I also managed to meet a few old Belgian friends and, very importantly for Sandie, Maxime and the Parents and Teachers Association of Maxime’s village school, I also managed to sell eight “P’tit Monsters” key rings to raise some money for the school. I suspect my other upcoming business trips will see another box of key rings being thrust into my suitcase as I head for the airport – I think that’s called being a victim of my own success. A good week all in all.

Big is Best

It looks like it is going to be a big week. London tomorrow, Tuesday and Wednesday, and Brussels on Thursday for a follow up meeting with a bank I spoke with in Barcelona recently. I've got a whole load of meetings in London including a key one where I'll "re-launch" our Enterprise Information Management and Analytics group on Wednesday evening (basically the same presentation as the one in Johannesburg last week). I'm also really looking forward to going back to Belgium - with a bit of luck I'll manage to see some old friends inbetween client meetings and dinners. I'm trying not to think about the 6AM flight on Friday morning!

Bad Influence

Neither of us were sick but both Maxime and I have spent the whole of the day in pyjamas. I blame him. He was also the only one who spilt tomato sauce on his white top at lunch time. We had a super day lying in, eating ice cream, having siestas, watching "The Incredibles" on DVD, and talking about Papy John and Mamy Moira's new poodle who should be arriving in January. If only every day was a Sunday!

Re-Read in 2031

I wonder if this is the type of article that I'll re-read in 20 years time and conclude that nothing has changed and that the youth of today blah blah blah..... http://www.economist.com/node/21529000

Lekker Bubble

I am sitting on the upper deck of an Airbus A380 waiting to head back to the Northern Hemisphere. It’s been a lekker trip (Afrikaans for “great”). I would like to say that I stared danger in the eyes and that I survived the rough and tumble of Johannesburg, but in reality, I was put in an expat bubble and mollycoddled for the whole time being picked up from my luxurious hotel and driven between the EMC offices and client sites in an air conditioned Audi. I was even put back in my place abruptly and bundled into the car when I told one of my colleagues that I was happy to walk the 1 km back to my hotel from the restaurant last night. The most adventurous I was allowed to get was a 30 minute run in broad daylight at 7AM around the hotel grounds, although I was very happy when I managed to convince a colleague that it really would be ok if I took the airport express train from Sandton to the airport on my way out tonight (about a 15 minute journey).

Despite not seeing “real” life (or maybe that is as close to reality as a tourist will ever get), it was a fascinating experience. There were a number of key things that struck me. Firstly that Johannesburg is a fairly ugly and very spread out city; that South Africa seems in many respects to be a first world country with certain third world features such as poor infrastructure and awful potholed motorways (although some of the South Africans would see it the other way around); that it is unusual for me to see condoms being dispensed freely in the men’s toilets in a corporate office environment (Anglo American); that despite the end of apartheid in 1994, life is still tough and complete racial harmony or integration still has a way to go; and finally, that white middle aged males really are a threatened species – South Africa’s Affirmative Action or Black Empowerment (BE) policies really seem to stack the odds against them…. It was eye opening to think that one’s career can be so directly dictated by government policy – moving jobs for them is a risky business and opportunities are scarce as companies attempt to meet BE quotas.

Overall I think that despite the political climate, if we manage to get a few basic foundations in place, then there are huge opportunities in the country (and in Africa more generally for certain companies). The quality of the small team we have there, and the cutting edge work they are doing, were really impressive. I suspect I’ll be back there in the not too distant future. Lekker!

Correction

The Republic of South Africa has three capitals: Pretoria, often treated as the single capital, is home to the executive branch of government (including the President). Cape Town is home to the Assembly and the Supreme Court is located in Bloemfontein. Although Johannesburg is the commercial center of the country, is not actually one of the capital cities. Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_capital_of_South_Africa#ixzz1dmHMTrP3

The Swallow Has Landed

Just a quick update to say that I am safely in my hotel in Johannesburg. The taxi driver was a delight (although I was sure to belt up as soon as I got in the car). The hotel is pretty fancy too http://www.southernsun.com/deluxe/the-palazzo-montecasino/pages/overview.aspx. Lunch, a brief afternoon nap and then off to work and dinner...

Autumn Migration, Northern Winter

As many a sensible swallow would tell you, heading for warmer climes is a pretty sensible thing to do at this time of year. As I sit here in my A380 in Paris waiting to fly to the South African capital with all the leg room you could wish for, I would be inclined to agree. That said I have to confess that I was initially a bit concerned about flying to Johannesburg as a result of stumbling across the following news articles this weekend http://www.economist.com/node/21536658, http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/rugby_union/15714042.stm and also a story from a colleague about a 32 year old client who was a father of two and who was killed instantly in a head on car crash in the city last week… As I said goodbye to Maxime earlier today, I was very conscious of the fact that I really did want to get home in one (living) piece at the end of the week – we’ve still got lots of stuff to do together. I suspect being less carefree, along with an increased interest in the weather forecast, is all part of hurtling towards middle age. However I was also adamant that I’m not ready to nestle into my comfy slippers just yet, and that I am very much looking forward to this trip to see some very smart young colleagues in a new (albeit supposedly dangerous) city, in what is reputed to be a wonderful country.

One Foulée back, four Foulées forward?

This weekend saw another show jumping event with Pich. This time it was conveniently in Biarritz meaning that I could ride for three days in a row whilst still respecting the babies’ siestas and routines, and complete other domestic jobs including UK and French tax returns. Three bars on the Friday, a clear round on the Saturday, and one down on Sunday meant that, on paper, the results were exactly the same as the previous weekend, however the events of Saturday suggest that real progress has been made. To date Pich has never really forgiven me for the small errors that I make. However on Saturday I misjudged one jump but he remained wonderfully calm and produced a huge, generous, jump at the third which ensured a very pleasing clear round in front of family and friends...it almost felt like he was committed to the team. He’s a good lad really. I hope he realized that the two kilos of apples that followed it was not just by chance! In fact Saturday was a good day all round - in addition to a super clear round, it also included hair cuts for Maxime and Papa, a birthday present from my parents, aperos with Michel in his truck, and dinner in my favourite restaurant which serves the best profiteroles with hot chocolate sauce in town. It’s not often you get a day like that.

Viva Barcelona!

I spent a couple of days in Barcelona last week. It was actually my fourth time in the city. Previously I had always been very disappointed with what everybody told me was a wonderful place. This time I made a point of taking a late flight back on the Thursday to allow myself some time to have a little walk around (rather than just rushing to the airport to sit and do emails in the lounge, again). I have to say on a warm November day and under a glorious blue sky I was finally taken by the feel and the architecture of the place – the normally screeching Spaniards didn’t irritate me either. The sun draped old town was beautiful, and the city was a wonderful mix of the traditional and the youthful. I also found some excellent food and even a free internet connection in Starbucks (I couldn’t go a whole afternoon without emails you understand). The conclusion I drew as I sat on the train to travel back to the airport in the evening was one’s opinion of a city is typically much more positive when you’re not there on a stag do (as I had been the three other times I had visited the Catalan capital)!

Kick in the Ribs

Last weekend saw three days of show jumping with Pich. The results were a mixed bag – one clear round and four bars down (not the objective) between the two other classes. Whereas it is increasingly clear to me that to get a clear round with Pich I really need to ride with an extreme level of precision, a different conclusion that the weekend threw into doubt was the one where I had said it was better to share a bed with moneyed Maxime rather than his crumb loving mother…. Maxime came away with me for the competition whilst the rest of the family stayed in Biarritz. We stayed in a little hotel nearby and because he was a touch sickly he ended up sleeping alongside me in the big double bed. Never has so little a person taken up so much of a full sized adult bed. He kicked me on numerous occasions throughout the night. At one stage I thought he was just messing around so I was somewhat alarmed to see that the little kicker was fast asleep as he sought to cave in my rib cage. Bring back the crumbs I say.

