TWSM#11

SOCIAL RELATIONS By Hale Oner, Senior Lecturer and CEMS Program Academic Director at Koc University, Istanbul (Turkey).

Colophon

#11 issue, Spring 2013

International publisher

The Work Style Company

Riva Caccia 1d, POBox, 6901 Lugano, Switzerland T 0041 22 548 00 06

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Printing: Italgrafica, Via Verbano 146, 28100 Novara, Italy. At Work Style we care about the environment, so we print our magazine on 100% recycled paper.

Periodical magazine registered at the Milan’s Court

Chairman: Mirko Nesurini

Editor in Chief: Rosario Imperiali d’Afflitto

Editor: Marta Scetta

Foreign Editors: Pina Draskovich, Fabian Uzaraga, Thrasy Petropoulos

Section Editors: Roberto Benzi, Luca Brunoni, Maria C. Cattoni, Carla De Ycaza, Arne Doornebal, Palle Ellemann, Allan Hall, Fabrice Leclerc, Jennifer C. Loftus, Francesca Morelli, Sam Nallen Copley, Nigel Phillips, Matthew Seminara

Section Illustrators: Doug Cowan, Paul Davis, GK Istanbul, Agata Janus, John Joven, Tomek Karelus, Hanna Melin, Sergio Membrillas, Goñi Montes, Eelco Van den Berg, Yihsin Wu.

Cover illustration: Maria Corte, Valencia, Spain

Authors’ illustrator: Alessandro Baronciani Illustrators: Les Herman, Patt Kelley

Photographers: Liu Bolin, Rodrigo Cruz, Lucas Foglia, Franceso Galli, Joschi Herczeg, David Hilliard, Joc Marchington Paolo Mazzo, Tim McKulka, Marco Monari, Rodrigo Rubio, Andy Smith, Adrian Sommeling, Urban Stebljaj, Todd Stone, Serkan Taycan, Hebrom Tebas, Leo Torri, Gianluca Vassallo, Thomas Vie, Paolo Woods.

Work Style Talks

Stefano Guandalini, Massimo Temporelli workstyletalks.com

100 Work Cities

Maria C. Cattoni 100workcities.com

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WOMEN ARE PROFIT

Leadership

A female manager is too often still considered as a “woman with balls.” We believe that employees gender differences won’t be even considered as a relevant factor in the office.

SHARING ATTRIBUTES

By Tanya Monsef

Bunger, global facilitator specializing in crosscultural understanding, Los Gatos (USA).

THE GENDER GAP

By Sharon Hadary, Principal at Sharon Hadary & Co. and founding and former executive director at the Center for Women’s Business Research, and Laura Henderson, award winning entrepreneur, speaker, and author, Washington DC (USA).

By Linda J. Schain an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Accounting, Taxation, and Legal Studies in Business, at Lehman College. Hempstead (USA).

Maternity

Maternity is often considered for competitive, efficiency and efficacy differences in an employee’s role. Therefore it is something that companies need to address and manage.

WOMEN LEAD

By Tracey Wilen – Daugenti, one of the world’s leading authorities on the convergence of education, technology and the workforce, Palo Alto (USA).

Psychology

Womness in...

“woman” and “business.” The perfect employee is not defined by gender. The worker in the cover doing a job that is often affiliated with a male figure, is neither male nor female.

Men and Women in the Office

Why some men can’t work with some women and vice versa.

NETWORKING: A PEACE TREATY

By Hazel Walker Executive Director of the Central Indiana Region of Business Network International (BNI). Indianapolis (USA).

THE MYTH OF MARS AND VENUS

By Tina B. Tessina a licensed psychotherapist in S. California, with over 30 years' experience in counseling. Long Beach (USA).

WHAT WOMEN DO

By Ana Weber – Haber, author, speaker and mentor, graduated in Human Relations and Business, Orange County (USA).

THINK PROPAGANDA

By Bonnie Hagemann, CEO of Executive Development Associates, a boutique consulting firm specializing in the development of high potentials into senior leaders, Kansas City (USA).

Culture

A culture can be changed by ideas. Communication is the tool used to change the culture. The culture changes when communication produces some effects in the practice.

BETTER TO ACT THAN STAND STILL

By Johny Garner, Professor specializing in organizational communication, Dallas (USA).

Employment

The role of women in the workplace can vary extensively depending on country of residence as well as many other factors that influence an individual’s life.

THINGS ARE MOVING

By Marsha Firestone , Founder and President of the Women Presidents’ Educational Organization, New York (USA).

SALARY GAP

By Colette Morrow, Senior Fulbright Scholar and has worked to develop Womens and Gender Studies. Hammond (USA).

Meritocracy

Defining merit is definitely important within a company, especially for the quiet team members who do their job and don’t brag and incur in the risk of remaining in a dark corner (...)

INSTALLING A BALANCED MERIT APPROACH

By Chris McIntyre, leadership expert and

motivational speaker, San Diego (USA).

Recognition

Mitt Romney, is a “one percenter.” But how do Romney and his friends view their employees?

GENTLEMEN ARE BORN, NOT MADE

By Jennifer C. Loftus (WSM — New York, USA)

Coaching

Equine therapy also helps people struggling with addictions and mental health disorders develop skills for healthy living.

Health

Burning, prickling, and tingling within the wrist or first three fingers and thumbs, they are the characteristic symptoms of the carpal tunnel syndrome (...)

BE KIND, REWIND

By Michael Lloyd-White, Secretary General at the World Kindness Movement, Sydney (Australia).

Training

Sadly not just in business, kindness seems to have gone missing in action.

TIME IS RUNNING

By Palle Ellemann (WSM — Bagsvaerd, Denmark)

Performance

PROFESSOR

HORSE By Allan Hall (WSM — Berlin, Germany)

The clock

is ticking – giving one the sense of achievement that another hour has been dedicated to work and reminding the other that the deadline of another task is approaching.

DEALING WITH CARPAL TUNNEL

By Francesca Morelli (WSM — Milan, Italy)

Attachment and Pride

In the case of lay-offs, pay cuts and uncertainty, the problem can be summed up as the inability to guarantee meeting the original expectations of employees and still needing employee allegiance.

LAYOFFS COMING? KEEP ENGAGING YOUR EMPLOYEES By Prof. Kenneth R. Thompson Professor and the former chair of management at DePaul University, (Chigaco, USA).

THE DANGERS OF DUMBSIZING WHEN DOWNSIZING By Achim Schmitt Associate Professor of Strategic Management at Audencia School of Management, Nantes (France).

COMPANY IS FAMILY by Pamela Garbera, counselor with a strong background in helping clients to successfully work through family and career counseling, New York (USA).

Best Practices in HR management

BE WISE, PROTECT YOUR DATA

By Riccardo Imperiali, owner at the law firm Imperiali Group, his expertise varies between Data Protection and Privacy, Naples (Italy).

TOGETHER AGAINST COUNTERFEITING by Matthew Seminara (WSM — New York, USA)

Legal and Compliance

Legal: The new profession is "Data Protection Officer", Compliance: The Internet allows great creativity when it comes to breaking the law.

Culture Integration

Two articles: 1) Among the monarchs supporters in the UK, there are a number of individuals who want to serve better their master and rather than become teachers, nurses or bank clerks, they decide to work for the Palace. 2) Men are chefs – professionals, with careers, whereas their wives are cooks – they cook at home.

ON HER MAJESTY’S SERVICE

By Alex di Martino (WSM — London, UK)

THIS IS A MAN’S WORLD... By Simone Rizzo, freelance writer, Paris (France).

Communication

People seem to be hermetically sealed in a bubble of music, but what about when they are actually at work? In external communcation, brand is also a music.

A PASSIONATE AND ARTFUL LIFE

By Daniel Cuevas a freelance writer and journalist, Mexico City (Mexico).

Change Management

He was a well established architect who decided to drop out to a country life surrounded by art.

MUSIC AT WORK (HANG THE DJ) By Nigel Phillips (WSM — London, UK)

THE SOUND OF BRANDS

By Luca Brunoni (WSM — Neuchâtel, Switzerland)

IT’S WEDDING BELLS!

By Martha Tintin (WSM — Lugano, Switzerland)

Unusual Job

Every girl dreams of it and wedding planners are there to make that dream come true.

Joining the Company

Optimism, positivity and hope can help us think straight and understand that there are opportunities and for those who don’t have opportunities there are solutions. In collaboration with ManpowerGroup.

The acronym WSM stands for Work Style Magazine and indicates authors,cillustrators, photographers that are regular contributors to the magazine.

WHAT THE WORLD NEEDS

NOW

By Pina Draskovich (WSM — Milan, Italy)

Jacopo Bernardi

Editorial

Not only words have an intrinsic significance per se but also the order in which we use them or, rather, their combination might infer a meaning in itself, a significance which is different from the concepts the single words express separately.

“Man” and “woman”, for example, just indicate the different gender of the human being: the human male and female. Conversely, the association of the terms “women” and “business” immediately induce to the implications of the role of women within the commercial environment. Do genders play differently in business or leadership? Before jumping to socio-political analysis, a first answer comes out from our word perceptions, as indicated before. If we substitute the term “women” with “men”, combined with the term “business” or “leadership”, our perception does change (see article of H. Oner on leadership gender bound). Probably, when referring to “men and business” our understanding would mainly focus on the role of human beings in business, regardless of gender. Because business and work activity are, in fact, objectively gender neutral, implying normal interaction between male and female. On the contrary, the expression which associates “women and business” makes us perceive an unbalance which could be addressed also through new cultural/communicational tools (see articles on communication and culture): the existence of discriminations or gender gaps at work which need to be solved both for equalitarian and economic reasons. Not only men and women have same rights and must enjoy equal opportunities but the economic growth of a country cannot afford to under employ – more or less – half of its working force, as emphasized by A. Weber in “What women do”. In conclusion, a new suggestion comes out: the optimal worker of the future is a perfect synthesis of both male and female personalities.

Design for work

Eye Books for work

Movies for

Food for work

We re invent the “packed lunch,” in a more modern and healthy way. Chef Cedroni will write for Work Style approximately 10 recipes that we’ll publish in the next issues.

Choice

Events for work

HR events worldwide. There are reports of past events as well as launches of upcoming ones.

Kenneth Bridger (1961) from Atlanta, creative director and co-founder of InLigo, artist, globetrotter, shaman and Tai Chi aficionado.

Dom Bailey (1974) from London, creative director, father, owns a dog called Bootsy, likes cooking, music and enjoys brewing his own beer.

(1974)

from Cortina d’Ampezzo, architect, dad and hockey player.

Serra Titiz (1976) from Istanbul, founder of Mikado Consulting, social entrepreneur, plays the violin and DJs occasionally

Alessandra Oteri (1982) from Bahia, GM Prado Bahia Brasil Turismo ,volunteer with Pataxò natives, loves Samba and traveling.

Diego Altamirano (1976) from Vejer de la Frontera, manager of Club Hipico la Mimbre, horses are his job and lifelong passion.

Country Guide Slovenia

With low labor costs and a rich and varied landscape, Slovenia could pack quite a punch for a nation of only 2 million inhabitants – if only it could see the beauty of being small.

3 Work City Guide

Izmir (Turkey), Ljubljana (Slovenia), Almaty (Kazakhstan).

A Glance in the City

More than a century of evolutionary theory has taught us that there is a trade-off between adaptation and evolvability.

Italy

LEARNING TO THINK BIGGER

By Thrasy Petropoulos (WSM — Athens, Greece)

Focus on Japan

To understand Switzerland, it takes something between 20-25 minutes, what you see is what you get. To understand Japan probably something in the region of 20 to 25 years.

HOUSEWIVES 2.0

By Peter Conrad (WSM — Tokyo, Japan)

THE EVOLVABLE CITY

By Cesar A. Hidalgo, the head of the Macro Connections group at the MIT Media Lab, Boston (USA).

Focus on Africa

Two articles: 1) South Sudan is proud to be the newest country on earth, after it seceded from Sudan in July 2011. 2) China in Africa? Really? Even to some of our most enlightened thinkers from the post-colonial period, this union seemed unthinkable.

WORLD’S NEWEST COUNTRY FLOODED BY FOREIGN WORKERS

By Arne Doornebal (WSM — Kampala, Uganda)

Where to Work

Workplace

Factories and manufacturing continue to be a key part of our social and economic existence, creating employment and reflecting technical innovation.

CHANGING THE LANDSCAPE OF INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION

By Nicholas Bewick, Architect and Project Director at Michele De Lucchi studio, (Milan, Italy).

The Architect

Architects don’t only design buildings, in reality they design everything that can help people improve their living of a place.

Interview with Vicente Guallart IT’S ALL ABOUT INNOVATION

New Castles

The richness of the European city lies in its stratification, in the fact that what we live in today is a territory shaped by the past.

COMPANY TOWNS, HIDDEN VOCATIONS

By Paolo Citterio, architect and founder of DA-A Architects, Milan (Italy).

Arch. Event

The exhibition shows architects as producers of extra matter through aesthetic quality, but not as those to play a part in the decision making processes in reorganizing, reworking or remodeling our cities and communities.

EASY WATER

By Billie Blair, organizational psychologist and Pres./CEO of Change Strategists, Inc, Los Angeles (USA).

GLOBAL WATER STEWARDSHIP by Steve Leffin, Director of Global Sustainability at UPS, Atlanta (USA).

BRICK SCULPTURES

By Paolo Galuzzi, Architect and Partner of FOA Associated Architects, Milan (Italy).

LONG TIME NO SEE: CHINA’S COVERT INVASION OF THE COLONIALISTS’ PLAYGROUND

By Sam Nallen Copley (WSM — Paris, France)

Moving Istanbul

The daily commute in Istanbul as told by people who live it every day.

IF ONLY I HAD A

HELICOPTER!

By Roberta Zanchi (WSM, Milan, Italy)

Environment

As the earth’s population grows and climate change accelerates, the demand for fresh water will grow so fast that by 2030, agriculture and industry will face scarce supplies.

OTHERS CONTRIBUTORS:

Country Manager at ManpowerGroup Brazil, São Paulo

Antonella Cerminara is a planner at Your Day Made Simple, Toronto (Canada), Rebecca Chan

Wedding and Event planner at Rebecca Chan Weddings and Events, Toronto (Canada), Lancy Chui is Regional Managing Director at ManpowerGroup Greater China, Hong Kong (HK), Lincoln Crawley is Managing Director at ManpowerGroup Australia and New Zealand, Brisbane (Australia), Ali Doruk is an interior architect, Founder and Managing Partner at Net Mimarlik, Belgin Ertam is now HR Director at General Electrics, Akin Gündüz is Chairman at myClimate Turkey, Christina Holt is Founder and Managing Partner at Wedding Concepts, Cape Town (South Africa), Sam Ketterer is the Director at Absolute Perfection Wedding Consultancy, London (UK), Hans Leentjes is Executive Vice President and President of Northern Europe at ManpowerGroup. Amsterdam (The Netherlands), Kyle Marks is a the CEO of Retire IT, Columbus (USA), Zoe McKeown is the founder and owner of Cherish Wedding Planning, Comberton (UK), Enzo Miccio is a wedding and image consultant and TV personality hosting various shows on Real Time, a channel of the Discovery Group (Milan, Italy), Ahu Özyurt is currently the Chief Writer for CNN Türk in Istanbul, Jonas Prising is President Americas at ManpowerGroup, Milwaukee (USA), Joyce Scardina Becker is Designer-in-Chief at Events of Distinction, San Francisco (USA), Lyndy Van Den Barselaar, is the Managing Director at ManpowerGroup South Africa, Johannesburg (South Africa), Ipek Yeginsü is the Collection Manager at the Art Center Istanbul, Istanbul (Turkey), Serap Yetis is the HR Assistant General Manager at Dogus Media Group, Mehmet Yildirim is Country Manager at Phonak Turkey.

Riccardo Barberis is

(Brazil),

is

Illustrations by Paul Davis, London, UK

Womness Culture

JOHNY GARNER

Assistant Professor at Texas Christian University. He specializes in organizational communication. His primary research interests involve how employees and supervisors communicate with each other and how that communication can be improved.

Better to Act than Stand Still

There is a misconception about culture change that exists in some leaders' minds. Culture is not a completely topdown phenomenon. Culture develops from the everyday interactions of employees as much as it develops from leaders' actions. Leaders have more visibility than employees, but culture is shaped and reshaped every time someone communicates, which means that daily interactions between employees are hugely important in the change process. Communication isn't the "tool" that changes the culture--communication is the material of from which the culture is made. That means, short of firing everyone and starting over, change develops over time and through a combination of leaders' actions and the continued interactions of everyone in the organization. Many leaders have a misconception about change—“I can change my organization’s culture.” You can’t. Culture develops from the everyday interactions of employees as much as from leaders' actions. A leader should first, work within the current culture to move change forward. Second, recognize that it’s not all about you—bring employees into the planning process. Third, do something—the wrong direction is better than no direction. You make the best decisions you can based on past experiences. If you're wrong, do something else the next time. But I'm not sure that's what leaders want to hear.•

Think Propaganda

In one of the most monumental events in our history, countries developed their own “propaganda machines,” a wellthought out agenda, a clear message and powerful forms of communication are the tools leaders use to change cultures. Change is driven via communication, but also the way the communication is delivered is evolving with great speed. Today we have YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, podcasts and other social media. These additional avenues mean that we can reach more people groups according to their age, geography and their tastes. Ultimately driving change through communication is designing just the right mix of color and emphasis, sound and text to create in the observer an emotion that moves him or her one step closer to the desired culture. The new culture message is delivered over and over again in both obvious and subtle means. However culture change begins behind the scenes. Take, for example, the movie Money Ball. The initial change began when Peter Brand, the young Yale economics graduate formed his radical ideas about how to assess player’s value. He had an idea that the way baseball players are chosen could and possibly should be different. He came up with a message, a lowkey mathematical and visual message that the experts could respect, even if they didn’t fully understand it. When he convinced, the Billy Beane, the Oakland A’s Manager of his theory, the first wave of change began. Changing the culture of team managers and recruiters took a lot of hard work. Getting buy-in was difficult and slow. They had to take risk and push through resistance but they ultimately made a lasting impact on the sport. In the days ahead, we will undoubtedly refine the way we communicate by determining which delivery methods, stories and technologies work best, but this refining of the delivery will always be second to how clear we are about what needs to be changed and how convincing we are that it can be changed.•

BONNIE HAGEMANN

CEO of Executive Development Associates, a boutique consulting firm specializing in top-of-thehouse executive development and the development of high potentials into senior leaders.

Things Are Moving

A recent survey of the Women Presidents’ Organization found that critical thinking and cultural literacy were one of the two most valued skills for success in today’s global economy. The top industries for women in business mirror those for men: knowledge-based, technologically- heavy, and irreplaceable – meaning their position cannot be outsourced to another country for cheaper labor.

Other industries where women are seeing success across the globe include defense, energy, and mining, which are traditionally male-dominated. Yet the overwhelming majority of the world’s women work in service and consumer fields. However, compensation in these fields, especially in developed countries, is stagnating, with an average annual income hovering around $30,000, according to a report by the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics.

Despite the fact that social norms which discourage women’s economic participation, along with legislation legally discriminating against women in the workplace exist, the momentum seems to be moving in the right direction. The best evidence of this is that women have gained tremendous confidence in the workplace compared to just a generation ago. The Amway European Entrepreneurship Report 2012 found that 74% of women believe they have the skills and talent to set up their own business, and are less afraid of failing in business than men.•

Salary Gap

Even if more women are successful entrepreneurs, men tend to own high-growth firms while women develop lower-return businesses. Worldwide women make up 50% of the workforce but their presence is low in well paying jobs at executive management levels and in science, technology, engineering, and finance. The persistent gap between women’s and men’s global economic participation was 40% in 2011, despite achievement of near parity in education, where the gap worldwide is just 6%. This raises significant questions about the popular idea that increased educational attainment among women naturally leads to greater economic participation. Some studies suggest that completely closing the gender gap in the U.S. will increase the U.S. GDP by 9% and in the European Union by 13%. At the same time, there may be pitfalls in the future. It is, for instance, imperative to avoid a pattern that emerged in the U.S. in 2008 and 2009, which was that men, in part because they are better paid, were laid off while women were retained but strongly pressured, if not coerced, to increase their productivity with fewer resources. If this persists, the potential problems could include long-term under- and unemployment among men, who employers consider less malleable than women, and ongoing wage depression—women’s income could become the new norm, which would be a serious setback for low- and mid-level, non-executive workers.•

MARSHA FIRESTONE

Founder and President of the Women Presidents’ Organization (WPO). She is also the Founder and President of the Women Presidents’ Educational Organization (WBEs).

Former president of the National Women¹s Studies Association, which is

only nationwide academic professional association in Women’s and Gender Studies in the US.

What Women Do

In many countries around the world, women now have an opportunity to pursue just about any career path they choose. There are still some areas where culture dictates a woman’s role, but a large part of the world has now recognized that women are valuable contributors in a whole host of areas. Women can become big-shot executives now, too. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics has been tracking the number of wives who earn more than their husbands since 1987, when the data said 23.7 percent; in 2009, that percentage climbed to 37.7. Not very exciting, but the numbers are increasing. While many women have taken on roles previously dominated by men, we still also find women in more “traditional” jobs. It really comes down to simple supply

and demand. If a woman fits a need in a particular workplace, if she’s qualified for the job, she will be hired in most countries around the world. Women still lag behind in one very important area: compensation. Many women continue to be paid less than men for doing the same job. In the second quarter of 2012, women made just 80 percent of what men earned, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In 1989, that number was 75 percent. That is very slow growth for a gap of 23 years. The numbers are even lower for executive positions, as female chief executives earn roughly 72 percent of what their male counterparts make.•

COLETTE MORROW

the

ANA WEBER-HABER

Romanian-born author, speaker and mentor she completed the Masters Program in Human Relations and Business.

TANYA MONSEF BUNGER

A global facilitator specializing in cross-cultural understanding, passionate about empowering her clients to express their unique gifts and talents for global harmony.

Women are Profit

Some researches from Harvard Business School, Pepperdine University, and MIT proves that:

• Organizations with higher numbers of women in leadership are up to 69% more profitable,

• Teams with more women produce more effective solutions, and, • Corporations with women on their boards outperform those with all male boards. Adding “women’s styles” has a positive impact on business' financial success and creates a culture of effective employee commitment. It is a style many say is critical to success in today's increasingly global economy. Women and men are not "hard wired" in their leadership styles. Each can learn from the other. The strongest leaders know their strengths, are values-based and team oriented, involve others in creating solutions, and bring out the best in others. They create a culture of risk – taking judicious risks and encouraging others to do so. They demand high performance, are decisive and resultsoriented. Some of these characteristics typically are considered male, some female. However, the discussion no longer is about who leads better, but how to free both women and men to lead genuinely based on their strengths. The ultimate goal is to integrate both styles to create more profitable and nimble organizations.•

SHARON HADARY (illustration) AND LAURA HENDERSON

Sharon is principal at Sharon Hadary & Co, laura is an award winning entrepreneur and author.

Sharing attributes

Our dominant patriarchal society has historically placed more value on male, typically action oriented, characteristics in its leaders. A natural reaction to offset that imbalance led to a focus on “women’s leadership” and how it differs. The well-intentioned focus on women’s leadership has actually contributed to the problem it was trying to solve. Rather than seeking to embrace and integrate diversity it has created a system of divisiveness, by further defining leadership style by gender. Leadership style defined by gender ignores that feminine and male attributes are found in both men and women. Feminine

Social Relations

Society today calls for a participatory, non-hierarchical, and flexible type of leadership. Servant leadership as a post modernist approach for the 21st century as opposed to the traditional leadership theories of the 20th century seems to be promising for women leaders as a genderless approach to leadership. There is the feminist objection using the words man and mankind as a way to refer to all humans, regardless of gender, reinforces the way that writers seek a more robust image of what it means to be human. Women engage in leadership too but if our language reflects or encourages an assumption that the leader in question is male, then over time there will be an impoverished understanding of leadership. What it means to be a human is a moving target. Leadership requires the management of social relationships. Leadership research from a network perspective has the opportunity to forge a new understanding of the interplay between the psychology of individuals and the complexity of the networks through which actors exchange information, and other resources.

if leaders rely solely on their formallf assigned authority and bring into their leadership circles likeminded others, they may isolate themselves from new ideas.•

attributes, such as listening and relationship building, can be present in a man. Male attributes, such as planning and action, are present in women. To transform the leadership paradigm, we must create a harmonious integration of both the male and female characteristics. An enhanced perspective on leadership integrates and honors all of the innate attributes that an individual brings so we can expand what is possible. This new perspective asks us to embrace diversity as a way to strengthen and enrich our organizations. It asks us to set aside who we think we should be and embrace all of who we are.•

HALE ONER

Senior Lecturer and CEMS Program Academic Director at Koc University.

The Gender Gap

Today’s big question marks stand when we think if a gender gap in the workplace is really closing or if female and male employees receive comparable pay for the same jobs. Various studies give inconclusive results. One study by Reach Advisors shows that young, unmarried, single females who live in metropolitan areas are paid equivalently or more than men are. Another analysis of census data by Philip Cohen from the University of Maryland shows that males who were never-married, childless, and 22 – 30 years old earned significantly more than females with similar backgrounds. Yet most agree that women who have children are still paid less than their male counterparts. According to a “fact sheet” by Sarah Jane Glyne the wage gap between mothers and childless woman is 7 percent per child. A small portion of the gap (less than one third) is based on taking leave for childcare. Also, females who take maternity leave have a difficult time resuming their career paths. To attract top talent companies should look into job sharing, child care, and flexible hours. Pay increases and promotions should be based upon the results the employees produce without regard to family status.•

Women Lead

Considerable research suggests that men and women have different approaches to work. Recent studies say that women have more 21st Century skills required in a modern workplace such as team building, collaboration, communication and leadership skills. Increasingly companies are paying attention to work- life balance which helps reduce employee turnover and increases retention and productivity. For example, Google increased their maternity leave to 5 months this past August. Other firms, such as General Mills, offer benefits to birth mothers, new fathers and adopting parents. Increasingly firms are offering additional perks ranging from on-site day care, to on-site services such as dry cleaning, massages and free food. The trends are pointing to more women in leadership positions in a variety of fields including health care, retail, medicine and more women are starting their own firms or pursuing self-employment. Today a worker is more concerned about employability and work-life balance than in the past and I expect this trend to continue. Employees will be more selective about what firm they want to join based on a number of factors and not just salary.•

LINDA J. SCHAIN

Adjunct Assistant Professor of Accounting, Taxation, and Legal Studies in Business, at Hofstra University.

