Greece, a lesson in leadership, and the definition of 'borrow'

The financial situation in Greece is dire, and while this weekend's 'yes' or 'no' vote may have very different outcomes for the long run, one thing is sure: recovery will be hard and long, because successive Greek governments have made a series of popularist decisions over the past decade refusing to cut back, progressively increasing the deficit, and thereby pushing the country and its people into a deeper crisis.

Politicians (not just Greek) should take cues from business leaders. Leadership means tough decisions. 'You need the mental capability and tenacity to knit your inferences into something meaningful, and the imagination to think of new options. And you need the courage to go on the offensive based on your subjective judgments. You can’t be a wimp—make the tough calls.' (HBR.org)

And the Greek leadership didn't. They borrowed beyond their means. But 'where did the money come from? The Greek government and the country’s major businesses borrowed heavily on the international money markets. Among others, they borrowed from French and German banks.' (TheGuardian.com)

They did what? Yes, they 'borrowed', in other words 'took and used (something belonging to someone else) with the intention of returning it'. (Google) And the big question on everyone's (or at least the creditors' mind right now); whatever the vote, 'yes' or 'no', will Greece pay its debt back? Ever? In full?

In the news: boulder smashes through Italian farmhouse

Two large boulders dislodged and one of them smashed through an Italian farm. 

By some miracle no one is hurt, and the second boulder stopped just short of the farmhouse.

Even through the distraction, Italy is so picturesque...

Source: www.bbc.com

When would you say your chances are good at winning?

'New elections are coming up in a few months [in Goslar, Germany which became famous of recent by turning off streetlights after midnight in order to save money]. For financial reasons, Goslar will be consolidated with the neighboring town of Vienenburg. Junk [the incumbent Mayor] plans to run for mayor again. 

His chances are good -- so good, in fact, that the opposition has opted to not even field a candidate.'

Now those are good odds. Clearly.


A curious article brought to my attention by Michael Wade of Execupundit. More at German Communities Forced to Find Creative Ways to Reduce Debt - SPIEGEL ONLINE

A well known American story

Welcome to Zombieland: Ladera Ranch, California

A CNN article highlights some of the underlying problems of the troubled US housing market and that the problem is far from being solved just yet…

‘Yet for the housing market to return to health, there needs to be resolution for these zombie loans that won't ever be paid in full and won't quite die either. Until they can be eliminated through short sales, foreclosures, and permanent modifications, the zombies will keep home values from recovering and suck momentum from the economy. They're not departing soon.‘

Only in NZ

Farting postie fails to get job back - National - NZ Herald News

BBC News - Wikileaks founder Julian Assange arrested in London

Guilty or not, isn’t my place to say – we’ll hear the decision in due course. But the fact that he was bound to get caught for something (anything), that’s for sure.

The Wikileaks saga continues:

‘The founder of the whistle-blowing website Wikileaks, Julian Assange, has been arrested by the Metropolitan Police. The 39-year-old Australian denies allegations he sexually assaulted two women in Sweden.’

BBC News - Wikileaks founder Julian Assange arrested in London

Austrian Parliament’s response to immigration

For someone to express such level of emotional intensity, they must have been robbed of their tolerance in its entirety. This doesn’t happen overnight, neither without any reason.

thanks to CulturalOffering.com to post this video:
Cultural Offering.com: "Your devotion to freedom of religion is pure hypocrisy. . ."

How eating a cookie can harm your career…

‘The Australian-born Dr Stephen Duckett, who has been dubbed the "Cookie Monster", left a meeting with health care leaders in Edmonton eating a cookie and refused to talk to waiting media about the health crisis in the Canadian province of Alberta’
(read more here).

Australia’s first female PM

I applaud the fact that earlier this week in Canberra, the first female Prime Minister was sworn in. However an article on Larvatus Prodeo highlights a few uncomfortable points about how and why it happened…

‘Before he walked away, Rudd told the caucus: “We can’t allow this federal caucus to have embedded in it the same type of culture as NSW where, every time you make tough policy decisions and polls dip, you get a campaign to cripple the leader. It’s not good to bring the NSW culture to Canberra.”
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When everyone wants a piece of the action…

And either there is just not enough to go around, or the price doesn’t stack up for some. But the media crowd is not a ‘giver-upper’. No, they put their creative minds together and find a way: ambush marketing.