Losing the battle to win the war

When I was in Boston recently I got talking to a New York banker who had responsibility for running a large team, a number of which were based in India. He was every bit the stereotype of a New York Banker. He told me that his solution to the high rates of attrition that one can often see in that part of the world was not to try and create an interesting career experience which would encourage them to stay, but to set up a permanent recruitment function and regularly fire people, even those who were performing, before they got too comfortable and starting looking for other jobs. An interesting theory indeed and one which he obviously told me was working fantastically well for him... However the older I get, the more I believe that in the pursuit of a given goal, so long as you never lose sight of the ultimate end point of where you want to get to, the more you can get agreement with others (which obviously takes a bit more time and absolutely includes accepting to lose some battles along the way), the greater the chance of winning the overall war and making the final solution stick (which are of course two very different things). At the end of our conversation we shook hands and agreed to disagree. I wished him well on his hamster wheel journey of Indian recruitment.

Friend in a sandstorm

Life with a family, job and horse is generally quite busy at the minute. Given that four point five sixths of that ensemble are highly dependent, it means that a lot of time is spent fixing flaming hoovers, transporting dirty nappies from the bathroom to the kitchen bin, and putting the same toys in the same toy box at roughly the same time every day. This has the unfortunate consequence of eating up a lot of time that could be spent doing much more useful and enjoyable things such as talking to friends. Despite our managing to see a lot of our friends in Biarritz this week, it was a phone call with an old work friend in Paris that really put a spring in my step. We used to spend hours talking each day, (or rather he was generous enough to listen to me ramble on for hours on end each day). It was only as a result of talking to him for 30 minutes the other day did I realize how much I missed his company on a daily basis. It was great to catch up with him and gave me new resolve to pick up the phone to catch up with those other friends who are strung out across Europe and further afield.

You aren’t what you do

Something that has struck me recently is the difference between what someone is or has done (their CV if you will), and who someone is (their personality). I think too often we can confuse the two or assume that if the first is impressive, then the second will also be good by default (and vice versa). This is probably a real issue if you take key decisions e.g. hiring or marrying someone, based on the first set of facts, whereas it is only over time that you realize that you should really be trying to understand a mix of both elements before making those key decisions.

False Economy

One of my pet hates is crumbs in the bed – something which can happen because Sandie can be prone to a slice of toast in front of the TV in our room. It has recently become apparent that I much prefer to share a bed with Maxime…. Part of his bed time routine involves reading one of his books in our bed for five minutes before he trundles off to his own room. Last night when I went to bed I was very happy to discover that various cold patches at the foot of the bed were actually one and two euro coins that Maxime had picked up from somewhere in the house but had placed under our quilt. I found a total of 7 euros. It’s been a long time since I’ve gone to bed and made money (although on reflection, that in itself is probably a good thing).

In actual fact if I were really cynical, I would say that it was just Maxime trying to redeem himself after having cleaned the inside of the toilet (yes the wet bit), with a vacuum cleaner (yes powered by electricity), earlier in the day. He claimed to have seen “fire” coming out of the hoover, but in any case I think we can rest assured that the 7 euros, (which probably belonged to me in any case), is insufficient to mend this most essential of household appliances. I really think I need to start making a list of all the things that have broken in the house since his arrival almost three years ago (carefully phrased because according to his mother, he obviously he doesn’t break anything himself).

Mid Life Abs Crisis

The phenomenon of a mid life identity crisis is well documented, but I think that this is proceeded by a mid-life abs crisis for those people who have been vaguely sporty during their early life. This represents the fact that after the age of 30 it is increasingly difficult to keep in shape largely because of (1) a change in the human body, (2) an increase in disposable income meaning restaurants are a more regular feature of life and (3) the arrival of children. Whereas I have previously suggested that the move into middle age can be linked to one’s relationship with the weather, I now contend that, a week after my 34th birthday, another clear indicator of the onset of middle age is the arrival of some form of home gym equipment, (the “Ab Storm” in my case), despite the clear understanding that it will be heavily underutilized, and end up in a car boot sale in about 5 years time, (assuming it ever makes it out of the box it came in – if it stays in the box it has more chance of being sold on eBay apparently). Trying to squeeze in 15 minutes of exercise sitting in my garage at 6.45AM, listening to the Economist on my iPod whilst straining to hear which child has woken first, is a far cry from previous sorties to the gym whilst still playing football as a youngster…

Back from Boston

I’m back on French soil for my birthday today after an overnight flight from Boston. The trip was fine. It was useful to spend some time with a few European colleagues and to meet some new American ones. It was also enjoyable because for the first time since I arrived I managed to spend some time with a few key clients. So far it’s been a lot of internal reorganization and 2012 planning so it was nice to get back to what I actually like doing.

Boston seemed a nice enough place…I went out for a 5 mile run each day to try and see a bit of the city. However because of the jet lag I ended up going running at around 5AM and because it was pitch black, it meant it was difficult to judge just how nice a place it really was. Away from this rather underwhelming sight seeing, it was also useful to listen to some of the presenters – EMC had wheeled out all the big wigs, so at least I now know the corporate line I am meant to be towing. It was definitely good to get that overview as I think about how to structure my own group in Europe and place demands on our Indian colleagues in Bangalore.

The flight back was ok although at times it felt like the whole of the cabin were taking turns to nudge me to wake me up as they walked past my aisle seat. I dread to think how tortured inmates cope with sleep deprivation although I suspect they don’t get woken up to eat a nice chicken risotto and chocolate brownie.

Jargon Chain

On the plane to Boston this week I was reading a research paper released by Visa Europe on the future of the payments industry. It talked about how Visa Europe wants to “move up the value chain” and become a trusted partner of the retailers not just a transaction processing platform. Throughout the course of the week I kept hearing the phrase “moving up the value chain”. It seems that it is the Holy Grail for everyone from the cleaner to the CEO; it was definitely one of Wipro’s aspirations in Europe, at least before the recent CEO change; and practitioners in the world of Business Intelligence (BI) have often talked about the need to move up the value chain and start talking to the business if they want to be successful.

This got me thinking – what the hell is at the top of the value chain?! What’s the actual end point of this journey up a chain and what does the phrase actually mean….Is the buyer the end point i.e. you’re just trying to get closer to the final consumer who actually does the purchasing? Or is this view a bit simplistic – is not the top of the value chain the person who actually spends his time creating demand in the market place? Or might it even be government agencies that set the rules of the game meaning that lobbying becomes probably the most important corporate activity if you want to move up the value chain? I think the only conclusion I reached is that the phrase is fairly non-descript and that those people who utter it are probably not thinking beyond the end of their noses.

Good Trip

Nothing to do with LSD or any other dubious drugs, more to do simply with the fact that the week in India was a good, er, trip. I managed to see the state of our offshore activities with my own eyes, and I managed to spend a lot of time with my US counterparts and supervisors. Thankfully everyone seems to be pretty much in agreement with my latest view of the world, so all we have to hope for now is that my European boss agrees, and then they release the required funds so we can get started.

On top of the professional side of things, I also had a marvelous last day on Friday. Two Indian colleagues drove me 70 kms outside of Bangalore to visit a poor rural 600 pupil school that serves 33 local villages. The school had been inspired by a great Indian figure from the state of Karnataka called Dr. H. Narasimhaiah whose remains are now kept in a sanctuary inside the school (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._Narasimhaiah). It was a most wonderful experience – the welcome I got from the head teacher, staff members and children was overwhelming. I also felt quite the celebrity when they walked me round their special science laboratory before sitting fifty or so children down in front of me and asking me to say a few words as if I was some sort of state dignitary. Naturally I made sure I had my best Geordie accent on to aid comprehension. It was an especially fascinating experience because I have the memories of Maxime starting school fresh in my mind. After a visit of the school I was invited to lunch with the head teacher and he explained that one of the big pulling points of the school was the fact that each day they supplied a vegetarian lunch to all the children via a government sponsored programme at a cost of 10 rupees per child per day…80 euros to feed a school for a day; now that does put a lot of things into perspective not least client dinners and also the six euros ninety I have just spent on a chocolatine and apple juice for breakfast here in CDG airport this morning... A very memorable outing and a privilege to see the real India.