TRACEY WILEN-DAUGENTI

One of the world’s leading authorities on the convergence of education, technology and the workforce. Tracey is Vice President and Managing Director of Apollo Research Institute.

apolloresearchinstitute.com generalmills.com google.com reachadvisors.com]

Networking: a peace treaty

By HAZEL WALKER

In 2009 we set out to discover what people thought about business networking and to learn if there was a difference in how men and women connected in business. Our goal was not to just write another book about how men and women are different, but to really see how they are connecting and networking to achieve success.

TWO GENDERS, DIFFERENT FEELINGS

Then when given the opportunity to say something personal about their experiences men and women revealed very different perceptions. It was as if they were from two different worlds in spite of the fact that they were so close in the objective data. Many of the women wrote of feeling undervalued, intimidated, ignored, overshadowed, or patronized. Others told of sexual harassment, being hit on for dates, and flirted with. Men also had negative things to say about the women they met and worked

Illustration by Goñi Montes, Decatur, USA

Psychology Men and Women in the Office

Myth of Mars and

GENDER NORMS ARE DEFINED BY SOCIETY

The genders are socialized differently, with different expectations for little boys and little girls: boys learn about cooperation and teamwork from sports; and girls learn from intimate friendships. They also have different genetic makeup. Because women are more influenced by connection hormones (Oxytocin, endorphins) and men more by achievement hormones (testosterone, adrenaline) women are likely to be more comfortable with close personal space; while men tend to interpret closeness in a sexual way. Men value competency and problem solving. Women value intimacy and emotional connection. These differences can lead to clashes in the workplace. A woman may think men are focused entirely on time, power, or money, when what he's really trying to do is create enough security that he can feel safe to let his guard down. Men might view women as illogical or irrational, when they're actually responding to emotional cues he hasn't been trained to see. Both genders may have learned to use sexual manipulation to get what they want. Flirting can be a way for women to be noticed or rewarded by a male superior, and seduction can be a way for men to undermine a woman's authority.

EDUCATE YOURSELF ABOUT GENDERS

Gender training and education is very helpful. Women need to know how to ask men for what they want directly, and in a rational, non-emotional manner. Men respond well to “Please give me the report by Monday” and they don't pick up on hints. A whiney "I have to do everything around here” will go right over a man's head. The indirect request is a female style of communication that works well with other women, but doesn't work well on men, because our thought processes are different. Men need to learn to listen to women's feelings when they want something. Women do not always respond to a direct request, they do better when feelings are talked about. Saying “I'll get to that later” will be received by a woman as disregarding her feelings. Asking her how important the assignment is, and dis-

By TINA B. TESSINA

with, they worried about being alone with women and were distracted by unprofessional ways they dressed.

THE MINORITY OVERRULES THE MAJORITY

Why did the opportunity to comment about the gender differences unleash such a strikingly different torrent of opinion? In a phrase: The exception becomes the perception. Most women don’t attend networking events looking like they are going to a night club and most men don’t

cussing which assignments have the highest priority lets her know you care about her feelings, and she'll be happier with it, even though the result is the same.

BRIDGING THE DIFFERENCES

Gender differences are decreasing. Title 9 sports have taught more women to understand how men see competition and teamwork, and more education and understanding in the media in general have caused both genders to be aware of how to bridge the differences. Inclusive decision-making, with room for discussion and feedback from both genders can help corporations minimize the gender struggles among employees. Even the trend toward telecommuting, which depersonalizes communication between workers (email is far less personal than talking face to face) can help.•

behave like frat boys and hit on the women at events. But it’s the few who do that stand out. They are the ones that we talk about over and over again. They give us the impression that there’s a lot more of that sort of thing going on out there.

ADVICE FOR MEN…

• Maintain eye contact with women during conversation

• Be respectful with your language and behavior

• Ask good questions that engage women in conversation

• Take care when asking questions that could be seen as too personal

• Don't spend time bragging about what you have accomplished

…AND FOR WOMEN

• Dress for the type of business you want to get, a professional look is best

• Have a firm handshake, a smile and be confident

• Under no circumstances flirt, and watch your language

• If he is sharing his accomplishments with you, share some of yours too

• Be careful about getting too personal. Men like business to be business

The

Venus Connection hormones versus hormones achievement. Intimacy and emotions versus competency and problem solving. Is that all the difference there is?

Meritocracy A Deserved Merit

By CHRIS MCINTYRE

Installing a Balanced Merit Approach

Let’s face it – keeping a team running on all cylinders can be difficult. It’s even more difficult when some employees are vocal, charismatic or strong willed extroverted types, while others may be more introspective, thoughtful, shy or lacking the confidence to consistently chime in.

You may have heard the phrase “the squeaky wheels get the grease” before. If you’re not careful, your squeaky wheels, the more vocal, charismatic, stronger personality team members, will drive a majority of the conversations you have with your team. At the same time, your less vocal types will check-out, be less engaged, feel less valued, and ultimately be less personally connected to your vision. Let’s look at a few key questions leaders often have about how to build an all-inclusive culture that values everyone’s opinions and minimizes dominating personalities.

MEASURING MERIT

A first place to expect your team to focus is on your most valuable assets (MVAs). Your MVAs, are the people, or things that if not nurtured properly will cause the business to fail.

Generally speaking, these will be:

• Finances

• Team Members

• Products (or Services)

• Customers

• Technology

By clarifying your MVAs you can offer your team a first fundamental direction to point their best efforts. In this way you can say “above all else, this is what’s most important here.” One benefit of expecting your team to consistently nurture “all” of your MVAs, is that it can oil your squeaky wheels. One major reason squeaky wheels squeak, is because they’re usually exceptionally strong in at least one MVA, but may ignore other MVAs. In other words, let’s say you have a superstar sales person who consistently brings in phenomenal business (Finances), but they’re constantly disrespecting other (Team) members.

By articulating all of the MVAs as the pri-

mary foundation that every team member is expected to contribute to, you can minimize an overreliance on any one strength, and balance out merit-based conversations. Too many businesses focus solely

Most Valuable Asset F I N A N C E S

the same time. The key, is to have a clear performance appraisal form that directly connects your MVAs, your Annual Goals, and Your Quarterly Objectives. Let’s look at one way to do that:

ANNUAL

GOALS (within the next 365-days)

Goal #1 Grow the business to $20M

Goal #2 Cut advertising costs by 25%

on “making the numbers” and totally ignore customer service experience, impact on other team members, or the importance of fully utilizing technologies that support the bigger picture. The business is not about any “one” individual, regardless of how skilled they are, and that consistent message can help minimize the manipulation of your strongest communicators.

…AND THE QUIET TEAM MEMBERS?

With the foundation of clear MVAs linking everything that everyone does – the next step is to find a way to get the entire team fully engaged. This is exactly where clear performance measures come into play. Your annual goals and quarterly objectives must be crystal clear. Let’s define both:

• Annual Goals

• Quarterly Objectives

While MVAs serve as a broad foundation for all things merit-based, specific annual goals, and shorter term (quarterly) objectives are the specific things that need to be achieved. This is where you can really pinpoint merit-based conversations, and promote and minimize feedback at

QUARTERLY OBJECTIVES

(within the next 90-days)

Objective #1 Establish 2-new large corporate clients

Objective #2 Rollout social media campaign

RATING 5 4 3 2 1

The example above looks at one MVA (Finances), aligned with two very specific annual goals, and clear short-term objectives. By directly linking your MVAs to your annual goals, and quarterly objectives (gauged by clear ratings) you’re doing a few very important things that help balance the merit-message.

First, you’re letting your team know how what they’re currently focused on (quarterly objectives) is directly supporting a bigger business picture (goals & MVAs). That’s important because many times people have no real idea why they’re doing what they’re doing. They’re just doing what they’re told. Second, and this is where world-class empowerment comes in, I’d suggest that you actually let each employee define their own quarterly objectives! By letting employees clarify the quarterly objectives they would like to tackle, you’re empowering them. You’re getting out of the way of your vocal drivers and letting them run. You’re also finding ways to draw out good ideas, and inputs from your more reflective employees, while helping everyone see how what they do supports the common good.

KEYWORDS Meritocracy ➜ most valuable assets (MVAs)

➜ be consistent ➜ tailor your own system

GIVING THE MERIT EVERYONE DESERVES

A performance appraisal system is the ultimate anchor to formally connect everyone to the merit they deserve. A consistent system that your team buys into is critical to minimizing strong personalities, and empowering all voices. Consistency is Key. Given the dynamic pace of business today, waiting to have a dialogue about performance once a year (traditional annual appraisals) is far too long to wait. I would suggest formally discussing performance at least once every 90-days (with full performance appraisals), but more informally in monthly 1-on-1’s. Never miss a chance to catch your team doing something right and link your observations to the bigger picture business impact. To help you link your feedback to the bigger picture, consider these 3-tiers of merit.

Quarterly Objectives (on a personal level)

• How well have you achieved your objectives this quarter?

• Were you able to go above and beyond in a way that supports our strategy?

Annual Goals (on a business level)

• How heavily have your objectives weighed in on helping us achieve our annual goals?

Did you achieve other objectives that further supported our annual goals?

Most Valuable Assets (on a global support of our vision level)

• What else have you done to nourish our most valuable assets that has fallen outside of the scope of the goals and objectives?

• How well do you generally embrace and champion each of our MVAs?

By focusing your attention on each tier, you can inspire, reward and merit more specifically, and help your team to know that each tier is important. You can also develop your team to take a more balanced approach to contributing to your business, and minimize the skewing impact of a slick-talking hotshots in a single area. At the end of the day it’s really about getting maximum productivity out of each of your people! A system can help keep your brilliant people from skewing everything around “them” instead of the business “drivers” that everyone can contribute to. No system is perfect. Work with your team and ask them questions. Then tailor a system that works best for you.•

01 Liu Bolin, Hiding in the City - Paris, Open Space, 2011.

02 Liu Bolin, Hiding in the City n°18, The Laid-off Workers, 2006

© Liu Bolin / Courtesy Galerie Paris-Beijing

Liu Bolin Exhibition dates: 10 January – 9 March 2013 in Paris, 7 March – 11 May 2013 in Brussels at Galerie Paris-Beijing

THANK YOU CHAMPS!

In our first participation year, we are the 6th great place to work for in Italy. We started in 2008 with a small team of 50 people. Today we’re 1000. In 2015 we’ll be 3000. Our energy is infectious because we have fun at work. Join the team!

Recognition Organizational Culture

KEYWORDS Recognition

➜ Your success hinges on employees ➜ Recognizing employees' value increases their engagement ➜ The wealthy know they’d be nothing without their workers

Gentlemen Are Born, Not Made

Every four years, national politics takes the United States’ center stage, as registered voters head to the polls to elect their Commander in Chief. The 2012 election process highlighted the struggles between the so-called “one percent” and the majority of United States citizens without extreme wealth. Mitt Romney, is a “one percenter.” His supporters contributed to the Romney campaign’s record-breaking fundraising. In September 2012 alone, Romney raised $181 million. Among his supporters with millions to spare were Sheldon Adelson, America’s 12th richest individual and the force behind the Las Vegas Sands casino empire, PayPal billionaire Peter Thiel, Jerrold Perenchio, former owner of Univision television, GoDaddy.com founder Bob Parsons, Marriott hotel heirs Richard and John Marriott, and Jim Davis, owner of New Balance sneakers.

THANKS TO THE MEN AND WOMEN WHO WORK EVERYDAY

These individuals did not come upon their wealth suddenly. Rather, through the labor of thousands of men and women, these business moguls created products and services that resonate with consumers worldwide, generating robust profits. But how do these individuals view their employees – key components to success or cogs in a proverbial machine?

ENGAGED EMPLOYEES

= 3 TIMES MORE PROFIT

Most likely, the wealthy know their success hinges on others’ support and engagement. Consult-

ing firm Towers Watson released 2012 statistics showing that organizations with high employee engagement levels enjoy greater profitability, up to three times more than the profits earned at organizations with low engagement. To foster engagement, one must value and respect employees, and fully share with them how important their individual roles are to the organization’s success. One does not achieve engagement, and consequent financial success, by caring little for the employees doing the day to day work.

By JENNIFER C. LOFTUS

QUICK LESSONS

In the book Spirit to Serve, Bill Marriott states that the global hotel chain was built on the principles “that caring for people and giving them a chance was the formula for success,” and “if you treat your employees well, they’ll take care of the customer.” Marriott supported Ronald Thomas of The Ritz-Carlton in Dearborn, Michigan in his idea to deliver excess food to homeless shelters around Detroit. By joining the San Diego Marriott Hotel and Marina, Anne Saenz “quickly discovered the fun-loving atmosphere that had been missing in” earlier jobs. Marriott gave life to John “Sonny” Scarff’s concept for “Operation San Francisco,” which provides advanced fire safety to historic buildings and those with limited water supplies or challenges with retrofit activities.

WE ARE ALL HUMANS

While the rich may be different from you and me in terms of material possessions and opportunities afforded by having money, they may be more similar to us than we think. Successful professionals at all levels know that people – valuing who they are, what makes them unique, and how they contribute to the overall good – ensure ultimate success.•

American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald’s "The Rich Boy" opens with the statement “Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me.” The vast majority of us will never accumulate enough riches to be considered “super wealthy.” Yet, those who do greatly impact people and politics.

Illustration by Agata Janus, Warsaw, Poland

t ws We’re for what goes after the equals sign. We are chemists. We are scientists. We are thinkers. Dreamers. Believers. And doers. We are solutionists. At Dow, we believe that together, the elements of science and the human element can solve anything. Learn more about career opportunities at Dow at www.careersatdow.com. Solutionism. The new optimism.™

Health Wrist Problems

KEYWORDS

➜ Women are affected 3 times more often than men

➜ Caused by daily and repetitive use of keyboards

➜ Caused by genetic disposition

➜ Maintaining the same pace of work

Dealing With Carpal Tunnel

By FRANCESCA MORELLI

Carpal tunnel syndrome can affect anyone, but women suffer more than men with a ratio of 3:1 between the ages of 45-60 years. Only 10% of cases are seen in people younger than 30.

Burning, prickling, and tingling within the wrist or first three fingers and thumb: these are the characteristic symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome, one of the fastest growing occupational illness, categorized as cumulative trauma disorder or repetitive motion trauma. Activity centers inside the wrist in the 2 x 1 cm carpal tunnel, a collection of 9 tendons surrounding the median nerve. The tendons slide easily encased in the synovial sheath, however when subjected to repeated, limited range motions, i.e. typing, the sheath can swell and fill with fluid. The swelling in the tendons can increase pressure in the carpal tunnel, putting pressure on the median nerve and sending pain into the fingers.

RISK FACTORS

Risk factors associated with carpal tunnel syndrome include genetic predisposition, repetitive bending or twisting of the hands and wrist, and the use of vibrating tools. “The disease can be seen among workers who use keyboards daily in work involving extensive data entry or word processing,” says Charles Day, Chief of the Division of Hand and Upper Extremity Surgery in the Department of Orthopedic Surgery at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston. However, there is still controversy as to whether keyboarding is directly linked to carpal tunnel syndrome». Factors which are not work related can also contribute to its development. “They include age, race and gender – continues Dr. Day – in fact studies have found that for unknown reasons, females face a higher risk than males, diabetes and arthritis. Obesity is also a risk factor because water retention adds to muscle and tension stress.” Other factors that can potentially influence carpal tunnel syndrome are wrist posture and position while working, table height, the angle of the elbows, and repetitive motions.

PREVENTION

Dispite the series of risk factors, carpal tunnel syndrome is easily preventable and can be controlled. “Some preventive measures – comments Dr Day – include resting hands periodically during repetitive activity, exercising to condition and strengthen the hand or the arm muscle, minimizing repetition of any movement, varying the position of the arm when performing an activity and maintaining, not increasing, the pace of work.” Prevention of carpal tunnel syndrome may also involve redesigning work stations, tools and educating workers. Proper work station design minimizes the stressful effects of repetitive motions and reduces awkward wrist positioning that doesn't take into account the size and proportions of the human body.

“Work stations should be adjustable and should accommodate a vast majority of people who work in the area of word processing,” urges the specialist. Of course, the use of ergonomic tools can alleviate carpal tunnel syndrome. In the comput-

ing industry, ergonomics has been implemented in the chair, desktop, computer keyboard and mouse. Wrist rests can improve wrist posture and support the arm so as not to exert pressure on the carpal tunnel area or allow awkward keystroke or wrist extension.

TREATMENT

Generally accepted treatments may include splinting or bracing, steroid injection, activity modification, physiotherapy, regular massage therapy, medications, and surgical release of the transverse carpal ligament. “Surgical release for carpal tunnel release is indicated where there is clinical evidence of moderate to severe median nerve denervation. Otherwise the main recommended treatments for mild or early carpal tunnel syndrome are local corticosteroids injections, immobilizing braces at night and, if possible during the activity primarily causing stress on the wrist and ultrasounds treatments,” concludes Day.•

Illustration by Sergio Membrillas, Valencia, Spain

Training Kindness

KEYWORDS

➜ Always use your goodwill ➜ Create a community

➜ Blue Energy Program ➜ Don’t accept bullying

➜ Put kindness in your company’s agenda

Be Kind, Rewind

By MICHAEL LLOYD-WHITE

If we were to do a word search on all company correspondence, AGMs, annual reports, manuals and employee handbooks, minutes and agendas of board meetings over any given period of time, how many times would the word “kindness” appear?

KINDNESS IN BUSINESS

Kindness is surely the common thread which binds us all regardless of religion, race, position, politics, sex or even posal codes. Sadly it's not just in business, that kindness seems to have gone missing in action. If we were to do the same word search on the national school curriculum, it is likely you would get similar results. The same could be said for the transcripts of Parliament. The truth is “it takes a village to raise a child” and business is definitely part of the village. It stands to reason that a kinder society would be safer and therefore less fearful, seeing communities more willing to be engaged.

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

The company checkbook will only ever get a goodwill initiative so far. The key factor to achieving a successful outcome is engagement. Hitching a company brand to a well-known charity is not necessarily going to make the staff feel any better about who they work for or, for that matter, improve the public perception of the company. A true act of kindness does not ask for recognition. The reward comes from the rush you receive as a community knowing you made a real difference. Companies now have automatic payroll options for voluntary contributions, but the problem is like anything else that is deducted automatically each pay period, you become unaware of the deduction. This works fine for paying bills you do not want to think about, but when it comes to a goodwill initiative, the more involved and aware you are, the greater the reward for the staff member and hence the company. What has more impact on making a difference to a community, the $5 monthly deduction or the 1 hour monthly contribution of being involved in the program? Progressive

companies like BUPA have rostered days off for voluntary work, but again this still does not reflect an outcome to a kinder work environment.

An act of goodwill completed outside of the workplace and does not necessarily transpose back into the work environment can remain segregated.

AN ACT OF KINDNESS

Hilton Worldwide has a number of employee programs that highlight the company’s efforts in strengthening communities. Michael Bourne, general manager, Hilton Sydney says, “Hilton is globally committed to highlighting team members ' efforts in the community through a number of team member programs, including Blue Energy “Blue Energy” is our passion to live Hilton’s core values, deliver our promise and celebrate team member’s stories; it’s an expression of spirit we show to our guests, communities and each other as team members. Following this,“Bright Blue Futures” was launched in 2012; a community relations program focused on providing stability and hope to young people. Hilton Sydney recently participated in a program with the “City of Sydney” and “YWCA NSW” where 14 participants were given the opportunity to experience the hotel industry in the hope that it might be a future career option for them.

On top of this, Hilton Sydney team members are actively involved in the city night patrol program in conjunction with St. Vincent de Paul where team members provide food and comfort to the less fortunate.”

GOODWILL AMBASSADORS

We are starting to see positive alternatives being created through community kindness campaigns in order to promote goodwill within an organization.

Appointing a Goodwill Ambassador to your Workplace Health & Safety committee may be just the solution that your company is looking for. Local Government bodies across Australia have embraced this concept both at an elected counselor level and a bureaucratic level. Gold Coast City has 550,000 residents and employs 3,500 staff, their Goodwill Ambassador, Councillor Glenn Tozer said about accepting the campaign “we saw the appointment of a Goodwill Ambassador as an important part of our city identity and an opportunity to partner with and highlight the already active members of our community contributing positively to overall morale. Our commitment to driving tourism in the Queensland economy is enhanced by a willingness to acknowledge how important kindness and compassion is when promoting our appeal to a prospective tourist. Of course, the everyday community needs a hug too sometimes and acts of generosity and kindness make our city a better place to live, do business, and raise a family.” No one person can do everything, but all of us can do something. If we follow this philosophy then we will be one step closer to putting kindness back on our agenda and with very little cost but a significant high return.

BATTLING BULLIES

Bullying has filtered into almost every fabric of our society with dire consequences both social and financial, perhaps there’s not enough kindness. Today businesses go to great efforts to ensure that they comply with the requirements to create happy, safe work environments for their staff. Or that’s what we all assume having seen the mountains of handbooks and guidelines

covering Workplace Health & Safety with signed training manuals ensuring staff have attained the necessary levels of skill for each task. Surprisingly, many of these documents have little or no reference to Kindness. Workplace bullying costs employers 10 billion dollars per year and the Australian economy almost 15 Billion dollars. Whilst incidents of workplace injury have decreased in developed nations, accounts of reported incidents of workplace bullying have increased. In Australia, for example, it is now illegal to bully within the workplace, with significant fines to be paid. Moreover those companies found not having workshops regarding bullying in place are also liable. Bullying is symptom of a fearful society where bystander behavior has become commonplace, where few are prepared to speak up for others as it could place them at risk of becoming the next target. It now takes courage to be kind and being the first to do the right thing seems, to be a rare commodity. Megan Motto, CEO of Consult Australia, has a CFO (Chief Fun Officer) to keep the office positive. She explained, “I simply chose the person who best emulated a positive and inclusive nature, as we see this as essential. Using upbeat activities creates goodwill and becomes infectious. It keeps morale high and disputes and angst to a minimum.”

RESCHEDULE KINDNESS

Whether you are a public or private company or an NGO, having a physical presence and networking representative promoting and highlighting the goodwill within your organization will provide a common thread to the village, thereby creating an environment less likely to cultivate a culture of bystander behavior. Don’t wait for your CEO or HR Manager take the initiative and put kindness on the companies agenda. Kindness is contagious, it’s literally in our genes and a Goodwill Ambassador program could be just the ticket to see the difference between a happy work environment that contributes to the positive culture of a community or the headline your organization can ill afford. So at your next meeting place kindness on the agenda and see where it leads.•

Illustration by GK Istanbul, Istanbul, Turkey

Coaching Equine Teaching

By ALLAN HALL

Professor Horse

Horses, it seems, are no longer solely for people to waste gambling money on or eat with French fries in Belgium: nor are they merely the possessions of rich children and round-up cowboys.

People have sought out relationships with horses since we first laid eyes on each other and, while riding them can be exhilarating, there’s something even more profound that draws us together. For instance, the herd dynamics of horses are remarkably similar to the family system of homo sapiens. Equine therapy, a new and thriving branch of medicine, challenges people to look at the world and themselves in a new way. Research has confirmed the effectiveness of equine therapy, showing that it lowers blood pressure and heart rate, alleviates stress, and reduces symptoms of anxiety and depression. Equine therapy also helps people struggling with addictions and mental health disorders develop skills for healthy living.

HORSES ARE AUTHENTIC

Gerry Hunt, a former journalist, is now a media advisor to some of the top racehorse trainers in the UK and Ireland. Gerry says "trainers look for certain things in horses that will indicate whether they will be winners on the racetrack. But there is much more subtle interaction between humans and horses and they can teach us so much.

"When horses are allowed to live naturally in herds and family groups, every horse is important and has a job and a responsibility to the herd. The horses figure this out. That's what happens to people too when they are around them. People learn who they are and find their own individual strengths.

"When some of my clients scoff at this I point them in the direction of the Equine Assisted Team Building programs, which provide experiential training in groups specifically geared toward working together in teams.

"Whether it be a corporate team, a gov-

ernment team, a sports team, an executive or administrative team or a family, team building with the assistance of horses is fun and enlightening. This type of learning is strength-based and solution focused. Horses provide instant, honest feedback so participants can experience freedom from judgment, just authentic responses to actions and interactions.

TALKING IN HORSEISH

Leslie G. Ungar, president of Electric Impulse Communications, Inc. is a coach, speaker, and strategist and several years ago created 'HorseTalk,' a horse-guided learning program intended to "Transform Ordinary Leaders into Extraordinary Ones."

He says "A horse does not care what degrees you have, your title, or the bonus you receive at the end of the year. A horse is not impressed with your position, and will not cooperate with you because of the alphabet soup of letters after your name.

"What does that mean for you? Horse guided learning is a unique way for you to uncover and rediscover how to communicate your value in your company and in your marketplace. Are you ready to learn something new in a new way?

"Working with a horse, observing, from the ground, or in the stirrups, you can combine practical business experience with your newly gained horse knowledge. Seeing the world from the back of a horse will help you see yourself through someone else's eyes. This someone else just happens to be a 1200-pound horse with big brown eyes, a soft nose, and a trusting soul.

"As a Communication Coach, my job is to help clients use communication to

advance their agenda, and to protect their value. In order to do that, you have to use communication to create buy-in. "You also have to create buy-in in order to move a horse forward, backward, or sideways. Working with a horse is a way for you to learn new lessons, a new way to get to an old destination: results. A place where you say and do the same things that you say and do everyday, but you learn them in a different way."

