LONDON — It’s been hard not to think about Korea this week. But I have different things on my mind. Not the loss of a dictator. Not the worry that still has South Korean’s practicing evacuations like WWII Britain and Cold War America.
I am thinking about Korea’s fertile business culture and the country’s uncanny ability to reinvent itself, rebuild and refocus just in time for tremendous success.
See if you can read this bit without stopping in your tracks:
- in 1961 South Korea ranked 117th in the world for arable land per capita (behind Saudi Arabia and Somalia)
- in the last 50 years Korea’s per-capita GDP has grown at 23,000 percent
- today the tiny country (smaller than Iceland) has the world’s 12th largest economy by purchasing power
- unemployment is 3.2 percent
- one of the world’s lowest rates of public debt
- 80% of the 49 million people live in urban areas
- Koreans are four times as likely to have high-speed internet access as Americans and they pay very little for it
A series of seemingly prescient government decisions have constantly shoved the economy in the right direction. Even through the tough economic times in the late 90s and mid 2000s the countries has seemed to make the right choices.
Today they are pushing — against their own traditions — for more entrepreneurship. And I wouldn’t bet against them.
In fact, I’d like to be there now. If the chaebols’ would give us a call? Samsung, LG, SK… we’d like a word.
/df
LONDON — We’re crashing into Christmas. Like everyone else. Lurking in shop doorways on Dec 24th and thinking “I said I’d never do this again.”
It’s been an odd and uncomfortable week amongst men in the UK though. The dominant pagan religion of football has seen people talking about “goodwill toward men”, but in reverse.
What qualifies as “lacking goodwill” and what is “just part of a highly emotional, competitive game”?
The answers aren’t making anyone happy. Teams and players who have been found to have been racially abusing people have been met with police investigations and eight game suspensions. If you haven’t read about it, I wouldn’t recommend it.
The coverage and fan comments does no one proud.
And ill-prepared TV pundits have weighed in about how much they like ‘coloured people’. It’s just hard to watch.
None of the people involved have a history of covering themselves in glory.
So it comes back to a question of what we will tolerate in our society and what we won’t. And although I have heard lots of people say “it’s much better than it was 20 years ago” and “it’s just a bit of fun… you get used to it”, you don’t and you shouldn’t.
In the next few days football fans and football players, reporters, columnists, politicians and you and I have a chance to show some goodwill toward men. Let’s do it.
Peace on earth in 2012.
I’m in.
/df
MY HOUSE — I am off for Christmas. Great place to be. Catching up on sleep. Meeting my kids again. Fighting a cold.
And still word comes this weekend that a great character from my childhood has passed away.
The Rev James Leo was the Dean of the American Cathedral in Paris when I was a teenager. His son Jason was a great mate. Jason and I went to French high school together, went skiing, and got in trouble.
People talk blithely in business about great leaders and use examples that people want to identify with. And most often they’ve nothing to do with business. He was one of those guys. Business’ loss, but the world’s gain.
Although I remember the 70s and 80s well, they do seem like a distant country now. And people like Dean Leo lived lives that seem braver and more worthy than ours. He was a lovely, fun and funny man. His book of memoires can show you that. But he was also a tough guy who looked out for others more than most of us would ever dream of.
He was one of a great cast of characters that my own lovely dad managed to associate with. And just as my dad interviewed kings and tyrants, Jim Leo hosted Presidents, famously gave the last rites to Wallis Simpson and sat patiently while Olivia de Havilland read the lesson. He spoke in a way that was funny, intelligent and engaging. A way I have always wanted to speak.
A strength of character and humility shone through.
His Cathedral was an open and inviting place. “That one’s a spy…” my dad would say, as another ‘commercial attaché’ wandered around the coffee room. And the Dean presided firmly over it all. Pedro the caretaker never let us get into the communion wine, but when Paris offered us its own poisons the Dean would come out and get us, wedging my head in the electric window so I didn’t spoil his upholstery.
Thank you Jim Leo. I will miss you. And the world will be a lesser place without you.
/df
LONDON — I talked to an M&A banker on the weekend. Made me think of my time at high school dances. Always standing on the wall, trying to look cool. But never out on the actual dance floor.
The merger and acquisition market is a bit quiet at the moment. And amen to that. We’re busy enough without it. Businesses are [...]
EARL’S COURT — Not sure how I missed this one. But The Independent has been running a investigative series on lobbyists. And they’ve chosen one of the biggest and most respected firms to ‘expose’.
In summary, some journalists pretended to be wealthy potential clients from a large foreign country and they recorded the communications professionals bragging about things they shouldn’t [...]
It was Christmas Jumpers Day today at Able and How. Few looked like they were new. Clearly the back of the closet is not as far away as it would appear.
Earlier this week, festive elves hung socks around our staircase with every employees’ names on them. So far no surprises.
Happy holiday season.
/df
SOUTH KENSINGTON — There was a piece in the Independent yesterday about Sir Richard Branson’s “three point plan” to get the UK economy going.
Unfortunately the plan is completely pants.
I wish it weren’t, but it is.
Years ago, when I worked in politics a very worthy husband and wife team approached my cabinet ministers with suggested [...]
PICADILLY CIRCUS — Looks like the sun might actually come up in London today. That’s a relief. And one of my biggest concerns. Yesterday was dark and I can’t handle that.
So, how lucky am I? That trivial issues like that concern me?
Yesterday umpteen decisions were made that affect all of our lives and futures. Not just in London, New York [...]
DOHA, QATAR — We’re working on four different ‘transformation programmes’ at the moment. Combined they are on three continents, in over 30 countries.
You would think that would provide some shocking contrasts. But it does something quite different. It shows startling similarities.
Everything has superficial differences: language, geography, industry, structure…
Yes, those can seem superficial.
The issues in big business transformation generally fall into [...]
BAHRAIN — This is my first time in Bahrain. That leaves only really Oman in the area that I haven’t been to / worked in.
United Arab Emirates?
√ Check
Saudi Arabia?
√ Check
Kuwait?
√ Check
Qatar?
√ Check
It’s a part of the world that many people can’t (or choose not to) understand.
In the last three weeks [...]
