Saturday, January 29, 2011

Egypt and Others--A New World Order: A World without Borders

 
New World Order: A World without Borders
The real problem is our lack of understanding of the concept of what is going on globally. The younger generation is no longer embracing the customs of the past. What are the customs of the past? For one thing, embracing the customs of the past.

 
One thing that is very important to understand if we are to get along with the rest of the world. Many cultures have 3,000; 4,000…6,000 years of history, custom, and culture to look back on. We have a bit over 200. This creates a major difference between Americans and, for example, the Egyptians, The Chinese, The Japanese, and so on.


On the other hand, the aforementioned youth culture is very similar to American culture in that both they and we are “forward looking.” As we cannot look to a long past, we long for a future that will.
As this pertains to Egypt, we are in a unique position to understand the Egyptian people. (Did someone say, 1776?)


Both America and the Middle East were part of a Colonial Empire. But wait! There’s more!
In what is known in some parts of the world as the Colonial Rebellion of 1776, we had aid from France and, that by extension, the French people. We did not look upon France as the enemy because they supplied us with weapons. We looked upon France as a nation that aided us in battle. Much the same way America has aided the Egyptian people in their government’s efforts to protect the Egyptian people from enemy soldiers.
Thus, as evidenced by the protests around America, the American people have a shared perspective with the Egyptian people. (This does cause me to wonder why Americans in Egypt would be afraid. I want to believe that the Egyptian people see the American people as people who share in a belief.)


Hence:

The blogosphere is a world without borders; Facebook is a world without borders; Twitter is a world without borders. Linkedin is a world without borders; SlideShare is a world without borders, and, the new generation is a generation of a nation without borders.


We now have a world where emerging nations are no longer define the way I defined them on my ppt. presentation only three months ago. Global Management: A shift in the paradigm of corporate America at http://slideshare.net/


I touched on some aspects of the new way of doing business from a global perspective but failed to see the absence of the borders in the new world. The technosphere. The following links are to very short monographs related to the above topic.

The Next Generation: Better Than Brand New


Managing Projects in the New Millennium


The New Age Biz Wiz


Project Management of the –Oops! Gotta Run


The new, the young, the future, is a world where communication is instantaneously global. Questions asked an answered in moments.

Enough said? No. Enough said!

Regards,

Slim

eMail: mailto:slimfairview@yahoo.com
Copyright © 2011 Slim Fairview

Friday, January 28, 2011

Thoughts on the Marketing of India (From a Linked in Discussion)


The Marketing of India

Find a need and fill it.

Who has a need for what you can produce?
Partner with that (nation's) companies.
In addition to the profits, offer a minority interest in the company. (This will give investors an incentive to succeed.) Offer a profit share to the suppliers. (This will give the farmers(?) an incentive to join in the venture.

In addition to money, offer other incentives. [Prestige]. For example: Build schools in the areas where the people are most enthusiastic.

If one or two small companies cannot find the funding (through govt. funding--a bad idea) go to the marketplace. Economies to scale.

Create a marketing group for the several smaller companies, so they can pool their resources.

In Vermont there is a joke:

Q: "Do you think the rain will hurt the rhubarb?"
A: "Not if they're in cans."

If produce spoils before it hits the market, set up a joint effort to can the produce at the source.

Roads are a government responsibility.

Just a few ideas. (Call me old-fashioned)

Anyone care to amplify, amend, or correct?

Sincerest regards,

Slim

PS. Read The Caste Busters article in the NY Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/02/magazine/02Striver-t.html

Mail slimfairvew@yahoo.com

Copyright (c) 2011 Slim Fairview

Thursday, January 27, 2011

The Business of Wisdom in Global Affairs -- A Fable

The Business of Wisdom in Global Affairs—A Fable

About 50 years ago, my father told me a fable. I don’t know its origin. I believe it may have originated in Turkey or in the Middle East.

No doubt, he’d heard it from someone much older than he was when he heard it. And older and wiser when he shared it with me. Thank you, Dad.


A long time ago, there lived a powerful king. He ruled vast lands with firmness and fairness. However, the many city-states and principalities were ruled by selfish and greedy men. They were constantly fighting wars over petty grievances to disguise their true motive—greed. Therefore, the king issued an edict banning such unjust wars. If they defied the edict, he would send his troops in to vanquish the offender and seize his lands.