6 LESSONS HORSES CAN TEACH BUSINESS LEADERS

Leslie provides some lessons people can learn from horses:

KEYWORDS

➜ Horses are authentic ➜ They help you uncover and discover yourself and your value ➜ Leaders should conserve

just like

Martin Ochoteco is a master domador who doesn’t know what a life without horses is like. He spent his youth among the fields, sleeping with the horses, defying the stallions, studying their codes, rules and customs.

Martin works with the untraditional doma baquiana, a type of taming that makes the animal feel confident. It has to get used to the smell, noises, gesture and movements of the domador. Any wrong action and the horse will feel a threat or a challenge and the Doma will get much more difficult.

1Horses respond to clarity. Clarity in mind and in action. Therefore horses create an especially valuable mirror for humans who are so good at saying one thing and thinking another. You may be able to fool yourself, but you can't fool a horse. Clarity accelerates progress, in the right direction.

2Each herd member has a role that's clearly understood, whether it is leader, sentry, greeter or quiet observer. Especially in today's market, it's essential to work with people who are strong in

places where you're weak, to form strategic partnerships, and for team members to know and accept their role.

3Sit in the saddle, close your leg on a horse and the horse will respond. Push your left leg into your mount, and he/she will move to the right. A horse responds to subtlety and so will your team.

4Put a new group of horses together and at first there'll be a lot of jockeying for position. But after everything set-

tles down, a horse that appeared to be doing nothing emerges as a powerful leader. Leaders must learn to conserve energy, too. Trust your own timing, rest when you need to move when it's time.

5Cross a horse, hurt a horse, neglect a horse: they will always remember. So will your team members. They say people may forgive, but they don't forget.

6Horses see the good in us. They're understanding and generous. They care more about whether we care than what

Doma means “horse breaking” in Spanish.

Horse breaking literally means you “have to break the horse before you can ride it”.

A pair of stallions 02 Humble Offering. by Thomas Vié

energy

horses

Dealing with horses helps develop clarity and focus

we know. Your team members are no different. They care less about the college you attended or your advanced degrees than they care about your intentions, your integrity, whether or not you are invisible. Visibility is huge to a horse and to the people in your company.

You can't lead a horse if you're not clear where you're going. You can't lead yourself, a team, or a company either. The idealized cowboy may have become the epitome of independence, but the cowboy couldn't do it alone. He

and his horse were the quintessential team.

In a world where size and power are respected, it's the little things that capture the heart and mind of a horse, and the heart and mind of your team.

For horses, knowing what's going on around them is basic to their survival.

The same is true for 21st century leaders.

HORSES ARE GREAT TEACHERS

The Leading and Developing High Performance program was developed by

famous personal coach Ali Stewart, owner of Ali Stewart and Co., which firmly believes in equine power harnessed to business goals. Stewart said "horses see things at a level we only go to occasionally, sometimes never. Developing a connection like this without ever seeking to ride or master the animal is amazing. Imagine if you could connect with your people at this level and what that might mean for you as a leader?

"Horses can tell you things about you which people don’t see or don’t want to tell you … or perhaps you wouldn’t

want to listen to or acknowledge if they did! Being a leader can be a lonely existence with people always bowing down to your perceived superior knowledge or energy. Imagine how much more effective you could be with some really challenging feedback?

"Horses are wonderful teachers, and will have infinite patience as you learn to see what they can see. What could you learn about yourself that would transform your leadership capabilities? Horses help you develop clarity and focus, purpose and intention, grace and kind-

ness … to overcome your fears, even your fear of horses. And what would it be like if you had these resources at your fingertips?" So the next time you see a horse in a field, give it an apple; it might just repay you with the secrets of business success! •

Formerly a musician and journalist, he now dedicates most of his time to photography through assignments or personal work. From gastronomy to landscape, portraits to architecture, his work varies according to his journeys through South America and the beauty he encounters. He is now preparing a decoration and architecture book about the greatest Argentinian Estancias, and will be exhibiting in several galleries in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

by Thomas Vié

Thomas Vié is a French photographer based in Argentina.

By PALLE ELLEMANN KNUDSEN

Time is Running

You put in your 8+ hours every day, where there will be a few formal one hour meetings. By the way, why do 90 per cent of all meetings take 60 minutes? We are addicted to time. Some people use time as an objective reference point just to show that they have actually contributed something worth a salary. Other people will organize themselves to the minute to perform hundreds of tasks through the day. The clock is ticking – giving one the sense of achievement that another hour has been dedicated to work and reminding others that the deadline of another task is approaching.

RISK MANAGEMENT

Serious and integrated risk assessment is the point of departure for creating successful and sustainable businesses. Sustainability in this perspective is not “just” green sustainability, but rather the broader understanding of the term including both financial as well as nonfinancial risks. The course of the world shows that financial and non-financial risks are closely connected. And an increasing number of companies are doing integrated risk assessments to address and mitigate the risks that they are facing. The Brazilian beer producer AMBEV takes the broad and long perspective when assessing the risks of the business. The company expects to be around for the next 100 years, so this is the starting point for assessing risks and developing strategy. Even though water is currently plenty and cheap in Brazil, AMBEV is focusing on and investing in reducing water consumption in beer production. Clean water is already a huge problem in some areas of the

world and in the future it will become a global problem that AMBEV, with a long-term sustainability perspective, has realized it is important to address.

LEADERS MUST THINK FAST

In his book “Thinking, fast and slow”, Daniel Kahneman (the first non-economist to win the Nobel Prize on economics) explains the two systems that drive the way we think. System 1 is fast, intuitive, and emotional; System 2 is slower, more deliberative, and more logical. Most people would probably suggest that leaders are dominated by the fast and intuitive System 1 thinking. Leaders are often requered to answer questions and take decisions, where there is no time to really analyze the situation. And because people expect leaders to know everything, leaders often respond based on intuition. Depending on how good a leader is at delegating work and making decisions, the leader will face this situation some or many times each day. Taking quick and intuitive decisions becomes like a drug to many leaders, because it makes them feel powerful. Employees can analyze an issue for days or weeks, but get five minutes in front of the CEO, who takes a decision on the spot. See, that is power. Speed and a sense of urgency can quickly become a value that the leadership of a company promotes to the rest of the organization. It makes sense: speed sounds like productivity and the leader’s main task is to squeeze out as much work as possible from employees. But most leaders forget that taking fast decisions will eventually – as Kahneman shows us – lead to more mistakes. And if there is one thing leaders tend not to handle

very well, it is mistakes made by employees. In most workplaces mistakes are like a taboo. People will focus on the positive achievements and ignore or just not talk publicly about mistakes.

MAKING MISTAKES AS A KPI? Norwegian IT company TANDBERG, now acquired by Cisco, has no problem talking about mistakes and speed is one of the key values of the company. The company has acknowledged that mistakes can be the consequence of focusing on speed and there is a saying in the company guiding people to understand the value of speed: “if you are not making mistakes, you are not running fast enough!” Mistakes are discussed in the open, which also means that there is a clear expectation that the same mistake is not made twice. TANDBERG is part of the fast evolving video conference industry, where rapid technological development and the growth of the market require the players to move fast just to keep up. The company has tried to remove the obstacles that would normally slow down an organization. People have a wide extent of autonomy to make decisions and put new ideas into action. It is a very informal and simple organization with strong values, few procedures and clear goals. It works! TANDBERG has had tremendous business success and before being acquired by Cisco, the company was repeatedly recognized as one of the best workplaces in Norway. Other companies try to create a similar focus on speed, but fail to give employees the autonomy and the room to move. A focus on speed becomes a focus on time, where employees by

Do you work 8 to 4 or 9 to 5? Or do you have flexible hours and come in between 8 and 9 and leave the office about 8 hours later? Time is still the main reference point in most workplaces even though many companies claim they are results focused.

If you are not making mistakes, you are not running fast enough!

KEYWORDS

➜ In the long run quick responses result in mistakes

➜ Value the importante of results not presence

➜ Flexible hours and being result-oriented are still a fantasy for many companies

➜ Slow down a notch

the hour must show results. Using time as the key management tool is an easy way for management to operate, but it has negative consequences for job satisfaction and productivity. Lean expert Lotte Elmann Wegner from LeanCompany explains “once – and unfortunately in some cases still – productivity was measured by the number of hours an employee clocked. Paradoxically, this does not work for either the company or the individual. The company benefits from the work being completed, not just the employee being present, and the employee needs the flexibility to leave earlier or later, as it fits in the life of a modern family. Therefore you often see that companies adopting a rigid schedule have low job satisfaction and even low productivity.”

Slow down. Lucas Foglia (1983) was raised on a small family farm in New York and is currently based in San Francisco. A graduate of Brown University and the Yale School of Art, Lucas exhibits and publishes his photographs internationally. His work is in the permanent collections of the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Pilara Foundation and the Rhode Island School of Design Museum of Fine Art. “From 2006 through 2010, I traveled throughout the southeastern United States befriending, photographing, and interviewing a network of people who left cities and suburbs to live off the grid. Motivated by environmental concerns, religious beliefs, or predictions of economic collapse, they build their homes from local materials, obtain their water from nearby springs, and hunt, gather, or grow their own food,” says Lucas Foglia, they just like the article seems to suggest, slow down.

01. Jasmine, Hannah and Cecilia Swimming, Tennessee © Lucas Foglia 2010

SURE WE ARE RESULTS-FOCUSED

Many companies would say that they offer flexible hours and results-oriented work, which technically may be true, but in essence these are not part of the culture. Because of traditional thinking, lack of trust, and lack of leadership competence, people – employees as well as leaders – stick to the easy solution of measuring contributions by time. Eight hours physical presence is the objective measurement that doesn’t require too much interaction and brain activity to agree on. It can be very difficult for a company to move from a focus on time to a focus on results. The whole framework for work contracts and collective agreements is based on time and companies stumble with the challenge of setting goals in the organization and for each individual. It takes clear, realistic and operational goals on the organization-wide level to be able to break it up into achievable and relevant goals for each individual in the organization. It can take years to develop the competence and insight for the industry and the organization to be able to define individual goals that will benefit the organization

as well as the employee. Leaders losing the time management tool tend to overdo the goal-setting, because of lack of trust and leadership competence. Goals are broken down by the hour or day, because the leader essentially does not trust the employees to organize themselves for more overall or longer term goals. So, instead of controlling people by rigid schedules, they are controlled by micro-goals in short time-slots. The start and end time of the working day may have become somewhat flexible, but micro-goal management has maintained the control and reduced people’s possibilities to challenge the fast System 1 thinking with the slower and more deliberate System 2 thinking, where you could see more analytical and innovative solutions. Our fast paced workdays have left people on autopilot or using their “intuition”, which in the best case is repeating experiences and in other cases is just guessing. Danish singer Tina Dickow says it brilliantly in her song, "Count to ten" “sometimes it is the fastest way to get there, to go slow.” Maybe we should relax and give ourselves some time to think, at least between 9 and 10.•

Compliance Data Protection Officer

By RICCARDO IMPERIALI

Be Wise, Protect your Data

Personal data is information capable of identifying an individual, not only directly, but also indirectly.

Some of it is more sensitive than others, this is why the DPO is a necessary role to establish in companies.

The creation of a new profession which cuts across almost all business activities is front page news in all the main newspapers. The data protection officer (DPO) has all the ingredients to become one of the main compliance officers within corporate organizations (such as those for anticorruption, money-laundering, work safety). This recognition could speed up the international process which aims to consider the role of the chief compliance officer (CCO) as the guarantor of the effective and adequate overall fulfillment of the corporate organizational system vis-a-vis the legal environment. The proposed new European Union Regulation - which should replace Directive 95/46 which has historically been the European legal platform on data protection – sets out the compulsory appointment of this new professional for those companies employing more than 250 people, or whose personal data processing has a significant impact.

EASY IDENTIFICATION

Personal data is information capable of identifying an individual, not only directly, such as by a full name, a photo, the image on a video or a biometric trace; but also indirectly, as a postal or electronic address or even a clickstream. Some data is more sensitive than others, such as data revealing racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs. This information, being strictly connected with the individual person, is evidence of her behavior, choices, beliefs and, therefore, forms an integral part of her personality. An incorrect use of it by others could adversely affect the individuals’ identity, choices and freedom.

FUNDAMENTAL HUMAN RIGHT

This is the reason why personal data protection is considered a fundamental human right by the Charter of fundamental rights of the European Union and, therefore, the use of personal data by others needs to be in compliance with a set of rules in order to safeguard both the data and the individual whom the information refers to (data subject).

To supervise the effective implementation of these rules by corporations and

public bodies (named “data controllers”), a national Supervisory Authority (NSA) has been established in each member State of the Union.

The DPO is the preferred contact point of both NSA and data subjects.

THE DPO

In order to correctly perform their duties, DPOs need to be professionally qualified and independent, both in the decision making process and economi-

Illustration by Doug Cowan, New York, NY, USA

KEYWORDS

➜ Personal data is a form of identification

➜ Protection of data is essential for a company

➜ DPOs are professionally qualified and independent

➜ Data protection is a human right

THE DANGERS OF IT EQUIPMENT

customers. One of the biggest costs associated with a breach that companies face is the loss of customer trust.

cally. Thus, they cannot cover organizational positions which are in potential conflict with their autonomous role of judgment and must enjoy an adequate budget for running the office. Processing personal data nowadays, means nothing more than managing information and this is the most ordinary activity for a standard company today. This implies that most of the new company’s projects, which require personal data handling, need to be first analyzed by DPOs in order to determine data protection impact (dp impact assessment) and consequent compliance mechanisms to be implemented. The same goes for current data processing, of which the DPO must be notified in order to allow her constant supervision and compliance audit. She keeps, in fact, a register of all personal data processing operations in her company and alerts the NSA of risky processing of personal data. In conclusion, the DPO is a sort of the company’s guarantor for any single citizen or consumer and, together with the dp compliance program, it is amongst the major innovations of the proposed EU Regulation, the implementation of which is expected by 2014.•

In Europe the role of the Data Protection Officer has only been recently established, unlike in the United States, where it is often called Information Security Manager, the breaches are frequent, and fines have a lot of zeros, the position has been around for a while. Companies today need to have someone who serves as the Data Protection Officer. Many companies already staff positions with titles Information Security Manager. Organizations do an adequate job of protecting their information assets when they’re in use, but they do a horrible job when taking this equipment offline. They don’t have the control or the ways to protect their surplus or unwanted assets, but the data still resides on a hard drive whether or not it's in use. This becomes a ticking time bomb, a billion dollar blind spot that companies haven’t thought about.

In the United States, companies that don’t comply with data protection laws receive heavy sentences from the Federal Government, and every State now has mandatory disclosure laws. In 2012 there were a number of class - action lawsuits, hitting companies that failed to safeguard their information. “A company in Texas that lost a single data tank containing 4,9 million records faced 8 separate privacy lawsuits. One of them was seeking 4.9 billion dollars in damages. That's a thousand dollars a record,"says Kyle Marks, CEO of Retire IT. Technology allows us to have much more data about our customers. We know them much better, and in a way this is greatly beneficial to them, as they will get the products they wish for. But on the other hand, if the data is not protected, it can really cause damage to the company and undermine the relationship with

“Companies, however, are doing a great job with encryption of data and implementing firewalls to defend against external attacks. But often the breaches that are happening are inside job, committed by trusted individuals that have access to information, and this should be treated as a fraud,” says Marks, who adds “often these crimals are not even after the data, but more after the hardware that gets stolen because the person needs it, or because they want to donate it to the local school or because they want to give their children an early Christmas present. Some other times the equipment gets stolen to get back at your employer in some way, because they didn’t get promoted or feel they’re underpaid.” These professionals are often in charge of setting the company's policies regarding data protection as well as making employees comply, but one of their primary concerns should be to educate people about the risks that a breach can bring. Data Protection is no longer a technical issue. There are plenty of tools to safeguard sensitive information, and companies are truly doing a great job at implementing those tools. But it is on the other hand a people’s issue. Employees should be educated on the policies and penalties, for example. “Data Protection Officers should spend an awful lot of time educating employees, and should have significant influence on company lawyers, crafting the policies and putting in place the control,” concludes Marks. A big issue in the United States is that data protection exists because companies don’t want to come forward with these situations and disclose that lawsuits have occurred, generating negative publicity. In the USA, penalties for not disclosing breaches are very high, but companies rarely disclose them because they know that they seldom go public. Ultimately, it is fair to say that, as many doctors say, prevention is better than the cure, and this saying applies here too.

Yessssss, monday is coming!

Okay, maybe it’s a bit too much, but for us going to work it’s really a pleasure!

Great Place to Work Institute included us in the list of the best companies to work in Italy. This is a very important recognition, son of the team spirit which has always been one of

our core values. Many thanks to those who work with us, this prize is yours. We will continue to pay maximum attention to the people and the ambience in which we work, in order to be sure to continue our growth together.

Legal Intellectual Property Law Enforcement

KEYWORDS

➜ Fight against counterfeiting

➜ Protect your intellectual property

➜ The risk to have your brand damaged is high

➜ The internet has a tons of pros and cons, be careful!

Together Against Counterfeiting

By MATTHEW SEMINARA

Intellectual property and counterfeiting seem to be the top causes of litigation in the USA: a problem that has

been growing globally and continues to grow significantly. New laws are working for brands, there’s just one

thing: it takes time.

Angelo E.P. Mazza is a partner at the law firm of Gibney, Anthony & Flaherty, LLP in New York City. His practice focuses on intellectual property. He is active with the US Embassy in Rome to establish an ongoing program of sharing best practices between judges and prosecutors to fight intellectual property crimes.

What are the current trends in intellectual property law enforcement today, specifically with respect to trademark enforcement and protection and anticounterfeiting enforcement?

It seems to come down to the Internet. It is a great tool for marketing and developing a brand. Unfortunately, the same platform can be turned into a brand killer when it comes to the sale of counterfeit goods from all over the world. The bad guys are always quick to manipulate the good tools into ones that are used for illegal purposes. The Internet allows them great creativity when it comes to breaking the law.

What do you believe is the current and future state of intellectual property litigation in the US as it relates to trademark enforcement and protection and anti-counterfeiting enforcement?

We are seeing a lot of innovation when it comes to going after real world and online counterfeiters. The recent trends are mass website litigation that allows the rights holders to target the bank and PayPal accounts of infringers.

Are society's ideas of privacy changing as technology and social media advance and are US courts recognizing these changes and advancements?

There seems to be a greater willingness to disclose information despite how that information may be used. Sometimes there can be too much information out there which becomes useful to those who wish to manipulate it for illegal purposes. Courts have to create a balance between the evolution in technology and protecting the privacy rights of individuals. Eventually the law catches up and strikes a balance; it takes time.

What are the current roles of US lawyers with respect to trademark enforcement and protection and anti-counterfeiting enforcement?

The role of the lawyer is changing as technology develops and clients have more access to information. The expectation is that the attorney has to be able to deliver on more than legal issues. Attorneys have to be able to understand business and innovation in a way that facilitates and protects the client's interests.

Gibney recently obtained what is being considered a monumental $44 million summary judgment on behalf of Coach, Inc. Please explain the case and the court’s clear message to counterfeiters that their illegal acts will not go unpunished.

Coach, Inc. was awarded a $44 million judgment in its lawsuit against two defendants who were selling counterfeit Coach handbags online. The judge ruled that the defendants "willfully" violated Coach’s trademark, citing the defendants' websites, which stated the handbags were "not original" and "in no way affiliated with the authentic manufacturers [Coach].” Coach’s deputy general counsel, Nancy Axilrod, was quoted as saying “the decision in Coach v. Linda Allen, et al. should serve as a warning to defendants in all pending Coach lawsuits that courts consider counterfeiting a serious issue and are prepared to order defendants to pay large sums of money. This decision should also serve as notice to all who traffic in counterfeit goods that Coach will vigorously pursue you, and will win.”•

Illustration by Tomek Karelus, Warsaw, Poland

By KENNETH R. THOMPSON

Layoffs Coming? Keep Engaging Your Employees

An organization will have good and bad times, those who call for layoffs can hurt motivation and employee engagement. Employees mourn for those who were lost and wonder who will be next.

Developing a culture of engagement and entanglement well before hard times occur is the answer. We define entanglement as the next step beyond engagement, where employees build a strong sense of commitment to the values and mission of the organization and constantly look for ways to improve and promote the organization. Here are some stunning examples of things that have gone right in creating an entangled workforce!

A TRUE STORY

In 1979, Jack Stack moved to Springfield, MO, and Springfield Renewal Center (SRC), which was part of International Harvester (IH). IH was spiraling into its death throes, approaching bankruptcy. IH leaders sent Jack, a 29-year old “wonder kid,” to Springfield, Missouri, to improve cash flow and help save IH. Morale at SRC had tanked, but Jack had the brains and the philosophy that morale could be changed to turn the company around. Rather than cut expenses, Jack spent money. Workers asked for fans to cool the plant in the hot summer months and for refrigerators for keeping their lunches at a decent temperature. Jack

bought both. His caring for employees paid off in performance and cash flow. When IH said they were going to close the plant, Jack and his partners purchased it with $100,000 of their own money and $8.9 million of borrowed funds, which was one of the most leveraged buyouts of its day. Jack knew a bad quarter or costly mistake would be disastrous. His only hope for success was involving employees in decisionmaking processes. He opened the financial books and shared his predicament. According to Stack, “if we could not generate enough cash to cover the interest expense and start paying off the debt, the plant with its 112 employees would be shut down.” Jack wanted employees to come up with ideas on how to reduce costs and expand the business. Stack had earned employees’ trust; he wanted to keep them from being unemployed. He wanted them engaged. Over the years Stack has kept employees engaged through his “Great Game of Business” approach. SRC, now Springfield Remanufacturing Corporation, has over 1200 employees in 17 separate business units; all are involved in an Employee Stock Ownership Program. The stock price has grown from

$.10 per share, when Stack purchased the company in 1983, to its current level of $237 per share, an increase of 2,369%!

CONFIDENCE AND PRIDE

What is involved in the Great Game? Employee confidence and pride increase through mini-games that involve easier-to-reach goals with a modest payout. Employee involvement increases as workers accept responsibility for specific line items in the organization’s budget. However, reinforcement comes from how the whole organization performs, not just how well each employee controls a designated line item. Stack’s teams call weekly “huddles” where employees report on progress for their designated line items and everyone has the opportunity to share ideas on how to improve those numbers. Since bonuses depend on overall organizational performance, everyone is encouraged to be involved and engaged with the whole company’s efforts. When hard times come, all employees are involved in deciding what is best to do.

ANOTHER TRUE STORY

Tasty Catering in Elk Grove Village, IL, has similarly entangled employees,

The dangers of dumbsizing when downsizing

By ACHIM SCHMITT

The strategy of employee downsizing often runs the risk of seriously damaging rather than boosting a firm’s long-term performance. In fact, many downsizing initiatives fail to retain critical skills, capabilities, experience and knowledge. This is when downsizing becomes ‘dumbsizing.’

Downsizing a workforce causes dramatic changes to the existing informal organizational structure. These changes often require employees to take on new tasks both within and outside the company. When this happens, those left often have to double their efforts to compensate for cuts in human resources.

Company is Family

By PAMELA GARBER

Typically, when we think about how to manage relationships during times when there is a crisis at hand, we are thinking in terms of our family and friends, but companies are now wisely applying this same consideration to employee relations.

Companies have identified the benefits of maintainig employee attachment, loyalty and pride in place and deemed this type of employee mindset as a collective company resource. Maintaining the desired employee mindset requires identifying and implementing specific steps. The steps must fit the circumstances, which in this case are the collective problematic economic status quo.

In the case of lay-offs, pay cuts and uncertainty, the problem can be summed up as the inability to guarantee meeting the original expectations of employees and still needing employee allegiance.

3 STEPS PROCESS

The solution can best be divided into 3 main sections: communication, concrete resources-primary and secondary. Effective communication is keeping each employee in the loop with a specific overview of what the industry is facing, how the industry zeitgeist trickles down to the company and how this affects their department and position in the short and long term. Additionally, clear written communication regarding expectations along with projected length of

current projects as well as length of employment, changes in compensation and benefits, and time frame should be provided and discussed.

Primary concrete resources, including compensation, additional project-opportunities, as well as secondary concrete resources such as severance, training, and other placement assistance are best communicated on an ongoing basis-realizing that there will be no change to the status quo is still an update when one’s livelihood is on the line. The best example is dedicating an hour a week for an informal “Drop In meeting” where employees can bring questions and concerns directly to management.

THE KEY

A key aspect of effective employee communication is that, ironically, the actual willingness to communicate has almost as much meaning

as the content delivered. The best combination for keeping employees motivated as they navigate company and individual transitions is pairing organized, scheduled group meetings with a concrete tracking system for monitoring status quo, tasks, and results. The group format offers structure, support, accountability, and feedback within a framework that can prevent the isolation that often accompanies stress. The tracking system provides direction and clear cut goals for making repairs within a department or taking the steps to terminate according to company policy.

CONSISTENCY, INFORMATION, ACCESSIBILITY

In sum, communication needs to be consistent, informative, and easily accessible for the employees . In providing an open venue for communication, respect is being shown

on a level that has equal importance as the content of the messages. Companies are asking for loyalty, pride and attachment –and rightfully so as the quality of performance goes beyond the tangible components of knowledge, skills, and application. The emotional pull of the employee is part of their work process and this collective emotional pull is part of the company’s overall performance. But regardless of the brand and corresponding accomplishments of the company, people give more when they feel cared about, fairly compensated and valued. Conversely, when perceived as being kept in the dark, micro-managed and discarded, company concern diminishes. Because perception becomes reality, the combination of open Drop In group participation, structured written terms, and tracking offers employees facts, validation, and tangible feedback.

DUMBSIZING

These quantitative problems go hand in hand with qualitative problems linked to downsizing mistakes. Sometimes known as ‘dumbsizing’, these mistakes may result in the loss of key knowledge and personnel. When this occurs, the very process designed to increase efficiency leads to a drop in quality, productivity and performance. In many cases, the loss of valuable institutional knowledge and memory caused by laying-off the wrong employees only becomes clear once the employees have left the

company. This is confirmed by the American Management Association (AMA) which revealed that about one-third of downsizing companies rehire some of those laid off as contractors because they still need their skills.