Delhi’s Midnight Runners

I like a run every now and again, often in the morning before work. I don’t like running between Delhi’s domestic and international terminals at 1AM in the morning to catch my flight back to Europe after my domestic Air India flight left Bangalore late. Thankfully I’m now sitting on the plane so feeling much happier albeit a little breathless. That said, I will categorically state that I would be happy to travel back to Paris barefooted if I was allowed to stuff both of my socks into the small screaming girl’s mouth. Roll on Saturday morning and Sandie and Maxime at the airport.

Bollywood Romance

As I was waiting to go through security at the airport in Bangalore tonight I sent Sandie a SMS message to tell her that I loved her. It had been a while since I’d done so I thought it a good idea (you can see that I’m good at spontaneity). When I spoke to her later on the phone she confirmed that the text had been gratefully received. She was somewhat dismayed however when I explained to her that what had prompted the text was that a young couple had appeared before me in the security queue highly flustered and claiming that their flight was boarding. They then discovered that they hadn’t printed off their boarding passes properly so off they ran back to the check in desk…….leaving their luggage poised on the security machine just in front of me. In one of my more balanced and sensible moments, I naturally fretted that this was some sort of terrorist plot, so decided to send a text just in case. Personally I thought that was a lovely reaction. Sandie didn’t quite see it that way however. I should have kept my mouth shut – men Venus women Mars anyone?

53 Years Young

The EMC office in Bangalore is a very nice office and markedly better than some of their buildings back in Europe. This particular office has walls covered in random quotes that are no doubt designed to keep you on your toes. The one that grabbed my attention was Mark Twain’s, “twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”

Hmmmm. Quite possible I am sure. I think I need to think a bit more about this one – what will I be saying when I’m 53 years and 51 weeks old? But before I do that, I think I also need to find some really old people to double check this theory…(I also suspect it will also be a good opportunity for my Dad (who is admittedly not really old), to remind me that I should read more of the classics and fewer business books).

I'm in!

Just to let you know that I've not been slung in a cell in some dis-used immigration centre in the outskirts of Bangalore. I sailed through the passport checks and was delighted to see a smiling face as I came out of the airport - I had requested that the taxi driver who looked after me when I was in Wipro, Sathya, was also there to look after me this week. Sathya's toothy white smile stood out a mile as I walked out into the 20C heat at 1AM this morning. For some reason I felt positive about being back in India this time round...and that was even before I arrived at my hotel... http://www.theleela.com/ - there will be absolutely no hunger strikes or dirty protests from me about staying here!

Bangalore Bound

This week is back to India…. After leaving Wipro earlier this year I hadn’t expected to be back so soon. This particular visit is a lot about meeting with some key Indians who run our Centre of excellence there, and spending some time with a handful of key Americans who are also travelling to Bangalore this week. We are essentially setting the strategy for 2012 and seeking to understand where, when and how we can work together. We’ll see how that goes because I am still relatively new to everything.

I won’t actually be in Electronic City (the place where Wipro are based) and apparently it will be difficult to see old friends because although both sites are in Bangalore, its sheer size (60km by 60km) and treacherous traffic mean that there is at least a 2 hour journey between the two places. Apart from meeting a number of new colleagues this week, I am pretty sure that one of the highlights will be a trip to see a school in rural India on Friday. One of my colleagues had kindly proposed to take me to see some random palace, but I asked him if we could do something where I can get more of a feel for rural India. I’m looking forward to it already.

This is now my third trip to India. Hopefully they will let me in – last time I arrived in Mumbai and they stamped my passport twice (in Mumbai and Bangalore after a domestic flight) so it may appear that I have never left India (if you can believe that!). The double stamping caused something of a ruckus as I was leaving India the last time so we’ll see what happens when I arrive in 30 minutes or so…

The best thing about this flight so far, apart from the fact that you leave Europe at 11AM and arrive around midnight so it is pretty much like a normal day (except for the fact you’re in a plane), is the fact that they had the movie Cars 2. Maxime loves the original Cars movie and I have been desperate to see the sequel to try and judge how much of a success it will be with him (it’s all about parental research, honestly). The plot of Cars 2 is completely different, much more focused on Tow Mater, and generally more complicated, but you still have a nice life lesson or two in there (e.g. the importance of friendship, the importance of having wings and machine guns fitted to all cars etc.). I personally was disappointed we didn’t see more of Ms. Sally because I have something of a soft spot for female purple Porsches, and although I doubt whether Maxime will sit through all 1 hour 50 minutes of it, I am pretty sure that we’ll be investing in the DVD when it comes out.

Right time to sign out because I don’t have much battery left because I have actually done some work on this flight…so now it’s time to start reading Craig Storti’s, “Speaking of India, bridging the communication gap when working with Indians” – a present from an old (European) Wipro colleague…

Top and Tail

Overall the weekend was good. Events with Maxime topped and tailed the weekend nicely….

On Saturday morning I was taking inordinate amounts of time to wash my hair during a nice long hot shower back in our house in Biarritz where we hadn’t been for a few weeks. After a couple of minutes I opened my eyes and I was somewhat taken aback when I saw the blonde hair of a little naked boy who had decided to sneak into the shower as well. His cheeky little grin as he looked up made it impossible to do anything other than accept that the weekend was well and truly en route.

On Sunday night I put Maxime to bed. I tend to lie next to him to say his prayers and sing a couple of lullabies which he takes great delight in finishing off. He typically asks me to stay for a few minutes afterwards by saying, “a cote de moi papa, cote de moi”. Once you’re in situ, he then applies some form of reverse head lock which tightens as soon as you think about sneaking out of his bedroom. After lying next to him for a couple of minutes all I remember was when his arm suddenly fell down alongside my back releasing the head lock and signaling the fact that he was now asleep. When I went downstairs I was somewhat annoyed that Sandie hadn’t waited for me for dinner….but then she told me I had been upstairs with Maxime for over 40 minutes – his flailing arm seemed to have woken me!

In between these two Maxime episodes we had the first birthday of the twins. We celebrated in true French fashion which basically means that we spent all of Saturday afternoon sitting and eating extremely good food…I say we but worth noting that the twins still had to make do with their normal unappetizing baby stuff, although Gaston did seem to quite like the French patisseries that were on offer. Sunday and a trip to see Pich at the stables gave me the opportunity to burn off a few of the Saturday’s newly acquired calories, and I am sure the incoming week in India will also help because I’ve yet to find any good purveyor of fine chocolate in Bangalore. All in all a good weekend and it was nice to be back in Biarritz with the whole family. I’m already looking forward to going back for another couple of weeks at the end of October.

Shoe In!

Some elections are close run things. This one was quite different. Sandie insisted that we go to the Parents Teachers Association meeting this evening at Maxime's school. Sandie forewarned me that the committee of three was resigning and that under absolutely NO circumstances should I volunteer either myself, or worse still, her for any of the president, secretary or treasurer roles.

Imagine our shared concern when it transpired that apart from the three departing officials and head teacher, only 5 other parents turned up. The odds were already looking grim. The conversation basically went back and forth between the outgoing officials saying that the job was really fun and easy, and the nervous parents saying that they had no time and demanding jobs. As the nibbles and the chilled cider got finished, I felt like some Euro finance chief facing a weekend lock in to ensure a resolution before the markets opened again on Monday morning. I suppose the only difference was that Jean-Claude Juncker (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Claude_Juncker) and Jose Manuel Barroso (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Manuel_Barroso) probably weren’t surrounded by cuddly toys, jigsaws and felt tip pens.

I personally was being extremely well behaved (for once), and regularly pleaded the fact that I was foreign and often working in a different country to keep myself out of trouble. Every time peoples’ gaze settled on me, I quickly shuffled off to give Maxime some more crisps to keep him quiet. Then after the president and treasurer posts had already gone, Sandie then made a fatal mistake by giving the only remaining couple a way out. They lurched for the exit and the die was cast. I made a final desperate attempt to salvage something and trade a few horses to get her the presidency (she is better at giving rather than taking orders), but alas, she is now going to be writing letters for Maxime’s primary school for the next 12 months at least…

Well, look on the bright side, we have lots of spare time at the minute with two full time jobs and three small kids so at least we don’t have to worry about what we’re going to do on those cold winter evenings that are fast approaching……humpf

A new light

It took me six months to pluck up the courage, but I finally bit the bullet and on Tuesday morning I decided to look at Paris in a new light. It has never been one of my favourite cities, although I definitely seem to like it more now that I live somewhere else. As my flight landed in Orly airport at 8AM, I decided that I would take my first ever motorbike taxi to the office in Bezons on the other side of the city. I’ve only ever ridden a motorbike once, (or been a passenger more precisely), and it’s never been something that has ever really appealed to me. That said, the more I travel to Paris, the more I conclude that the RER and metro system appeals to me even less.

