A welcome cautionary note opened SXSWi today as Danah Boyd, a leading social media researcher, warned technologists not to disregard the users’ privacy as they build services that share ever more personal information with the public. “No matter how many times a privileged straight white male tech executive tells you privacy is dead, don’t believe it,” [...]
South by Southwest Interactive gets underway today in Austin, Texas, and a broad swath of the technology community will be headed there to check out the bands, barbecue, and, oh yeah, the startups. Ever since Twitter had its breakout moment at the 2007 festival, SXSW has been considered a king-maker of sorts. Yet no startup has [...]
Judging bytrending topics on Twitter, I was not alone in reserving an iPad today as pre-orders began for the April 3 launch. The experience was un-Apple-like in the bugs I encountered. Ordering did not work at all on the Apple site in Google’s Chrome browser, but was possible with the odd error page in Internet Explorer. In Chrome, it [...]
As the FTC lays the groundwork for a possible challenge to Google’s purchase of AdMob, it is instructive to look at something else Google has already done to gain a strong foothold in the mobile ad business. Any advertiser that bids through the AdWords system gives Google complete authority over which devices its messages are seen [...]
In another validation of the suddenly hot collective buying trend, LivingSocial has landed $25m in Series B funding from a group of investors including US Venture Partners and Steve Case’s Revolution, LLC. But even with new money backing several similar companies, it is still unclear if the latest thing in e-commerce will last for long. LivingSocial [...]
This is going to be an ‘Inspirational People’ post that’s a wee bit different. The ‘Always the Twain’ blog is now a year old(!!!), so I feel it would be nice to remind readers of what I wrote on this day in 2008:
No, I’m not naming myself as my own inspirational person! I’m reminding us of great wits and comedians featured in that post who are, by their abilities to make others LOL and be happy, inspirational.
This week, there can only be one group nominated as my ‘Inspirational People’ — mostly because one of them prompted me about the situation I was emerging from around this time last year and I appreciate that the support, smarts and bonhomie of these Inspirational People played their part in the journey of this blog and in my personal growth.
THE MALDIVES360 ISLANDERS
Thanks to >>–)):>, Jack, Aasemoon, Bent, Frank, Giorgio, Kurt, John, Geoff, Lynn, Florian, Patrick for proving that social networks should be about open democracy, intelligent threads, smart collaboration, tolerance, fun, cultural diversity and helping us achieve our potential as people.
You each make the Web a better place for others. [Yes, even Kurt whose son now already probably knows more Spanish than me, ay carumba!]
It’s Remembrance Sunday on 08 November 2009. Although no one in my family was born in the US, Commonwealth countries or Europe (or lived in either territories during either World Wars and, therefore have no immediate connections or memories to it — unlike those whose families do), it is only respectful to remember too……..
And here’s a heart-warming story about two marriages of two sisters which took place as WWII broke out and which has lasted 140 years!
The week opens with the Conservatives in the UK trying to present the case that THEY rather than the Labor government have the sensible solutions to reform of the financial sector:
Needless to say, Labor and the Liberal Democrats have been on all the broadcast channels to criticize the proposals in the same way the Conservatives did the Labor and LibDem suggestions.
TWAIN’S TRUTH
None of the political parties have it right or are remotely close to it. Reform proposals which are written without the insights and direct experience contributions of corporate strategists (who have actually worked in CEO-Chairman’s Office of a Tier 1 bank) are, frankly, a waste of paper and consultancy fees. Unless we know exactly how the balance sheet is structured, all the business unit line items in the accounts, all the in-house developed risk management techniques and, therefore, how capital adequacy provision requirements are satisfied, then the reforms are mere academic conjecture rather than pragmatic prognosis.
In each bank, there are probably no more than a dozen people who are allocated the responsibility of looking through the blueprints of the bank’s financial positions. The blueprints — rather than the published annual report and analysts’ notes — are what really matter and the insights on how the bank maintains / improves its competitive position relative to its peers.