A COMPLEX ACTION

What this shows is that employee downsizing is far more complex than simply cutting down on numbers. Organizations are made up of

Keywords

➜ Involve your employees

➜ Include your workers in the decision-making process

➜ Share defeats as well as successes

➜ “We’re all in the same boat” is the winning attitude

people that bring a competitive advantage. Losing an employee through downsizing carries the risk that the information held in that employee’s memory as well as its value will be lost if this is not retained elsewhere. So, how can managers downsize without losing valuable knowledge? One key aspect is who to choose when it comes to lay-offs. Some managers implement across-the-board percentage cuts in a bid to appear fair and transparent. This behavior highlights one of the main criticisms of employee downsizing - it is often seen as a short-sighted, badly managed, quick-fix solution. Even if a manager attempts to retain knowledge by picking departing employees’ brains before they leave, this approach often fails to guarantee the retrieval and use of the correct knowledge within a social network of co-workers and external parties. This notion of an organization’s social network is one of the keys to not falling into the dumbsizing trap.

UNDERSTANDING NETWORKS

First, this network must be understood. One straightforward way of doing this is simply to ask all the members of the group concerned to define their relationship with one another. Gauging knowledge flows between individuals allows executives to look beyond formal organizational charts and become aware of underlying relationships. In this way, managers can identify critical internal and external relationships while also putting a finger on those individuals who form a unique link between otherwise unconnected networks. Keeping these employees on during downsizing prevents a breakdown in networks between organizational units. Where networks are concerned, managers should also ask themselves how they reward and foster cooperation. This is vital as cooperation stimulates successful knowledge retention through exchanges based on dense networks. Conversely, intense competition between units limits a firm’s chances of using networks to preserve key information. Limited teamwork, inter-unit competition and a focus on performance outcome create a fertile soil for dumbsizing. Another facet of most successful downsizing actions is the way key leaders within an organization are involved from as early a stage as possible. Keeping trusted leaders on ensures managerial support throughout the company while also fostering positive emotional stability for employees. At the same time, managers need to identify those whose actions can undermine such a positive spirit. In this way, employee downsizing can be a good opportunity to rid a firm of the harmful habits that block the creation of new knowledge.

AVOIDING SIDE EFFECTS

All these methods should bear fruit, but handled in the wrong way can seriously backfire. A climate of fear, intimidation and hostility created by badly communicating the logic behind downsizing will not only cause the usual side-effects such as low morale and employee involvement, but will also impede the sort of knowledge retention needed to boost productivity. Managers should therefore be fair during their lay-off procedures, carefully following and constantly communicating the overall goals. Any contradictions will simply result in multiple rounds of organizational downsizing. If, as the adage suggests, ‘knowledge is power,’ then the firm which succeeds in keeping its memory intact will steal a lead on its rivals. Companies that can retain precious knowledge without turning their backs on the flexibility downsizing can bring are more likely to face the future with success. Those that only succeed in dumbsizing will find things much tougher.

Photos: Gianluca Vassallo (38). From December 2012 to January 2013 the site-specific installation DentroInside is appeared at MART (Rovereto. Italy). He is now working on the final edition of his first documentary – “Hope: Le Nuove Migrazioni” is a journey among runaway Italian talents now living in New York as well as a high-flying project made up of documentary film, photography, videoart and contemporary music.

01 Happiness (Felicità)

02 Blue (Blu)

03 Journey (Viaggio)

Photos by Gianluca Vassallo, courtesy of MART

who moved from a leadership philosophy based on “command and control” to “trust and track, monitor and mentor.”

An example of this philosophy occurred during the economic downturn of 2009 when the company reached an agreed trigger level that called for the release of five employees. CEO Tom Walter went to the employees and said, “Tell me who you believe should be laid off.” After some deliberations, the employees came back and said, “We’re family, right? Therefore, rather than lay off anyone, we have agreed to cut everyone’s hours for the duration since we will need all our workers running full steam once the economy improves.” Tom was impressed with the logic, but more important was how the team calculated costs savings. Their plan led to desired cost reductions that were more than what would have been saved with the layoffs. Tasty Catering weathered the storm, and when orders increased, trained, qualified staff members were readily available to meet the demand. The company did not miss a beat!

CULTURE ENTANGLEMENT

In both examples, employees weathered hard times through a strong culture of entanglement. Employees were part of decision-making processes, and they directly gained from the success of the organization. A history of trust existed between and among employees, managers, and company leaders. The mentality of “we are all in this together” rather than

the “we versus them” mentality present in the majority of organizations made the difference in how employees acted as leaders rather than victims of circumstance.

AN OPEN BOOK APPROACH

The open book approach taught through the Great Game of Business helped foster the culture and leadership that supported discretionary thinking and actions in the organization, which led to performance breakthroughs. Recognizing improvements and creating a culture where “finding fault is not part of the vocabulary” but “how to correct” helps employees get involved in solutions where they think and act like owners themselves, which leads to greater pride in the results. They believe “it is my company, too.” For entangled organizations, an economic downturn is less of a disaster because employees pitch in to find collaborative solutions. With open book management they avoid surprises because they know what is happening in the company. Having ownership as well as pride in the outcome generates the continual drive for success. These companies are benchmarks of how to build a culture that will mitigate the downside of downturns. •

Communication Music Branding

Keywords

➜ Consumers need to feel a familiarity with what you do with music and your brand

➜ Consistency is important for your brand image

➜ Music branding is not some cheesy tune, but a well-planned marketing design

The Sound of Brands

By LUCA BRUNONI

During the recent US presidential race, Barack Obama turned up the volume of his campaign by teaming up with Bruce Springsteen and Jay-Z. Companies are aware of the power of music too; and through the years, they have developed many ways to use it in their branding.

Brands and music have been enjoying a fruitful partnership since the 50s and 60s; at that time, the jingle was king, and companies were always on the lookout for smart, catchy slogans guaranteed to get stuck in peoples' heads. Jingles still play a big role in advertising today, especially when used as music logos or "sound DNA."

MUTUAL INTERESTS

Musical logos and jingles are just the tip of the iceberg. Today, most brands — and especially those who view Millennials (people who are roughly 18 to 34 years-old) as their target market — want to wear their affiliation with music on their sleeve. MySpace.com president Chris DeWolfe noticed this trend back in 2007, “These companies are trying to associate themselves with cool music. It doesn’t have that much to do with their products, but it casts them as being young, cool and hip." “Advertising" adds Jon Cohen, co-CEO of Cornerstone, a music promotion firm, is "about how to ingrain your brand into the culture of your target consumer.” Musicians and labels are more than willing to play ball, glad to have found a new source of revenue that helps them face the challenges of the digital era.

THE SOUND OF A BRAND

"The sound of a brand" says Ruth Simmons, Managing Director of Soundlodge, a music licensing and production service, is in fact much "more than 8 octaves or some catchy melodic identity, but it is also not just about genre, words, artist profiles, or the carrier. It is about who you are, your values, how you behave and how you communicate.” The smartest brands know this, and their effort to create a powerful and lasting

For years David Hilliard been documenting his life and the one of those around him, recording events and attempting to create order in a sometimes chaotic world. His visual language is made of panoramic photographs, comprised of various single images. His images are complementary and a perfect match, just like music in branding, where everything needs to be the fruit of a very structured and studied strategy, where all things must fit with one another or the risk of hitting the wrong note increases considerably.

01 David Hilliard, Lost Boquet, 2012 © David Hilliard, Courtesy of the Artist and Yancey Richardson Gallery. David Hilliard (1964) lives and works in Boston.

musical identity goes beyond licensing buzz-worthy songs for their video ads; it involves a net of music-related initiatives such as sponsoring events, offering free mp3 downloads, organizing in-store appearances by musicians, and planting both feet in social networks — where their associated artists' popularity can be used to boost media impressions.

THE NAME OF THE GAME

If companies leave no stone unturned when it comes to musical branding, it is

also because they know that credibility is the name of the game, "when a brand uses a style of music because it wants to appear cool to a specific target market" says Simmons, "but does nothing else to put itself in the value set of that music, the result could be a community that will question the brand's integrity." Music is one of the most effective ways for a brand to connect with the public on an emotional level, but it must be part of a consistent, well-planned marketing design; otherwise, companies only risk to hitting the wrong note.•

01

Communication Office Music

By NIGEL PHILLIPS

Music at work (hang

the DJ)

In the 90s everyone in the office was constantly on the phone. People smoked and the idea of music in such an environment was unthinkable, luckily things have changed.

Today, people on the move seem to be hermetically sealed in a bubble of music. iPods, phones, huge comical earphones; they travel around listening to what they want, when they want and are oblivious to the outside world. But what about when they are actually at work?

I was at the dentist last week and hearing Gangnam Style on the radio was far more distressing than the root canal work I was suffering. Surgeons traditionally listen to classical music when operating, to relax and show off to the nurses, but not everyone finds music at work relaxing.

Alan Dunachie, director of operations at the Economist Group, thinks it might be a generational thing, saying “when I was at university I couldn’t study with music on, but people who did, seem happy to have music on in the background at work, even if they have to wear headphones.”

Ellis Rich, chairman of PRS for Music, thinks music has a role to play when it comes to staff motivation and customer retention. He says “music is a key element; it creates a positive atmosphere, enhances the mood and influences spending behavior.”

80% of those asked said their employer allowed music in the workplace, but the jury is out on whether it helps or hinders performance. Stacey Dobbs, Adrian Furnham and Alastair McClelland, tested 100 school children to see whether tasks that demanded focus were negatively impacted by music.

Using two different soundtracks, one of nature’s sounds, the other of popular music, they discovered the pupils with music in their ears performed poorly when it came to tasks requiring abstract reasoning. However, extroverted

people suffered less from the din of the music than their introverted peers. Indeed, the most extroverted performed equally, regardless of the level of background noise.

These findings were replicated in tests on cognitive ability and verbal reasoning; interestingly, they found that general noise (not musical), caused the most suffering.

So, some people find music stimulating, whereas others find it makes it hard to concentrate. Many like background chatter or radio and find the oppressive silence of a library stifling to creativity.

Professor Ravi Mehta, of the University of Illinois, studies the way the brain processes information against different levels of background noise and says the noise needs to be at the right level, about 70 decibels (about the same as a car driving past).

He calls it the ‘Goldilocks Principle’. “Not enough noise and the mind tends to have little or no stimulation; too much and the distractions are too great. A moderate level of noise not only enhances creative problem solving, but also leads to a greater adoption of innovative products in certain settings.

[W addcoach4u.com dm-pr.com economistgroup.com event-pros.com executivesurf.com illinois.edu musicinoffices.com prsformusic.

KEYWORDS

➜ Music at work makes the day go by faster

➜

The sound of music positively influences purchase behaviors

➜ Music is a great motivator

➜ Music helps the creative process significantly

listen to music at work, if possible. It really lightens up the day and makes the time go by a bit faster.”

Pepe Serrano, of ExecutiveSurf, agrees. He is the unofficial office DJ, as he has inherited the desk with the speakers. He

Listening to music at work can be more than just fun for some people. According to Peter Quily, adult Attention Deficit Disorder coach, music can have a physiological effect on his patients who suffer from adult ADD. According to Quily, listening to music boosts the levels of neurotransmitter dopamine, a brain chemical that can help people focus.

Some of Quily's clients listen to music when they can't focus or when they're performing a task they find boring. People who have ADHD often have dopamine levels that are low or quickly used up, and the music is a welcome help. For some of his clients, music is just another distraction that they don't need. And while many workers can't imagine a day without music, plenty of people, such as Jay Levitt, prefer to leave the tunes outside of work hours.

"I took a break from my technology career to study music production at Berkley," Levitt says. "Now, when I'm working, I can't have any music playing at all; I'll get distracted because the bass player's out of tune, and I wonder which microphone they used on the singer."

Alex Greenwood of EventPros, a communications and events services company, is a huge music fan whose workday has a constant soundtrack in the background. He listens to his iPod, which has playlists for various times of day and different activities.

"I find music to be a great motivator at work," Greenwood says. "It makes a slow day go faster and often really does help me in the creative process."

The sweet spot is around 70 decibels; I call it the Goldilock’s Principle, because the middle is just right. Too loud and the noise starts to negatively affect creativity, but a level of distraction can help you think ‘outside the box.”

So, someone who works on their own might find that they perform better in a relatively busy coffee shop, rather than working in silence at home or in the office.

Vincent Paciariello is an account executive at DM Public Relations and is a fan of online radio stations at work. He says “I would strongly recommend everyone

says he uses different stations, but likes Spotify Lists, Soma FM and Music Machine. He says “they all have ads, but I don’t play it loud enough for these to become intrusive.”

I asked him if he ever gets complaints from people who may not want any music playing or actually don’t like his taste in music. His answer is blunt; “maybe, but I don’t care, I’m the DJ.”

His colleague, Ignacio Villarrubia adds “I like the music to be cranked up a bit on Fridays, particularly in the afternoon, so it gets you in the mood for the weekend.”

For research, he chooses jazz, such as Miles Davis and Jaco Pastorius. When he wants to tap into his creative side, he relies on what he refers to as "mature pop", which includes artists like Shawn Colvin and Colin Hay among others.

In most offices it looks slightly antisocial to wear your headphones and tune out of the general ambience of working life, so having an office DJ who respects music levels is probably a good idea.

Whatever your solution to the issue of music at work, make sure you never sing along and perhaps try what we do at ExecutiveSurf headquarters; hire a string quartet on Friday afternoons and shout out your requests to them.

•

01, 02, 03 Photo courtesy of Music In Offices, Credits by Joc Marchington and Joschi Herczeg at Cardboardcaravan

Change Management An Architect’s New Artist Life

Juan Cordova's passionate and artful life

Juan is a relaxed but firm man. He has the pace of a person who has done what he wanted to. He was a well established architect who decided to drop out to a country life surrounded by art.

After two hours traveling from Mexico City into northern semidesert, we entered a vibrant, modern and pulsating city: Querétaro. We were received by industries, houses and a soccer stadium, one of its many icons, constructed by architect Juan Cordova Bülle for Mexico’s 1986 Soccer World Cup.

We passed through the awakening city and after following our GPS, that said “in 4.5 miles prepare to park car and walk,” we decided it was better to follow Juan’s directions onto a secondary road. We were received by a smiling man with a direct and quiet look. He had prepared for us a very Mexican breakfast (fruit, juice, coffee, beans, eggs and pork in red salsa) in a space outside his house near the kitchen, a place he designed for this kind of occasion, to enjoy nature and quite life with a good breakfast. He's a man that enjoys receiving friends and cooking paella and bread, bbqs and fish to share. This is how our journey started inside his lifestyle, his way of seeing life and his work.

ws how was your like for architecture born?

jcb Since I was a child I had the ability to draw and to sculp. I started doing

some busts for characters and monuments, and I thought I had a chance to make a living from that. Nevertheless my father encouraged me to study a professional career and that was architecture. Once inside, I found it was in line with me and my passions.

ws how did your career kick off?

jcb I started working even before I finished school. I had worked for the National Anthropology Institute as a drawer and photographer, gave drawing and design classes, helped other architect’s offices when I started my own office with other friends.

At the beginning I had good acceptance because my drawing had a very good perspective which helped us to obtain construction projects. Then I started a social housing development and I was in charge of it. It was my major work then but also the most stressful, because I had to cross Mexico City from south to north and by the time I had showered and was ready to see my girlfriend it was already very late. An opportunity arose to keep doing these developments in Querétaro, so after studying I took the decision and went for it and got married as well.

He's Juan Cordova, a Mexican architect turned painter, sculptor and farmer.

Three exciting new life stories.

•

Angela Newman

• Evelyn Stevens

•

Pietro Reviglio

ws which projects do you consider the most relevant in your career?

jcb First of all my house, this house where we are talking now. It is because I had no client limitations, I could express my architectural style in the best possible way. Adapting the building to its surroundings and my family's needs, planned to receive friends, surrounded by nature. Another important challenge was Casa de la Corregidora’s intervention, a project where I had to respect the building's historical past but also restore and adapt it to new times and new uses, from a house to a state mayor’s office. Nevertheless I also made hotels, factories, restaurants, housing develop-

I wanted a job that felt more positive and practical and I also wanted to achieve a better work life balance looking ahead.

Angela Newman was a barrister at a leading set of Chambers in London. After 3 years, it was soon clear that her future didn’t lie in the legal profession, she’s now a self-employed garden designer.

What made you decide to change? I didn't leave the Bar knowing I would become a garden designer, it took me some time to discover it! I have always loved the outdoors and the natural world

Text and Photos by DANIEL CUEVAS

KEYWORDS

➜ Finding happiness is the ultimate goal

➜ Architecture changes reality

➜ Juan needed to be in tight control of the process

➜ Being an artist guarantees no creative limitations on both the personal and professional levels

ments, cinemas, sport clubs, social interest houses, office buildings and even a World Cup stadium, in an area where I also made a development plan.

ws which were your biggest frustrations in architecture?

jcb Like in almost every job, depending on others, authorities, timings, obscure interests, manpower; but it is part of architecture and you have to play with it and tame the obstacles with passion. The other big issue is the constant push between an architect’s plan and the client's vision: the never ending struggle.

ws when did you leave architecture?

jcb I never have, I will always be an ar-

chitect. I have my office and occasionally I do some projects but I’m not in charge of construction anymore. I manage some projects and I receive international magazines, I go to congresses and conferences to keep myself in the loop. I have the good fortune of having an architect son, he comes to me for advice on his work.

ws agriculture and sculpture, why? jcb Sculpture has always been in my life. Now I can develop it freely, any time I want or I feel the urge to, without restrictions. I consider it a much more free form of art than architecture. I also draw and paint and I get the same feeling. Agriculture came naturally. I also always loved plants and landscaping was an im-

portant part of my architectural projects. Professionally it started as a way to offer land developments, too big for a country house, but too small for a ranch, I was influenced by the European use of space: very productive, in little spaces. I planned a house with garden, pool, stable, tennis court and a greenhouse to supply food and flowers for the house or to sell.

ws was it difficult to change?

jcb Yes it was, because I first started producing flowers in my greenhouse and the Mexican market is not used to buying flowers. A partner and I started to export them to the USA, but we had to manage at a distance and we discovered our

and over the last few years my interest in gardening had started. So when I found out about garden design I realized it I could combine working outdoors, creativity, lots of client work and practical problem solving.

Why garden design? I went to an open day at KLC School of Design's garden design school and started the course for a year, 2 days a week. The time left was devoted to coursework, plant research and garden visits, and out of term time I had valuable work experience in gardens and a garden

design studio. With the support of my partner, I was able to commit all my time to my studies, rather than attempting to work part time.

What sort of investment did you make? The investment in my career change has been course fees and some overheads setting up such things professional memberships, insurance, software, some tools etc. And of course I have taken a significant drop in income by leaving law and having another year as a student.

I left my job in July 2009 and on the first weekend I won a pro-bike race and then I got offered contracts and I turned pro in 2010.

Evelyn Stevens is a professional bike racer who worked in investment banking for Lehman Brothers and then in a private equity company called Gleacher Partners. In 2009 she took the leap to pursue her passion, bike riding, which a year later became her fulltime job.

What were the main reasons that made you decide to change?

I loved training, I loved riding, I loved racing , but more than anything I came to a crossroads in my career, I could have stayed at my job but I wouldn’t have really had any upward mobility. Most people would go to business school, but I didn’t know what to do, so I figured there was no point in going to a business school. I was 26 at the time, and it was “now or never.” For some reason it all came together, although

I had no professional experience and had never won a Pro-race, but I took the leap.

That was a big risk, wasn’t it?

When I look back it looks exceptionally risky, sometimes I’m surprised I made the choice, but I think I came to a point where I knew I could go one year with no job, and I believe in living your life to the fullest. Besides, money is not that important to me. I followed my heart and hoped it all worked out. And it did!

What sort of investment did you make?

My first bike cost me $1.000, which at the time, I thought it was the most expensive bike in the whole world. I quickly learned that was not the case. I started working with a coach, more than investing in money, I made a big investment of my time. Before turning pro, I would come back home from work at 8 pm and train with my coach until 11 pm, or also on weekends, it took and still does take a lot of my time. I now train 4 to 5 hours a day.

people sold flowers outside our stores. We quit the business because we never made a profit. Today I grow peppers and I give my product to a gathering facility in Queretaro and they are in charge of transportation and commercialization abroad, I prefer to have a tight control.

ws How did architecture fulfill you internally and how does agriculture and sculpture?

jcb With architecture I lived what originally was in my brain, make something 3D from an idea. How architecture can change reality from personal thoughts, how it can modify spaces, activities, and help make humans happy or otherwise. Agriculture fulfills me in being in a natural and healthy environment, going into a greenhouse at night and smelling the plants, seeing fruits and flower colors, a growing plant, and care for it. I love being in contact with nature, and it has resulted in a good business. Finally, sculpture allows me to be creative and free. Freedom to create wherever I want, guided by my instinct. It allows me not to have a client compromise and it adapts to my creative mood and times, even though I do some projects for clients with specific concepts and timings.

ws Where does the inspiration come for your architecture and sculptures?

jcb In architecture mainly from geometry, symmetry and balance. I like mixing basic shapes, to play with heights and lights. In sculpture inspiration often comes from materials, I like to recycle and I prefer metal, wire and wood. I study the shape of objects, I plan what I want to do and then I decide what to use, in this way an old barrel can be converted to a deck chair, a tractor shovel into a buffet table, or some old shovels into a sculpture. Other times I conceptualize a sculpture and then I search for materials.

ws Who are your favorite architects, sculptors, painters?

jcb First of all, Michelangelo. I love his life, his works. I've been to Florence several times and I'm fascinated just by walking the same streets that he walked.

I had grown more and more dissatisfied with the way scientific research is done these days.

Pietro Reviglio was a graduate research assistant at Columbia University, who realized he was turning his back on his childhood dream. He then became a visual artist who has exhibited all around the world.

What

made

you decide to change?

There were many factors at play. Scientific research is no longer the endeavor of a single person or a small group of scientists trying to explain something; it is all about big networks and collaborations where everyone has a chunk of work to do, like in corporations or factories. However, I think the deciding factor was that I felt I betrayed my childhood dream by working in science.

Why visual art?

When I was a kid I loved movies and wanted to become a film director. I also loved to go watch outdoor painters at the seaside, working on the promenade... it was magic to see what they were able to create with just some paint. I just reconnected with my inner child and started doing what I truly loved. I started my artistic research, not very different from scientific research. It is a lot of false starts and mistakes, passion, dedication and challenges.

What sort of investment di you have to make for this shift?

Well, to start a career in the arts you need to find a way to support yourself in a way that doesn't take too much of your time, which is very challenging. I was able to save money in the years before the shift and that allowed me to live off savings. This meant I could put most of my time in my work, without losing focus with part-time jobs.

01 Juan Cordova 02 Peppers and eggplants

Juan at work with his employees in his greenhouse 04 Juan is his greenhouse, checking his peppers

Juan’s house 06 An artist’s tools

Juan’s at work, being creative

Rusty tools

Creative material 10 Juan’s Family

I sure hope it’s a birdie

Juan in creation

Photos of Juan Cordova are by Rodrigo Cruz

ws And golf, what about it?

jcb Since I've always been someone interested in sports. In my youth I played soccer at a good level, then I got involved in tennis and windsurfing with my sons. Now at this stage in my life golf is a sport that keeps me concentrated and allows me to practice my coordination, and overall camaraderie, a golf match is a very particular human experience.

ws Future plans?

jcb To keep developing my sculpture and painting plans, maybe exhibit my pieces of art. Enjoy my family, my wife, sons, grandsons, and friends. Live a life full of passion and art, collecting positive moments, always.

ws Finally, are you happy? jcb Yes, I am.

As he’s saying this both his countenance and look reflect what he has just uttered, while he looks towards the road leading to the Corregidora Stadium. •

Monterrey

Leon Guadalajara Santiago de Querétaro

10

Culture Integration Royal Employees

By ALEX DI MARTINO

On Her Majesty's Service

The first four chapters of the book “On Royalty” by the controversial, very English and acute journalist Jeremy Paxman provide, even just from their titles, an interesting snapshot of the Royal exercise in general.

Monarchs in the last two millennia – and not only in the British Isles – have naturally followed these four simple rules which lead Paxman's readers through his book: “First, find a throne,” “next produce an heir,” “Learn to be regal” and finally “find a consort.” With all the simplification considered, this seems to me, in actuality, the job of the Royals.

HUMAN TENDENCY

Probably since the first human tribes used to fight for possessions, supremacy, territory and so on – like it’s still happening, only with significant technological variants – the aristocracy (from the Greek, “the ruling of the best”) have been promoted, supported and entrusted to care for the interests of other common mortals.

What it has meant and what it still should mean being “better” than others, and why aristocrats should be “better” is still an interesting and controversial dispute, but this burning desire to put someone somehow “better” than us in charge, seems to be an innate human tendency.

Therefore, here is the throne – normally given or usurped, which is probably the same – but still that is where everything begins. Then heirs, weddings, pompous celebrations, bestowals, dispensations, prizes, trophies, medals, horses, uniforms, swords and decorations ensure the ongoing status assertion and potently nourish the aristo-legacy.

THE SECRECY FACTOR

Such a modern, advanced, civilized and in many aspects emancipated society has an aristocratic culture and a class system that are still somehow hardwired in the minds of most of its citizens.

But among the monarch's supporters in the UK, there are a number of individuals who want to serve better their master and rather than become teachers, nurses or bank clerks, they decide to work for the Palace. Therefore, getting through the secrecy of the Royal Household about its workers is very hard, but this is not necessarily applicable to a former “royal worker,” who, however, wishes to remain anonymous. “For someone who is not working there, it is quite difficult to understand why there are so many conditions and concerns about confidentiality” – she says -- “but the reality is that in the Household, a significant amount of information circulates among the staff and most of this information is State matters, because ultimately Her Majesty is the Head of State.”

She was a member of H.M. support team, but didn’t disclose her full job title.

