Inspiration to learn about yourself

Preparing for #initiate19 , which takes place on June 7th at the tram museum in Zürich and aims to strengthen inclusion and participation in all kinds of meetings, I stumbled upon this posting by Sergio P. Ermotti about sustainable development goals (SDGs) and about the initiative #togetherband . Having been curious for some years about values and purpose - including what questions to ask to define purpose - and having worked in a variety of ways on SDG # 4 Quality education , I was really happy to read this posting by Mr. Ermotti. Before I get too positively excited about this great #togetherband initiative, I need to admit openly that not least due to the extremely high wages of employed managers working for banks, I almost lost hope. In fact, the very high wages of employed managers working for banks made me feel sad, angry and disappointed. Why did the very high wages of employed managers working for banks make me feel sad, angry and disappointed? 2 reasons: Reason number 1: I...

What effect will changes happening in the business environment have on how companies, you work for, will respond? What will you do? PESTEL

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Here’s an example of banking innovation: Via this blog posting , I came across this 3 minute video on which students in Nicaragua, who got loans through Vittana , tell their story.

Writing " define:private equity " on Google , one of the first definitions on the list led me to the website of the New Zealand Venture Investment Fund (NZVIF). I found out that “private equity” includes organisations devoted to, for example, venture capital. On the same website, venture capital is described as "professionally managed, dedicated pools of capital that focus on equity or equity-linked investment in privately held, high-growth company." As I attended a Kalaidos University Forum seminar in Zürich, Switzerland yesterday, I learned more about private equity. Mr. Yessin Schiegg, an employee at Horizon21 , gave an interesting introduction to the private equity business. During the seminar, I learned, for example, these 3 things: 1. The functions of an investment professional can be split into 2 activities: Looking for new investments and monitoring existing investments. 2. I also learned about the so-called "J-curve". Mr. Schiegg explained that...

Watching this 18 minute speech by Giles Andrews, I learned that Zopa , which developed a way for people to lend and borrow money directly with each other online, stands for Zone Of Possible Agreement. I also learned that the people behind Zopa put a lot of effort into designing the way they communicate with people. Giles Andrews describes the language used as a conversational, friendly, transparent, non-jargon way of speaking. I came across the video through this P2P-Banking.com blog posting . Giles Andrews from Zopa from The IPA on Vimeo .

Reading this Credit Suisse e-magazine article and watching the interesting 14 minute video recorded expert debate about effects of the credit crisis, I noticed, for example, that Heinrich Rohrer, Nobel Laureate for Physics 1986 and expert on nanotechnology, reminded the participants that innovation is pretty much immune to crisis and that technology can develop even in the deepest recessions. Lars Kalbreier recalled that "in the 1930s, household refrigerators had double digit growth and that was in a depression environment, [and] in the 1970s, fax machines had double digit growth during a period of recession." I also noted that Dr. Ernesto Zedillo, Director of the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization and former President of Mexico, warned against the rising number of trade restricting measures that have been taken over the past couple of months and the potentially devastating effect of increased protectionism, if key political leaders do not take a strong stance agains...

I read about MyC4 in this Times Online article . Here’s an extract: "The idea is alarmingly simple. Through the MyC4.com website, investors put in as little as €5 towards a loan. There are pictures and detailed information about the entrepreneurs seeking financial injections – in most cases the owners of small businesses such as corner shops, cafés or local garages. People such as Steven in Uganda, who is looking for €3,450 to buy a pickup truck for his pig farm. An earlier loan was used to acquire more pigs, which helped his monthly salary rise by €200." Try out MyC4 yourself by clicking here . I came across the article through MyC4 .

The management lab , founded by Gary Hamel , brought together leading thinkers and practitioners to explore the challenges and opportunities of 21st century management. In the videos, you can watch by clicking here , they identity the central flaws of company organization and offer innovative solutions. My advice for you: Watch all of the 9 short videos. Every single one of them is great. As I listened to Mr. Hamel, who suggests creating multiple places that people can go to with their ideas , I thought about websites such as brainfloor.com . What do you think?

In this Economist.com article , that I came across through dialogin.com , I read this: ”..there is a reasonable chance that Africa may survive the current world financial crisis less bruised and battered than some other parts of the world. The very factors that damaged the continent in the past may now be working in its favour. Take the banking sector. Businessmen and budding entrepreneurs have always moaned about the excessive regulations and conservatism of African banks. Controls on foreign exchange often prevent them raising more money by investing in exciting financial instruments in the West. Foreign ownership of banks is unusually limited (to less than 5% in Nigeria and South Africa). Now, however, this very de-linkage from the Western financial system has turned out to Africa’s advantage. Its banks have almost no exposure to the subprime market causing such havoc elsewhere in the world. Benedicte Christensen, deputy director of the IMF’s African Department, says confidently tha...