Overall the whole experience was super. It was extremely pleasant to be above ground and even better to be whizzing past the morning rush hour traffic. It felt surprisingly safe, for the most part, although maybe my vision was blurred by the heated backseat I was sitting on. I also appreciated the fact that I didn’t have to hug a complete stranger for 45 minutes – they’ve put some very reassuring handles at the side for the passenger. The price was a reasonable (sic) 85 euros (the same price as a car taxi to go the 40 odd kilometers during rush hour), and I was even impressed by the electronic receipt sent to me by iPhone as I got off the bike. I now see all my future trips to Paris in a different light – the more cars, traffic jams and general strikes the better! Vive le moto I say!

To err or not to err

One of the things that has been taxing me as I have been twiddling thumbs in airport lounges recently is, that given that a single decision may prompt numerous consequences, some good some bad and others neutral, how do you make a definitive choice as to whether or not major life decisions (i.e. those that involve high levels of emotional input), were well made or not e.g. emmigrating, getting married, the decision to have children etc? I don’t think a simple weighting system is sufficient (what exactly was John Mill’s unit of utility that I studied all those years ago?..http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Stuart_Mill) especially when at least some of the consequences may not be immediately obvious. Hmmmm…

Weekend Princess

I'm currently in Toulouse and will spend the weekend here for my mother in law's birthday. Maxime is already here, but the rest of the O'Brien clan will arrive tomorrow. What that does mean however is that tonight I have the bed all to myself. The even better news is that it is my little niece's bright pink princess bed. That said it's just a shame that my feet are prodding out the end....

I say you understand, I see you feel, I like I work

A few things have stood out this week, my third in EMC…. Firstly the following rather gruesome article in the Economist (http://www.economist.com/node/21529041) made a very good point that every consultant should remember – it’s not what you say that is important, it’s how the other person understands what you say. This is obviously made more complicated when there is a company lexicon which I don’t necessarily master yet e.g. what is the real difference between presales, sales and business development? In any case a timely reminder as I embark on a restructuring of the group for 2012.

A second thing that struck me is that when things are generally unclear and no-one has clear roles, responsibilities or direction, that people have a greater propensity to be worried, uncomfortable and insecure. Although I can have see how things are going to work out and who the superstars are going to be, if this isn’t formalized and communicated to the wider organization, then people (including the to-be superstars), are not going to feel good or relaxed at work.

The other thing which is beginning to come home is that you work better for people you respect, but going beyond that, you’ll only ever run through brick walls or over hot coals for someone you like.

Coucou it’s me again

It’s been a good few days since the last post. Surprisingly enough it’s been quite busy. To get friends and family up to date here’s a quick summary…

Maxime – enjoying school after his first school rentrée – quite blasé about the whole thing in fact, parents quickly forgotten about after he is deposited at the school gates each morning. Capcuine and Gaston – absolutely fine as well, they started at crèche on Monday so no more Mimi the nounou for them (a different story). Gaston continues to refuse to crawl anywhere, although this now at least seems to annoy him, which we are construing as progress. Capcuine is overly active and seems to be a mini-Maxime, except for the fact that she will clearly be the boss of the house, if she isn’t already.

Sandie – handling the fact that my new boss is also called Sandy very well, and having a whale of a time at work. The recent show jumping competition in the front garden went wonderfully well with over 140 horses competing over the course of the day (a real feat especially for her first competition). She also had over 2000 visitors to the Stud Farm last weekend for the French National Heritage Open Day thing when all government buildings are opened to the public. She combined this with an art exhibition in the stables which was also extremely well received. The big event of Monday, sorry, one of the big events, was the reception of her new car – a black Qashqai +2. After months of deliberation we didn’t manage to agree on the car we wanted so she applied the 80/20 rule and opted for Nissan. I will huff and puff in my little corner for a while yet, and I’ll come out when I’ve decided if I want to change my little Twingo, and if so, what for (naturally I already have a few ideas and will no doubt be well counseled by my young petrol head cousin in Glasgow!).

Job – going fine. I am still in the process of meeting lots of people. I think I have almost got the lie of the land. What strikes me is the number of pockets of good people dotted around the place. I think the key thing that is holding us back is the lack of a single vision uniting all of these different groups of people, and the sheer number of different moving parts in the company. This week is a busy week in London, Paris and Amsterdam, and it will culminate with a key meeting on Friday where we will hopefully get a bit of an agreement on how to fix some of these things. Big trips are also planned for Bangalore, Boston and Johannesburg/Cape Town over the next couple of months. Air France continues to send me excessive amounts of special offers and other marketing rubbish.

Pich – doing ok despite knocking his hip on a metal girder at the weekend because of another stallion showing just a bit too much interest in his hindquarters. After a busy August with nine days of competitions in the space of three weeks we’ve had a relatively quiet period with lots of serious work being done at home. It feels like we’ve made progress, and although things are not completely perfect, we’re probably in need of a competition to see if things really are better or not. After almost a season of serious work, he also seems to be becoming less of a stroppy, lazy teenager and more of a responsible young adult so hope springs eternal (NB I’m currently less sure about the eight ages of horses, but I suspect the process is at least similar in part despite the fact I’ve never seen him on a scooter - see previous posting)...

That’s it for the minute. Consider yourselves updated!

Intertwined Circles

My latest musings on the “seven ages of man”, or the eight according to my theory as you’ll see below…

Age 1 – You are completely dependent on others. From your birth until around the time you can legally drive a scooter.
Age 2 – You constantly seek greater independence and autonomy. From the time you fly about on less than roadworthy two wheeled contraptions until the age when you have moved out of home, have your own flat, and are paying your own rent or mortgage.
Age 3 – You achieve and enjoy total independence. The roaring hedonistic twenties when with your first job you realize that you actually have more money than you need after having spent the last 3 years living on baked beans on toast at university.
Age 4 – You choose to give up some of that independence and get married. It seems like a sensible idea at the time because whilst having fun is fine, you ultimately believe that two heads are better than one. Sometimes you even think that it will be fun to share fun with someone else – two funs are also better than one.
Age 5 – You start having people who are completely dependent on you. This is obviously the arrival of children phase. Exchanging fun for dirty nappies. An obvious enough choice when you think about it like that.
Age 6 – Just as you have started enjoying small people being dependent on you, they have moved into their own Age 2. It starts with small things such as refusing to hold your hand when crossing the road and quickly deteriorates into a stroppy teenager.
Age 7 – You no longer have people who are dependent on you and you fall back into some mix of Age 3 and Age 4. The exact mix depends on how many genuinely shared interests you and your partner have, the number of childhood friends you’ve managed to keep in touch with despite having had children, or the number of couples who have been thrust upon you just because they have children of the same age over the last fifteen years that you actually like.
Age 8 – You positively seek situations where there are small people in your family in Age 1 in an effort to rediscover the latter phases of Age 5 and the early phases of Age 6. I think I am starting to understand why people seem to be so happy about becoming grandparents (or maybe not, I am sure some will be keen to share their opinions on this posting in due course…)

And here’s the rub – I would content that overall happiness depends more on how you transition between including how easily you accept these transitions, rather than the actual time you spend in each phase itself…..

G’day Crocodile Biarritz

I killed a snake this morning as it slithered into the stables. A necessary evil because horses are apparently very scared of them, (although it seemed to me to cause more problems for the three female riding teachers and elderly stable hand than the horses as they all nervously hid behind each other as I finished the rascal off). That however wasn’t the highlight of my week. In fact it’s been a very interesting first 7 or 8 days at EMC and my feet are now almost under the table so to speak (at least when they’re not stamping on a snake’s head that is).

