Mountain Compass

Today was the second day of our annual skiing holiday in the mountains. What I learnt today was that if you want to keep the first photos of Maxime's first ever skiing lesson, then the memory card has to be inserted into the camera properly. I also learnt that just because you're on holiday doesn't stop the world moving on and people ringing you to discuss things which are infinitely more important to them than you. And finally, that the older you get, and the more people you meet, the more people try to judge and pigeon hole you, and that you really need a strong sense of your own values to ensure you don't get sucked down and confused by everything going on around you.

Sport and Art

After having played football at a good level I have always tried to tell people that the technical aspects of playing were necessary but never sufficient, and that it was much more a question of feeling which set average players like me apart from people who were genuinely great. I’m not convinced that I ever really managed to express that idea very eloquently, in English or French. Despite currently sitting in a ski resort in the Pyrenees Mountains, I’m no expert on winter sports at any level. However I was taken with something I heard an Olympic ice skating champion say earlier in the week (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin_Cousins). He said that his father would always advise him that, “sport is in the training, art is in the execution”. Maybe that’s a much better way of saying what I have tried to say unsuccessfully for the last 20 years.

Leemail at the Tavern

I returned to London from Luxembourg on Thursday afternoon. During the evening on Thursday I went to the last ever meeting of “The Fantastic Tavern”. An extremely charismatic colleague of mine has been running this informal digital user community for the last three years. Thursday’s huge event with a few hundred people was my first and last Tavern. The original intention was for a few friends to go for beers and discuss new ideas and trends in the digital marketplace. The community has grown exponentially and Thursday’s event was a far cry from those humble beginnings. Each Tavern copies the format of well known TV programme e.g. “who wants to be a millionaire” or “Family Fortunes”. On Thursday the Tavern was held in the ultra modern Ravensbourne University (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ravensbourne_(college)) next to the O2 centre in Greenwich in East London. The selected style was Jeremy Clarkson’s Top Gear. Matt had roped in 10 digital, media or architecture and design students plus a smattering of entrepreneurs to each present one trend or product that they thought would be important in 2012. It was wonderful to see such a large group of people sharing ideas in such an informal and enjoyable fashion (the evening was even capped off with music and the DJ called “Jesus” from the well known London club Fabric (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fabric_(club)). Apart from being given a highly memorable guided tour of the university, the idea for 2012 that stuck out for me (and many others), was “Leemail” – a simple idea and an innovative new product that allows you to take back your privacy from the invasive internet… (https://leemail.me/) – I’ll be signing up for one of these I can assure you!

Rigueur of the Germans, Joie de Vivre of the Belgians

The nature of my job means that I travel fairly extensively especially in continental Europe. It is rare for me to go to a country in that region that I’ve never been to before. However on Wednesday this week I made a flying visit to the city state of Luxembourg (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luxembourg). I was fortunate enough to have a taxi driver on the Thursday morning who was a real Luxembourger (there are only 200,000 of them out of total population of only 500,000). He gave me a number of insights into the place including the fact that he would describe his country as being a mix of Germany and Belgium, and that the people were much more Swiss in nature than French. He said that the Luxembourgers were open to foreigners in most industries although the government of the country was off limits to non natives. Personal income tax was very low – around 10%, but the cost of living was high (poverty existed but it was “not the done thing” to talk about it no less show it). There are huge issues with a lack of accommodation and often young Luxembourgers are forced to leave their country of origin to find work because they can’t afford housing. He also explained how it was only over the last 20 years that the Financial Services industry has been built up thus reminding me of my recent trip to Singapore which is another young Financial Services driven city state. Overall it was a very interesting, albeit brief, visit. The good news is that the client meeting I had there with a major bank also went very well (they are nibbling on the Big Fish 1.0 bait). So with a bit of luck I’ll be going back, and maybe next time for more than 24 hours.