I know this because I had access to a blueprint.
It’s a document no journalist, accountant, management consultant, government policy-maker, academic or politician would ever gain access to. It’s a document (or series of documents) not even some of the Global and regional heads of banks have clearance to view.
So when I read all the politicking from the main parties about “deep and wide-ranging” reforms, part of me LOLs. It’s not depth nor width that’s needed. It’s whether the reform is SPOT-ON and appropriately CALIBRATED. It’s like gold / oil. There’s no point digging a wide, deep hole to drill when the oil source is actually somewhere else.
Anyway, instead of becoming skeptical about the human ability to learn from mistakes let’s concentrate on what we humans are capable of when we are our smarter and more aspirational selves. The inspirational people for this week are without peers in their daring and conviction towards a journey unknown.
There’s a scene in Indiana Jones: The Last Crusade which perfectly captures the concept of leaps and of belief:
It may seem like a strange connection, but whether in the Hollywood dream factory or in our historic reality our species is driven towards search+discovery, adventure+risks, reaching out to others+unknowns, and philosophy+belief. This is true regardless of what our professional callings may be.
They’re qualities true of the inspirational people this week.
And purely for fun, here’s a TheOnion spoof, showing the NASA simulator prepping astronauts for a Larry King interview:
A LITTLE GIRL CALLED EVA: an inspiration towards motherhood?
Today I also want to write about something extraordinary and coincidental that happened to me yesterday: I got my first-ever maternal twinges.
It should be noted that my mother is 60 this month and she’s the only one of her friends who has no grandchildren. Her friends are scattered all over from China to LA and, regardless of the socio-political environment they exist in (liberal / one-child policy, feminism / equivalence, patriarchal / matriarchal)……..they ALL have grandchildren.
She’s asked all the time about me and my “situation”, aka a euphemism for spinsterhood — LOL. Then she has to endure all their boasting about their grandkids. I remind her that not a single one of her friends has a daughter who was top of school or has ever worked in CEO-Chairman’s Office of a Tier 1 bank. Besides which, she knows I’ve always been more oriented towards my to-dos than in the opposite sex. At our end of junior school dance, I was asked by 5 different boys to be their date and I only went AFTER I’d finished making the centerpiece paper maché mermaid. The dance had a different theme every year: cowboys + Indians, dinosaurs, the ocean, farmyard, etc. Ours was the year of The Ocean.
I have 0 regrets about my choices.
I don’t regret beating the boys in school in the exams (including the so-called “male” subjects of maths, physics and chemistry) because I will never regret making my parents proud and, in reciprocation of respect, for all the time-knowledge they and my teachers gifted me. I don’t regret turning down 3 marriage proposals because my logic knew the guys were incompatible — despite their desire to get married to satisfy parental / societal demands; I believe in marriage based on genuine compatibility. I also don’t regret not believing the ex-manager (not the brilliant dynamic one but the one with the MBA Bocconi) who sat me in a private room and said, “We were destined to meet. I really really like you.” He soon proved to be someone incapable of “walking the talk” whilst I earned my promotion into CEO-Chairman’s Office through hard work and Twain brains. What was his reaction? Professional jealousy. Thank goodness I chose my career over a charming but shallow non-friend!
Funnily enough, he once said that men must be scared to ask me out. I still say, “XLNT!” because, right there, is an automatic Twain brain filter for all the wrong guys like him. LOL.
[Hint to female readers: a man who is genuinely a man's man, has real cojones, is secure in himself, truly loves and respects you will help you become CEO of the world's biggest and best company if that's what your aim is. If your aim is to be a stay-at-home mother whilst he's the primary breadwinner, he'll happily help you realize that too. A real man won't try to turn you into arm candy, his PR support or less than the person you are.]
Anyway, all about little Eva…………………..