Over the last week or so I’ve talked to management and guys at the coal face; to people in my group and other people in other service lines; to guys in Continental Europe, the UK and the US; and even to some clients albeit very briefly. The whole listening process will continue for another few weeks and there are more key stakeholders I need to meet with, but a few things have already struck me.

The first thing is that there is an immense amount of talent in my group and EMC more generally – one of my most enjoyable and insightful conversations this week was with EMC’s Global Creative Director – even the fact there is a Creative Director was refreshing after some of my other experiences (basically it is nice to find someone who is even more anal about communication, presentation and pretty PowerPoint slides than me!). While remaining ruthless, especially with the sales force, the culture of the place is one where there is a real respect for technical skills and letting people be technologists – I’ve met a lot of really experienced and impressive guys who weren’t forced into project management at the age of 26 and a half. As a consequence some of the stuff they do is genuinely very good. Another key thing that struck me is something that I have found in many other places – setting aside the obvious need for a clear vision for what you are doing, if you don’t have a clear set of roles and responsibilities for people, with a clear agreed way of working, then you’ll struggle to make them successful, and it’s unlikely you’ll be able to motivate them over the longer term. The overriding analogy that keeps popping into my head is that we are a (rather sexy) jigsaw puzzle with all the bits mixed up in the box, and that we just need to be put together in the right way to have a very special, premium, result. I just wonder how long that will take and that’s what I can’t judge for the minute.

As for downsides, I am pleased to realize that it’s just a collection of technical teething problems relating to my laptop, email account and the absence of a Blackberry (which I am actually convinced is a blessing). All in all I start the weekend a pretty contented bunny and am looking forward to the show jumping competition that “Sandie 1” (the domestic boss rather than the professional one of the same name), has organized in our front garden this weekend – on Sunday we expect that 120 horses are going to be prancing around about 20 metres from our front door from 8AM till 7.30PM in 30 degrees heat. Thankfully the snake population is now under control.

Cabbie's Delight

Another one of the UK steriotypes that I always enjoy when I come back to Britain is the London cabby. The one from earlier this week was particularly special. Amongst other things, he told me that he had had an Economist and a Financial Times journalist in his cab that day, and that both of them say that Greece will default in December of this year. So there, you heard it here first, guv'nor. If they had Ladbrokes in France then I'd be off there in a jiffy.

Happy Plodder

I spent most of the week in London. I like going back to the UK and it's funny how you just can't shake all those cultural associations that you build up during the course of growing up somewhere.... I am not talking so much about my inevitable search for Ribena and Cadbury's chocolate whenever I'm back in Ol' Blighty. This time I am more referring to how happy I was when I stumbled across a local policeman when I managed to get myself lost on one of my infamous morning runs. (I was always brought up to have a positive view of "the fuzz" - how useless I would have been in the recent riots.....). Not many people can get lost in Hyde Park (especially given that there are maps every 100 metres), but this week that's exactly what I did. After about 1 hour and 10 minutes of running (in what later turned out to be ever increasing circles), and after having asked a number of random people directions back to my hotel, it was only after the local Bobby had told me where to go did I genuinely feel relieved and confident about being able to get back to where I had started my run 70 minutes earlier. In fact it also made me proud that my little brother is one of the boys in blue, although that feeling of happiness did nothing to relieve the cramp in my legs....

130 Green Fields

Some people are never happy. It took me a few days before I got my new EMC laptop. I then complained about the fact that my email account wasn't set up correctly meaning I couldn't read my emails. Another few days later I finally managed to get access to my mailbox. My heart sank as the very first time I opened Outlook 130 emails fell into my lap within the first 30 seconds of being connected. The grass isn't always greener and I really need to be careful about what I wish for.... Thankfully I am a quick learner so I am making much less of a fuss about my as yet to be delivered Blackberry phone....

The times they are a changing...

I talk not of the second Greek bail out nor the increase in the US debt ceiling. I am also not referring to the recent toppling of Tripoli. The times that are changing relate to the fact that for the first time in over a decade, Sandie has cooked (not pre-heated) two (genuinely) delicious meals today. In the past she has been known to cook one delicious meal in a day (rare), or to cook twice in the same day (rarer still and empirical evidence suggests that quality quickly diminishes with quantity).

What has brought on this drastic change? Long term “Sandie-Watchers” suggest that it might be the fact that having an au pair live with us has prompted the need to do things a little differently. In any case, the markets are bullish about the change, and shareholders are encouraging her to continue. Aides close to Sandie have indicated that her intrinsic value has increased. However as the saying goes, one fallen Arab dictator doesn’t make a democracy, so we’ll have to monitor the situation carefully - it’s almost a shame that I have to go back to work this week with Monday in Paris and then three days in the Big Smoke in London. Next weekend will be telling indeed.

Lipstick on a Pig

Despite it being highly unfashionable in a culture such as that of Accenture where the next promotion point is never more than 3 years away, I’ve always said that you learn more from the projects that go wrong than those where everything goes smoothly. In a similar vein, I’ve consoled myself this show jumping season with the thought that whilst there have not been many clear rounds, the amount of experience that I (and Mr. Pich de Toulven) have acquired is significant.

For some reason these thoughts came back to the fore of my thinking whilst reading a couple of recent Economist articles.... The first contended that “the extraordinary success of Homo Sapiens is a result of four things: intelligence, language, an ability to manipulate objects dexterously in order to make tools, and co-operation”. The second contended that individual success is dependent on how much you have of four different types of capital and how you use them: economic capital (what you have), human capital (what you know), social capital (who you know) and erotic capital (your level of sex appeal).

Conclusion: I am now going to choose a lipstick that I think Pich will like before going to the stables tomorrow morning.

For those (mainly non parents) who are not having as exciting a Friday evening as I am, you can read the full articles using the following links...http://www.economist.com/node/21524698 and http://www.economist.com/node/21526782

Different and Good

The other big news of the day - the new au pair, Kathrine from Denmark, is extremely polite and well brought up, owns three horses, loves kids and likes to get up early in the morning. I think we've found ourselves a winner.

Different but Same

I am just back from two days of 2012 planning with my new EMC colleagues. Overall the verdict is positive, although it is clear that a bit more clarity in some key areas is required and that there is lots of work to be done.

The whole leadership team plus a few special guests were there in Spain to talk about what needs to be done next year. There are definitely some smart cookies in the team, including Maxime’s godfather, and I am very much looking forward to working with them. On the first day I did my best to not be myself insofar I spent most of it not saying anything and just listening to the others.....It seems like many of the challenges they are facing are similar to those I witnessed in Wipro e.g. unqualified and ridiculously large pipeline, insufficient good people, unclear job descriptions, not enough focus on various topics etc., but I was reassured to see that it seems like our destiny really is in our own hands. The power of decision seems to sit with my direct boss so that is refreshing.

The other thing that struck me is that Air France are going to love me over the next couple of months....it looks like trips to Paris, London, Geneva, South Africa, Denver, Boston, Paolo Alto (California), Bangalore and Amsterdam are all on the cards. Next week is already going to be Paris and London to meet some of the new guys and a large part of the team that is in the UK. Easing myself into things? Er, maybe not.

Post Match Analysis

It seems like Maxime’s first day at school has been a success - i.e. they have accepted him back tomorrow. Job done.

That said, there did however seem to be a few discrepancies in the respective accounts of the day..... Maxime said that he had pushed over the little children. Thankfully the headmistress disagreed with this account of events. Maxime also said that he had listened to the teachers and had done what they had asked. Unfortunately the headmistress said that he did pretty much what he wanted.

In an effort to put us at ease, she did say that this was not uncommon.... although it sounds like another call for some more discipline at home to me. I shall now go and dust off the bamboo cane and wooden spoon.

Dringgggggggggggggggggg

The school bell has sounded for the first time for Maxime today. As Sandie rightly pointed out, we’ve completed the first of twenty “rentrées scolaires” - it’s not every day that you start something that you know you are going to do for the next two decades!

Over the last week or so Maxime has been wonderfully behaved (not just because we bribe him with chocolate eclairs), and Sandie has started to feel more comfortable about going out and showing her face in public again with him (note: this is completely separate from any discussion about her removing her burka you understand). Thankfully Maxime continued this good run of form today as he happily trundled the 200 metres or so to l’Ecole St. Joseph which is within spitting distance of the stud farm.