You may have heard of the latest stunt by Bavaria Brewery at the Football World Cup.  Watch it here.

On one side there is Fifa, who are ardently trying to protect the advertising rights of the event – rightly so, sponsors fork out a fortune to be part of it (that is part of one of the largest corporate advertising spectacular with the sport element occasionally fading into the background)…

While on the other side there is the challenger brand, Bavaria Brewery, Budweiser’s competitor, who are pulling this stunt the second time around. Yes, they amused us in 2006 with the ‘orange lederhosen’… And of course, they are getting a huge amount of publicity for a fraction of the official sponsorship. But can you really, honestly say that you loath their efforts (bar the Budweiser camp of course)? I think they are rather cool…

Photo credit: www.guardian.co.uk
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Stuff I just read…

Productivity tips from Nicholas Bate, and this is only Part I. Keep them coming!

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Some good news for the UK’s economy – but only beyond the current financial year. According to Martin Wolf the economy ‘is now forecast to shrink by 3.75 per cent in 2009-10, slightly worse than the 3.5 per cent decline forecast in the December 2009 pre-Budget report. Next year, the economy is forecast to expand by 2 per cent, followed by 3 per cent in 2011-12 and 3.25 per cent thereafter.’
Plus check out these charts.

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A good few great new ideas on strategic decision making by McKinsey Quarterly featuring:
- WPP’s Sir Martin Sorrell: spells out the good old wisdom and takes it a step further. He suggests to ‘learn from mistakes and listen to feedback […] but don’t ask hundreds of people. Carefully sound out the relevant constituencies—clients, suppliers, competitors—and try to find someone you trust who has no agenda about the issue at hand.’

- Kleiner Perkins’ Randy Komisar": suggests to ‘balance out biases’ similarly ‘how President Kennedy ran his cabinet: he used to assemble the smartest people he could, throw a difficult issue on the table, and watch them debate it. Then at some point he would end the debate, make a decision, and move on.
Make a balance sheet by assembling everyone’s insights rather than their conclusions. [this is brilliant by the way]

- Xerox’s Anne Mulcahy: says ‘the decisions that come out of allowing people to have different views—and treasuring the diversity of those views—are often harder to implement than what comes out of consensus decision making, but they’re also better.’
When making people choices she suggests ‘to look for people who can strike the hard balance between courage and learning. Which she identifies as ‘the single most important leadership trait, outside of pure competence’.
And finally, she says that ‘decisiveness is about timeliness. And timeliness trumps perfection.’

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And finally, say no to TV with Seth Godin, and read Mr Bate’s blog on how to expand your Universe in all that time you’ll gain.
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Davos 2010

As it was expected, the main topic at this year’s World Economic Forum in Davos was on the global economic outlook.
Among the numerous articles that covered the event, I particularly liked Martin Wolf, the Financial Times’ chief economics commentator’s recent piece that shed more light on some of the key trends (t. What the world must do to sustain its convalescence).
Here is an excerpt:

’So what did I make of this year’s annual meeting of the World Economic Forum at Davos?
(…)
The big questions for this year are how quickly to withdraw the monetary and fiscal stimulus and which should be withdrawn first.
(…)
Yet exit is merely the most immediate challenge. Two somewhat longer-term tasks lie ahead: financial sector reform and durable rebalancing of demand in the world economy.
(…)
But far too many countries are relying on export-led growth as the way to balance their withdrawal of domestic stimulus. This is a recipe for stagnation. The Earth cannot, after all, hope to run current account surpluses with the people of Mars.’

And that last paragraph, my thoughts exactly. How on Earth (literally) will developed countries’ economies recover with a lack of local manufacturing and without raising export tariffs? Surely, developed countries cannot continue to buy cheap BRIC produced goods forever? The BRICs don’t buy European or US made cars, white goods, machinery, electrics, etc. – or do they? One sided trade will not pull the world out of recession. I truly believe that a recovery will require a concerted effort and a rebalancing of the global economy.
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A decade in news photographs

The “two-thousands” (has anyone come up with a better alternative yet?) were a ‘dramatic and often brutal decade’. Great and thought provoking photos from Boston.com here.
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