The Beautiful Game

Last week was extremely busy on all fronts. The evening activity on Tuesday was going to an old division four football league match in south west London; Wimbledon versus the mighty Macclesfield Town. Why on earth had I chosen this to be the first live match I had seen since I stopped playing football 10 years ago? Well it turns out a colleague at work is a director of the club, and so he invited me and a few other clients for the evening. It promised to be a great match because Wimbledon, who had been struggling since the start of the season, had recently taken five players on loan from various Premier league clubs and this was the first time that they would all play together in a home match (the new additions to the squad had already inspired two away victories in the previous fortnight). In actual fact it wasn’t the new players that attracted me, it was the old Wimbledon manager, Terry Brown. I actually played for Terry when he was the manager of Hayes in the Nationwide Conference – it was him who gave me my senior debut at national level as a 21 year old. When manager of Hayes he ran the club on a shoe string (my wage packet confirmed that), and he also adopted a rather basic style of biff and bang football which wasn’t really up my cultured “total football rules ok” street. Needless to say, when a player and manager don’t see eye to eye, it’s often the manager who comes out on top. So imagine my sheer disgust when I sat down in the director’s box and proceeded to watch his team play beautiful football throughout the 90 minutes. Their elegant passing and constant movement was punctuated with two wonderful goals giving them a much deserved home win against a side that were above them in the table. At the end of the game I sat in the players’ bar ruing the fact that I had been born too early – how life could have been different if division four football had been like that 15 years ago – I too could have been a real journeyman footballer. The other slight disappointment was that I didn’t get a chance to speak to Terry despite the fact that he normally comes into the bar after the game…that will have to be for next time, now that I’m a confirmed Wimbledon fan.

Directionally correct – the Emperor’s new clothes?

Talking about what is “strategic” compared to what is “tactical” at work is now old hat. It seems that everybody today is talking about seeking greater “business agility”. Recently I have trying to understand what exactly this means in practical terms over and above it being a convenient marketing sound bite. My understanding of the term increased this week when talking with a colleague…

We are doing a lot of work with a major international bank at the minute. During the week I was talking with a colleague who was trying to describe their COO to me. The COO has come into financial services from the telecommunications industry where they are in general much more comfortable with the idea of “build it, release it, fix it” rather than having to have everything perfect before it is shared with customers. My colleague said that this particular individual wants to go quickly, and that he will launch 20 to 30 ideas this year, of which he knowingly accepts that less than 50% will succeed. The COO said that the only way they could release that number of ideas would be if the initial assessment phase was as light as possible – he said that rather than seeking to understand if something is strategic or tactical, he would ask himself if it is directionally correct. He feels that this is sufficient because in today’s world you can’t tell if something is strategic before it is launched because you can’t predict what the market's reaction will be.

So if releasing new products and services quickly and not considering if something is strategic until after it is in the hands of customers underpins business agility, then the three obvious questions that this throws up for me are, one, what is going to be the backlash of this approach i.e. what will be the fallout from all of these half baked ideas and failed products and services, and two, is there not a better way of trying to understand the market and have an accurate idea of what should be strategic before it is released? My final thought I have is whether or not this is the way businesses have always operated and that this isn’t actually anything new. I’ll need to check with some golden oldies for that one.

Nell and Ed

I found a number of articles in last week’s Economist particularly enjoyable including those about magic bullets (http://www.economist.com/node/21542716), India’s new biometric scheme (http://www.economist.com/node/21542814 in which Accenture, Wipro and EMC are involved), budget hotels (http://www.economist.com/node/21542760) and natural disasters (http://www.economist.com/node/21542755).

The Bagehot column (http://www.economist.com/node/21542756) also got me thinking about my Glasgow Gran. I am a firm believer in her old maxim that, “people take you at your own evaluation”. After reading all about Ed Milliband, (who I have to say I am fairly indifferent about), I possibly need to modify that thought slightly to say that, “people take you at your own evaluation so long as you remain within the bounds of credulity”. I suspect the key thing then is people’s ability (no doubt based on their inherent level of self confidence), to understand where that boundary actually lies… I’d love to tell people that I am the most competent astronaut who has yet to walk on the moon, and who knows maybe I actually even believe that, however I suspect even my closest friends and supporters might quibble.