The whole event was completed in 4 stages: (1) the walk to the school - top marks; (2) the initial introductions with the headmistress and other teachers and children - 8/10 because he was extremely polite although understandably a touch clingy; (3) the initial exploration of the school (where the total number of pupils is 23) - top marks again because he managed to find all the toy stores, run around screaming without being told off by his mother, find four taps which he took great delight in turning on, and then he even managed to finish this phase of events by finding a mini croissant to stuff into his little face; and (4) the departure of the parents who were summarily dismissed by the headmistress at 9.15AM - 1/10, because he was the only little child who cried (in the other cases it was typically the parents who were crying).

Once he’s eaten the school out of house and home this lunchtime, we’ll pick him up at 1PM before he has his siesta at home. Watch out for further updates - no doubt I will be looking to compare Maxime’s version of the morning’s events with that of his teachers....

La rentrée!

It's a big week this week. I will head off to Biarritz today from Pau ahead of a flight to Madrid tomorrow morning. I have a 2 day planning meeting with my new EMC team. I am looking forward to going back to work so I can get some peace and quiet. Whereas I used to say that being a stay at home mum was just as hard as any other job to ensure I didn't offend anyone, now I genuinely believe it. On my way back from Madrid I will pick up a Danish girl. This has been pre-arranged - it is not as if I am giving myself 48 hours to complete a ridiculously difficult adulterous task whilst in the Spanish capital. Kathrine is our new au pair and she will replace Marianne who returns to England on Friday. Thankfully Marianne has a few weeks of holiday left to get her energy back before she embarks on her second gruelling year of academic study (and nightclubbing) in London.....In addition to all this, I am actually only spending 2 days in Madrid (the meeting is 3 days long) because Thursday 1st September is la rentrée for Maxime - his first day at school. Both Sandie and I are looking forward to this big event, maternal tears are expected. In fact I am just back this morning from taking him to the hairdressers to make sure he is looking his best. The operation was a great success although it cost me the largest chocolate gateau known to man. A big week indeed.....

Welcome Back Mimi, All is Forgiven!

Our children’s nanny, Mimi, is back from holiday. As a consequence my holidays feel like they have really started now! Chants of “Long live Mimi” have been echoing around the stud farm where we live, although Sandie’s cries were slightly muffled by her annoyance that Mimi turned up 20 minutes late on her first day back. However after two days of riding horses, warm lunches, no cleaning up of cold pasta trampled underfoot, and afternoon siestas, I have completely forgiven her that little misdemeanor. It’s just a shame I have to start work again next week!

The.....Pis......ton......Cup

Monday was a tricky day. Sandie started work again and the nanny was still on holiday for another day. I was apprehensive about the day even despite having the au pair Marianne close at hand. In the event it was much worse than I feared. That said, at 9PM when everyone was finally in bed I rolled out my prayer mat and gave thanks to the great God of Pixar Animation Studios. I dread to think how many years of prison I would have been facing for child murder if it hadn’t been for their “Cars” movie; a DVD of which somehow appeared from nowhere into Maxime’s grubby little paw at about 8AM that morning.

Admittedly we had to watch it in multiple sittings because Maxime’s attention span didn’t last longer than 45 minutes (despite the fact it is a genuinely riveting story), but no matter, Lightning McQueen saved my Monday! In a gripping tale about the race for the Piston Cup, I learnt that racing (life) is about more than just winning. Unfortunately someone seems to have told that to my horse because we’re still waiting for the clear round and victory that has eluded us all summer and again this weekend in a competition at Pau. Grrrr.

You know it's love when....

An O'Brien is prepared to spontaneously share his mint choc chip ice cream with his son. All in all a good day with Maxime - horses, mud and Michel in the morning, falling asleep together in his makeshift bed in the second bathroom (don't ask) for an afternoon siesta, and then finishing the day with visits to the doctors and the best ice cream shop in Biarritz. (Neither of us really cared about the fact that it was raining).

Short back and sides with that sir?

Biarritz is overrun with tourists at the minute so that’s good news for the town. However it’s less good news for a father of three trying to get a quick haircut. It was only at the third attempt did I manage to find someone who could take me in and do the job. Rather uncomfortably it was next door to my regular hairdresser (a delightfully pleasant gay guy who loves to stroke my hand whilst shaking it). However I doubt I will ever become a subject of conversation between them because his neighbour couldn’t be more different – a short back and sides type old school barber. What was memorable was not so much the haircut, but the ridiculously populist economic debate that raged during the 30 minutes I was there. Whilst at times I was tempted to pipe up with the odd correction, economic theory or latest quote from Paul Krugman, I decided it better to keep quiet and so continued to quietly thumb my way through the latest edition of “Playboy” which had been thrust into my hands by the barber as I sat down in his large leather chair… I am currently undecided as to whether or not I shall be returning to that particular establishment.

A Rubik Cube of Round Pegs and Round Holes?

It came pretty much out of nowhere but earlier this week I had one of the most useful conversations I’ve had with Sandie in a long time. We tried to articulate what we require to make us happy in our daily lives. For me it was spending time with Maxime, doing some sport (either riding horses notably Pich or riding my bike), eating well and having a clean house. For Sandie it was doing something as a family of five, making sure she’s up to date on her sleep, seeing her family and the odd girly beauty treatment or two. Now the trick is to fit all the parts of the puzzle into a normal working week…

Descartes, A Family Man?

“I am married and have three children therefore I no longer have any independent identity and only live for the requirements of others. Discuss.” It feels like being back at Oxford facing a tricky essay question on a Sunday night (wouldn’t that be bliss!). I suspect it is all part of the inevitable passage of life, but the transition is frustrating all the same. Now I’ll just have to slowly get used to the idea of a pot belly, permanent bags under my eyes and no hair. On that note, I am now going to head off to the hairdressers…

Holiday Postcard 1

We’re well into week 3 of my holiday and here’s a postcard style summary:

Numbers that are too high: the number of nappies changed and toddler meals administered, the number of points I amassed during the Agen show jumping, the number of hours of housework already completed, the number of days of rain in the first two weeks of being off work, the amount of outstanding emails I still need to respond to. Numbers that are too low: the number of times I have ridden a horse this week, the number of show jumping competitions I’ll be doing in August, the number of hours sleep I’ve had since this holiday started, the number of times I’ve been out on my bike, the number of hours spent on my new iMac computer, the number of outstanding Economists I need to read and the number of books I have completed.

Wish you were here!

Nous? We’re All Going to............Agen

When I say “All” I actually mean me, Maxime and a 12 year old English girl who regularly baby sits Maxime when I go and ride Pich. We’re off to a 3 day show jumping competition tomorrow without wife/mum/(genuinely) responsible adult. Sandie is nervous, I am somewhat excited, Maxime has no idea yet. That said I did have a chat with Abby’s mum tonight (who has the advantage of having had 7 (yes, seven) children), and although I wouldn’t necessarily say that I am starting to think that I have bitten off more than I can chew, I am definitely thinking about investing in some toddler reins tomorrow afternoon. I just have to make sure his “Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité” French mother doesn’t get wind of my plan.

No Kids Cliff

I am in the middle of my extended holiday between jobs. Compared to last year it is going well because I haven’t yet fractured my arm in three places nor has Sandie announced the arrival of any multiple pregnancies. That said I am also very quickly realising that holidays today are very different from holidays in the past, even those of last year……

Over the last few years at work I have realised that becoming more senior simply means that you have less time to deal with more topics at a more superficial level, and that the buck stops with you (especially if you live in Bangalore). My most recent realisation is that this piecemeal approach to work is really actually designed to help you deal with life with a young family. Holidays today mean that you get an uninterrupted 9.2 minutes to read half an Economist article, or to clean one riding boot, before you get the opportunity to come back and finish things six hours, four dirty nappies, three bottles, two spilt yoghurts and one stroppy wife later.

I now realise that Cliff Richard’s excessively happy look during his “we’re all going on a summer holiday”” jingle was largely because he didn’t have any non toilet trained toddlers knocking about at home.