In one of the small countries, the young people had gathered to come up with a plan to better the lives of the people. They concluded that the old people were a burden and that they should all be put to death.

One young man, unable to allow his father to be killed, led him from the city in the dead of night and hid him in a cave on the outskirts of the city.

The word spread to a neighboring land where a greedy prince called his advisors together to discuss a plot to wage a war against the other land to grab their wealth. They wrote the following letter:

Five generations ago, our people lent to your people 25 units of rope woven from sand which you promised to return. Yet with each passing generation, your promise has gone unfulfilled. Therefore, we must demand return of this rope or we will be forced to send our armies to your land to retrieve it along with just restitution.

When the leaders of the council received and read this letter, they panicked. None had ever heard of the rope woven from sand nor knew anything about it.

The man who’d hid his father in the cave outside of town asked for the letter and said he would return with a solution to the problem. He went to see his father.

His father said, “Write back. Say to them, we have many coils of rope. Some are woven from sand but each is different. Send us a sample of your rope so we may match it up with the rope that is yours and do justice by returning your rope.”

The young man returned to the council and they sent just such a letter.

When the evil prince received the reply, he turned to his advisers and said, “There is still one old man left in their land. We will wait until he dies and try again.”

Regards,

Slim

Mail: slimfairview@yahoo.com

Copyright (c) 2010 Slim Fairview

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Chinese Wisdom and Privacy

Chinese Wisdom:

"In the West, when you want privacy, you go into a closed room. In the East, when we want privacy, we go into an open field."


Regards,

Slim

Mail slimfairview@yahoo.com

A WHITE HORSE IS NOT A HORSE

A WHITE HORSE IS NOT A HORSE

That is what is known as “an old Chinese saying.” I learned it from my finance professor. I was too embarrassed to ask him to explain what it meant. Soon, I would figure it out for myself.

A few years later, my wife and I moved out West. What happened? Something that almost never does. I got a craving. A food craving. A food craving for for something I never crave. A salami sandwich on rye and a bottle of beer.

We drove to the supermarket. Beer, no problem. Salami, no problem. Then, we went to buy the rye bread.

I found, pumpernickel rye; marble rye, low-sodium rye; diet rye; California rye; I found every kind of rye bread except rye bread. Then I understood. A white horse is not a horse.

Solution. I had a baloney sandwich on white bread and a glass of chocolate milk.

How many white horses do you have in your stable?

Regards,

Slim

Mail Slim tilden9@yahoo.com

Copyright, © 2011 Slim Fairview

Monday, January 24, 2011

CIVICS

CIVICS:

Then: “Remember, class, you may not agree with what they have to say, but they have the right to say it.”

Now: “Don’t let them forget, class. They may not agree with what you have to say, but you have the right to say it.”

Then: The right to accommodation.

Now: The right of infliction.


Regards,

Slim

Mail: slimfairview@yahoo.com

From The Quotations of Slim Fairview

Copyright (c) 2011 Slim Fairview

Friday, January 21, 2011

Internet Disconnect? NO!

Internet Disconnect? Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

Among my "skills set" in addition to starting out life as an English major, and transferring schools to major in Finance, I also left the corporate world to write an unpublished (able) novel. I took unique jobs. Steel Fabricator. 10 hours a day on a brake-press, a spot welder, etc.

Plan B. 8 - 10 hours a day at a keyboard.

A. Hot, dirty, heavy, low pay, long hours.....
B. Keyboard, share ideas, connect with people globally!

Type a novel, enter an email, click attach and away we go. See an article -> twitter. Share it with thousands. (Okay, only seven.) Copy paste, high-light, add a link, add a mail to. Or, copy paste a photo, a graph, a chart, or a dozen links to same. Sit down to dinner with a friend across town, across the country, on the other side of the world. Free. (Did I hear someone say skype?)

I heard a rumour you can even run for President using the Internet.

http://slimviews.blogspot.com/

Regards,

Slim

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Frank Investment Strategies

 
Investing?

Here's the metaphor.