Chocolate Inflation

In the car journey coming back from Toulouse after a weekend with my sister in law, I was reminded of a story from last Easter. I’ve always known that the French are very close to their pennies, but I hadn’t realized how that starts at such an early age. Maxime was two and a half last Easter. We took him on an Easter egg hunt put on by the mayor of Biarritz. Maxime found a number of eggs and happily stuffed them into his pockets. So far, so normal. However he then proceeded to put his hands in his pockets to protect his eggs. This had a number of unforeseen consequences including; the inability to put more chocolate eggs in his pocket, an increased propensity to fall over when running around looking for more eggs that he couldn’t put in his pockets, and the melting of the chocolate eggs he had already placed in his trousers…..The secret Economist in me wonders if there are any wider parallels to consider for all Europeans ahead of impending double dip recession and Euro currency defaults (both Keynesian and Monetarist)?

Score Draw at Half Time

I got home this morning after my trips to Paris and Amsterdam. On arrival there was a plate of homemade cookies on the table, fresh milk in the fridge, my office was tidy, and my two favourite socks had been reunited (socks are often forced into solitary confinement for weeks on end in this house). It feels like progress! That, plus the fact that my trip was very interesting and revealing, that I saw some good friends and their small baby boy for the first time, and that I got the go ahead for a few key initiatives at work, all mean that at the half way point, the week is shaping up well.

Before the week that will be

It’s rare that I choose to take a luke warm shower in the evening, especially when there is a sick covered double pushchair in the bath next to me. However that was, unfortunately, how last night finished. The evening had started more positively – after a good afternoon siesta we went out to the shops. I quickly decided that I’d invite the whole family for a quick early pizza dinner. That went ok until we sought to leave the restaurant. As Sandie put Capucine in the pushchair behind her brother she decided to (projectile) vomit all over the back of her brother’s head. He was less than impressed. After hastily reassuring the young family sitting next to the pushchair that Capcuine hadn’t ordered from the restaurant’s menu, we shuffled sheepishly (i.e. were ushered) out of the restaurant. Children were quickly undressed in a car park (it was only 5C), stuffed into their car seats, and a rather smelly pushchair squeezed into the boot. Thankfully Maxime was too engrossed in his little pot of ice cream to care much about the fate of his siblings. On arrival at home it was baths for all, medicine for Capucine and bed by 9.15 for all offspring. Then a luke warm shower for me. Thankfully a DVD of “The King’s Speech” in bed brightened the outlook although I don’t know why, but red eye flights at 7AM on Monday mornings look increasingly appealing these days.

The week that will be

Monday Paris, Tuesday and Wednesday Amsterdam and then the rest of the week working with a colleague at home here in Pau to develop Big Fish 1.0 - don't ask. More anon....

The week that was

The smiles of the week: a delicious Argentinean steak dinner with an old Belgian friend (made even better by the fact that he didn’t ruin the hand cut chips by putting mayonnaise on them); a horse that continues to go well; a wife that continues to be delightful to be with; and professionally, a meeting with a company (and the partner) who I had actually turned down a job offer from a few years ago – the welcome was genuinely warm and it was nice to see him again.

The stats of the week: I was reminded that Barack Obama earns 400,000 USD a year – a snip compared to that of the Singaporean leader (http://www.economist.com/node/21542479); that Ronaldo does 3,000 sit-ups a day (puts my New Year's resolution to shame), that S&P downgraded France and Austria to AA+ as well as downgrading 7 other countries. The pound climbed one centime as a result (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204542404577158561838264378.html); and that during a memorable bonding moment with Gaston, he completed his first “10 yoghurt marathon” with his Dad – a proud moment indeed.