40 Euro Flagellation

After having played football for so many years things are rather simplistic – you either win, lose or draw. It seems I have taken this uncomplicated view of the world into show jumping – you’re either clear (no bars down) or you’re not; as soon as one bar is down then I sort of don’t really care about the result because it’s almost guaranteed that you can’t win. As such maybe I was a bit hard on myself after Blaye – I just found out today that I had done better than I thought on the last day and I even won 40 euros. Admittedly that probably only covers about 3 horse shoes or 4 days of food for Pich, but it was a nice reminder that not everything on the equine front is bleak!

All Change Please!

The Wipro Express has arrived at the terminus. Today, Friday 29th July is my last day. I had a very interesting and useful chat with a friend of mine in London recently. She asked me what I had learnt, both professionally and personally from my time at Wipro, and what did I want to get out of my time at EMC.

My overall conclusion as regards Wipro is that whilst I am happy to be leaving, I am convinced that it was the right decision to leave Accenture to join them. I am of the opinion that what I have learnt in my 14 months in Wipro is greater than what I would have learnt if I had stayed another eleventh year in Accenture. Some of the specific highlights that stand out are a training course on how to read financial statements of companies allowing you to understand what services might be of benefit to them; a deep exposure to the Indian subcontinent and culture which was absolutely fascinating; and the opportunity to discover what I really like at work i.e. I now understand that the ideal role for me really is that of client partner. I learnt to be more realistic in terms of being able to establish company-wide best practices, and I was also particularly impressed with some of the Wipro guys in the Credit Suisse PB account team. So, with all of these wonderful things, the obvious question to ask is why on earth did I opt to leave?

I think the answer is fairly straight forward. In addition to an extremely attractive offer from EMC, I think I was frustrated by five key things....

1. Whilst I was genuinely impressed with certain individuals in each department I worked in or had contact with (both client facing and support), the company asks people to do too much. As a result there is a widespread acceptance of sloppy mistakes both in interactions with clients and in internal back office operations e.g. poorly thought through proposal documents, consistency incorrect bonus calculations, mobile phones being cut off without warning etc. It's definitely quantity over quality.
2. The combination of frequently poor quality communication (from the highest levels all the way down to interactions between team members), and the sense of lurching from one crisis to the next rather than actually having something of a plan that has a longer time horizon than the end of the current quarter.
3. The fact that all strings were pulled in Bangalore meaning that we in the local markets closest to the clients were merely executioners of orders from India. This point basically ensured that we non-Indians in Europe would always remain “outsiders” in one way or another.
4. The overriding impression that the company is highly transactional in nature – very few people were either prepared or allowed to take a step back, see the bigger picture and take the time to invest in the (internal and external) relationships required to be successful in a different way. I don’t leave with the impression that Wipro is a people focused company.
5. I think the final nail in the Wipro coffin for me was when I recently realised that if I looked at the senior management of the firm (the levels above my direct boss), then they were not the type of leaders that inspired me, nor were they the type of leader that I want to become.

My overall conclusion is that I think the journey up the value chain for Wipro will be a long one, although I genuinely wish them the very best of luck, especially my team who are now under new leadership.

The Last Stand

For this particular computer. This is the last posting using this particular laptop before I hand it back to Wipro tomorrow in Paris (unless I wake up in the middle of the night tonight and can't contain myself). The blog will of course continue, but in the future it has more chance of being Apple Powered than Dell Driven...

It’s a Bum Job

My recent experience in a second global 100,000+ person company plus the unfolding Euro/financial crisis got me thinking. I look at some of the brilliant people across the world and I wonder how we got into such a mess – why do countries such as Germany not act more decisively, why can't the US push through a plan to raise their debt ceiling or a plan to sort out the medium term fiscal situation? One of the key conclusions that I have drawn is that at an atomic level, you can be as brilliant as you want, however in large organisations there are always multiple centres of power and decision makers. Unfortunately you can only move as quickly as the slowest one of these it seems. No doubt the most experienced people will factor this into the original decision making process (thus possibly serving to slow down the whole process even further).

This thought led me to the conclusion that being able to move a large group of people quickly really is a very rare skill. You could argue that we witnessed it during a few key weekends during the financial crisis e.g. decisions to bail out some or let other companies such as Lehman Brothers go to the wall, but I would contend that the industry was lucky enough to have a relatively small number of really key decision makers.

The other thing which struck me is that the larger the group of people you have to move, the simpler your vision and clearer your communication needs to be. Larger groups mean that you can’t have direct contact with every individual. As a result your message will inevitably be passed orally by other people on your behalf. The more complicated the message the greater the chance it will be distorted. It’s a shame then that for the Euro zone there are so many people who take it upon themselves to communicate in slightly different ways depending on their own agendas.

The final thing that struck me during this particular mental ramble was that moving people quickly and providing clear communication is already difficult enough (especially when there is no formal hierarchy to guide people's behaviour). The whole process is completely undermined if you haven’t genuinely thought through all the key ramifications and implications of your plan – now that is difficult and takes a good deal of experience. The best example of that from my own personal experience is that of the recent CEO change at Wipro. The new guy is meant to be very gifted in terms of clearly communicating a vision, and also experienced in moving large groups of people quickly. Where he seems to be stumbling now is that he has left too much underlying detail to be worked out in an off the cuff manner.

All in all, whether you’re Christine Lagarde, TK Kurien or Angela Merkel, the job’s not an easy one. Thankfully the one I’ve got on my hands at EMC is a good few notches down from what those guys need to do!

The Mysterious Slide and Puzzles, People & Stories

As I sat in Church at the weekend I recalled a recent Maxime event... The large plastic slide outside the house in Pau had been moved. Neither Sandie nor the au pair Marianne was responsible (and you can rest assured it wasn’t me!). The mystery of the moving slide was resolved when Maxime was put under some intensive questioning. He explained that the slide had been in the sun, so it had become hot, and as a result he had decided to take it upon himself to move it into the shade meaning that he could play without risk of burning his little botty. Logical really when you think about it.

When the tale was shared with (French) Anti Establishment Papy Francis he very quickly said that all children are born logical and it is the formal education system that beats the logic out of them (side note: maybe my failed attempt to understand Descartes as a troubled teenager wasn’t actually my fault then?). That got me thinking about the philosophy of school education and the intense curriculum that children are required to follow these days – a very important topic given that Maxime starts pre-school as a 2.5 year old in September.

What I remember from Oxford is that I only really genuinely started to understand things (rather than just being able to memorise a large number of facts for an exam), when I took the time to think things through from first principles. (You will no doubt note the recurring theme of slowing down to actually take the time to think, do and live). As a consequence I believe that one of the most valuable things I do at work is to think about things whilst not connected to my Blackberry (typically in aeroplanes), scribble things down on bits of yellow paper, and then let my sub conscious do the rest over the following two weeks before I create an appropriate PowerPoint slide for general consumption. It’s just a shame that the volume of work we needed to get through for A Levels just didn’t allow us that time to reflect and understand (especially if we wanted to combine that with chasing young girls and playing football four times a weekend).

What does it mean for Maxime (and his siblings) – I suppose it means that if there is any way I can get him to view mathematics and science subjects as a set of puzzles, and to view the humanities as a series of stories about individual people in different countries in different time periods when social norms were different to those today, then I’ll be happy. Either that or I’ll just start to bribe them with money to try and get as many A*’s as possible. I really hope it’s the former.

Yesterday’s Man

This evening I hosted my second and final Town Hall event for the Wipro team I have been leading for the last few months. The first Town Hall had focused on sharing the summary of the current state of the relationship with the client as I had understood it following an initial 6 weeks of listening to all and sundry across the globe. At that inaugural event I had promised that I would come back to them in a second such meeting and share with them the vision that I would develop for the account and the corresponding 12-18 month action plan. I was determined to share that vision and plan with them even despite the fact that I had resigned. In addition to the fact that it had now been validated by both the client and my direct boss, it also just felt like it was the right way to bring things to closure. I also hoped that sharing it with a wider audience who were directly impacted would help lock in the proposed changes.

A number of things struck me during the course of the evening and even now as I, back in my hotel, digest my final helping of my customary chocolate mousse.

