The Management Mythbuster

Why is the weather so perfect in SoCal?

Finally a few days R&R in Southern California.  Been here three days and the sun hasn't stopped shining with the mercury seemingly stuck at 72F - its a tough life sometimes. 

Mission Beach north of San Diego full of the beautiful people.  I definitely spoiled the scene.  Here are some shots of me and my ladies enjoying the zoo, the beach and the Four Seasons at Avaria - the sign in the last pic gives a true CA health warning that is posted on the front door of the hotel!

 

Not tired yet!

Since March 10th I have been to 14 countries on three continents, crossed the Atlantic six times, been on 29 flights and slept in 19 different hotels.  But that was just the start.  Today I am sitting in Cleveland Airport waiting to board a flight to London. Tomorrow morning I connect there to visit Bucharest. Over the next 25 days I will visit another 13 countries also on 3 continents, deliver 14 speeches, take five red-eye flights and not visit home once - I can't wait!  My next four weekends will be spent in China, Singapore, Tokyo and London - which sounds very glamorous - but when you are knackered it does not matter where your head hits the pillow. 

I get back home on May 29th, sleep for three days and then go to Bogota!  Insane or what? Stay tuned for more updates...

Redefining the Rest Stop

As a brief respite from my world tour, I got to spend last weekend in and around Catalonia in northern Spain.  On Friday I headed north to spend a couple of days on the Costa Blanca in the town of Roses right by the sea (picture of hotel below - cool eh?).  After leaving Barcelona I joined the N-11, a good two lane road to Girona. After leaving Girona the road gently winds through the countryside and looks much like any other road, except for one thing.

I was casually minding my own business, playing with the "flappy paddle" gear change on the surprisingly nippy diesel powered Citroen C4, when out of the corner of my eye I saw what appeared to be an attractive girl sitting in a white plastic lawn chair by the side of the road.  Being a normal male my gaze wandered over to examine her more closely.  She looked a little out of place for a rural road in northern Spain. She was wearing very high heels and a skirt that was as short as the heels were high.  I cruised on not really knowing what to make of it.  My first reaction was that it was  strange place to have a bus stop.  A couple of kilometers further on, another similarly attired girl sat beside the road - only this time the shoes were replaced by boots.  Somewhere in the slower moving parts of my brain it began to dawn on me that they were not waiting for a bus.  This site was repeated at regular intervals for the next 20km or so. 

I know the Spanish are a friendly bunch but I had no idea that the services they extended to weary travelers were so comprehensive -  very different than the free coffee at an American rest stop!

On my return to Barcelona on Sunday morning, I reversed my route. This time it was raining so most of the white plastic chairs were empty, either that or business was especially brisk that morning.  I did however pass one petrol station where a couple of members of the "traveler relaxation team" were hanging out under the canopy.  Now that really did redefine the concept of "full service" never mind having your windscreen washed...

Cruising Croatian style

I like Zagreb!  Best of all I got to stay in probably the best hotel in town, the excellent Regent Esplanade - a real throwback to the grand railway hotels of Europe - it is right next to the railway station. Remember the train ride in Bond's From Russia With Love?  Well it was filmed outside my hotel room!

But unlike almost any other five-star hotel in the world, the Regent has FREE unlimited, wireless Internet throughout the property.  In my humble opinion that makes Croatia one of the most advanced nations in the world.  Further adding to its luster; on my two hour stroll around this small city this morning I encountered not a single McDonald's or Starbucks! Long may it stay that way. The closest I got to American cultural imperialism was the donut stand at the railway station - see below. But even that did not look much like a Krispy Kreme outlet.  I urge Croatians everywhere to resist the commercial tide but please do one thing for me - ban smoking in hotels and bars.  Despite years of second hand smoking in smoky English pubs I am a big clean air fan!

Another Iranian technological breakthrough!

Forget Iran's nuclear ambitions, I can exclusively reveal that Iran has been secretly developing its own supersonic airliner!  My sleuthing came to a fruition this morning while walking down Piccadilly in London.  How the world has missed this startling development is a mystery to me, after all, the evidence is on plain show in the window of Iranian Airlines.  I offer the following in evidence:

So know you can wing your way to Tehran at Mach 2.  I bet you can't wait.

Back in the USSR

Next month I will visit Moscow for the first time in 32 years! Believe it or not, I was in Moscow when I found out that Elvis had died! I can't wait to see what's changed and perhaps more interestingly what's stayed the same.

 As someone who grew up in the shadow of the Iron Curtain I was well accustomed to deriding the Soviet economic system.  In 1977, as a fifteen-year old high schooler, I got to experience Soviet Russia first hand.  During a ten-day stay in Moscow and St. Petersburg (then still called Leningrad), I witnessed the sparse selection of goods on offer in the massive GUM department store in Red Square, traded ballpoint pens for rubles with which I couldn’t find anything to buy, and listened to lecturers proudly proclaim the Soviet economic miracle.  I well remember one chart that showed the rate of inflation in the USSR since the end of the Second World War.  The graph showed a straight horizontal line at the zero percent level on the y-axis.  It defied all logic and thirteen years later it all came tumbling down – literally in the case of the Berlin Wall.

All these experiences armed me with considerable biases that I had to suppress while reading the text of Russian prime-minster, Vladimir Putin’s speech to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland last week.  Surely a Russian (and a former Communist) could not offer anything of value on the subject of managing in a world of turbulence?  But some of Putin’s words made perfect sense.  First he nailed the economic downturn of 2008 by describing it as: “The world is now facing the first truly global economic crisis, which is continuing to develop at an unprecedented pace.”