So I went for a swim at my gym and in the ladies’ changing room I happened across a 4-year-old American girl called Eva. She was a complete stranger and I only discovered her name because her two older sisters kept calling it.
There was something special about Eva which I’ve rarely seen in other kids (and they’re everywhere, kids). She was self-possessed, assured and took no prisoners. I didn’t see her at first as much as HEAR her. I heard her vociferously defending her rights to be left to do it herself and for them not to try and take her swimming cap away from her. Then I heard the pitter-patter-shuffles of her feet as she ran round the corner into the area where I was.
Oddly, she reminded me of me at that age. She had dark, bobbed hair and watchful eyes. Everything about her made you pay attention. Not in the way that bawling babies and cheeky, dimpled smiles do. It was in her aura. There was quite simply……..a fully-formed CHARACTER to her. A big personality for someone so small and young.
Then I saw her clamber up onto an alcove about 2 feet up and she disappeared from view. I had to walk past where she was to reach my locker and as I did, I noticed that she was sitting in the alcove — legs crossed, comfortable in her own space — and completely concentrated. Her towel was neatly folded and she was trying to figure out how to stretch out her new swimming cap before putting it onto her head………OVER HER SHOES. The shoes kept slipping from their vertical positions but, when they did, even more determination sparked up in her little face. After a short while, she decided they were easier to manage when they were horizontal.
I thought this was cute, funny and ingenious, and left her to her mission. I could have told her to try stretching the cap over her knees but I didn’t want to startle her since she was by herself and I was a stranger.
Later, as the gym and ladies changing room was closing, I heard and saw her again. She was handing over a towel and asking one of her older sisters to wrap it around her “just like Mommy does”. The poor sister, who must have been about 8, complied and said, “It’s not as good as Mommy’s but it’s okay for now.” She’d wrapped the towel around little Eva’s waist and rolled the top to secure it. However, this didn’t satisfy little Eva at all. She scrunched up her face, shivered slightly and started to sulk-sob, “But I’m still cold! It’s SO cold!”
By the look of despair on both of her sisters’ faces it was fairly clear that they didn’t know what to do and that little Eva was on the verge of a full-blown bawling session. Uh-oh. We all know that when kids start to cry they’re almost impossible to stop. The sheer momentum of their frustration, confusion and lack of emotional tools to handle it means it often just snowballs from a few sniffles into “WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH! Nobody cares!!! WAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!”
There’s about 10 seconds between a child sniffling and the bawling. The smart parent is the one who stops them from damaging their vocal chords and suffering emotional distress, imo.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a spare clean towel without any owner. I went over to it, picked it up and walked over to little Eva. I handed her the towel and reasoned with her calmly, “Well, if you’re cold, do you want to maybe use this one?”
She glanced up at me through her fringe, a little shy and apprehensive at a stranger speaking with her. Then she nodded slightly and took it.
“If you wrap it round your shoulders that’ll make you warmer, hmmn?” I suggested. Again a nod, bolder this time. So she wrapped the towel around her shoulders with some help from her older sister.
“Now are you warmer?”
“Yes,” another little nod.
“Good.”
“Thank you,” her poor older sister said. Then little Eva just beamed like she’d been given Supergirl’s cape and it was hers, ALL hers.
I smiled, finished packing my gym bag and left. Half an hour later, I was in a cinema watching John Woo’s brilliant Red Cliff, which tells the classic Chinese story of the battles (military, philosophical, political and literary) between the Kongming- Zhou Yu alliance against Cao Cao.
Completely my kind of movie; as I mentioned in a previous post, I rarely pay to watch romantic comedies because they’re usually not well-scripted, too saccharine and not witty — unlike the romantic comedies of old. In fact, there was more romance and humor in Red Cliff than in any recent romcoms. Hollywood could learn a lot from Chinese action-dramas.
Now, even after the film I thought of little Eva. It’s difficult to explain or to pinpoint how it happened but in the instant I handed her the towel and reasoned with her I felt a surge of what must be maternal instinct. It was really odd.