Her duties varied extensively from researching and collecting press articles, policy work, organizing and supporting

visits and travel for Her Majesty and other Royals as she says “it was a very, very demanding job which required a lot of dedication, accuracy and I suppose, brain!” Considering the tasks she had to perform and her academic qualifications, the salary was very low and came to around 17-19.000 £, almost the same amount a new graduate would get as a junior bank clerk for passing papers from one side to another. But there’s a fascination around the Royal Family as she explains“ I have been always fascinated by the Royal family, especially being born abroad and in a different political system and I think I had this “dream” of princesses and princes...and a bit of a fairytale world...”

The problems always arise when one realizes there are no princes and pumpkin coaches, “I became disillusioned, tired and felt constantly under pressure. This could happen in many jobs but I think the working environment and the people that surround you play a big part in your daily life at work,” she says.

KEYWORDS

➜ Working for the Royals is a challenging job

➜ It is mandatory that you use your brain

➜ It also guarantees training opportunities on both personal and professional levels

CHALLENGES AND REWARDS

Working for the Queen is challenging but also very rewarding. It is a unique opportunity. You can see that once you are in the “circle of trust” they are really committed to helping you work in the best way, she explains “for example, there are various training opportunities to improve your skills, and not only work skills, but also personal skills, such as developing more confidence in public speaking or presenting (which I found very beneficial). There are car schemes, pension and other perks – including the food, which is great – that make you feel valued and supported,” and adds “ I met H.M. many times. I can't comment too much on a personal level, but I have to say that the Queen is a very pragmatic, down to earth person. H.M. is extremely focused, no detail goes unnoticed, no stone unturned to achieve what is needed. I think H.M. is an incredible person.”

Among the perks there’s the fact that working for the Royals is no a common thing as she exclaims “Well, I think it is not an everyday opportunity to work for a Queen or a King,” adding, “But on a daily basis, I suppose one forgets that, and the job becomes like any other job. I mean, a cleaner or a chef or a secretary, are still doing the same job, even if in a more exclusive context, I suppose.”

This is a job and just like other job has its downsides, the former employee confesses “I had some issues with some of the senior staff. I think they can become easily arrogant and may have bullying behaviors, only because they feel they got to a higher level than you. This happens in any work, sure, but there it may be difficult to address the issue, although there is an external counseling and support organization which can help with things like that. "

I suppose, "you also need to be perceived as infallible and this is not realistic in a workplace. Maybe it is because the Royals themselves need to be perceived as infallible, I don't know. H.M. is a person of a few words, but I have to say I never felt uncomfortable with her. I had a bit more difficulties with The Prince Of Wales, who is a very interesting person but sometimes it may be

challenging to work with and this is as far as she can go."

THE PRINCE OF WALES

Indeed, the Prince of Wales seems not new to complaints. Rumors indicate that he has a servant to squeeze the toothpaste on his toothbrush, other claims indicate that he has at least 5-6 personal dressers, although the reason appears to be the need for the Prince to wear heavy and complicated uniforms for special occasions.

Paxman even alleges that His Royal Highness has 7 boiled eggs prepared each morning but eats only one. Most of the claims are rebuked by official sources but among the over 160 fulltime staff, employed just for Prince Charles Household, recently someone dared to confront him – and won the case. It is the case of Grant Harrold, one of the Prince's most trusted former butlers.

Harrold, 34, from Airdrie, Scotland, grew up in a working class family and said he always wanted to work for the Royals, after he watched a number of TV programs about them. He managed to get his dream job working for the Prince but was unfairly sacked after being a victim of bullying by his “master” and compared to Raoul Moat – a monstrous killer. Harrold took his case to an Employment Tribunal but the Prince settled out of court with the former “servant” and even apologized with the statement “The Household regrets the upset caused to Mr. Harrold when he was made redundant.”

THE REGAL CHARM

Royal: the word itself has its charm. It originates from the Latin “regalis” which has a number of declinations relevant to power, wealth, gifts and benefit bestowing. This seems seductive enough for many to continue to orbit around it, even if it could be “just another job” and often underpaid. But I wonder if the allure of a perceived prestigious working environment may eventually fade to be replaced by a more thoughtful evaluation of what is the ultimate purpose of the organization we are working for.•

SUPPORT THIS Artistic project

Music in a factory, a project by Enrico Gabrielli, hoping to be crowdfunded via Musicraiser.

"My personal project on the Musicraiser crowdfunding platform is called Music Production Unit. It's a dystopic documentary about the culture industry, with real and, more or less, famous musicians in a real factory, writing and playing music for 8 regular working hours"says Gabrielli. The idea was born during an artists' collective exhibition in October 2011 that was related to "8 hours working tournament". The ending of the heavy industry era and the economic establishment crisis corresponds to the death of the post-modern artistic mentality. "I think UPm will be the last great post-modern music operation in Italy, Culture is Politics. Entertainment is Struggle. The Future is Past,” its slogan.

[W musicraiser.com/it/projects/ 734-unita-di-produzione-musicale]

Culture Integration Women Sectors Dominated by Men

By SIMONE RIZZO

This is a Man's World

As this beautiful song suggests, men seem to dominate in almost every working field, even in those which should, for the most part, be ruled by women. Let’s take fashion design and haute cuisine. These two professions belong entirely to the feminine sphere, but lack in female names.

WOMEN COOK, MEN ARE CHEFS

An old Kenwood ad claimed “a Chef does everything but cook – that’s what wives are for!” This is an example of how the act of preparing food has been gendered over the years, and how one side of the gendered dichotomy is valued more than the other. Men are chefs – professionals, with careers, whereas their wives are cooks – they cook at home. Men have prestige as professional chefs outside the home, and women have value as care giving cooks inside the home.

CHANGING OVER THE YEARS..

"Only men have the technique, discipline and passion that makes cooking consistently an art" said chef Fernand Point in 1950, and according to chef Gordon Ramsay "women can't cook to save their lives." Vanessa Postec in her book "Le goût des femmes à table" writes that, today, 94% of the chefs are Men. It seems that nothing has changed in the last fifty or sixty years. Things, in reality, are changing, but slowly. In France women represent a quarter of the students in cookery schools. At the end of their studies they do find their places in the industry, but they seldom become chefs.

WHY AREN'T WOMEN TAKEN AS SERIOUSLY AS MEN IN THE KITCHEN?

"Women shouldn't really work in the kitchen; they can't handle the pressure, and besides, they always have to take time off because they get headaches," says an anonymous Italian chef. Stereotypes make great comedy, but they also represent a situation in which there is a common skepticism concerning women and high positions. That is to say, because women get pregnant, women are more interested in creating

a family than a career and are less determined than men. One of the hurdles women encounter on their path to stardom is most certainly the tendency society has of seeing a man in a key position instead of a woman. Secondly, when the world of work opened its doors to women, they turned down cooking because

they weren’t interested in it. As Helena Ibarra, a famous Venezuelan chef, claims "to them it was a chore and an obligation that they wanted to be free of; they wanted to be something other than cooks in the new world of work they had conquered. They did not want to inherit the slave status of their mothers, whose

Illustration by John Joven, Bogotà, Colombia

KEYWORDS

➜ Gender gaps are children of a childish society

➜ The 94% of chefs are male

➜ Gay men seem to be best designers

➜ Women don’t succeed because they’re too individualistic

undervalued work it was to cook and raise their children." So, it's only in recent times, thanks to the growing interest around gastronomy as a strong international business, that more women are approaching the world of haute cuisine. The number of female professionals in the field is rising; however, due to historical and traditional reasons, the disproportion is still significant.

MEN ARE BETTER DESIGNERS THAN WOMEN, AND GAY MEN ARE THE BEST DESIGNERS OF ALL...

This is a famous refrain for those who live outside the glamour of the fashion world. Yet, from the inside, many female designers believe that their male counterparts have won more industry honors and are featured more prominently in magazines. Tara Lyn Subkoff, an American actress and fashion designer came under fire when she accused the fashion industry of being "a gay men's profession," arguing that "gay men stick together like a band of brothers.” According to Subkoff, one reason for this disparity is that it's more common for a man to bring up a younger assistant who is male and to be proud of doing so, than for a woman who would feel too threatened to promote another woman.

THE I FACTOR

Women are more individualistic and can't work together as men do. This is another common stereotype, which is not necessarily true and certainly not the focus of the problem as it would involve all working fields, even those dominated by women. As Tom Ford said in an interview "I think we are more objective. We don't come with the baggage of hating certain parts of our bodies." One of main reasons for men's success in fashion is probably the distance they have from the female body. This attitude is even stronger when it comes to gay men, like Michaele Vollbracht, former head designer for Bill Blass, who said "women are confused about who they want to be. I believe that male designers have the fantasy level that women do not." In other words, gay men would probably be better at design, because

of an idealized aesthetic concerning the perception of a woman.

A LESS HOMOPHOBIC CAREER

Rachel Khona, a model booker, said “I would agree that it is a gay man’s industry. It doesn’t mean women can’t get ahead, but you certainly have to sacrifice certain things. Women tend to want to get married and settle down. As gay men don’t necessarily want to, it allows them to go out and network and party every day of the week until the wee hours. Their aesthetic is what dominates fashion as well.” Gay men might also have more chances to build up a network and increase the possibilities of finding new jobs. However, maybe the best explanation for the huge presence of gay men in fashion design traces back to the fact that working in these environments seems a less homophobic career choice than the stock market, or any other field dominated by the image of a successful, womanizing man. It's undeniable that women are in fashion, but maybe the most talented have directed their efforts in other fields as well. However, a very large proportion of the most competitive and talented gay men have chosen fashion.

FASHION NOT JUST DESIGN

It is also important to state that the working force of the fashion world is not wholly composed of designers. Editors for example are those who really decide what is going to be worn the following year and as Franca Sozzani asserted "the vast majority of the directors of fashion magazines are women." In the end, the world of fashion is in evolution. Things are changing, but gradually – as gradually as the perception of women and gay men is changing in our societies. A former French Secrétaire d'Etat, Françoise Giroud once said "women will be equal to men the day an incompetent woman is hired for an important position." making an important point. Although somewhat ironical, she remarks that inequality in the workplace is still rife. In some ways, women’s inability to climb the career ladder is not necessarily tied to their individual skills, but rather to the juvenile attitude of society in general.•

Remuneration related to the real economy.

A vote in Switzerland puts into serious question the salaries of top managers. The entrepreneur and Senator Thomas Minder won the Swiss Federal vote against "towering salaries" with 70% in favor.

The new article of the Constitution entrusts to shareholders (and not the Board) the decision-making powers on the remuneration policy of listed companies, including prohibiting some remuneration, such as the famous golden parachutes. The initiative promoted by Minder was presented to a Swiss population outraged by some exorbitant salaries and severance pays such as the 72 million Swiss francs given to Daniel Vasella, Chairman of the Board of Novartis. In recent years the Swiss press has commented negatively on other "towering compensations" such as the wages (and payout) of the managers of the bankrupt Swissair and those of UBS, that received public support. After the victory of Senator Minder, the Swiss press spoke of a warning issued to the economy, requesting responsibility. Sergio Marchionne, CEO of Fiat, said "I'm not going to leave Switzerland" and added "it is clear that I condemn those who receive maxibonuses while producing losses, but there is a market for managers who select the best." In the coming months we will assess whether the selection of the best evoked by Marchionne produces a loss of managers for Switzerland or acquisition of responsibility from multinationals. [W admin.ch/ch/i/pore/vi/vis348.html

Planner

By MARTHA TINTIN

It’s Wedding Bells!

The whole world followed the wedding of Lady D and Prince Charles in July 1981 with the same fervor with which they saw Prince William take Kate Middleton to the altar on April, 29, 2011 in the magnificent Westminster Abbey. Every girl dreams of it and wedding planners are there to make that dream come true.

BACKGROUND AND LEARNING IS CRUCIAL

“There’s no existing recipe to become a wedding planner” says Enzo Miccio, the most renowned Italian wedding planner. In the past few years the industry saw a boom in wedding planning courses, some of them better than others. Enzo Miccio started his own course in 2009 where he intends to provide a general smattering on what the job is like because, he says “often people don’t have a clear idea of what are the competences, professionalities and also what kind of life a wedding planner leads.” However there’s something out there for all of those intrigued by this job. Joyce Scardina Becker, president of Events of Distinction wrote and developed the first Wedding Planner Certificate Program for university in 1997 and it ran through 2003 at San Francisco State University. In 2003 she became director and professor of Wedding Planner Certificate Program at California State University East Bay. She explains “this is an intensive 40-hour program with a 4-hour certificate exam and final project, taught over a 5 month period. Covering event management topics that are essential to learn in order to be effective in our industry.” There are also online courses as Zoe McKeown, owner of Cherish Wedding Planning admits. “I did a course with a company just to give me some confidence and knowledge. I then did lots of my

own internet research and decided to start my own company. I helped friends and family, and developed my website.”

In her country, UKawep online courses are all studied at home at the person’s pace, and students are fully supported by a tutor for the entire study time, which can be up to 18 months. McKeown thinks that they are much better than a quick weekend course, as you can also use previous students to provide advice and inspiration.

The Wedding Planners Institute of Canada has a course that teaches everything from how to manage a business to how to plan and coordinate a beautiful wedding. What’s also good about it is that they continuously offer on-going courses which allow members to keep up with the latest trends, discover new and unique venues and do some networking within the wedding industry.

TELLING A GEORGETTE FROM A SILK ETAMINE. YES WE CAN! Apart from learning, anyone who wants to become a wedding coordinator needs to have a specific set of skills both soft and more specific. Sam Ketterer, senior wedding consultant at Absolute Perfection says “you have to be a jack of all trades!” Meaning that one has to be adaptable and able to do a lot of things, be creative, organized, and have great administrative skills. Clearly a background in event and project management is an advantage, and that’s another way to go at it.

For Christina Holt, founder and managing director at Wedding Concepts, “being a “people person” is an absolute must in our industry – and as a destination wedding company, we need to bring an understanding of differ-

ent cultures, expectations and global trends.” She then adds “confidence and sense of style are vital too – paired with a healthy dose of financial awareness, strategic thinking, business development and marketing skills.” Enzo Miccio has the same views about being a “people person” as he explains “first and foremost there’s surely the “psychologist” factor, you need to be able to enter the minds of who’s in front of you, whether in your office, studio, atelier or shop. People follow one another, and they are all different, with different lives, background as well as dreams.” Antonella Cerminara, wedding coordinator at Your Day Made Simple began volunteering her services to learn the tricks of the trade, but according to her a wedding planner should “be patient and have the ability to think quickly in order to resolve issues.” Being a wedding coordinator is not easy at all, as Rebecca Chan, wedding and events planner at Rebecca Chan Weddings & Events explains “you must be willing to work long hours on your feet and you must love working with people,” and adds “you need to have thick skin as well because when things don't go right, you are the first to blame.” So all in all patience, resourcefulness and the ability to problem solve come in handy in the job, but also a high level of knowledgeability fashion, cuisine, floristry and so on, as Miccio explains “a wedding planner needs to be very knowledgeability, a wedding planner needs to be able to tell a roman church

KEYWORDS

➜ One needs to be a jack of all trades

➜ A wide range of knowledge

➜ Organizational skills are very important

➜ One needs to be a people person on both personal and professional levels

from a baroque one, a rose from a carnation and a georgette from a silk etamine for example.”

THE UPS AND DOWNS

Just like any other job this has its advantages and disadvantages. Everyone seems to agree that the great advantages are that often you’re your own boss, you have flexibility, and get to meet interesting new people every day. The disadvantages seem to be more varied, for instance, according to Cerminara, “a disadvantage of the job for me is that its seasonal!” Miccio says “you have to abandon the concept of day and night, the bride could call at every hour of day or night.” Chan says “weddings are often 10-14 hour days on your feet and almost always happen on weekends during the seasons where you have nice weather. This means your weekend schedule is often booked up for work, sometimes a year in advance.”

DAILY ACTIVITIES

Being a wedding planner is extensively time consuming, and requires a lot of energy. The daily activities vary widely, so that often “days are split between client meetings, décor mock-ups, marketing meetings, interviews, developing blog & social media content and supplier briefings for upcoming projects,” says Holt.

Researching and meeting suppliers is a big part of the job for Miccio too, as he says “I spend half of my time meeting smiths, carpenters, glaziers and caterers. Last night I got back at half past midnight. I was with the couple at the caterer’s to decide whether the risotto was better with a marrowbone ragout or simply saffron,” and adds “I know for many this can seem a little crazy, but people need to understand that this is their day, and they’re getting married only once!”

YOU CAN GET SATISFTACTION

However hard the job might seem, it’s also very rewarding. Seeing a happy couple with a dream realized is a very big deal. Chan says “it truly is a honor to be a part of a bride and groom's spe-

cial occasion in such an important way and this is definitely the most rewarding part of the job.”

“

Knowing that I have tapped into the inner personalities of my clients in such a way to be able to create an originally designed concept and theme for their wedding with numerous details that complement who they are as a couple” exclaims Scardina Becker.

FOR RICHER, FOR POORER, A LAST PIECE OF ADVICE

The main advice is to always do a course, and gain experience in event planning, but “don’t mistake wedding planning for a “lovely little job that makes clients happy constantly” – a healthy approach would be to be prepared for many long hours, have well developed project management skills and not to mistake ones’ own wedding - as amazing as it might have been – as the “holy grail” that equips you to manage other couples’ celebrations and expectations” shouts out Holt. “Volunteer, volunteer and volunteer. Get your feet wet and see if you love it. If you don't love it, it is a tough job to pursue. If you do love it, get certified and jump in. It is a flourishing industry in Canada,” asserts Chan.

“Understand what it is. A course is a first step to clarify what are the competences and what’s requested out of a wedding planner, but then be ready to put your personal life aside, to dedicate a lot of time to this job. All in all this is not a hobby or a second job, this is a profession” declares Miccio. So finally, if you want to be a wedding planner

do a course that suits your style of learning. You'll need to be self motivated and determined to succeed as it is still a small Industry, and get as much experience helping friends and family as you can. Take pictures and get testimonials from everything however small, but also “get a part-time job at a venue or outside caterers to feel exactly what an event is like behind the scenes and start reading wedding blogs and even try to start blogging yourself to develop your own style,” says McKeown.•

[W absoluteperfection.co.uk ce.csueastbay.edu/certificate/wedding/index.shtml cherishweddingplanning.co.uk enzomiccio.com eventsofdistinction.com rebeccachan.ca weddingconcepts.co.za wpic.ca yourdaymadesimple.ca]

Joining the Company Global Job Market

By PINA DRASKOVICH

What the World Needs Now

Workforces are changing just like the working world, some sectors are starting, others growing, and even others slowly fading away. In a society that is mired in what seems, a neverending economic and financial crisis, it is hopeful to know there are some opportunities for qualified and skilled workers.

We all look for jobs, continuously, even if we have one, for career advancements, or because we’re looking for new challenges and better benefits. We all look for jobs, with the galloping amount of layoffs caused by the scary and disastrous crisis that has been gnawing the planet for the past 4 years. Optimism, positivity and hope can help us think straight and understand that there are opportunities and for those who don’t have opportunities there are solutions.

THE STRONG SECTORS

The recession has been forcing companies to postpone hirings as long as possible, nevertheless, some industries have better hiring rates than others. In Europe things do not seem to be bright yet, only a few countries and sectors are still healthy and growing, Norway being one of them, especially when it comes to the oil and energy sector. Also the legal sector seems to be strong, as it is running in Eastern Europe too. IT seems to be strong, as there’s a high demand in countries like Switzerland, UK, Germany and Norway. Nonetheless, the auto industry shows a mixed feeling “some companies are suffering and some others, that have new models, are still showing a great demand for workers,” says Hans Leentjes, ManpowerGroup Executive Vice President, President of Northern Europe. The communication and media sector is dropping, because of how overcrowded it became in the last 10 years so it has no positive hiring intents for the near or far away future. On the other side of the world, in Australia and New Zealand, opportunities increase. In Australia, for example, the resources and mineral industry went through a significant boom, “but in recent times with the commodity

prices dropping for hard minerals like coal and hibonite, we’ve seen a sharp decline over the last 3 months,” asserts Lincoln Crawley, Managing Director, ManpowerGroup Australia & New Zealand, who adds that they are witnessing an incredible growth in the oil and gas sector, which seems to stay stable pretty much all around the world. According to Crawley, the homecare sector is also going to be one of the growth areas in the future, and interestingly enough it is an area where, because only 1 in 10 is medically qualified, “there is an opportunity to upscale those unskilled workers who are not in demand in the manufacturing sector, training them up so they can be useful in the homecare environment.” On the other hand, however, the retail sector will see a significant drop in hiring demand because of the boom of e-commerce. Let’s face it, people are buying online, it’s easy, quick and can be done on a stormy winter day from the comfort of your home or office. “In China, wholesale and retail trade employers report the most optimistic hiring plans, as the outlook stands at a +14%, despite a weakening trend of four percentage points quarter-on-quarter and five percentage points year-on-year,” says Lancy Chui, Managing Director, ManpowerGroup Hong Kong. Latest retail sales figures for July show a slight year-on-year growth of 3.8%, as she affirms “traditionally a robust shopping month,” while the contracting mainland China economy has cooled to 7.6%, which has given Hong Kong retailers a

ManpowerGroup

warning sign that “mainland shoppers are cutting back on purchases of luxury goods, such as jewelry, watches and leading designer labels.” Other sectors in crisis are finance, Real Estate & insurance. On the finance-side, despite continued challenges, global financial turmoil and a euro zone crisis, job prospects for experienced individuals with customer service, revenue-generation skills in loans and money management exhibited striking strength. In addition to that, according to Chui, experienced financial talents who are well versed in internal auditing, compliance or FCPA within China and Asia Pacific are also in demand. On the downside, the lack of significant improvement toward solving the Euro debt problem has placed additional pressure on the recovery of the banking and finance sector. Many banks have announced the prospect of layoffs with a view to increasing capital to prepare for a potential worsening of the European debt crisis, “this has had a domino effect on the sector in Hong Kong,” states Chui. The trends in Brazil seem to be opposite where the “sectors with most optimistic hiring plans are finance, insurance & Real Estate as well as construction with anticipated increases of 31% and 30% respectively,” attests Riccardo Barberis, Country Manager, ManpowerGroup Brazil and adds “the services sector is also strong in the country, with a positive 29% in the survey conducted by ManpowerGroup.” South Africa shows even more diverse trends as Lyndy Van Den Barselaar,

is the world leader in innovative workforce solutions with over 60 years of experience. ManpowerGroup maintains the world’s largest and industry-leading network of nearly 3,600 offices in over 80 countries and territories, generating a dynamic mix of an unmatched global footprint with valuable insight and local expertise to meet the needs of its 400,000 clients per year, across all industry sectors, small and medium-sized enterprises, local, multinational and global companies.

KEYWORDS

➜ unskilled workers are in trouble, but they can count on training solutions

➜ oil and gas engineering is still a strong market

➜ a relative improvement is foreseen in 2013

➜ engineers are the most sough after professionals all over the world

Managing Director, ManpowerGroup

South Africa explains “the strongest hiring outlook for the first 2013 quarter sees transport, storage & communication at a Net Employment Outlook of +5%, the public & social sector follow at +4% and the agriculture, hunting, forestry & fishing sector at +3%.”

THE STRONG JOB POSITIONS AND SKILLS

The whole world unites in shouting “engineers” as one of the most requested professional roles, from Norway to Hong Kong, from Philadelphia to Sao Paulo and from South Africa to Oceania. Engineers. Leentjes says “engineers are highly requested especially mechanical, technical and those who work in the oil & gas industry.” According to Crawely “the most requested ones are geo-technical engineers.” Chui states “architectural and engineering firms are geared for further hiring in preparation of an expected infrastructure revitalization of Hong Kong’s ‘Ten Infrastructure Projects’ initiative, placing pressure on their respective industries to secure appropriate talent with appropriate skills.” In Brazil apart from the usual engineers, the other top 10 positions sought after by Brazilian employers are “technicians, skilled trades workers, drivers, production operators, accounting & finance staff, sales representatives, IT professionals, laborers and mechanics.” The same trend seems to be happening in South Africa with the additions of “managers and executives, teachers, legal staff, secretaries, PAs, administrative assistants and office support staff,” declares Van Den Barselaar, who adds “though these often seem like easily fillable positions, there is a very real shortage of ‘hard and soft skilled’ employees who can execute the tasks properly and professionally.”

“For the third consecutive year, skilled trades are experiencing the most acute talent shortages. Engineers and IT staff occupy second and third place respectively,” says Jonas Prising, ManpowerGroup President.

In Hong Kong as well as in New Zealand, construction skills are in great demand, particularly for workers with ex-

Jonas Prising ManpowerGroup President

Hans Leentjes Executive Vice President President of Northern Europe Europe

Lincoln Crawley Managing Director Australia & New Zealand Lancy Chui Managing Director Hong Kong Riccardo Barberis Country Manager Brazil

Lyndy Van Den Barselaar Managing Director South Africa

perience in scaffolding and structural steel, as Chui says “construction projects face significant inflation issues in Hong Kong as project costs continue to increase, causing employers to seek only experienced people with the skills to the get the job right the first time,” supported by Crawley who states “in New Zealand there’s a dramatic shortage in construction workers.” In Brazil, an important skill is the ability to speak a second language, but also the ability to communicate and lead are greatly sought after. Barberis concludes “specific skills for certain jobs that employers are seeking include: financial, IT and research skills.”

In South Africa, as in Europe, technical competencies and skills are greatly valued as well as specific qualifications in both professional and skilled trades categories, but also “previous experience in the position and soft skills such as workplace/client interaction and communication, attitude, personality traits which make the candidate easier to employ, train, perform duties and integrate into the workplace,” says Van Den Barselaar.

In the USA skills such as collaboration, flexibility and adaptability are becoming more important, however as the needs of businesses evolve, skills are quickly becoming antiquated and individuals must embrace lifelong learning. “This kind of proactive approach will help individuals remain competitive and judge whether their spectrum of skills is still desirable at the wage rate they are seeking to ensure they remain an attractive prospect to potential employers,” says Prising.