Essentially Wipro is transactional company however the team on the ground clearly long for and are definitely open to something that is more relationship based. What they really need is guidance on how to do this, and I am convinced that if senior management show a little interest in the team as individuals, then the team will happily walk over broken glass to get the account to where Bangalore wants it to be.

A second thing that struck me is that I am already yesterday’s man. The turnout for the event was low and much lower than the first Town Hall. One can always blame the rain and the holidays (sounds like Ireland), but, especially in such a hierarchical company, if you’ve told them you’re leaving, then there are a lot of people who don’t manage to take that tram to come and see you. I suppose this is a natural human reaction even thought I was convinced I did have something of interest to tell them despite my imminent departure. My initial disappointment quickly turned into something more positive as I found myself feeling closer to the hardy 25 or so people that did indeed come.

The final thing that struck me is that the kind words they shared with me reassured me that I probably was on the right track, and that I have made the right choice. From one experienced team member who said he had opted to join the account because of me, to the younger guy who told me that he had bought a brand new shirt to attend my first Town Hall meeting after we had had an initial meeting in one of the client offices. All of these nice tributes were very touching and will be happy memories I’ll keep with me. I hope that the team does go on to be successful and that I will have the opportunity to see some of these guys again.

Enjoy, Reward, Learn

You will all no doubt agree that my life is a hard one when I tell you that one of the last things I needed to do in Zurich before leaving Switzerland was to have an exquisite extended lunch in a private members club with some friends. It was hugely enjoyable and we obviously talked about the catalyst for and process of changing jobs. One of my lunch companions said that he had read that whether or not people changed jobs all depended on the three key pillars of enjoyment, rewards and learning. The litmus test was to give each pillar a mark out of 100. If the sum total of those three scores was less than 210, then it was the right time to start thinking about a move. My scores for Wipro? Answers on a postcard and I’ll announce the winner in August.

Make Mental Equine Note

Last weekend was dominated by a big show jumping competition in Blaye near Bordeaux in France. It was also the first weekend since the twins were born that Sandie and I managed to get away just the two of us. The jumping went OK – Friday was a write-off with a shameful five faults, but Saturday and Sunday were much better with only one bar down in what is always a very tricky competition. So whilst there was no silverware being brought home, at least pride was salvaged by the time we picked up the tribe from various sets of grandparents on Sunday afternoon.

The major equine learning from the weekend was that I need to focus on jumping the bars rather than trying to be beautiful; efficiency rather than elegance is the key. Both Sandie and Michel came to the same conclusion independently. However when Michel told me that as I was waiting to go into the arena on Friday, I was so convinced that Sandie had “planted” the idea in his head that I instinctively decided to ignore it. 20 points later I was ruing that particular decision especially when both Sandie and Michel later confirmed that they had indeed not plotted jointly in any way beforehand. Using the inside leg to keep the hindquarters in line with the shoulders when coming round corners, not closing my fingers over the bars, and really attacking the obstacles especially when there is an uphill slope to be contended with, are other more technical lessons also learned.

Apart from Friday’s round, the whole weekend was a big success. It was good to have some time together with Sandie and she certainly enjoyed having the time to speak to our equine friends without having to interrupt every conversation with, “Maxime get down from there, Maxime don’t hit your sister, Maxime stop poking the dog with that stick, Maxime don’t eat the horse dung, Maxime stop drinking out of Pich’s water bucket etc”. Now I think it’s time for a break for the grandparents.....

Hesiod's Five Ages of Man? More like the Three Ages of Michael Fish.

The Ages of Man are the stages of human existence on the Earth according to Greek mythology. Two classical authors in particular offer accounts of the successive ages of mankind, which tend to progress from an original, long-gone age in which humans enjoyed a nearly divine existence to the current age of the writer, in which humans are beset by innumerable pains and evils. In the two accounts that survive from ancient Greece and Rome, this degradation of the human condition over time is indicated symbolically with metals of successively decreasing value. See the following link for more information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ages_of_Man

My version of the ages of man is somewhat simpler. As I was travelling back from Pau to Biarritz today with our Au Pair Marianne, it struck me that being in your early 30s is really quite different from being in your early 20s. Rather than her unnerving ability to pick up song lyrics and knowing the names of bands I’ve never even heard of, nothing summed it up better than our conversation about the weather. My theory is that the first age of man really does not care about the weather – it just doesn’t enter their consciousness (Maxime and Marianne), the second age of man is particularly interested to see the weather forecast (Sandie), and the third age of man (Dad) muses that, “we are not weather makers but mere weather takers”. As for me? I fear I am rapidly racing towards middle age.

Failed IT Project? Buy a Horse

During the aforementioned conversation with Michel in Gradingnan, the other conclusion that we quickly drew was that sport at any decent level quickly becomes more about what you feel, rather than just the simple execution of a series of physical actions. Furthermore the best teachers are those who can even describe to you in a language you understand what you should be feeling (not just doing) at any particular moment. No matter how much I would like to make it into a clearly repeatable process for which a clear methodology could be written, riding is a lot to do with reacting to what you are feeling, which also includes sensing what your horse is thinking and feeling as well. Obviously these human/equine feelings change every minute of every day. Maybe that’s one of the reasons why so many IT projects fail....too much process and not enough horses. More about that when I get to EMC....

Self Indoctrinated Dog

Many people know that all my best (average and positively bad) ideas start life as a scribble on a scrap of, often yellow, paper. One idea for a blog posting that I have been carrying around in the pocket of various different suits over the last two months, (scraps of paper are typically migrated at the end of each week from one pair of trousers to another), came from a conversation with my riding coach Michel who has been teaching people to ride horses for over 30 years.

Michel’s view was that after a certain point you can’t teach any dog any trick, new or old. What you really need to do is to get people to discover their own potential. This immediately reminded me of the initially painful experience of having to teach myself politics, philosophy and economics at Oxford as a 19 year old, leading me to concur with Michel’s view. I suppose the real challenge in today’s world is that whilst infinitely more effective, this herding and gentle nudging of cats to educate themselves typically takes a lot longer than telling people what to do.

The other thing I read recently which made me re-think about Michel’s point (and the reason why this particular scrap of yellow paper actually made it into a blog posting), was the following article in the Economist... http://www.economist.com/node/18894910. It talks about the invisible sieve on the internet. As Larry Page, the chief executive of Google, once put it, “the ultimate search engine would understand exactly what you mean, and give back exactly what you want.” Another example of internet personalization is Facebook which shows you updates from the friends you interact with the most, filtering out people with whom you have less in common. One person commented that “My sense of unease crystallised when I noticed that my conservative friends had disappeared from my Facebook page”. The result is a “filter bubble”, which is defined as “a unique universe of information for each of us”, meaning that we are less likely to encounter information online that challenges our existing views or sparks serendipitous connections. “A world constructed from the familiar is a world in which there’s nothing to learn”. This has been termed “invisible autopropaganda, indoctrinating us with our own ideas”.

So if teachers can’t teach us, if nobody ever has any time in this world of the immediate, and if the only tricks we teach ourselves are ones we already know, where is this going to lead us…………. Maybe I should now come down from the clouds and go back to this utterly dull conference call.

Hand Over the Lake

Last Friday Wipro have requested that I now only speak to internal not client people. One can obviously question the wisdom of that, but the upshot is that my main focus is completing the hand over and transfer of knowledge to the gentlemen who are going to take over my role. I have decided to perform this activity from my regular hotel in Zurich. As I sit here eating breakfast in the glorious morning sunshine with a view over the Zurichsee, I get the feeling that was a wise decision.

We started the knowledge transfer last night. I explained the situation of the relationship as I inherited it a few months ago, and my vision for the account which I had recently validated with the client. The vision is based on a number of flagship programmes of work and some underlying building blocks. One of the questions that was asked of me last night was, what were the principles that underpinned the whole vision? I thought it was a good question and it took me a couple of minutes to think it through. In conclusion I think the two key pillars, which I hadn’t consciously thought about whilst developing the vision, are a focus on people (both internally and also relationships with the client), and the fact the people don’t like surprises in their professional lives. On reflection, making people feel that they are understood as individuals, and giving people predictability and consistency, are probably the reasons why the vision was so readily accepted by the client.