The moments of despair: The overriding feeling at work of why, if what we do is not very complicated (understand a client’s problem, sell him a project, deliver the project), is everything so dastardly complex – sales, delivery, operations, rewarding our people. Surely there must be a better way to do things…

The “oh no” moment of the week: when Sandie picked up Maxime from school at lunch time to find him, with an accomplice, punching a little girl and then sticking the boot in as she fell off the wall. Sandie was, quite rightly, outraged and Maxime was punished accordingly. When interrogated as to why he had committed such a heinous act, he twisted his face in near confusion trying to understand why his mother was asking such a stupid question, “well…because she’s a girl of course”, was his retort. Thankfully the teaching assistant was more sanguine, saying that this type of thing was not uncommon at their age. I now understand why France has never had a female president – almost a reason to vote for Marine Le Pen (not quite, quand même).

Eddie Lovell’s Usine a Gaz?

I remember telling my Dad once whilst I was at (my very good) high school that the headmaster was a bit of a bumbler and fairly incompetent, and that it was the deputy head who held everything together. My Dad’s reply was that he couldn’t be that bad because it’s the man at the top that sets the tone of an establishment – the culture of a place, and its success or failure, stems from the top. After a few more years of work and life experience, I would say that I definitely agree with that statement. In addition to that some other things that have become apparent to me are; one, the fact that the change you can effect with a dictatorial approach is by definition short lived – if you want permanent change then you need to take people with you on the journey; and two, the fact that you can’t dance faster than the music.

So to the challenge I am currently mulling over – how can I maximize the speed at which I can effect positive and permanent change? I am a firm believer that this can’t be done without transparent and consistent communication, honest feedback, and the celebration of any quick wins you achieve, but it doesn’t seem to be that this is the whole story. Hmmmm, thankfully I’ve got a few planes, trains and taxis to take this week for pondering purposes…or am I making this too complicated (or creating an Usine a Gaz (gas factory) as the French would say), and am I underestimating the change that has already taken place…? Hmmmm.

Hair of the Luge

If you had told me 15 years ago that the best cure for a hangover was to take three small children sledging in near zero temperatures then I wouldn’t have believed you. No, really. However this is exactly what happened today after a nice dinner and a few Guinnesses last night with friends in Pau.

We went off to the local ski station, Gourette, for the first time ever, and we were pleasantly surprised at how close it was. We spent a priceless 3 euros to hire a sledge ("luge" in French) and off went Maxime…for about 20 metres that is until he nailed his first victim – a middle aged woman who had her back to him and who was pulling her small son in his sledge. I dread to think what colour her ankle will be tomorrow morning. It will also teach me to not wear running trainers in the snow; one has absolutely no ability to guide any out of control offspring because running is the one thing you can’t do in such footwear in such conditions…however I suppose I was still doing better than our Kiwi au pair Jane who turned up in a skirt and cowboy boots (that said it didn’t actually stop her from sledging with Maxime for a good 20 minutes once the incapacitated lady had been helicopter-ed off the slopes (only joking).

Overall it was a good dry (wet) run ahead of our week’s skiing at the end of the month in Cauterets. We were very quickly able to see what we were missing – suitable footwear and sun cream coming out top of the list. In fact it’s been a good weekend, indeed the whole Christmas period has been good. As I contemplate my first flight tomorrow (to London) for a long time, at the end of this festive break I have a wife who is behaving wonderfully well, a horse who is jumping extremely well, and three children who are all on form (and we’ve almost even found the next au pair to start in March – more anon no doubt…). That said, there is a part of me that’s looking forward to a week in the big smoke and a few early nights and early morning runs…

Let the holidays begin!

Maxime heads back to school today and the twins will go to crèche. I might finally get some time to myself now after 3 weeks of intensive child rearing (which would have been even more intense if we hadn’t had the grandparents to help!). The prospect of sitting in my office tonight with a back edition of the Economist is worryingly exciting and depressing at the same time. Everyone is back in Pau as of last night, except the kiwi au pair, Jane, who returns from a Sandie inspired week of match-making with my cousin Jack in Glasgow on Saturday. We’ll no doubt hear if she’s developed a soft spot for him when she gets back at the weekend.