THE STRONG FUTURE

The most recent unemployment rate for Hong Kong stands steady from the preceding quarter at 3.4%. For Hong Kong this is, in effect, a state of full employment. Chui explains “most recent private sector vacancy figures demonstrate a generally positive hiring sentiment among employers, nevertheless, the employment situation in the near term will still hinge on whether the pace of job creation is sufficient to absorb the influx of fresh graduates and school leavers into the labor market,” and adds “looking forward, as mainland China gradually regains momentum, Hong Kong’s external trade should stabilize and the overall employment market should show relative improvement in the beginning of 2013.” The future of Australia will depend, to a large extent, on what happens in China and what happens in the rest of the world. Crawley claims “Because of the demographic here, in Australia, where the population is ageing, we’ll end up with a lot more individuals working in the healthcare sector and if we look at telecommunications, there will be a lot of innovation going on.” He adds “in New Zealand the manufacturing sector must innovate and add value to raw materials, in there New Zealand has a very brilliant future.” Flying to the other side of the world, Leentjes is convinced that “things will get worse before getting better, more jobs will be shed.” However he is positive about the great demand for skilled workers, especially in countries like Switzerland, the UK, Germany and Norway. However, the future for unskilled workers is not as bright, as opportunities in these sectors will dramatically decrease. •

Managers Manpower Group who help us for this article:

mobility mania

The case is equipped with a slide-upfeature, and is the revolutionary model of the collection, characterized by an innovative easy-to-catch extraction system, an ultra resistant polycarbonate body, insert in eco-leather, and an embossed logo with metal datails, tall features that make Teitch inimitable. The entire range is available for iPhonee5 and iPad Mini, divided by model and in four different colors, each with its own target audience.

Private Eye

The Business Side of Style

Injection Design Award

Injection Design Award is a design competition aimed at creating a new office accessory. The challenge for designers is to design a product that is consistent with the modern work environment, and at the same time able to enhance the potential of injection molding technologies developed by Uniteam-Italy, sponsor of the competition. This is the first industrial design using a unique methodology developed by Desall.com and called Co-Creation.

The winning design is Wave, a versatile desk pad that acts as a mouse pad and organizer, offering essential design and great development capabilities

The second phase of Product Design saw designers implemented the injection molding printing technique to develop the design concept saw the following receive a special mention for their ability to effectively and creatively interpret the brief:

Wave length, Tamas Dongo, Hungary

Folding Pad, Yu Hiraoka, Japan

Shelf-Pad by Matteo Meraldi, Italy

Snake by Pepe Padilla, Mexico

Mouse Stand by Alessio Rocchi, Italy

PEOPLE TO WATCH

Kenneth Bridger

Kenneth Bridger (1961) is a multifaceted artist. He sculpts working with different materials, including marble, wood and neon lighting. He has also created a new product line of jewelry called Nomadic Adornations. In almost everything he does, the word Nomadic comes up, and this describes the real soul of Kenneth. “I am an explorer. I directly descend from Jim Bridger, a famous explorer and that is probably where I got this nomadic inner self, I got it from him!”. After his first Tai Chi lesson he told the maestro, "my hands are on fire, and for some reason I need to play a flute." Kenneth wasn’t musically inclined at the time, but since then, the world of ethnic musical instruments has become important to him. Kenneth has traveled to more than 29 countries. Ken's life mantra is “realize I’m a creative being living in a finite body, to explore as much as possible of what earth has to offer, to live without fear, and to help others along the way.”

“The sounds of the drums put me into a trance, I fell backwards to the ground, I had a vision and no control of my body.”

PEOPLE TO WATCH

Diego Altamirano

“I had enough of the sameness of always being indoors.”

Diego Altamirano (1976) is a Spanish horse aficionado. This passion runs in his family as both his father and grandfather used to sell horses, and this is also why he decided to start working for the club. He had bet everything on this. “This place used to be a herd of horses, but now we have improved to become a riding club,” he says. It was not easy starting from scratch, but in three months, they were able to have the club up and running, “after a lot of paperwork, bureaucracy and courses to take people riding” he confesses. The ranch started out with only 3 horses for riding, but then they invested in marketing and “from 3 riding horses we now have 14, and in total we come to 78 horses on the farm. We also export horses.” Diego Altamirano happy working with horses, his lifelong passion. They, along with the human members of his solid team, make every workday enjoyable.

Photos by Paolo Mazzo, Milan, Italy

PEOPLE TO WATCH

Dom Bailey

“Design has always been a big part of my life, but these days my focus is more on branding and communication design.”

Dom Bailey (1974) has recently opened a communication design studio with fellow creative director and friend, Matt Baxter. The studio“helps companies define their vision and bring it to life through branding and communications” says Bailey.

Dom is also passionate about cuisine he likes to coook. He recalls that good food shared around the table has always been a part of his upbringing “I am from quite a large family, so sitting around the table together is something hugely important to me, it always has been and always will be, I have a young family myself now and we too stick to the same principle.”

He also brews beer together with his neighbor “at a fairly basic level,” he says. Although brewing beer remains a hobby, he hopes to be able to grow it a little bit as he confesses “I have an ambition to own a small micro-brewery to supply the local pub and friends with but not as a business.”

PEOPLE TO WATCH

Jacopo Bernardi

“I started working from a very young age, in construction sites with my father, so that I was able to learn many things in the field.”

Jacopo Bernardi (1974) is an architect from Cortina d’Ampezzo, the most famous ski resort in the Dolomites, working in the family architecture firm Bernardi Achitects. The majority of their assignments are chalets and renovating mountain huts that can date back to the 1800's. He has played hockey since he was a young man. He was played professionally until graduation, he says “this is why it took me a little longer to get a degree.” Nevertheless, after finishing university and starting a job, he had to make a choice: hockey or architecture. He decided to drop hockey professionally and to focus on being an architect. Jacopo is living the real life, he says “of course we don’t have as many things as city people do, but I’m happy, I lived in Milan for 8 or 9 months, and I’d never do that again.” The best thing about Cortina d’Ampezzo is the great quality of life, “your office is only 5 minutes away from you house, so you can go home and enjoy your family during your lunch-break and also there’s no traffic, which is always stressful,” he says.

PEOPLE TO WATCH

Alessandra Oteri

“To me Brazil was not a place to live, but a life-long project.” Photos by Hebrom Tebas, Caratinga, Brazil

In the beginning of 2012 Alessandra Oteri (1982, Italy) packed her bags, sold her car and her furniture to pursue her dream of moving to Brazil, where she began working as a commercial manager for a surfing school in Jericoacoara a surfers’ paradise in the northern part of Brazil. “It was amazing," she says. "I was going to work in shorts and hawaianas, and my boss would attend meetings barefoot!” Today Alessandra lives in Bahia, where she’s the commercial and administrative director of the Pousada Recanto do Prado, a local hotel. But she’s also the general manager of Prado Bahia Brasil Turismo, an agency linked to the hotel and devoted to the promotion of the area. “Working here is a challenge” she says, adding “a place that has been at the top as a tourist destination for so long, but that went down when the only tour operator working with this destination went bankrupt 15 years ago.” Work aside, Alessandra volunteers with a native community who still lives by hunting, agriculture and fishing. They have neither water nor electricity, and speak their own language, but also a little Portuguese. By working with them, Alessandra has created a bridge between her job and the needs of the community.

PEOPLE TO WATCH

Serra Titiz

“All our childhood, my sister and I thought we should continue our family business, and follow our father’s footsteps.”

Serra Titiz (1976) is a Turkish social entrepreneur from Istanbul. When it came time to choose a career, she opted for sociology, an important choice for her, as she says, “it helped me open myself.”

In 2007, Serra established Mikado Consulting of which she is founder and managing director. The core business of Mikado, which recently became a B-Company, is to create models for sustainable development. Outside of office hours Serra is a music person as she admits. "Actually in an earlier life I was probably an unsuccesful musician, and I feel that in this life I have a mission to accomplish: I have to listen to it all the time.” She’s currently learning to play the violin, and until 2 years ago she used to DJ at several friends' bars in Istanbul. Her mantra in life is “live your life at fullest, every minute and every second.” Serra Titiz is one of the lucky people that are living the dream, since she’s doing what she has always hoped for and when she’s at work it doesn’t feel like a job. "it's not work," she asserts, "it is how I express myself.” In 10 years she hopes to be doing the same with Mikado.

Photos by Serkan Taycan, Istanbul, Turkey

THE MOVIES

Madame Hortense Laburie is a passionate and creative chef. She grew up in Perigord, her talent in the kitchen is the fruit of rural heritage that led her to better appreciate the quality of homegrown food, her dedication to old recipes books and her mother’s teachings. Ultimately, her culinary skills reach the Elysee Palace, where she’s appointed Chief Chef in the kitchen of the President’s residence. Hortense's strong personality and her ability to make a refined, no-frills cuisine, rich in traditional flavours wins over the President. Unfortunately, her genius and determination collide with the institutional apparatus, founded on bureaucracy, rigid protocols and strict control over everything happening around her, including the purchase of chicken and vegetables! To the detriment of the excellent results, “the palace management system” perceives the chef as an “alien cell," unable to conform. Dispite the commitment and support of her assistant and her butler, who share her idea of work as a passion, she is “mobbed” by the strict bureaucrats and by her colleagues’ male chauvinism. They work in the presidential residence with her and can’t tolerate her talent stealing their stage. Hortense decides not to conform and resigns, turning down the prestigious mandate, to move to an isolated place near the sea in faraway New Zealand. There, she allows a group of young scientists to experience and appreciate the joys of haute-cuisine, as thy are far from home and haven’t got many pretensions, but can recognize the value of a chef. In a gastronomic triumph that goes from foie gras to saint honoré, we see the passion of a culinary talent who is suffocated by power, envy, sexism, and finally by those unable to understand that, who doesn’t conform could be valuable anyway.

Les Saveurs du Palais

Review by Carasoo Eating well, following a passion and avoiding jerks extends your lifespan. Following a diet, requires certain protocols and a lot of patience, for passions and jerks it works in the same way. As Patrick, a man who lived until he was a century old, said: life is short, and it must be lived properly.

01 Monsieur President (J. D’Ormesson) loves truffles

02 Hortense (C. Frot) and a young chef

03 Hortense is choosing ingredients sensibly

04 The poster of the movie Les Saveurs du Palais

Photo courtesy of Frenetic Films

Characters Catherine Frot, Jean D’Ormesson, Hippolyte Girardot, Arthur Dupong and Jean Marc Roulot.

Created by Christian Vincent and Étienne Comar and directed by Christian Vincent.

Produced by Armada Films & Vendôme Production

[W lessaveursdupalais.com]

A simple traditional French cuisine wins over the President, but it can do nothing against bureaucracy, sexism and envy.

Suits

Cunning lawyers struggle and fight to the sound of lawsuits and pleadings.

By FRANCESCA TONEGUTTI

Suits tells the story of some young and shrewd lawyers, working and living in the Big Apple. One day, a rampant corporate lawyer in a large American law firm, while interviewing possible candidates, comes across a young man of great talent who, despite having always dreamed of being a lawyer, he lived only by his wits. The two are caught in incredible harmony, so that despite the fact that the young man, Mike, is not a Harvard graduate or even a lawyer, he gets hired by Harvey Specter, who was in the meantime promoted to senior partner. He sees a lot of himself in this young talented man, and he is fascinated by his brilliant mind and his passion for the law. On the one hand Harvey, obsessive, rational, unscrupulous, on the other Mike, insecure, emotional and brilliant, create a professional union that is invincible, with flashes of true friendship and mutual support. A real "couple," without the private life part. The lives of the two are interwoven with cases, disputes between colleagues, leadership issues, endless working hours, competition among young associates, friendships and love. This all becomes difficult to manage, despite the advice of a beautiful, smart and devoted secretary, one of the many secrets of the invincible team. The American dream is recalled here, everyone has the opportunity to prove how much they’re worth. It's all about showing passion, tenacity and dedication to work, as well as meeting the "right person."

01 Mike Ross (Patrick J. Adams).

02 Harvey Specter (Gabriel Macht).

03 HS (Gabriel Macht) in court.

Review by Carasoo My friend Daniel is such a bastard, he doesn't need to be a jerk, too. According to him the outward respect of the person in front of him doesn’t exist, he prefers a more functional approach, than an emotional one. However this is a superficial read. After a while, when you know him, and you start to understand his ways, Daniel is an incredible functional emotional person. He’s capable of great kindness and incredible honesty. Honesty is an important topic in our society. When combined with intelligence, it becomes a remarkable fundamental value. Daniel met Mary one day, and they got married. Friends say she’s the heart and he’s the mind.

Created by Aaron Korsh and

Kevin Bray, Michael Smith, Félix Enríquez Alcalá, Jennifer Getzinger, John Scott. Produced by Produced by Doug Liman, David Bartis and Gene Klein [W usanetwork.com/series/suits]

Characters Patrick J. Adams (Mike Ross), Gabriel Macht (Harvey Specter), Gina Torres (Jessica Pearson), Meghan Markle (Rachel Zane), Rick Hoffman (Louis Litt), Sarah Rafferty (Donna), Tom Lipinski (Trevor) and Rebecca Schull (Mike’s grandma)

directed by

Rewiews

BOOKS

Exciting New Releases

Find 40 interesting new releases and six unique interviews for fresh ideas on HR and business trends.

Raul Valdes-Perez

Advice Is for Winners: How to Get Advice for Better Decisions in Life and Work [Ganador Press, 182 pp., $12.99]

A book on the many benefits of advice and the reasons why people often fail to seek it. The author draws on his experiences as an observer, traveler, father, academic research scientist, board member, and software internet entrepreneur, to explain to readers how to be more proactive and more skilled in seeking advice from others for better decision making in life and at work.

Bryan A. Garner

HBR Guide to Better Business Writing [Harvard Business Review Press, 240 pp., $19.95]

Garner is a leading authority on writing and with this book he shows the importance of good business writing to save time, money, and the reader's patience. The text, with suggestions and practical tools, will help the readers express ideas more clearly and persuasively.

Norbert Häring and Niall Douglas

Economists and the Powerful: Convenient Theories, Distorted Facts, Ample Rewards [Anthem Press, 260 pp., £16.99]

The authors argue that economic principles have been distorted to serve power. Based on empirical and theoretical studies, current and past economic doctrines, the book provides insights about the actual crisis and shows why the true workings of capitalism are very different from the popular myths voiced in mainstream economics.

Peter Fleming & Marc T. Jones

The End of Corporate Social Responsibility: Crisis and Critique

[SAGE Publications, 144 pp., $45.00]

Most CSR-related activities aim to gain legitimacy from consumers and employees, and therefore further the profit maximization, making CSR initiatives merely another means to an end. The aim of the text is to understand what has gone wrong with CSR theories and practices, and to look for possible solutions.

Sharon Melnick, Ph.D.

Success Under Stress: Powerful Tools for Staying Calm, Confident, and Productive When the Pressure’s On [AMACOM, 272 pp., $17.95]

Melnick is a business psychologist, experienced in helping professionals “get out of their own way”. Her book provides a flexible array of strategies and helps people to gain control, exude calm and confidence whether they are clashing with a coworker or have overflowing priority lists. The reader will learn how to take control of challenging circumstances to conquer stress.

twsm Tell me about the readers to whom it is addressed

sm My book was written for working professionals of all levels and it is about how to be effective and get results by preventing or overcoming the daily challenges that interfere with productivity and creative thinking.

twsm How much time do we need to learn the strategies that are in your book?

sm We are all busy and for many of us having a 90 minutes of yoga class is highly desired but from a practical aspect, it is unlikely. So what is important is to have strategies, tools and exercises that people can do right in the heat of the moment and that can get them right back into the state of clear thinking, concentration and productivity throughout the day.

twsm There are also some strategies for leaders in order to help their co-workers to be less stressed out?

sm Managers can help their team members be less stressed out by: being more clear about their strategic priorities, providing role clarity and making their assumptions clearer about what they expect, so they help their team members prioritize their work. I think that leaders should encourage every member of the team to practice the tools in the book; a leader can create what I have called a “50% culture”: it is when everyone in the team follows the “50% rule” of the book i.e. everyone is taking responsibility for his contributions toward the goal. Managers can also help co-workers be more confident: they can give honest feedback in performance reviews, create a learning environment in the team that tolerates mistakes as a part of innovation and efficiency improvement, they have to show to an under confident co-worker that they believe in him.

Illustrations by Hanna Melin, London, UK

Maura McAdam

Female Entrepreneurship

[Routledge, 146 pp., £24.99]

The book considers women to be a heterogeneous group and as such acknowledges that ethnicity, culture, class and education will all influence and intersect with female entrepreneurship. As a consequence, it explores issues ranging from theoretical relationships between the constructs of gender and entrepreneurship to more empirical work on how entrepreneurship might act as an empowering change agent for women.

Greg Ip

The Little Book of Economics: How the Economy Works in the Real World, Revised and Updated [Wiley, 258 pp., £15.99]

Greg Ip explains the most important terms, concepts and the current happenings in a clear and concise conversational way. The book provides also an expert analysis of globalization and the increasing gap between the rich and poor and some suggestions about how policymakers should address growth, jobs, taxes and the deficit.

Eddy Ng, Sean Lyons and Linda Schweitzer

Managing The New Workforce: International Perspectives on the Millennial Generation [Edward Elgar Publishing, 336 pp., £90.00]

Many employees are nearing retirement and a new cadre of younger workers are being recruited to replace them. They represent the new workforce with their own set of expectations, demands, and work habits. Aim of this book is to provide a way of understanding the values, beliefs, and expectations of this new generation of workers, in multiple countries and settings.

Jane Buckingham & Venkataraman

Nilakant (edited by)

Managing Responsibly: Alternative Approaches to Corporate Management and Governance

[Gower, 248 pp., £55.00]

While is increasing the demand of managers that have an understanding of ethical decision making, corporate social responsibility and value-based management, this book explores the limitations of the thinking that dominates Western corporate and business culture.

twsm In your book you talk about the "pause" in a new way: what is the meaning of your statement "pause powers performance"?

kc Pause is not about putting on the brakes and doing nothing. It’s about doing things differently. The pace of work, the pressure to perform and the speed of our interconnected world have never been greater. Most people respond to these demands by going faster and pushing harder, but these responses are counterproductive. Because the core skills and abilities that are critical to success in today’s complex environment – innovation, agility, sorting through complexity, and strategic thinking – all involve deep self-awareness, reflection, and creativity. Speed and hyper-activity inhibit these skills.

twsm How can pause transform leadership? And how can it transform a manager into a leader?

The Pause Principle

[Berrett-Koehler, 192 pp., $16.95]

Cashman affirms with his book that the answer is not to act more quickly but to pause more deeply-to slow down to go fast, to stop and prioritize, to make time to discern and think clearly. The book offers a catalytic process to move from mere management efficiency and transaction to leadership innovation and transformation.

kc Management is about speed and transaction, whereas leadership is about strategic, innovative transformation. Managers execute time-tested approaches, but leaders pause to find new ways to step into changing circumstances. Managers pride themselves on rapid decision-making, while leaders know the value of slowing down to incorporate values and purpose into more grounded and thoughtful decision-making. The art of management is consistently, efficiently achieving results; the art of leadership is growing people to produce enduring value. True leadership is about transformation, and transformation is not possible without pause.

twsm What is the importance of pause in our hyper-technological and constantly connected world?

kc The need for pause is a universal human dynamic. And in today’s world, where we are constantly moving, doing, acting, and reacting, simply because technology makes it possible, pause is more critical than ever. If we do not teach ourselves to slow down, to rest, to be mindful and determine what is important, we will continue to suffer from illness, burnout, and loss of purpose in our work and lives. As noted mindfulness researcher Jon Kabat-Zinn put it, “The internet is on 24/7; it doesn’t mean we have to be.”

Kevin Cashman

BOOKS

Alisa Freedman, Laura Miller and Christine Yano (edited by)

Modern Girls on the Go: Gender, Mobility, and Labor in Japan [Stanford Un Press, 296 pp., $24.95]

A book focused on the experiences and cultural descriptions of women’s mobility and labor in Japan. The text takes an interdisciplinary approach to this subjects and it gives insights of girls in motion throughout the twentieth century with similarly rich comparative accounts of how these girls continue to march across the twenty-first century.

Tracey Wilen-Daugenti, Courtney L. Vien, Caroline Molina-Ray (edited by) Women Lead: Career Perspectives from Workplace Leaders [Peter Lang Publishing, 272 pp., $36.95]

This book explores actual career trends by drawing on interviews with 200 women leaders and survey responses from more than 3,000 male and female managers. The authors argue that women are taking the lead in today’s workforce: they explain career trends and provide practical advice to help women succeed in the work environment.

Timothy J. Mohin

Changing Business from the Inside Out [Berrett-Koehler, 264 pp., $24.95]

In Changing Business from the Inside Out, Mohin has written the first practical, authoritative insider’s guide to creating a career in corporate responsibility. Mohin describes how to get started and what the day-to-day experience of being “the designated driver at the corporate cocktail party” is really like. He recounts colorful case studies from his own career.

J. R. Smith & Siobhan MacDermott

Wide Open Privacy: Strategies for the Digital Life

[IT-Harvest Press, 190 pp., $14.95]

With this book Smith & MacDermott offer strategies to control personal data in ways that fully realize the power of privacy in a digital world: an alternative to both government and industry control of online privacy - a “third approach” that puts control of personal data where it never should have left in the first place: in the hands of the consumer.

twsm Tell us about your book, starting from its title and meanings.

jl The full title of the book is Rapid Change: Immediate Action for the Impatient Leader. Many of the leaders I have worked with not only want change now, they would prefer to have it yesterday. I’ve seen so many examples of leaders who are impatient and want to accelerate the rate of change. The challenge (and solution) is what to do with that impatience. The title of the book was important to me for a few reasons. It was an attempt to offer an alternative to impatient leaders. The most effective ones are able to harness this impatience so that it provides direction and influences others to move with urgency on a daily and weekly basis to create the long-term outcomes that leaders want. The rapid change methods included in the book provide a way to connect all of the behaviors (leader, manager, supervisor, and employee) to the business results.

twsm Your book presents many tips and real stories from which to draw inspiration. Is it addressed to managers at every level?

Joe S. Laipple

Rapid Change: Immediate Action for the Impatient Leader

[Performance Management Publications, 184 pp., $21.95]

Joe Laipple, Ph.D., senior vice president of strategic services for Aubrey Daniels International, provides a series of tips to create a long-term cultural change in organizations. The text presents tools that leaders can use to overcome the inevitable signs of resistance that they will encounter along the way.

jl The book includes examples from across levels of leadership. It applies to executives who sponsor the change, senior leaders and manager who follow up on the direction set by executives, and supervisors who take action on a daily and weekly basis to pull through the changes. The audience is any leader who is implementing change within a company. Since it deals with principles for effective execution, it is a relevant read for anyone who is interested in getting change to occur and making it stick. This applies not only to leaders and businesses but to other things individuals are attempting to make happen outside of the workplace.

twsm Can you tell me about your “Nine Principles of Rapid Change” and what are the main difficulties a manager has to face during this process?

jl The principles of rapid change provide a framework to guide effective execution and help leaders cascade their influence across levels of the organization. The biggest challenge for managers is to focus their impatience on their behavior changes and direct reports of behavior changes on a daily and weekly basis rather than shifting too soon to the longer term results changes that may take more than 30, 60 or even 90 days to improve.

Ron Schultz (edited by)

Creating Good Work: The World’s Leading Social Entrepreneurs Show How to Build a Healthy Economy

[Palgrave Macmillan, 238 pp., £29.99]

This is a practical guidebook that recounts the stories of some of the most successful social entrepreneurial programs. Schultz aims to provide to any social entrepreneur innovative ways to have a positive impact on the world and society around them.

Don Young

Enterprise Rules: The Foundations of High Achievement and How to Build on Them

[Profile Books, 288 pp., £15.00]

Don Young provides an extensive analysis on what is going wrong in management practices today. He demonstrates that management has been subverted by an emphasis on short term financial results with the result that many managers today focus on the wrong things and communicate in meaningless jargon.

Rajiv Biswas

Future Asia: The New Gold Rush in the East

[Palgrave Macmillan, 216 pp., £26.99]

Biswas wants to explain why Asia is growing so rapidly and to determinate if it will continue to do so. The rise of China, India and ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) countries such as Indonesia, and the rapid growth of Asian consumer markets are increasingly being seen as the new growth drivers for the world.

Tamar Kasriel

Futurescaping: Business Insights to Plan Your Future

[Bloomsbury, 240 pp., £9.99]

A guide on decision-making and scenario-planning in our private lives that draws on the adaptation of the best elements of business planning. Kasriel starts from the fact that many people manage brilliantly at work, making smart and accountable decisions, but they let their personal lives slide into gentle chaos, and with this book she shows how individuals can use the same business planning technique to plan for their own futures.

twsm Tell me about your book “No More Pointless Meetings” mm Everyone, it seems, complains about how much time and talent is wasted in meetings. And for good reason; the conventional meeting often guarantees mediocre results. For the past thirty years I’ve been teaching an alternative to the traditional meeting model. I wrote the book in response to client requests over the years for a documented account of the system I had been teaching in-person. Most people know that meetings could be a lot more productive but nothing has changed in the way we collaborate for the past century. Plus, everyone who runs meetings thinks they’re good at it, until they’re introduced to an alternative.

We live and work in a digital world that is evolving with mind-boggling speed. So it should come as no surprise those meetingsthe collaborative mainstay of workflow management, can no longer be exempted from an innovative upgrade.

twsm You stress the importance of appointing a facilitator to conduct the meeting. Why should he or she not be the most senior manager in the room?

Martin Murphy

No More Pointless Meetings

[AMACOM, 240 pp., $17.95]

Wasting time in pointless meetings is the one thing that never seems to change, but this step by step book will help to transform time-sapping meetings into breakthrough sessions that are measurably productive. Murphy's strategy is not simply to make meetings more palatable; instead, he reframes the entire concept of collaboration and introduces four "Work Sessions" that replace meetings to get more done, faster than ever before.

mm The ranking person in the room should rarely run a meeting. When they, do a multitude of interpersonal dynamics are triggered. These include fear (hiding), political positioning (the need to impress), and every non-productive dynamic in-between. Left unmonitored, the reason for the meeting (content) will always be trumped by personal agendas (process).