Two friends stop off at a hot dog stand. Ahead of them, they see a man order a hot dog. One says to the other, “I bet he has mustard.” His friend says, “Ketchup.” The man puts mustard on his hot dog. The first friend wins.

They follow him down the street to a pretzel stand. The first man bets that he buys a pretzel with no salt. The second says with salt. The man buys it with salt. The second man wins.

Down the street, the man stops for ice cream. The first man says, “Chocolate”. The second man says, “Vanilla”. The first man wins when the guy in front of them buys a chocolate ice cream cone.

You know all this because you are following the two men and listening in as they make their wagers.

The next thing you know, you are calling your friend on the phone and inviting him to meet you for lunch at the hot dog stand.

When you get there, you see the same two men you saw the day before. They make the same wager. You turn to your friend and say, “I bet the man on the left wins the bet.” Your friend says, “You’re on.”

You bet that the man on the left will win the wager each time.

You win two out of three bets. You come out ahead.

Do you now have some idea of how our investment industry is changing?

Regards,

Slim


Copyright © 2011 Slim Fairview

Slimviews is an non-profit, unfunded, unsupported, and, alas, unprofitable web log by Slim Fairview

http://slimviews.blogspot.com

Commentary on Global Political and Economic Events by Slim Fairview. Read my blog today or hear it from experts in a month or two. Slim

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Starving Nations and Food Equations

A Metaphor:

If one person in the group does not have enough food to eat, he may die.

For a while, that means more food for the rest of the group. However, that also means one less person to work the farm. That means less food to eat. Less food to eat means someone will die.

For a while, that means more food for the rest of the group. However, that also means one less person to work the farm. That means less food to eat. Less food to eat means someone will die.

Soon, there won't be enough people to work the farm. That means there won't be enough food to eat.

Get the idea?


Slim

Mail: slimfairview@yahoo.com


Copyright (c) 2011 Slim Fairview

Friday, January 14, 2011

The Stages of Ages

The stone age, the iron age, the dark ages, the renaissance, the age of discovery, the age of enlightenment, the age of reason; what will those in the future call this the age of?

Regards,

Slim

Copyright (c) 2011 Slim Fairview

Thursday, January 13, 2011

MicroManagement?

Unforeseen management involvement:

When the supervisor can't do the job and the OM or the VP must step in to make an adjustment to the supervision.

Micromanagement:

a. When the manager doesn't really know what he is doing and imputes his deficiencies to his subordinates.

b. When a manager has foist upon him by his boss a process that he knows won't work and tries to cover himself by micromanaging the person he will blame for the failures of the process which is considered viable by his boss.

Slim

tilden9@yahoo.com


Copyright (c) 2011 Slim Fairview

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

The CSO: Chief Strategic Officer

We all know the C-Level jobs. Which one is in charge of strategy? And don't say all of them.

A company has to have a metaphorical motion detector that detects changes. That motion detector is the Chief Strategic Officer.

Part One

Is the turn around time getting shorter or longer?
Is the ROI going up or down?
Are sales rising? Are they rising at a slower rate or a faster rate?
Have competitors entered the market?
Are clients/customers starting to ask questions about innovations, discounts, delivery dates?

As these matters come up, they are indicators that the strategy and the process need to be reviewed and refreshed.

Part Two

To remain competitive, the CSO has to look to opportunities to make changes to stay ahead of the competitors, the market demands, and the changes in the financials.

This is not something to be done occasionally. This is an ongoing process.

Any thoughts on the matter?

Regards,

Slim

Mail: tilden9@yahoo.com

Copyright (c) 2011 Slim Fairview

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Project Management of the--oops! Gotta run!

Project Management of the future is the ability to embrace change quickly. People who will be a part of the team will access information faster from better-informed sources than can be imagined.

It doesn't matter whether you are in IT or construction or in portfolio management.

Whatever the task, whatever the goal, the team will be able to leverage technology at a very rapid rate.

While one company is looking to complete a project, it will be obsolete before it is launched because another company launched the product yesterday.

Some companies will shoot themselves in the foot by launching a product too quickly with limitations while another company will release a product that not only can perform the function but also has additional bells and whistles besides.

There must be a massive shift in the paradigm. You can't hit the ground running. You can't hit the ground at all.