I’ve babysat my much younger cousins in Canada and, yes, felt that sense of adult responsibility of showing them how to cross roads safely, remove bones from their fish and push them on swings high enough where they shriek with glee but not go white with fear that they’ll flip right over the bar. However, I didn’t feel any maternal twinges.
Please watch these videos of the Soyuz TMSA-15 shuttle prep, launch, docking and post-dock to take 3 additional members to the International Space Station (ISS).
Expedition 20 marks the first time that all five international partner agencies — NASA, the Russian Federal Space Agency, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, the European Space Agency, and the Canadian Space Agency — have been represented in orbit, NASA said.
B-R-I-L-L-I-A-N-T and a step forward for diversity and harmony.
The people involved at NASA, RFSA, JAS, ESA and CSA are all extremely clever people who utilize their brains not for nihilism, but in the pursuit of exploration and discovery (including non-Earth environments). This is something to shout, “Hurrah!” about.
(2.) My friend, Josephine
Last night I spoke with Josephine, who lives in NYC, is a VP of IT in a big US bank and who looks like the Chinese version of Audrey Hepburn (effortlessly stylish, quirky and delicate yet strong). She’s an inspiration because she takes great care of her family and has never been mean / cynical even when life and others are mean / cynical to her.
What a week last week was in political terms! The UK witnessed the announcement on 19 May that the Speaker of Westminster, Michael Martins, would step down on 21 June 2009— the first time a Speaker has been ousted since 1695 — and the continuing firestorm over MP’s expenses and how MPs across the political spectrum have angered and badly disappointed the British electorate with their expenses claims, and damaged democracy in the process:
Meanwhile, I continued watching out for inspirational people. Here are my three for the week ending 24 May 2009.
(1.) Joanna Lumley
Joanna Lumley is a British actress and comedienne most recently known for her role as Patsy in ‘Absolutely Fabulous’, one of my favorite satires about popular culture and car crash family relationships.
Over the last year, she’s been an absolute “tour de force” during the Gurkha campaign which led to Gordon Brown’s first defeat in the Commons as Prime Minister over the issue of whether those who had served in the Gurkha regiment and retired prior to 1997 should have the legal right of residency in the UK. After spearheading a highly effective media campaign, Ms. Lumley was both gracious and expansive in her victory speech on 21 May 2009.
During the campaign itself what came across was her absolute and genuine commitment to the Gurkhas to see justice prevail on their behalf. What also struck me was that she epitomized the very traits of honor, bravery and loyalty which she attributed to a battalion of soldiers who had “followed the flag”, sworn undying allegiance to the Queen and put their lives on the line for Britain.
Clearly there was also a personal dimension; her father had been an officer in a Gurkha regiment and had been saved during a battle by a Gurkha. To her the Gurkhas were her family and she fought for them as much as they’d fought for the Queen and for Britain.
This was a remarkable victory for sense and she’s a remarkable lady.
(2.) Sir Ranulph Fiennes and Tundu
Sir Ranulph “Ran” Fiennes is a well-known British explorer who became the first person to reach the North and South Poles by surface means and was the first one to cross Antarctica by foot. A few months after his heart attack and double heart bypass operation in 2003, he completed seven marathon across seven continents.
On 20 May 2009, he achieved his life-long dream to reach the summit of Mount Everest (on his third attempt). In the process he’s raised GBP millions on behalf of the Marie Curie Cancer Care:
What was particularly brilliant was the tribute he paid to his Sherpa guide, Tundu, without whom he said there was “no way” he could have reached the top of the mountain.
(3.) Dame Clara Furse
Dame Clara Furse is a Dutch-Canadian banker who became the first female CEO of the London Stock Exchange in 2001. On 20 May she announced she would be leaving the post to pursue other challenges.