On blueoceanstrategy.com , I came across a link to an interesting article about ING Direct , that broke away from the competition by focusing on savings and mortgage accounts. Here’s an extract from the article: "Instead of fighting to capture 100 percent of customers’ banking needs, ING Direct completely did away with offering current accounts. Current accounts often have low balances and extensive operational costs because of the number of transactions that run through them. Instead ING Direct drastically reduced the number of products and services to the bare minimum with a focus on savings and mortgage accounts . By simplifying the complexity of operations and lowering its own cost structure, ING Direct was able to offer savings rates up to four times higher than the industry average. This also made ING Direct’s website simple and easy to use and made financial decisions easier for people to make. At the same time, it enjoyed one of the lowest cost structures in the industry....

Between 7 AM and 9 AM and between 4 PM and 6 PM there are, in many cities, traffic jams going out and/or into the city - not least because many people work during the same hours of the days. Result: Many people waste a lot of time sitting in traffic jams – time that could be used to work and/or get some exercise. Using a concrete example from banking, I have a couple of ideas to solve the problem: Idea # 1 To bank employees: How about teaching your customers - including your elderly customers - how they use e-banking (even better)? Also, what about using other collaborative technologies such as a blog or a LiveChat to communicate with your customers? That way, people can use the bank when they want and where want. And by using collaborative technologies, you can make the product you offer to your customers more individual. Idea # 2 Using e-banking, people can use the bank anytime and anywhere. However, many people still like to go to a bank located in a physical location. The problem f...

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In this posting , I mentioned kiva.org . In the meantime, I’ve come across some other initiatives that also challenge the way banking is done: MyC4 On the MyC4 website , I read this: "The model is simple. An African entrepreneur needs your investment to help develop his or her business. Your investment could be funds, advice, knowledge, or inspiration." To have a look at the newest MyC4.com investment opportunities, click here . I became aware of MyC4 through a Kolind Kuren posting . IOU Central I came across IOU Central through this P2P-Banking.com posting . Zopa I became aware of Zopa by reading the book The Future of Management . What other changes do you think we will see in banking in the coming months?

UEFA EURO 2008 in Switzerland and Austria is rapidly approaching. For example, I’ve already noticed many interesting “renewals” here in Zurich . Here are a couple of examples: * A new, impressive and open multifunctional arena , Letzigrund, has been built (here’s a photo from Flickr ). And the infrastructure around the arena has also been improved. On the Letzigrund website , I read this about the arena: "Openair Konzerte, internationales Leichtathletik-Meeting Zürich, Fussball, Gruppenspiele EURO 2008... Der Letzigrund ist auch Treffpunkt für die Bevölkerung von Zürich und Trainingsbasis für den Breitensport. Als Kulturstadion ist der Letzigrund Plattform für Kunst- und Kulturevents..." * Freibad Letzigraben , the swimming facilities right next to Letzigrund, has been renewed in an extraordinary way. The place, that offers something for people with many different interests, could be one way for people to cool off, read, stay fit, be with friends and family etc. between the...

In this December 2007 posting I wrote about core global risks presented in the Global Risk 2007 report . In the Global Risk 2008 report , the experts line up the following important issues: # 1: Systemic financial risk The risk of house and other asset prices collapse in, for example, the United States - reducing consumer spending and creating a recession. The risk of a slower economic growth in China is also mentioned. # 2: Food insecurity risk The risk that food insecurity will become an increasingly complex political and economic problem over the next few years. For example, population growth, climate change and the growing use of food crops for biofuels may be shifting the world into a period of more volatile and sustained high prices. # 3: Supply chain risk The risk that hyper-optimisation of supply chains may also increase vulnerabilities to disruption and concentrations of risk. # 4: Risk to energy security and risks from global climate change The risk of guaranteeing a safe, se...

In a previous posting , I addressed the strategic paradox “Plan or try things out continuously? Or do both?” Worth noting here is, not least, that in periods with many and/or rapid changes and consequently high uncertainty in markets, it can be valuable to not only focus on long term plans but also to work on trying things out in the short term - for example with customers and IT developers. Of the several interesting comments to the posting, "Lukas" wrote: "I think this is issue is very demanding in today’s business. Room for trial and error creates innovation, planning ensures reaching targets. I work for a strongly hierarchical company where planning is clearly dominant. I think the bigger the company is, the more importance planning has. To have some kind of control in big systems, I think planning is essential. Of course, there must be room for spontaneity, otherwise you won’t be able to make innovation and be near at the market." To get some more inspiration ...

In this Credit Suisse emagazine interview , Mr. C. K. Prahalad talks, for example, about how the mobile phone is becoming a wallet not least in developing countries. Here’s an extract from the interview: "In the majority of developed countries, it is not yet possible to carry out a financial transaction by SMS. But this technology already exists in the Philippines and is now being tested in India. The so-called "mobile banking" was developed by banks together with telecommunications providers and is aimed at people with low incomes. This innovation could now be further expanded so that the mobile phone really does become a wallet in the industrialized nations too." Using the power of the Internet, kiva.org has introduced another efficient way of speeding up economic growth in developing countries by releasing the entrepreneurial potential there. Choose a business and try it out yourself for $25 here .