Resolutions in Aggregate

If you forget your 50 sits up and press ups one day, but do double the next, have you still respected your New Year’s resolutions, especially if you’ve added some additional bicep curls on the second day? If you eat half of your son’s leftover chocolate dessert in the evening (to avoid unnecessary waste of course), but your weight is plummeting, then have you broken a promise to yourself? If you think that cutting out second helpings and fizzy drinks is actually what is causing the weight loss rather than the dessert thing, are you still in line with the spirit, rather than the letter, of the self-imposed law? Maybe a roundabout way to say that I’ve not completely respected my resolutions (well it is January 5th), but the philosophy of New Year’s resolutions, which is now wreaking havoc during my waking hours and which was up until yesterday unknown to me, is just another reason not to do them. Or maybe that is indeed the reason to do them – isn’t that what virtue is all about, or is that just Catholic guilt (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_guilt)? God damn Martin Luther…

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Sailor

We spent last week at Center Parcs just south of Paris. It was a good week overall with some nice moments with family and friends. It took us 7 hours to drive there last Monday (setting off at 5AM) and 7 hours getting back last Friday (arriving at around midnight). Whilst we were there we went swimming twice a day, lost Maxime, found Maxime, I almost drowned Gaston, Maxime almost drowned me, I cooked three times, I read precisely zero pages of the two books I had taken with me, and I also managed to go running zero times. One of the most interesting conversations of the week was when our group of four adults, two young parents, a student and a young 28 year old professional, considered what should be the right split in life between doing things you enjoy and doing things that are simply required of you. There was a general upbeat consensus that an 85/15 split felt about right. More revealing were the figures that people suggested reflected the current split they faced. They ranged from the 70/30 carefree student to the 15/85 over-worked parent with the successful professional being around 60/40. Even more interesting were peoples’ answer to the question what job would you do if you could choose all over again… the suggestions were illuminating and included a vet, a doctor for MSF (http://www.msf.org/), a mid-wife, and an owner of a old style British bed and breakfast to be located in Africa. The main conclusion that I drew was that career guidance on offer when I was a teenager was severely lacking! Maybe I’ll do a better job with Maxime, Capucine and Gaston if we manage to steer them successfully to adulthood.

The Road to Hell

Is apparently paved with good intentions. A positive early morning reading of the scales today suggests that second helpings and evening desserts cost me 400 grams per day. By my calculation that means if I keep on the same path, then I should actually physically disappear (or be knocking at the gates of hell) sometime in the middle of July this year.

New Year Resolutions

Resolution number one is to buy some new scales. The results this morning from the weigh in room are not good – my weight has ballooned to 77.5KG. At this rate of an additional 200 grams per year, I’ll be a decidedly unhealthy 100KG at the age of 147.

To date I’d always adhered to the school of thought that New Year’s Resolutions are daft things and that if anything is really worth doing, then it’s not worth waiting until the 1st January of the following year. However after the whirlwind of three kids in which it is alarmingly easy to lose sight of things, events and other key milestones, I’ve come to realize the value in having an easily recognizable date which can serve as a line in the sand. The other reason why I had always shied away from resolutions was because they always seemed hopelessly idealistic and never very realistic with a clear description of how to achieve them e.g. just a simple "be a better person", or "read more books" etc.

So, for me, in 2012, I have decided to eat less (by refusing second helpings, which increases the importance of the first helping obviously, and eating no desserts in the evening), and to do 50 sit-ups and press-ups per day (on the clear understanding that if I manage to do this until the end of the first quarter then we can consider that resolution achieved). There, it’s down on (electronic) paper so there’s no hiding now. I can now look forward to old age safe in the knowledge I’ll never hit 100KG.