In IT, it is all about tech-talk. The team will know the language, will be clutching to their p-pads, twittering their thumbs, and coming up with answers before the manager finishes asking the question. And those answers will make the next question unnecessary.

People will know what needs to be done before they get their assignments.

Meanwhile, upstairs, the boss is waiting to get a one page summary while the company across town will have his updates tweeted to him. One page, 140 characters. Your choice. Let's move on to the next item on the agenda.


Sincerely,


Slim

Mail: slimfairview@yahoo.com

Copyright (c) 2011 Slim Fairview

Monday, January 10, 2011

Saturday, January 8, 2011

Distortions of Graphic Proportions

View the graph to the left. Do you see how slowly the spending is rising?
View the graph below it. Do you see how quickly the spending is rising?









Actually, in each instance, spending is rising by 100,000 dollars per year.




However, the percentage changes. It increases by 100% then by 50% then by 33.34%.

With each subsequent year, the percentage decreases.


When we watch television, regardless of which network or cable station we watch, those on either side of the issue use the same tools to distort the picture.

If spending decreases from $100,000,000 to $80,000,000 the cut is 20%. However, if the spending increases, from $80,000,000 to $100,000,000 the increase is 25%. Either way, we are talking about $20,000,000.

When Joe six-pack opens a bottle of Blue Ribbon beer and begins reading the Post, he sees that spending is rising modestly as evidenced by the bright red graph.

Across town, Bill six-pack opens up a bottle of Blue Ribbon beertm and begins reading the News. He sees that spending is sky-rocketing as evidenced by the bright red graph.

When they watch television, each watches a different cable station. However, each host has invited someone from the left and someone from the right. Each hears half the truth from one guest and half the truth from the other guest.

A message to the illustrious members of our most august fourth estate:

It behooves you to print both charts, with numbers, with percentages,
to show that both graphs show the same information.

Further, it is important to demonstrate that a 20% cut of $100,000,000 and an increase of 25% of $80,000,000 both involve $20,000,000.

As long as spin doctors engage in linguistic legerdemain, mathematical manipulations, and distortions of graphic proportions, the country will not only remain but become increasingly polarized.

Regards,

Slim

Mail: slimfairview@yahoo.com

Copyright (c) 2011 Slim Fairview

* "Blue Ribbon Beer" is a registered trademark. No solicitation was made and no compensation was received for this reference.

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Welcome

Just a note to thank those from around the world who have visited my Blog.

From the Stats we have, The United Arab Emirates, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Pakistan, Poland, Romania, Russia, Singapore, Slovenia, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, The Czech Republic, Turkey, United Kingdom, and The United States arranged in alphabetical order. There have been varying numbers of visits from one per day to 28 in one day.

And welcome to new visitors: China! Lebanon! Malaysia! Moldova!

I am happy to have visitors from around the world.

Sincerely,

Slim
Mail: tilden9@yahoo.com

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

More to View

Slim Fairview's PowerPoint Presentations on SlideShare.

Global Management: A Shift in the Paradigm of Corporate America.

The Future of the G-20 in Good Times and Bad

Preview: Fairviews: The Quotations of Slim Fairview

The Multiplier Effect: Illustrated

Regards,

Slim Fairview

Also available on LinkedIn.

Mail: tilden9@yahoo.com

copyright (c) 2011 Slim Fairview

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

ECONOMICS ILLUSTRATED: A Primer in Economics, by Metaphor

Primer in Economics by Metaphor:

This is how economics evolved. This is a metaphor.

Bill is a cave dweller back in primitive days. He lives in a cave. He lives in a community among other cave dwellers. Some hunt, some gather, some cook, but not Bill. Bill crawls in the dirt, using his hands to make holes in the dirt. He drops seeds into the holes. When he is finished planting, he goes out to gather. He is not good at hunting so he only gathers. The seeds grow. Bill and his friends share. All, barely, subsist.

However, Bill has a neighbour, Tom. Tom is a hunter. He works hard. Hunting is dangerous. Some of his friends have been killed hunting. Still, he does it.

Now, Bill and Tom have a neighbour Jack. Jack thinks. He thinks what Tom does is dangerous and only marginally profitable. He thinks what Bill does is not the most effective way of doing what he does. Jack comes up with an idea.