But there’s an even more fundamental reason why the boss shouldn’t run meetings: Consider the experience, knowledge and wisdom brought to a meeting by that individual. Why distract his or her focus from content when the most junior person in the conference room can be taught how to facilitate a meeting in a day or two? Ideally, the task of facilitating any work session should go to the most junior person in attendance who knows how.

BOOKS

Andy Molinsky

Global Dexterity: How to Adapt Your Behavior Across Cultures without Losing Yourself in the Process [Harvard Business Review Press, 224 pp., $25.00]

Our status as“citizens of the word” often imposes behaviors adapted to fit into new cultural contexts. This book presents a new skill, global dexterity, to help the reader to switch behaviors and overcome the emotional and psychological challenges of the new situations.

Robert Hisrich and Amr Al-Dabbagh

Governpreneurship: Establishing a Thriving Entrepreneurial Spirit in Government [Edward Elgar Publishing, 288 pp., £29.95]

From their experiences and with the presentation of four case studies, the authors demonstrate the effectiveness of government entrepreneurship, especially nowadays when government funds are being reduced and its services increasingly questioned.

OD Network Handbook for Strategic HR: Best Practices in Organization Development from the OD Network [AMACOM, 662 pp., $60.00]

With practical suggestions, the book enables readers to become key partners in leading their organizations forward: professionals are called to behave as organization development consultants, helping to determine priorities in running the business, design how work gets done, craft strategy, and shape culture.

Beverly Kaye & Julie Winkle Giulioni

Help Them Grow or Watch Them Go: Career Conversations Employees Want [Berrett-Koehler, 144 pp., $17.95]

A text written for anyone who has a role in developing others, filled with practical tips, guidelines, and templates, as well as nearly a hundred suggested conversation questions. With this book, illuminated with the perspectives of real managers and employees, the authors prove that careers are best developed one conversation at a time.

[Routledge Academic, 720 pp., $95.00]

A book that offers comprehensive coverage of the most important thinking and findings on work motivation, a resource for scholars and for anyone interested in the fields of motivation, work behavior and human resource management.

twsm Your book is about "work motivation", how can we define it? rk, gc & rp There are different definitions of work motivation, we can say that it is a deliberate process that people have by which they allocate their resources, time, efforts, attention and their social resources to accomplish a task goal or a job goal. Motivation has always been considered important to job performance but in the modern world, where many jobs are not regulated by a machine and are not assembling jobs, motivation is particularly important: it may involve motivation to go the extra mile, to accomplish a team goal, to have an effective solution to overcome an obstacle and so on. Motivation remains a really important determinant of job performance in many environments.

twsm What are the most important aspects that have to be considered in designing motivating jobs? rk, gc & rp People want jobs that allow them to continue to growth and learn, jobs where supervision and leadership are fair and the hr management practices are just; people want to understand the purpose of what they do and the meaning for the organization of what they do, they want to be engaged and enjoy working with others. Today we spend a lot of time collaborating and working in teams, and this involves getting recognition from the team of our value: so, when designing a job, it has to be taken into account how the team rewards, and how the individual is motivated by being part of the team.

twsm What leadership's aspects can influence positively the motivation of collaborators?

rk, gc & rp There is not one right way to motivate all employees all the time, you have to think about the specific situation and the specifics of the individual as they affect motivation: you have to take into account the person’s experience and what his skills are. You have to adjust your leadership style and to inspire co-workers: one of the two ways you can inspire is helping the employee understand what is the purpose and meaning of what he is doing; the second way is by being a model of good behavior. We need to pay attention to the three C’s of motivation (Content, Context, Change) we recalled in the book, to adjust strategies in terms of motivating people.

Ruth Kanfer, Gilad Chen & Robert D. Pritchard (edited by) Work Motivation: Past, Present and Future

Idea Agent: Leadership That Liberates Creativity and Accelerates Innovation

[AMACOM, 288 pp., $27.95]

This book offers seven proven principles through which new ideas come to fruition, from unleashing passion and drive, and embracing productive conflict, to emphasizing excellence and structure while living values that liberate creativity. As team catalyst, the leader delivers results while nurturing intuition and growing talent.

Dennis Perkins & Jillian B. Murphy

Into the Storm: Lessons in Teamwork from the Treacherous Sydney-to-Hobart Ocean Race

[AMACOM, 288 pp., $24.95]

The authors tell the true story of a crew of “amateur” sailors, during the 1998 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race, the most perilous to date because of a sudden and violent storm. The book chronicles the nearly four-day ordeal and draws parallels to the world of business, revealing 10 critical strategies for teamwork at the edge, and provides compelling case studies to show what teams need to do succeed in tough times.

All India Management Association

Leaders on Leadership: Insights from Corporate India

[SAGE Publications, 148 pp., $29.95]

The book collects personal contributions from celebrated indian business leaders, to allow the reader to understand that leadership is not a “one-size-fits-all” concept but that it is possible to draw inspiration and learn from the struggles and achievements of other business leaders, who have already discovered the importance of initiative and practice.

Paul Smith

Lead with a Story: A Guide to Crafting Business Narratives That Captivate, Convince, and Inspire [AMACOM, 288 pp., $24.95]

Stories have the power to engage an audience more than logic and data, so storytelling is becoming a powerful business tool to communicate, for example, a vision or inspire commitment. Smith shows how narrative can help in several business fields and provides both ready-to-use stories and how-to guidance for readers to craft their own stories.

twsm Why you decided to write a book that connects fables with leadership abilities?

im&dm Most people not necessarily learn not only from books that are academic but also through stories. Fred Rogers was an American institution; he had a TV-program for kids where he told stories and fables. These were so well done that the same themes speak to us for our entire life. What we did in the book was we took his fables as many business cases: we used the fables because all of them really have a message that is applicable to business.

twsm Can you give an example?

Fables and the Art of Leadership: Applying the Wisdom of Mister Rogers to the Workplace [Palgrave Macmillan, 222 pp., £60.00]

Seven of Rogers's stories have been carefully selected by the authors on the basis of their meanings, to help people to produce healthy workplaces. Because people don’t work for money alone. The authors develop business case studies starting from the stories, to acknowledge that workplaces are made up of people with diverse and complex needs.

im&dm The Bass Violin Festival: a king (that is standing for today’s CEO) orders everybody in the kingdom to prepare to play the bass violin during a festival, and in order to help them he gives the best bass violins available. This just terrifies the people because they are not able to play the bass violin and this is really like the kind of error that many organizations make: to give people the best technology but they don’t know how to use this technology. In the fable some creative people said “I’m going to pretend to be a bass violin” so they make up customes to look like a violins and they dance and they sing and actually the king ends up being very proud of them. The moral of the fable is this that in order to be creative you have to be childlike: if you take something literally you can’t be creative about it, you have to look at it in a different way. That is a lesson for business and for everyone in a global economy where you have to be able to do things creatively all the time. twsm Can you give an example of the seven principles that you deduced directly from the fables?

im&dm One of them is community: because if Mr. Rogers stood for one over-riding thing what he stood for was the health of people and the over one writing goal of our book is to say how we can help organizations become more healthy. That doesn’t mean that you don’t have to make hard decisions, that people won’t be fired, they don’t have to work harder, etc. it just means that you have to build your people up.

Ian I. Mitroff and Donna Mitroff

Lina M. Echeverría

BOOKS

Sheryl Sandberg

Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead [Knopf Doubleday Publishing, 240 pp., $24.95]

Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s Chief Operating Officer, examines why women’s progress in achieving leadership roles has stalled and offers interesting solutions that can empower women to achieve their full potential.

The author considers all these issues combining personal anecdotes, hard data, and compelling research, together with practical advice drawn from her experiences.

Devora Zack

Managing for People Who Hate Managing: Be a Success By Being Yourself [Berrett-Koehler, 192 pp., $17.95]

The author explains that, personalitywise and management-wise, we’re either thinkers or feelers. Almost nobody’s 100 percent a thinker or a feeler, yet most of us lean one way or the other. Working with—rather than fighting against—your strengths is key to understanding not only how you make decisions and manage but also how people react to your decisions and respond to you.

David Grusky, Doug McAdam, Rob Reich, Debra Satz (edited by) Occupy The Future

[MIT Press, 192 pp., $14.95]

The book draws on the Occupy Wall Street movement in order to reflect deeply about the relationship between democracy and equality in the US, about why there is a lack of alignment between principles and institutions, and what it is possible to do. The text offers a framework, with accurate data and analysis, for understanding why rising inequality is the core problem of the present.

Kim Cameron

Positive Leadership [Berrett-Koehler, 2nd ed., 144 pp., $17.95]

Leadership should be about much more than hitting targets and avoiding mistakes. Kim Cameron shows how to reach beyond ordinary success to achieve what he calls “positively deviant performance”—performance far above the norm. Positive leadership enables managers to thrive and flourish rather than simply address obstacles and impediments. It helps bring out the best in human nature.

Jeff Toister

Service Failure: The Real Reason Employees Struggle with Customer Service and What You Can Do About It

[AMACOM, 208 pp., $17.95]

Toister uses his professional background as a frontline employee, costumer service trainer and manager for over 20 years to provide a novel approach oriented to rooting out the real reasons employees don't deliver the service they should. The book helps companies identify the core problems of their Customer Service and offers some corrective solutions.

Creating Smart-er Cities

[Routledge, 104 pp., £85.00]

This book argues that is possible to begin a process of reinvention, whereby cities become "smarter," by using intellectual capital to not only meet the efficiency requirements of wealth creation, but to become centers of creative slack.

Mike Lewis

Stand Out Social Marketing: How to Rise Above the Noise, Differentiate Your Brand, and Build an Outstanding Online Presence [McGrow-Hill, 256 pp., $20.00]

Mike Lewis, with several case studies and interviews of social media thought leaders showcases how the most powerful brands have succeeded in this area, explains to companies how to go beyond the basics of establishing a social presence and offers a set of strategies to reach the goal.

Talent Leadership: A Proven Method for Identifying and Developing HighPotential Employees [AMACOM, 282 pp., $34.95]

The book provides a method for identifying and developing high potential employees. With research findings, best practices, case studies and more, the authors explain how to set up an effective leadership-development program to assist companies' benchmarks.

Mark Deakin (edited by)

John Mattone, Dr. Jac Fitz-enz & Luiz Xavier

Gift* Vacation

Claudia Phil Glenn

Twelve Angry Men

How Remarkable Women Lead (Joanna Barsh and Susie Cranston)

My IPad

Lan Airlines

Acqualina Resort & Spa (Sunny Isles, Florida)

Central (Lima, Perú) 02

A book with works from M.C. Escher (graphic artist)

Walking by the beach at Punta Cana, Dominican Republic

The Godfather

Animal Farm (George Orwell)

A piano Qantas

Tylney Hall, Rotherwick, UK 03

Bennelong , Sydney

A trip on the Orient Express 06

Sri Lanka before we were married Penfolds Grange

Movie Book Object Airline Hotel Dinner 01 02 03 05 06

North by Northwest

A Tale of Two Cities (Charles Dickens)

A Nice watch, stylish and classic United

Any Relais & Chateaux hotel

Lola, a Michael Symon restaurant (Cleveland, OH)

A trip to Paris and London with the children

Anywhere I can travel with my family. Paris and London are 2 favorites

A Stag 's Leap Cabernet Sauvignon 05

Elizabeth: The Golden Age, The Black Swan 01

Le Seduction (by Elaine Sciolino)04 IPad Lufthansa

W in New York, Four Seasons in Istanbul

Lipari (Fish restaurant in Istanbul)

Dolce Gabbana perfume Pour Homme

Blue Voyage in the Turkish Mediterranean Chianti

FASHION AT WORK

Urban Arabesque

Ballerinas are red, pink, blue, made in fabrics, in leather, with ribbons, or without.

What we know is that the big wave of the ballerina shoe has arrived and it is here to stay.

Some brands only work with the ballerina flat, some other big names in the fashion industry can’t avoid designing 1 or 2 models per collection as it has become a fashion must-have for customers, but it is also functional and pleasant to wear for multiple occasions such as parties, everyday errands as well as the workplace.

THE MIDDLE AGES

Historically, up until the 1500s the ballerina shoe was a type of footwear used by men. It is only after the Middle Ages that it started to be worn by women too. “An interesting fact on the ballerina was its length, directly proportional to the role one had in the realm. In other words common people could wear a shoe that was long a maximum of 15 cm, knights reached 45 cm and Barons, the most important lot of the elite, reached 61 cm" says Claudio Coppari, R&D Manager at Manas. One can only imagine how uncomfortable it must have been for such a small foot to wear shoes that were sometimes 3 times the length of the foot itself, especially when it was only to show a certain social status. However it’s also important to say that nobles didn’t need to stand up all day, as they had servants doing most of the things for them. These

shoes were shaped as gloves, in fact until the 1800's, there was no difference between a left or right shoe. They didn’t have a real shape or side like it is today. The ballerina shoe, however, saw a period of dramatic decline when Caterina de Medici asked her shoemaker to lift the heel by some centimeters, on the occasion of the Duke of Orleans’ wedding. A new shoe was born: a shoe with different features that saw the complete decline of the ballerina as it was known.

THE BEGINNING

A tale tells that the mother of the modern ballerina shoe was Rose Repetto founder of the fashion house Repetto. In 1947 Rose Repetto created her first ballet shoes on the advice of her son Roland Petit, a dancer and choreographer, in a tiny workshop near the Paris National Opera. The success of this shoe was such that it almost became an accessory for every day life, not just for ballet. The company still exists today and is located in its historic fashion house in Paris in Rue de la Paix. However “Repetto is not a shoe company,” says Jean Marc Gaucher, Chief Executive Officer of Repetto. At the beginning the company only made dance shoes, but it was in 1956 that the ballerina

OUR 3 TOP

01.

ANNIEL Beech colored openwork ballerina Photo courtesy of Anniel 02.

TED BAKER Black colored Charee ballerina Photo courtesy of Ted Baker 03. LIU JO Yellow colored, openwork ballerina Photo courtesy of Liu Jo

Our choice Work Style Selection

After some time we realized we couldn't avoid talking about fashion, because we can't go to work naked and, most importantly, there's a style in the office too. We decided to start this section by focusing on the ballerina shoe. We had in mind to determine the top 3 flat shoes to present to our readers for use in the workplace. We researched producers and designers of ballerinas, to the point we had approximately 250 brands. We involved our

jury, made of fashion experts, fashion blogger, fashion PR experts who voted the shoes according to aesthetics and manufacture. The jury was composed of Vito Montedoro, founder of the blog Fashion Liquid and contributor to Diane Pernet's Blog, Vera Vanetti, PR at Opinion Leader for fashion and nonfashion brands, Barbara Rodeschini, fashion and lifestyle journalist for Marie Claire, Maxim and Traveller among others, Alessandra Mola, Women Products Assistant at Marni, Alessandra Messori, architect and fashion aficionado and Rebecca Cattone, architect with a passion for trends and fashion.

flat began to be known and used outside the world of ballet. In fact, in that year, Brigitte Bardot asked Madame Repetto to make her a pair of shoes that were soft and comfortable like those used by ballet dancers, but red carmine. So it was that moment that gave birth to the Cendrillon, dedicated to Brigitte Bardot and that the actress wore in the film by Roger Vadim, ‘And God Created Woman.’ These shoes were made exactly like dance shoes, as it was the only known process in the industry, in fact if you take off the up-box and the shank in a pointe-shoe, the production is the same as well as the comfort, the softness and the flexibility,“we want to keep this know-how,” says Gaucher.

The ballerina shoes is produced with a variety of fabrics and leathers, the latter coming from a variety of animals, what is yet even more surprising is that Repetto shoes are today still all hand-made and produced in France. The manufacturing department has 250 employees and the company has “a little over 1,000 employees worldwide,” claims Gaucher. A good ballerina is easy to recognize, he

says “when you put your foot in it, look at yourself in the mirror and if you feel comfortable, you’re buying a good ballerina,” and adds “men look at how products are made, but women try them on and look at themselves, not at the shoe, and if they look beautiful, then it is the product for you.” Because this type of footwear is hand-assembled, with the absence of leather pulling machinery, it guarantees softness. Steamed backward, the ballerina offers great resistence and comfort. It is often lined in canvas or cotton and the thin Grogrè strip border increases softness as well as giving the shoe a great aesthetic and stylistic tone.

ITALIAN PRODUCTION Coppari explains “the classic ballerina shoe has a ribbon placed on the shoe upper, a model still available today in a variety of colors and materials and it is the most popular flat shoe all over the world.” The most famous ballerina shoe, widely appreciated by the Hollywood star system is called Varina and it’s signed Ferragamo. It’s the offspring of the original 1978 model called Vara, designed by Fiamma Ferragamo. There are also celeb-

rities from the 60s like Audrey Hepburn who wore the ballerina shoe in different combinations, and who contributed to making this type of footwear so popular.

THE USE

It is however necessary to be objective. Many men don’t appreciate the ballerina shoe because it doesn’t give that slender look to the leg and also doesn’t allow the feline-like walk that a heeled shoe can guarantee. Often the ballerinas conjure an image of the woman that is childlike, poetic, romantic and frou-frou, that has nothing to do with the femme fatale who wears high stilettos. Nevertheless, the fact is that the ballerina is a stylish must-have and it’s often found in women’s purses as a second shoe to use after a long Gala dinner or for driving. This is another aspect of this shoe: functionality. “It is an excellent choice for the workplace too, combined with skinny-bottoms and a white shirt, the perfect way of making an informal accessory an excellent formal choice for the office or an important meeting. It is easy to combine, smart and nice to see. The heel is not at all mandatory,” finishes Coppari.•

I AM WHAT I EAT

Let's stop eating badly in the office or while working. Let's replace a sandwich with a packed lunch that is both tasty and healthy. It's a challenge Work Style submitted to a great chef when we asked him to innovate the packed lunch.

THE CHALLENGE

Creating a healthy packed lunch, as a meal I can prepare at home, I take to the office and eat after a few minutes of preparation.

THE CHEF

Moreno Cedroni, an Italian chef counting 2 Michelin Stars has brought an avant-garde spirit to Italian cuisine. Born in Ancona in 1964, he opened his first restaurant, La Madonnina del Pescatore (regarded as one of the top 10 fish restaurants in Europe) in Senigallia, when he was only 20 years old.

HOW AND WHEN

In the next issues the mission for us and Chef Cedroni is to present a series of recipes, of solutions for a healthier lunch break. Chef Cedroni will provide a series of recipes that are easy to make and provide all the necessary nutrients for a balanced diet.

A SNEAK PEEK

Moreno Cedroni has thought to divide the recipes for continents Europe, Asia, America, Oceania and Africa. He guarantees the recipes are tasty and healthy. According to Cedroni tasty means anything that makes you go "wow," and healthy means balanced, nutritious, light and with the right amount of calories•

MEMORIES OF THE PAST

Soldiers from the First World War experienced the rough cuisine offered by the first ever canned foods that today are celebrated as relics in an Italian museum.

Before and during the Great War, Cortina, located next to the border of Italy, became a theater known for terrible war atrocities. Soon after declaring war on Austria, Italy sent its troops to occupy the town through the border of Acquabona. On May 29, 1915 the Italians entered Cortina with no shots fired and without encountering soldiers from nearby Ampezzo or the rest of Austria, as they had already entrenched themselves up among the peaks around Cortina, using a defensive strategy in order to block the passages of the Italians. Soon after the Great War, the Ampezzo Dolomites became the stage of the most terrible battles for three seemingly endless years. Italians and Austrians were ordered to fight against each other in a brutal environment, in the cold, under the snow and while suffering from hunger; conditions which were often the main cause of death besides enemy fire. In 1918, at the end of the war, survivors and families were forced to immediately face the serious consequences of the Italian occupation. Some families didn’t even own a house anymore, as entire villages were destroyed by fire. Even cultivation was a problem as the ruined fields were impossible to farm. As a result the only choice for the population was either emigrating or collecting and selling the war remains scattered on the front lines, mainly scrap metal, a hard but necessary job for survival. What today and then was called scrap metal contained the food that kept soldiers running. During the whole war period, on both sides, many soldiers lived on canned food. Almost a century later, the modern food container is remembered in a museum, located up there, where once there was the war.•

Courtesy of 1914 - 1918 Great War Museum, Cortina d'Ampezzo.

ART & FOOD

THE SHAPE OF TASTE

Cooking is remembering flavors.

An exhibition as a reflection and first reconaissance on the work of contemporary designers and architects who have set their sights on the "things to eat," the project of food as a matter of form and not of taste.

The core of the exhibition is the "more experimental today," featuring younger artists: shape as function, shape as decoration, humor and metaphor are the

lines along which this creativity becomes apparent. Two complimentary ideas shape much of the exhibition: the allusion to food with everyday whose shapes are similar to food, and food as a material, where edibles are used to build objects taking advantage of their physical and mechanical characteristics. In the middle of this multitude of ideas, some recipes written/designed by designers are confronted with the ones proposed by esteemed chefs, that have been selected from the key players of Italian cuisine of our time. As the end of a path, that has been so rich and full of intuitions and suggestions, we have a look at our tomorrow: with the genius of Martí Guixé, who has created especially for this show a surprising and enigmatic dinner project. The future lies between research and sustainability, in order to listen to those who for some time, between science and design,

have been trying new ways to overcome the various problems related to food. Finally, some small but great ideas that can change our daily lives and that, supported by a clear ethical stance, leave hope for a better eco-friendly future.

The exhibition can be enjoyed at MART in the Italian city of Trento.

February 9 — June 2, 2013.

[W mart.tn.it]

01 Uli Westphal, Mutatoes, 2006-12, Courtesy of MART

02 Mario Trimarchi, Il Tempo della festa, 2012, Courtesy of Museo Alessi

HR EVENTS

AGENDA 2013.1

the opening reception, poster presentations, Food n Thought sessions, and networking dinners. The keynote speaker was Dr. Tony Carnevale. Dr. Carnevale currently serves as Director of the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce, and has served in both the Reagan and Clinton administrations. He talked with conference attendees about human capital and American competitiveness.

Country: United Kingdom

City: Birmingham

What: 2013 HR Directors Summit

Country: USA

REPORTCity: Arlington, VA

What: 2013 AHRD International Conference in the Americas

Date: 13-17, February 2013

Who: Academy of HR Development Web: ahrd.org

Report by: Robin Grenier

AHRD is made up of, governed by, and created for the Human Resource Development (HRD) community of academics and reflective practitioners. AHRD brings together a diverse community of people interested in training, workplace learning, adult education, organizational learning and performance, OD, career development, and other personal development growth topics. AHRD is a family of 600+ academics, practitioners and students from 39 countries who share the same passion for Human Resource Development, and for improving it through research.

Researchers and practitioners from for-profit, nonprofit, and governmental agencies came to this year’s conference to explore the study of human resource development theories, processes, and practices; disseminate information about HRD; and encourage the application of HRD research findings. Attendees had the opportunity to focus on specific interests during four pre-conferences: Translating and positioning the best of HRD theory and research to improve practice; Introduction to action learning; An introduction to the writing and publishing process; and the Emerging Scholars Course for HRD graduate students. Following the preconference, participants took part in three days of symposia, innovative sessions, and panel discussions. Choosing from over 50 sessions, they heard from presenters on a range of topics such as organizational development and change, workplace learning, leadership, and employee engagement.

AHRD members also met in Special Interest Groups to focus on issues including virtual HRD, critical and social justice, and cultures/geographical areas, and had opportunities to network with others during

Date: 22-23 January, 2013 Who: World Trade Group Web: hrevent.com Report by: Alex di Martino

Sometime in the 80's the department responsible for hiring and firing individuals in an organisation, changed its name from “personnel” to “human resources”. The personnel's dark-suited, gloomy and ruthless officers blossomed into human-centred, human performance wizards and caring managers seemingly ready to guide and support employees in their workplace. Has it been so simple to change that? Are organisations actually implementing this different approach to their workforce? For 11 years the HR Directors Business Summit has challenged preconceptions and old thinking about managing people in the workplace, promising to “equip you with the necessary tools and techniques to deliver sustainable HR practices in a volatile world”.

As I enter the ICC in Birmingham, I am impressed by the number of coaching companies exhibiting this year at this very important HR event. As a coach myself I respond to the inviting smiles and accept de-stress balls, small massagers and even basil seeds to plant my ideas and dreams, apparently. Coaching, Leadership, Change and the “International Challenge” seem to be the prevailing themes of the summit this year. “Yes, I think you are right” – replies Jon Del Ray, CEO of Libitum, a water processing company, when asked about the 4 themes I identified – “These are the 4 things I'm looking for. All I want is to find a way to better support my team to work smarter, to become leaders and to be ready to adapt to a world that is in constant change – and we need to be part of that world.” Then I ask for some comments from a participant to the first day keynote speech by Ms. Manningham-Buller, the aristocrat who led MI5 (British Intelligence and Security Service) to a significant change from 2002 to 2007. “I wasn't really sure what to expect from her speech but I was intrigued by the fact that a woman had such a leading position within one of the most institutionalised institutions in Britain! She reminded me of “M” in the Bond films!” – says Laura, a free-lance HR legal specialist – “The threat

of terrorism literally exploded from nothing and changed the world for ever. I was very impressed by the way she turned around an organisation like MI5 in such a short period of time. I didn't expect change to be possible there – and so quickly! Also, she created an internal structure focussed not only on staff training, but also on their cultural education to better understand different ways of thinking, and therefore different motivations that can lead someone to perpetrate an act of terrorism”. Then I met Rob, who offered to handcuff me to him with a golden rope. “It's all about thinking. If we can't find a way, a solution to a problem, an exit from an uncomfortable situation, like this one (eyeing the golden rope) we can't expect that using the same thinking could bring us an answer” – says Rob after assisting to a number of unsuccessful acrobatic attempts to free myself from the insidious rope.

