What things come to mind when we think about China? Different things to different people, I suppose. Some people will conjure up a picture of china crockery featuring scenes from the daily life of Chinese people, beautiful lacquerware, others – green tea, still others – the all-powerful business and new technologies (if you’ve guessed I’m […]
Everyone will have heard about the silk route. Sure, but which silk route? Until recently there would have been no doubt. There was only one silk route – the one known from ancient history, the silk route along which goods were shipped between Europe and China for centuries. It is the route that served as […]
Each time I go to America, I can’t help humming a tune to myself. A short while ago, New York put me in mind of a Frank Sinatra song. Today it is: If you’re going to San Francisco Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair The artist – Scott McKenzie, of course, the […]
Each time managers are showered with statuets and certificates of excellence (awarded these days by trade journals), I wonder what is at the bottom of their outstanding achievements. What is at the heart of a manager’s success? How much does he or she owe to knowledge, to hard work, to talent, or perhaps to luck? […]
How fortunate the world is not black and white and, provided we don’t work for the media, we don’t have to look at every event in terms of an incredible miracle or unmitigated disaster! Britain’s exit from the European Union is getting bad press up and down Europe. And rightly so! Contraction of the European […]
I have very good news for all of you: contrary to what you might have expected by following the news, the global economy is doing well and everything seems to suggest we can make optimistic forecasts for the future. If the thought that – global economy aside – we certainly cannot say the same about […]
There are sports disciplines where everything is more or less clear. For example, track and field: the winner is the first athlete to cross the finishing line, jump over the highest-placed bar, throw a strangely-shaped object furthest. Citius, altius, fortius, says an olympic motto – faster, higher, stronger. If only everything in the world was […]
The silence is broken by a soft click … A shiny golden triangle, split characteristically down the middle, catches the sun rays streaming in through the window. A sheet of paper, slightly rough to the touch, rests on a wooden desk, held down gently by the fingers. The nib hovers over the paper momentarily and […]
… is like gold dust. If I were to say what really gives me a buzz, I might well say: a well put question. Not a day goes by that I don’t ask myself questions or questions about whether I have asked the right questions, be it in relation to managing big projects, managing people, […]
Swept under the red tide of the troubled Chinese stock markets data, buried under the volcanic ash spewed out by the financial turmoil in Greece, and starved of oxygen by the climate of uncertainty which prevails in some EU member states groaning under their debt load is other interesting news which doesn’t grab our headlines. […]