She’s been a personal heroine of mine for well over a decade — not because she’s a woman operating and consistently succeeding in a male-dominated environment, but simply because she’s multi-capable (as well as having a highly mathematical mind which she applied to the derivatives field, she speaks five languages and combines being a high-flier with motherhood).
We won’t find her on YouTube or celebrity gossip pages, but we will find her in ‘Time’ magazine’s 2007 list of the ‘Top 100 Most Influential People in the World’:
Those in the know about the banking sector will also remember her tenure as CEO of the LSE for the LSE’s successful defense against proposed takeovers from Deutsche Boerse and Euronext:
Starting today, every Monday this blog is going to highlight some stories of humanity around the world that are inspirational. This will act as a reminder to each of us not to become cynical but rather to celebrate the endeavors of people to either help others, enlighten others, move the evolution of our species forward or other acts of genuine consideration and innovation, and to ask ourselves, “What can we do too to make things better?”
In each case, I’ll provide some commentary on the specific reasons why I consider the named person a positive example for us. This is all designed to set us onto productive mindsets and paths at the beginning of every week.
I’m doing this for very valid reasons. Recent months have witnessed the systematic erosion of public trust by people in positions of power such as these cases:
Adding to this has been the reportage on conflict zones around the world such as the Gaza crisis, the Sri Lanka-Tamil Tigers situation, the wars in Iraq/Afghanistan/Darfur and other issues in which we have an interest as global citizens; citizens who want to be informed about how our societies are shaping up and who are seeking leadership and inspiration.
Clearly, there’s room for improvement so I’m going to do my little bit and highlight some inspirational people. I’ve always believed that our role models need not be elected officials (Presidents, CEOs, headmasters, etc.) and nor do they need to be celebrities (Oscar winners, Grammy artistes, Turner-toting intellectuals, etc). Heroism and inspiration come in all shapes, sizes, cultures, creeds and demographics.
Let me start with these three people from articles I’ve read so far in May.
(1.) KYAW KYAW MIN
Please read this article of genuine responsibility and care towards others:
This teenage boy is remarkable in the face of both his parents being killed during Burma’s cyclone Nargis and his current mission to raise his younger brother and three-year-old sister. If ever there was a reason to find out more about Save the Children (http://www.savethechildren.org/) and how to help youngsters like Kyaw Kyaw Min and his family, then this article will provide some answers.
(2.) RACHEL SHABI
She is the author of ‘Not the Enemy: Israel’s Jews from Arab Lands’ which is a book I plan to read soon. I’m mentioning her in this blog because of this article which was published in ‘The Times’ online recently:
It was a really helpful article for enlightening me about an area of cultural identity wrt Jews and Arabs and their commonailty which I wasn’t previously aware of.
This type of information is the sort that breaks through ignorant stereotypes and empowers us with perspective on how and why there should be racial harmony in the region.
(3.) GUY HANDS
Guy Hands is a well-known British venture capitalist and the founder of Terra Firma, the private equity group. Whilst others in the financial services sectors have been criticized for putting personal gains before responsibilities to shareholders and investors first, Guy Hands announced the return of EUR40 million in bonuses to his investors:
I missed this article in March and only happened across it this month whilst reading various reports on how wealthy Britons and companies are moving abroad (to the Channel Islands / Ireland / Switzerland / Monaco / Dubai etc.) in response to the Labor government’s increase in top-rate tax to 50p and the changes to corporation tax.
Whilst, admittedly, EUR40 million may seem like peanuts compared with the US$ billions managed and lost by hedge funds and financial institutions globally, the ethos behind the gesture is a good one.
In the article, Guy Hands notes that, “This is absolutely right; our investors have suffered and therefore our rewards should suffer at the same time.”
This is a reminder to all financial services professionals that they should be stewards rather than speculators of other people’s money and that their rewards should be tied to performance — including retrospectively foregoing bonuses for poor performance.
The Citigroup, General Motors, Lloyds TSB, Royal Bank of Scotland etc. boards should take notes and consider following this lead.
