It is impossible not to feel moved by the images coming out of Japan this last week. How can any country possibly return to normal life after such violent destruction? Who could believe in it’s future?

And yet, watching the Japanese people reacting to this tragedy I feel nothing but optimism for the country’s future. Firstly, the government, at least in the first stages of the crisis, has been efficient and transparent with its communication, even with such delicate information about the nuclear reactor. Secondly, nobody is sitting on their hands, the entire nation has launched into action pitching in to help. I also admire the stoicism of these people who with a gritty determination and a Zen like calmness deal with a desperate situation. And finally their generosity: something like a million people are working as volunteers to help the needy, even the local version of the Mafia, the “Yakuza” have lent a helping hand distributing food.

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The other day I took an important decision, a life changing decision if the truth be known. It was in the back of my mind for a long time and there had been lots of opportunities to take it of the back burner but I think I was afraid of starting the process of really putting it on the table in order to analyse it. Once I did, as with any decision there were advantages and disadvantages to both of the available options, but in reality nothing that I couldn’t really explore as a viable possibility, and so once I started it was hard to understand why I had taken so long to really look at it. Having said that, the chosen option is very risky.

I don’t know if it was the risk itself or a combination of the risk and the disadvantages that made me avoid considering this decision for so long, my guess is that it was probably the latter. Even so, the risk is frightening. The question is, is the risk manageable or will the fear that comes from it paralyse me? Over these last few days I have thought a lot about this and I have come to realise that not only does this risk and the fear that it creates not paralyse me it is actually making me more creative. In fact over the last few days I have more energy than I have had for a long time. How can this be?

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Last week the new Nokia CEO Stephen Elop sent a memo to all of his companies employees. It was a tough message, in reality because the grave problems that Nokia needs to deal with are also tough. It is rarely easy to remove the veils that many executives use to filter reality and yet it is precisely this that is one of the most essential functions of leadership for if we don’t start with a realistic vision of our present situation how are we ever going to find the right path to follow towards a better future? [Read more →]

It’s official, according to the FT, this recession has it’s own name: “The Great Recession”,  Not quite as illustrious as his grand father, “The Great Depression”, but not too bad all the same. So, if you are feeling a little frustrated by the slowness or the weakness of the economic recovery, don’t be concerned, you’re not alone.

Uncertain Recovery

Having lasted 18 months this present recession has already lasted longer than it’s two predecessors the recessions of 1973 and 1981. But more importantly in doesn’t feel like we are in a recovery mainly because it is not generating jobs and also because the increase en GNP in relation to this recession’s low point stands only at 3% compared with the 6.2% increase after the 1973 recession and 7.7% increase after the 1981 slowdown. With this “recovery” it is understandable that people are feeling a little lost.

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A week ago Kevin Rudd was packing his bags for Toronto where he was going to rub shoulders with the most powerful people on the planet. He was Australia’s Prime Minister, the country’s leader. In the space of twenty-four hours the labour party’s bosses brutally dispatched him to political oblivion, in terms of power, a nobody. How did it happen and what can other leaders learn from it? [Read more →]