Putin went on to liken the events of 2008 to a perfect storm and offered sage advice to managers trying to cope in such an environment: “Responsible and knowledgeable people must prepare for it.” He went to outline some of the failings that resulted in a singular lack of preparation: weak regulation; greed; and a failure to acknowledge risk. However, to a Cold War baby like me, his most startling statement of all was that: “Excessive intervention in economic activity and blind faith in the state's omnipotence is another possible mistake.”

Wow! We’ve certainly come a long way in the last twenty years when a Russian warns America against excessive government intervention!!!

Dining with Gusto in Noosaville

24 hours and 15 minutes after leaving home in Ohio, Qantas flight 176 touched down in Brisbane, Australia.  Brisbane, in the state of Queensland, is flanked to the south by the Gold Coast and to the north by the Sunshine Coast.  Neither lived up to its name today. Unfortunately the transition from Northern Hemisphere autumn to Southern Hemisphere spring did not affect the weather, it was pissing down with rain!  Queensland has had a two year drought as numerous people remind me that this is the first day of rain "for months." Just my luck. 

After fighting jet lag with a nap and a couple of beers, the stomach starts rumbling so I head to Noosaville (yes that's right, this is Australia after all) which is next door to Noosa Heads (don't ask) a really quaint (well as quaint as anything in Australia can be) town where I am spending the weekend. 

Gusto is a riverfront bistro in a lovely location and therefore my expectations were not high.  After all, nice view, tourist trap and good food rarely mesh well.  But Gusto surpised me.  The scallops were delicious and ever so tender and the snapper had none of the dense, almost tough, texture one so often gets back in the good old US of A.  In short a very pleasant meal. 

So if you ever lost in Noosa, head to Gusto...

The pictures tell the story...

I finally got to assemble the photographic evidence to support my earlier posts on Oktoberfest and french transportation.

First up the boys in lederhosen, proving that the English aren't the only ones to dress in strange attire.

Next come the parties going on inside the tents - note the modest sized beer glasses and much more attractive attire of the ladies...look at the guy in the blue shirt and leather braces on lower left raising his glass in a toast - I suspect its not his first of the day...

And now we cross the border into France courtesy of the "TGV"  - looks a bit cooler than the average Amtrak puffer!
Finally you have evidence of my hair-raising (if I had much left) ride to Charles De Gaulle Airport, here I am paying my 75 Euros for the privilege of being scared witless.

You don't find that back in Akron.

The only way to travel!

I love France but it is also one of the most infuriating places in the world.  The same is true of its capital, Paris, at the same time elegant and inefficient, stylish and surly. Tuesday night I took the TGV from Stuttgart to Paris - great service, great food (yes this was a train), oh and about 200 Euros cheaper than the plane.  After a brief rest it was off to the Plaza Athenee one of Paris' top hotels where I was to host a full day meeting.  I traipsed through the lounge lugging my rolling suitcase and briefcase as the elegant elite of Paris society enjoyed their breakfast.  The ladies had stepped straight from Vogue - haute couture and heels. They obviously found the lighting a little harsh as large Jackie O. sunglasses remained fixed in place.  The men were balding and fat - but then so were their wallets.  On a brief sortie for fresh air at lunchtime - the ladies who shop, clicked their heels as they puffed up the profits of Gucci, Valentino and Prada.

However this being Paris, France all was not smooth.  The trains were on strike!  Hence not a taxi could be found.  Myself and two clients had a small window to escape Paris and make it to Charles De Gaulle for a flight to Helsinki.  The roads were log-jammed - what to do?

The answer - call on some French flair - a trio of motorcycle "taxis" pulled up outside the Plaza and we suited up with jackets, gloves and helmets.  Mounting the pillion of a huge Honda Gold Wing we slalomed out into traffic and hurtled down the Champs Elysee and past the Arc De Triumphe.  The rich in their Bentleys and Porsches sat fuming in the traffic as we effortlessly passed them by, accelerating and swerving to avoid all obstacles.  Twenty-five minutes later we were deposited safely at CDG in good time for our flight.  Forget planes, trains and automobiles - all of which I have experienced in the last 48 hours - the bike is the answer - for once I felt like a cool Frenchman as we roared around Paris.

A la carte air travel - what price for a seat belt?

The pathetic attempts of the airlines to make some money continue as JetBlue announces it will sell you a pillow and blanket kit for the bargain price of $7 (I think I'll bring my own thank you).  This is yet another addition to the ever-lengthening "menu" of items you can now enjoy in addition to your ticket. Unfortunately the similarity between airline a la carte and restaurant a la carte died with the Pan Am Clipper.

Flying for four hours on American yesterday we were "treated" to t$3 chips and $3 cookies, unfortunately they had run out of the "gourmet" snack pack, a real bargain at $4. We were provided with a blanket but no pillows were in sight - surely a missed revenue opportunity there? I fully expect that the toilets will soon come equipped with card slots to allow you "spend a dollar - all major credit cards accepted."  As a child growing up my aunt always used to talk of "spending a penny" when taking care of nature's needs, a reference to price of using a public convenience in the first half of the century; so a dollar should be about right, although some enterprising airline could introduce differential pricing -  say 50 cents for a number 1 and $2 for a number 2. Of course if you use the right credit card you will receive double frequent flyer miles which seems rather appropriate given that air travel is a pretty shitty experience these days! I am just waiting for the introduction of charges for carry-on bags - after all you now pay for all checked bags; so the incentive is to cram the kitchen sink into the roller bag and then stuff it into the overhead bin thereby putting tremendous strain on the plane's superstructure. 

Of course if the airlines wanted to get really creative they could charge for the co-pilot (after all they are not really necessary are they?), the use of the jetway as opposed to a set of steps, the individual reading light and ventilation control above your seat.  But no they wouldn't do that would they - that would be stupid wouldn't it?