the future « Able and How

2012: A year of change

MARYLEBONE — This year is a big year of change. In technology, in the world economy, the world of sport, even in the way all our countries are run. There are elections in America, France, India…

What is more significant in a country than a change of government?

And that’s what is promised in India, Malaysia, Taiwan, Serbia, Kuwait, El Salvador, The Gambia, Armenia, Algeria, Madagascar, Libya, Mongolia, Mexico, Cameroon, Kenya, Sierra Leone, Ghana, Belarus, Ukraine, Ghana, Angola, Bhutan, Guinea, Lesotho, Zimbabwe and Togo.

New presidents in Yemen, Senegal, Mali, Russia, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Albania, France, Kenya, Turkey, the United States of America, Venezuela, Sierra Leone, Egypt, Kosovo and Zimbabwe. Yes, Zimbabwe.

We know that the United States presidential election of 2012 is to be held on Tuesday, November 6, 2012. It will be the 57th presidential election. And it will get a lot of attention.

But how about the world’s largest democracy?

Yes. That’s India. How about that one?

Or the big red splotch above? Russia.

That’s important too.

There are other changes coming too. Some, we seem to know for sure:

Gold prices will keep going up. And hit $2,000 and ounce in 2012, they say.
The Internet is going to change. A new IP address protocol will mean that companies may start building two sites for a doubled up Internet — the old one, and the new one.
We’ll all be talking about faster, slimmer smart phones and The Cloud. If you don’t know about either, now is the time to do some research.
Plus many more things you may want to share?

This time next year things will be very different.

I promise.

Businesses will fail. Some will be dominant that you haven’t even heard of. Yours will merge, divest, make a 90 degree turn, or implement similar significant changes.

So, what are you doing about it?

Well it is a topic that is quite dear to our hearts at Able and How. We are launching our Able and How Change Index this year. And our change management work the world over continues at a pace.

We will be keeping an eye on business, political and social trends this year. And keeping you up to date with the Able and How Change List (look for it soon in our News section).

Change is good.

Get into it with us.

/df

P.S. And, by the way, NASA assures us that the world is not going to end. After many years of fielding wild calls, they were forced to put up this website.

When communicators attack

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 have been bragging about.

It’s pretty white-knuckle stuff. It doesn’t look good in print.

But…

You can easily see where it comes from on both sides.

NEWSPAPERS – Have been the centre of attention from politicians and communications professionals for months over phone hacking and other unsavoury practices. They probably feel betrayed. Some columnists are already revelling in the chance to someone else “dirty” and “seedy”.

LOBBYISTS – See themselves as great facilitators, bringing people and politicians together. And helping the democratic process. They are well paid and unregulated. But perform and important service.

The impact that journalists and a story like this can have can be frightening. (Although few would argue that journalists themselves can coordinate and wielded it with any precision.)

Furthermore, yes, the lobbyists in question look pretty silly, and their contacts are knocking each other over to get out of their way. And even Buckingham Palace has launched a stinging (oh!) rebuke. But what business conversation wouldn’t look silly on paper? Would the Boardroom and kitchen discussions of any average Briton not be surprising and alarming to many people who read them?

It makes me think of the amateur sting operations in secondary school that caught Harris admitting he’s stolen someone’s can of Coke.

SELF IMOLATION
However the real sport in this story may be elsewhere.

It’s interesting to see some of the Dons of the communication agency businesses lining up to betray each other.

It’s mild at the moment, questioning the accuracy of the other CEO. Filing toothless complaints with gummy bodies. Or suggesting that exaggeration is not healthy. But some of these fellows are pretty tough. The backroom brawls of the past — though generally unreported — are legendary. When communication bosses take each other on, it can get messy.

I recommend standing back. And maybe getting some popcorn.

/df

Leadership: we’re all relying on it while we sleep

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 and Beijing. But in Rome and Athens. In Geneva and Berlin and Paris. And in Damascus and Doha. And…

Open the paper and have a look through. There are an amazing amount of fundamental, big decisions being made by people in places all around the world.

Last Monday Chancellor Merkel said she thinks we’re in the biggest global crisis since 1945.

And she and a group of other diverse, independent leaders, are trying to make sense of the whole thing. New leaders are being sworn in. Senior financial gurus are being tapped up.

And big decisions are being made.

In recent years here in the UK a chorus goes up of people saying: easiest job in the world! Paid for nothing! Crooked! Useless!

And today they are doing more than any of us to save our collective backsides. That’s what leadership is — and probably what we need. It may even be more than we deserve.

/df

Business transformations: Same, same, different

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 [...]

Business life in the Middle East: working in ‘the region’

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 [...]

Who would want to be a leader?

HYDE PARK CORNER — I had a run of texts from a politically obsessed British friend last week. “Have you heard the latest joke about Chris Christie?”

I hadn’t. In fact I hadn’t even heard of Chris Christie. I was still catching up on the impossible rise and fall of Rick Perry (who I also hadn’t heard of a [...]

Age and the workplace for 40-year-olds

PICCADILLY — I’ve been scanning the ‘famous birthdays today’ section of the paper for a few weeks. Looking at the ages of those who make the list. And — maybe it’s just me — but one decade seems to be noticeably absent.

Mine.

I didn’t want to turn 40. But that was 5 years ago, so you think I’d be used to [...]

Staying relevant in business — The Harry Potter challenge

SW LONDON — “Is that what the kids are calling it these days?”

That used to be my stock answer to things I didn’t understand. I thought of it as a knowing wink to the way that old people talk. But as my own age has been rising faster recently than East Coast temperatures, it has become less funny and more [...]

A business in transition: Must newspapers face extinction?

MY HOUSE — I come from a family of journalists. And I think that’s a great thing.

Naturally curious. Opinionated. Excellent at explaining complex things. Able to bring the world the news it needs.

My grand-uncle help set up the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. My dad won awards for his work as a foreign correspondent. There’s a story that one of my rellies [...]

Conspiracy theories are nuts, right? (Not at work.)

LONDON — It’s fair to say that people who are deeply suspicious of… everything… have had a banner week.

The President of the United States of America released his birth certificate. Why?
Friday’s Royal Wedding was staged to get a FIFA vote for a UK World Cup. Obviously.
OBL wasn’t really killed. Not this [...]

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