Jack takes a stick; he walks across the field poking holes in the ground. Then using a hollow reed, he drops a seed through the reed into the hole. He plants many seeds.

When Jack is through, he gathers. Because he has more time to gather than Bill does, Jack gathers more food than Bill does. Jack has more food to share, so he trades food with Tom who hunts. This causes Bill a problem. He does not have enough food to buy meat from Tom, so he eats less.

Jack’s farm prospers. He not only gathers and trades he now reaps and trades. He trades food with Bill for labour. Bill now works on Jack’s farm in exchange for food.

Jack now has twice as much food so he stops gathering. He cultivates more land. He grows more food. Now he can trade more food for more labour. The gatherers find Jack’s steady supply of food to be a better alternative to gathering.

Tom, seeing how the investment system works, and with meat scarce and vegetables in plentiful supply, he charges Jack more for the meat. Jack pays happily. In addition, with the lessons he’s learned, Tom teaches others how to hunt, where to hunt, and supplies them with the tools to hunt. They pay for their lessons with some of their meat. He pays them for hunting with some of the vegetables.

Tom’s hunters increase the quantity of meat. Jack’s farmers increase the quantity of vegetables.

However, there is another problem. It takes time to make tools to farm the land, weapons to hunt for meat, and it takes time to make clothes from the skins.

Enter, James. James also thinks. He sees an opportunity. He agrees to supply the hunters and the farmers with tools and weapons and clothes.

He gets together with some of the less successful hunters and gatherers and promises to pay them in meat and vegetables in exchange for their labours making tools and weapons and clothes. They don’t have to hunt. They don’t have to gather, and they can eat. That works for them.

James begins his business. Soon, more people are making tools, weapons, and clothes. More people are farming. More people are hunting. However, things are a bit dull despite the prosperity. Enter the arts. (It will be centuries until things become dull because of the prosperity.)

Tom, Jack, and James can afford to take time to pursue the arts. However, they are not very good at it. Enter, Dave.

Dave tells stories. He is paid with food.

Susan can paint. Susan is paid with food.

Peter, Paul, and Mary can sing. They are paid with food.

Mark and Lorraine get an idea. They seek out people who can tell stories. They arrange for storytelling. They charge people to come to listen to the stories and pay the storytellers with a part of the profits.

Susan, who can paint, teaches promising students to paint and helps them sell their paintings taking a commission on the sales.

Things are moving along reasonably well with the exception of dragging around sacks full of food and dead carcases. Moreover, there is quibbling. They agree to seek a solution from the elders. There, they listen to the elders suggest the formation of a council.

With time on their hands, and the evidence of intelligence, Jack, Tom, and Dave become leaders appointed by the elders. For whom everyone has respect.

Together they create a medium of exchange. Then, they issue an RFP and subsequently someone creates a food storage system. The people start schools where the experienced hunters and farmers can teach hunting and farming. Singing, storytelling and painting are also taught. However, there will always be troublemakers. At first, they are handled by a few of the leaders. Then the leaders appoint a shire reeve who calls a posse comitatus to handle problems when they arise.

Some people are smarter than others are. However, they are not creative; but they are inventive. They invent ways to make tools using metals. Some invent more expansive tools and machinery. They learn to grind wheat and make bread. Others figure out how to harness the water to turn gristmills. Others are natural born salesmen. They go out to sell the products of the industrious people of the community.

The community grows. Soon, other communities follow suit. People take what they have learned, their stock-in-trade, to other communities to help them plan their communities.

Some communities with more of something to sell sell it to those communities with more of something else to sell in exchange. Foreign trade is born. Treaties are signed. Thus, civilisation arises from the very dirt that Bill used to crawl in digging holes with his hands to plant seeds.

This is the entry to understanding economics.


Regards,


Slim Fairview

 
PS.  I am not Paul Harvey.  Still, I am open to becoming a paid blogger, columnist, or commentator.

In the meantime, if anyone finds the monographs on my blog to be especially helpful, please do not hesitate to send me on of those tricked out laptops and few dollars tucked into the envelope with the thank you note.


Sincerely  


Slim


Copyright (c) 2011 Slim Fairview