A few minutes later, Rob Smith, rightly titled as a Thinking Engineer for Go Mad, encourages me to look for different ways of thinking in order to find freedom “maybe you need to ask for help? Never thought of that?” I like that. Personally, I hardly think of that. So I asked for help and with just a dash of signposting, I get away from the rope. “We actually do this rope exercise with our clients. You see, we at Go Mad (where Mad stands for Make A Difference...but I like also its other meaning!) want to help people to think differently. How do you get your employees to take responsibility, to engage, collaborate and have clarity and vision if you don't challenge a hardwired thinking pattern?”In business, stakeholders have nearly always been clear about what needs to be delivered. But for upper management and board level its very often a drama. Being a leader can be at times rather tragic and what has been my strong feeling at the HR Summit this year is that there is so much more awareness of the importance for a more empowered workforce, for inspiring and supportive leadership, for a happier workplace and for a sense of purpose, safety and confidence for every single member of staff. It comes to my mind the example of Workplace Democracy that Samco, Google or Freys have in place, but I'm not sure how many companies will be ready to have their senior managers hired by their employees?

Country: India City: Bangalore What: 2013 Leadership Development Conference Date: 23-24 January, 2013

Who: Conference Board Web: conferenceboard.org

Report by: Julian D’Souza

The Conference Board held the Leadership Development Conference India in Bangalore from January 22nd to 24th, 2013. Eighty participants and

twenty speakers/panelists attended the conference at the beautiful Leela Palace hotel.

On January 22nd Richard Wellins, Senior Vice President, Global Marketing and Business Development Development Dimensions International (DDI) and Smita Affinwalla, Head of Consulting, DDI India, conducted a workshop on the subject “Designing a Learning Journey for Your Leaders”. Participants were taken through the | 10 Formal Learning | 20 Learning from Others | 70 Learning from Experience | Learning Journey and then participants had to design a Learning Journey for Frontline Leaders, so that they familiarized themselves with the practical nature of this tool.

The main conference was chaired by Rebecca L. Ray, Ph.D., Senior Vice President, Human Capital, The Conference Board. The Keynote Address: India –The Status Quo and Preparing for the Future was given by Ajay Srinivasan, Chief Executive Officer, Aditya Birla Financial Services Group. He presented the Indian economy in the context of the world economy and what a CEO expects from HR in terms of Talent Management and preparing a pipeline for the future. His presentation was followed by Audience Responses to questions emanating from his presentation.

Q: Knowing how critical India’s leadership effectiveness is to its economic success, how confident are you that leadership quality and quantity will be sufficient to reach its potential? 63% of the participants said they were very confident or confident.

The session Sleepless in Delhi: What Keeps Indian Executives Awake at Night?, based on a research paper by Dr. Mary Young, Senior Researcher, Human Capital at The Conference Board was presented by Dr. Rebecca Ray. Today, India is the world’s second largest emerging economy, right behind China.

To many global companies, India holds out alluring business opportunities, representing a rapidly expanding market for everything from raw materials to consumer goods, a hotbed for innovations that can be exported to the developed world, and a burgeoning workforce that is cheaper than elsewhere, at least for the time being.

There are 80 million jobs in India’s formal sector. Over the next 20 years, the economy could quadruple. That’s 200 million jobs that will need to be filled in the next decade. Where will the talent come from? India has to make massive investments in human capital.

The panel discussion Attracting, Onboarding and Retaining Leaders in India was moderated by Harish Devarajan, Senior Fellow, The Conference Board. Leadership is required at every level of an organization. What makes your company attractive? Build talent as the supply side is scarce. Take high-performer attrition very seriously. Create a culture for career building. Q: What is the best way to increase the depth and quality of the leadership pipeline? 49% of

the participants said Identify high-potentials earlier in their careers and actively manage them. The next panel discussion Accelerating the Development of Leaders in India was moderated by Rich Wellins, DDI. India needs to reduce the timeline normally required to get leaders ready to take on more responsibility, because of the higher economic growth in the country and due to retirees and senior managers leaving their organizations to start their own enterprises. Like manufacturing companies do, we need to look at the process, and eliminate inefficiencies to reduce the cycle time. Smita Affinwalla, Head of Consulting, Development Dimensions International (DDI) India presented a paper on Global Leadership Forecast 2012: Focus on India.

The panel discussion Using Technology for Talent Management and Leadership Development was moderated by Vidyasagar Rajagopalan, Senior Fellow, The Conference Board. Several media companies are using technology and their platforms to provide content for leadership development. Gen Y uses technology in every aspect of their lives. However, the largest group of users of Facebook are in the 39-42 year bracket. High Tech High Touch is the goal. Technology has resulted in routine HR tasks being diverted to outside partners, leaving the higher order tasks to in-house HR executives. This also means higher expertise is required in HR departments. Rebecca Ray presented Moving Forward to Building and Developing a Sustainable Leadership Pipeline. The afternoon was devoted to round-table discussions, where groups of twelve discussed the following topics: 1) Addressing Talent Shortages in Leadership Development, 2) Accelerating the Development of Emerging Leaders, 3) The Use of Technology in Leadership Development Initiatives, 4) The Use of Analytics in Leadership Development Initiatives (Measuring Performance), and 5) Building Succession Plans and Leadership Pipelines.

UPCOMING

Country: Portugal City: Lisbon

What: 2013 EMEA Expatriate Management Conference

Date: 11-12 April, 2013

Who: Mercer Web: mercer.com/expatconf2013

The program includes a mix of high-level plenary and breakout sessions on the latest trends, practices and developments in expatriate assignment management presented by leading experts. The theme of this year’s event is: Mastering the challenges of global mobility in a fast-changing world and will cover strategic trends such as emerging markets, expatriate

attraction and retention, localisation, talent mobility best practices, addressing dual career issues and expatriate management in Asia. Technical issues that many organisations are facing in relation to mobility will also be covered, including introducing flexibility in the balance sheet approach, housing, cost-of-living issues, short-term, rotational and commuter assignments. The keynote speaker for this event will be economist Roger Bootle. His session on A Roadmap For the Future: Understanding the Global Context and Looking Ahead, will give an insightful view on the state of globalization and the forces shaping our current and future business environment.

Country: USA City: New York

What: 2013 Change Management Conference Date: 27-28 June, 2013

Who: Conference Board Web: conferenceboard.org/change

Topics will include: embedding real behavior change by managing both the “hard and soft” (operational and people) sides of change; understanding company culture and how change must be anchored in it to achieve the business strategy; getting the timing right of change messages; matching communication strategies to the audience and the media to the message.

Some of the speakers are Ed Boswell, Principal, U.S. Leader, Advisory - People and Change, PwC, Jan Burnham, Co-founder and President, ROC Group, Nancy DeViney, Vice President, Organizational Change Management, IBM, Paul Dyer, Ph.D., Manager of Leadership and Organizational Development, Devon Energy, Melanie Francis, Senior Director, Change Management, Symantec and Sarah Fotis, Director, U.S. Internal Change & Communications Leader, Advisory, PwC among many others.

Country: USA

City: San Diego, CA

What: 2013 ERE Recruiting Conference and Expo Date: 15-17 April, 2013 Who: ERE Web: ererecruitingconference.com/2013spring Main sessions include information on how to manage one’s recruiting function where what you need to know about running your department will be discussed as well as insights on Talent Acquisition strategies, and making plans for the future. ERE has always led the way in developing a speaker faculty with more in-house practitioners than any other event related to this topic. At this year's event more than 70% are practicioners with hands-on experience. Speakers will come from companies such as CocaCola Enterprises, General Electric, PwC, Walmart,

HR EVENTS

AT&T and Accenture among others.

Country: Singapore

City: Singapore

What: HR Summit Singapore Date: 24-25 April, 2013

Who: Key Media Web: hrsummit.com.sg

There will be presentations and case studies from world-class organisations. Each of the five tailor-made conference streams and price bands will be hosted by a renowned HR professional. The different sessions include a speech by Andrew Grant on Who Killed Creativity?, by Ragi Singh, Vice President HR, Southeast Asia, Viacom International Media Networks, on how to manage and engage Gen Y, Millennials and Linksters, and also a speech by Aadil Bandukwala, Talent Acquisition Advisor, Social Media & Community Professional, DELL India, on how to boost a company’s social hiring as well as its Employer Branding appeal. Local HR professionals will also be sharing their views and personal anecdotes as session hosts, paving the way for further discussion beyond the speaker sessions.

Country: The Netherlands City: Amsterdam

What: 2013 HR Tech Europe Date: 24-25 October, 2013

Who: HRN Europe Web: hrtecheurope.com

Key questions to be discussed at the event include the new roles, systems and software that are creating the next wave of change. Strategy First, Technology Second, and Employees First, Customers Second - what does this mean in the new world of work? How technology enables organisational transformation and changes the core nature of HR. How organisations arranged as hierarchical structures will manage themselves in the 'socially networked' workplace. How will companies become networks and communities themselves, and evolve from static structures? How will organisations manage & decipher BIG DATA.

Country: USA

City: Washington D.C.

What: 2013 Nonprofit HR Conference Date: 20-22 October, 2013

Who: Nonprofit HR Solutions Web: nonprofithr.com

This three-day event contains a diverse group of nonprofit professionals from across North America in educational sessions conducted by experts in the field of human resources. Attendees include human resources directors, executive directors and other nonprofit professionals that deal with human

resources at their organizations.

Country: USA City: New York, NY

What: 2013 Summit on Sustainability Date: 4-5 June, 2013

Who: Conference Board Web: conference-board.org

The Conference Board Sustainability Summit examines four critical themes. The first two focus on the people who drive sustainability: Investors and Stakeholders. The second two themes focus on tools used for sustainability: Technology and R&D. All comes together with targeted discussion on the new touch points of sustainability, including innovation, technology, eliminating waste, dramatic energy efficiency, water supply, and a reinvented workforce.

Country: Australia

City: Main Beach Queensland

What: 2013 HR Leaders Resources Summit Date: 7-9 May, 2013

Who: Media Corp. International Web: hr-leaders.com.au

The HR Leaders Resources Summit helps organizations keep up to date with the major challenges facing the industry such as more volatility than ever before, a challenging and unresolved taxation environment, skill shortages, rising labour & input costs, a shifting Aussie Dollar and the increasing number of younger & older workers within the country. HR leaders will benefit through visionary presentations with leading solution providers who are focused on organic growth from within.

In order to help our HR Leaders overcome these pressing issues, an elite group of 20 companies invited to support them with their purchasing and investment initiatives for the following 12 months. Attendees will be able to pre arrange a number of meetings with all prior to the event.

The event foresess over 150 attendees, 25 speakers, workshops, think tank sessions and roundtables.

WORK STYLE EVENTS

Who: Work Style Company Web: 100workcities.com / workstyletalks.com

Country: Switzerland

City: Around Ticino Region

What: City Talk Ticino Date: Fall 2012

Work Style met a series of entrepreneurs operating in the Ticino region to understand the working

conditions in the area.

Country: Turkey City: Istanbul

What: City Talk Istanbul Date: 10-15 October, 2012

A panoramic look at what it's like to work in Istanbul with interviews to top managers who talk about leadership, focusing on the role of women in today’s working world in Turkey, creativity and workplace.

Country: Bulgaria City: Plovdiv What: City Talk Plovdiv Date: 19 – 25 May, 2013

Work Style wants to meet entrepreneurs and top managers to talk about working in Plovdiv and the status of the working world in Bulgaria.

Country: Senegal City: Dakar

What: Vertical Talk on the Fashion Industry Date: 19 June, 2013

In collaboration with Adama Paris (Dakar Fashion Week), a vertical talk with several professionals, discussing the birth of a new fashion center: Dakar. An open and interactive discussion on the growth of the fashion industry in Africa.

Country: United Arab Emirates City: Abu Dhabi What: City Talk Abu Dhabi Date: Fall 2013

Work Style wants to meet entrepreneurs and top managers to learn about working in Abu Dhabi and the status of the working world in the United Arab Emirates.

Country: Italy City: Milan and others What: Creative Talks Date: From April 30 professionals come together to discuss the topics of physics and work. How can we relate the laws of physics to a company’s organizational issues?

Country: Switzerland

City: Various in Ticino What: Creative Talks Date: From April 30 professionals come together to discuss the topics of physics and work. How can we relate the laws of physics to a company’s organizational issues?

Country Guide Slovenia Country Guide Slovenia

Bovec

Kobarid

Zatolmin

Jesenice Bled Trzic Kran Skofja

Slovenia

Europe

Italy

Prvacina Ajdovscina Vipava

Ziri Vrhnika Logatec

Africa

Piran

Sezana Smarje Seca

Postojna Pivka Ilirska Bistrica Gracisce Koper

Trieste

Croatia

Workplace Country Guide Slovenia

By THRASY PETROPOULOS

Learning to Think Bigger

Slovenia was the first former Yugoslavian state to declare independence in 1991 and the first to join the Eurozone in 2007. With low labor costs and a rich and varied landscape, it could pack quite a punch for a nation of only 2 million inhabitants – if only it could see the beauty of being small.

If anyone could come close to bottling the spirit of Slovenia it is Primoz Brezovec. In fact, he very nearly does – literally – in the form of his recently opened Vino Boutique and associated wine distribution company, Vino a’la Carte. Tucked away in a pint-sized brick cellar off Slovenska St, one of the main shopping thoroughfares of Ljubljana, the wine shop does exactly what it claims to do in offering boutique Slovenian labels. And a young and eager Primoz is on hand to explain everything about each one: the grapes, the terrain, the producers. He’ll even tell you about a producer’s mother-in-law if you give him half a chance. “I’ve gone from stocking the wines of one to 19 produc-

ers in just a few months,” he says with uncontained enthusiasm. “But these aren’t wines ordered over the phone or the internet. This is my personal touch. Old winemakers I discovered with my father over 15 years traveling around the country and then by myself. I have bottles ranging from 5 to 500 euros and I can stand behind each one that I sell.” His love affair with Slovenian wines is an extension of his relationship with the country itself. He describes traveling to Ptuj, Slovenia’s oldest city, as a 19-yearold, in order to search out a winemaker. “My father told me to come back with 5 litres,” he remembers. “I did and returned twice for the harvest. It was love at first sight. Not just for the wine but for

the culture, the history. When you’re in a cellar you can talk. It’s different than anywhere else. I then started to explore the whole of Slovenia. It’s such a small place. You travel 10 or 20km and you might have a totally different taste.” It is a recurring theme when talking to Slovenians that their country is small and varied. As no one seems to tire of saying: you can ski and swim in the sea on the same day so close are the Alps that line the northern border with Austria to the blink-and-you-miss-it stretch of Adriatic coastline sandwiched between Croatia and Italy. Slovenia also borders Hungary. Over the centuries, the country has been variously occupied by, attached to or annexed by the

The Miha Artnak is a versatile street artist and a designer of visual communication.

He graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Ljubljana. He doesn’t have a favorite color, he loves peace and will change the world. His works are often made to provoke the passersby or art-aficionados and always focus on social issues such as the environment or child labor.

In his series “Layers” he takes as his guiding idea that "there is more than just one reality." Pulling away

layers from everyday objects, the artist imagines a world beneath the surface. He says “I use my brain and hands,” and adds “I strive for not having a style but in the end it's still my style, my work is a collision of social issues, philosophy and poetry with references to media and craftsmanship with a visual result.

[W artnak.net]

01, 02, 03

All photos are courtesy of The Miha Artnak

Roman and Austro-Hungarian empires, Germany, Italy, Hungary and Croatia, and – until 1991 - the wider Yugoslavian federation.

THE EUROPEAN ROLLERCOASTER

Except that the feel of Ljubljana is far more Austrian than Balkan. But perhaps that shouldn’t surprise us. Politically, Slovenia was always more liberal than the rest of Yugoslavia and, in stark contrast to Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, its path to independence was swift and virtually bloodless. Nowadays, of course, Slovenia is a full European Union member and, since 2007, part of the euro zone and all that that entails. The good times have been good. Between 2002 and 2006, the economy grew by an average of 5%. In 2007 alone it expanded by 7%. Unsurprisingly, much of this came on the back of cheap credit and an unsustainable boom in industries such as construction and services. Equally unsurprisingly, bust followed boom. In 2009, Slovenian GDP per capita shrunk by 7.9%, even though the recession has been short lived and far milder than in

many other euro zone members. During a visit to Ljubljana for this article, the first concerted demonstration in the city centre related to the euro zone debt crisis occurred. That it took place on a Saturday, so as not to disrupt the working week, and involved mostly public sector employees who in many cases earn more than those in the private sector, indicates that public discontent is milder than elsewhere. Soon after that, however, there were protests against the mayor of Maribor, the second largest city, in a demonstration that spread through Facebook, and further action was being organized for the capital. But making hasty predictions about Slovenia’s future is a tricky business. The country has already gone through one hard adjustment period, soon after independence, when the Yugoslavian market that served as a guaranteed buyer for so many local goods disintegrated. Independence for many local businesses meant closure. The flipside was that those that survived did so because they had a solid base and a product that could be sold elsewhere.

REPELLING THE CRISIS

One such business is Magneti Ljubljana, which produces and exports magnets. Established in 1951, Magneti was a classic Yugoslavian company in that it was a member of the Iskra collective of automotive and electronics businesses. As with most Yugoslavian companies at the time, the owner was the state, which appointed board members and perhaps the managing director, but also allowed a relatively high degree of autonomy in the running of the company’s affairs. Albert Erman, the Magneti managing director since 1986, now talks about the decision to leave the Iskra collective post-independence as the company’s saving grace. “The system worked to an extent but there were many Iskra companies that were struggling,” he says. “The ones making money were required to share it with the other companies. So in 1989 Magneti exited Iskra, and at the same time the slow process of independence started. In 1991 Magneti essentially lost half its market.” It would have been catastrophic had Erman not been turning Magneti’s focus away from the Yu-

goslavian market as early as 1986. He built a relationship with German home appliance giant Bosch and, though the company did not make a profit or issue dividends for a number of years, immediately succeeded in raising exports to external markets by 30%. Other companies have clearly followed. In 2010, the EU27 accounted for over 13bn of the 18bn euros of Slovenian exports, according to the country’s statistical office. Germany’s contribution alone was 3.6bn. Croatia, Serbia and Bosnia combined accounted for only 2.6bn. It is a classic tale of survival of the fittest – or perhaps the most adaptable – companies in a time of crisis. And history is repeating itself. With the automotive industry suffering, Magneti has expanded into the train sector and is eagerly eyeing the aeronautical industry. Erman has been rewarded with a local Entrepreneur of the Year Award. Chip away at the surface, however, and you get a better idea of the obstacles involved.

A taxation system which charges 41% for gross earnings above 15,681 euros a year is, Erman says, counterproductive.

“The average salary in Slovenia is

around 900 euros net,” he says. “It was about 1,000 euros a month but has dropped. It’s hard to give higher salaries here because, in this field, the strongest competitor for this country is China, where the raw materials for making magnets are mined and where we are competing with a whole different wage structure. And at the same time, my employees are protected by a collective bargaining agreement. There is very rigid labor legislation in Slovenia.”

SHEDDING LIGHT ON SLOVENIA

Perhaps one of the most interesting insights into Slovenia comes from Christof Droste, the CEO of Hella Saturnus - part of the German Hella Group – that develops and manufactures car lighting components in Ljubljana. Droste is emphatically German but, having moved to Slovenia in 2003, he now talks about local issues in the ‘we’ form. Having served as the company’s technical director until 2005, he moved to China to act as the temporary general manager before returning to Slovenia as deputy manager and, from 2008, as chief executive officer. Just in time for

the economic downturn. Paradoxically, however, the crisis proved the making of Hella Saturnus as EU subsidies for scrapping cars and buying new, mostly smaller models, led to a surge in demand for car lighting. Where a good year before 2008 would have brought an annual company turnover of 90 million euros, turnover rose to 133m between June 2008 to May 2009 and, over the following year, catapulted to 224m. “The biggest jump was in the summer of 2009,” Droste recalls with a smile. “Before that our biggest monthly turnover was 9 million and in September it was 18.8 million. It was almost killing us because we had to produce those parts.” But produce them they did, something that can perhaps be attributed to a Germanic work ethic. “The working culture is very similar to Germany’s – not at all similar to Italian or Hungarian or Romanian,” Droste points out. “It’s easy to fit into a German group.” Nevertheless, he says, there are significant cultural differences, which he only really understood during his second stint in the country. “If you’re coming from Germany to Slovenia for your first ex-

Vino Boutique produces Slovenian items that offer superior quality for corporate or personal gifts. Based in Ljubliana, the boutique is always welcoming guests. Main products are a selection of fine wines from boutique winemakers from all three Slovenian wine regions, superior distillates from Bovec, and Slovenian olive oil.

Primoz Brezovek, owner of Vino a’ la Carte and Vino Boutique.

The photo on the page is courtesy of Primoz Brezovek

Olivers & Co is a Mediterranean food merchant with several boutiques all around the world that sells typical mediterranean products coming from Italy, Spain, France, Greece, Croatia and Morocco, such as oils, vinegars, pastas, sauces, seasonings and skin care products among others.

Eric and Maja Jean, owners of Oliviers & Co franchise

[W oliviersandco.com]

perience here, you think that it’s the same,” he says. “It’s beautiful. But you are not adjusting your senses to certain sensibilities. Coming back from China, my senses were on alert. “Slovenia is a small country and, as such, it was always guided by others – Yugoslavia, the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, or - during the Second World War - partly by Italy and partly by Germany. It is not as self-confident as other countries. Slovenians are sometimes afraid of doing

things, even if they could do it better than other cultures. They feel small, without seeing the advantages of being small. It is important, therefore, to give people self-confidence and motivate them.” He points out the current unemployment rate of 8.5% amounts to 100,000 people - the monthly volatility of the jobless numbers in Germany. “Germany has to look for mass markets to solve its problems,” Droste concludes. “We’re in the situation of being

able to look for niche markets. And that market is Europe.”

A PRODUCT OF HISTORY

To a degree, of course, Europe was always the market for Slovenia. And to try to place the country culturally or ideologically is perhaps missing the point. It has long lived between worlds and, at least from a distance, is perhaps a victim of perception. “We weren’t part of the western bloc, of

Vivo is a catering company representing Slovenian cuisine both at home and abroad. They have been in the market for nearly 20 years serving at several media recognized events Mateja Pohlin, Coordinator at Vivo catering.

[W vivo.si]

Where to Work Country Guide Slovenia

NATO, or of the Warsaw Pact,” observes Dr Andrej Wagner, Hella Saturnus’ head of pre-development and, at 40, a product of the University of Ljubljana’s faculty of mechanical engineering and of independent Slovenia. “I always taught that we could do everything by ourselves. In the 1950s and 60s a lot was learned by trial and error and knowledge was then transferred into the education system. “We had PCs, developed in the 80s in line with western standards. Iskra Delta were making telephone switchboards used by Siemens. We also tried to get a lot of technological knowledge from other countries. We had a lot of good students who went to universities in the states and Great Britain. And the other driver of technology was the Yugoslav Army. When Saab was developing its fourth-general fighter jet and France and Britain were developing their own Eurofighter, Yugoslavia was developing its own fighter plane. We had a very good electronics and engineering industry, but that depended on a lot of state research funding.”

He makes the point that, in the 80s, local engineers could develop, produce

and manufacture complete cars (among them Golfs) from plans brought over from Germany and produce and manufacture complete general utility trucks (TAMs). “Now we’re suppliers,” he says. “We’re not in a position to develop the whole vehicle. A lot of knowledge was lost after the breakup of Yugoslavia, which came as a surprise, certainly for the automotive industry. “Slovenia was oriented a lot to the west, selling a lot to West Germany in particular, so progress came more easily than it could have done but it was still very painful.”

A QUESTION OF CONFIDENCE

But that was then and the consensus now – shared by Wagner – is that Slovenia’s place in Europe is within the EU and the euro zone. Tile Majnardi, the editor-in-chief of the English-language Slovenia News, is a straight-talker about the benefits of EU membership. “It gives us long term political and economic stability,” he observes. “If Slovenia had been outside the euro zone when the crisis started, our currency would have lost a huge part of its value and the general social situation would

have deteriorated. Wages would have fallen.” Besides, he says, the depth of the Slovenian crisis is overblown. “To understand our problems you must know that the Slovenian crisis is somewhat special,” he says. “It’s not in fact only the result of the global crisis but partially also because of Slovenian denial that something is wrong inside the country. People, together with politicians, just didn’t want to accept that we were living too well over the last years. In the years after independence, people just forgot that the economy works both ways: it can grow or fall. “We translated the western style capitalist system but we did not understand everything about it properly. In fact, if Slovenia had reacted sooner – at the end of 2008 or in 2009 – we probably wouldn’t be talking about the crisis. Even now Slovenia is in fact not performing so badly. We have one of the lowest unemployment rates in the EU, exports are slowly growing, the budget deficit will be close to only 3% next year, and public debt is still only around 53% of GDP.” The main problem, he says, is in fact excessive politicization of every question in

The Slovenia Times has been the central newspaper in the English language in Slovenia since 2003. The Slovenia Times offers an analysis of the social and economic image of Slovenia as well as focusing on attractive stories from the fields of tourism, culture, sports, recreation and other lifestyle related entertainment topics. It has a circulation of 10.000 copies per month and 50 distribution points.

Tilen Majnardi, Editor-in-Chief of Slovenia Times

the country and a mistaken pessimism linked to Slovenians’ enduring tendency to equate being small with being at a disadvantage to its neighbors.

WHEN OIL AND WATER DO MIX

After all, a small country means new opportunities, if you’re willing to take the risk. Eric and Maja Jean, a French and Slovenian couple, did just that four years ago when they brought the Mediterranean olive oil and gourmet product specialists Oliviers & Co to Ljubljana. Having met while working at the local Citroen representative, they returned to Eric’s hometown of Orleans, in France. As Eric continued with Citroen there, Maja worked for three years at a local Oliviers & Co branch. Already working in the company, it wasn’t hard for Maja to convince the French owners that the she and her husband could open a franchise in Slovenia. It took them almost a year to find vacant premises. “There’s quite a selection now, with so many shops having closed,” Eric laughs. But the couple have fought through the recession and are committed to their venture. And as

a Franco-Slovenian mix, they literally represent what they are selling. “Slovenia isn’t so far from France but people do think differently from the French,” Eric points out. “They have some olive trees of their own and Croatia is close by, with a lot of producers down there. And also in Italy. But then there are perhaps more influences from Austria and Germany. Not surprisingly, the mix that we sell is quite different from France. Olive oil is the core of the company philosophy but in Slovenia they very much like cosmetics, whereas in France they don’t sell so well.” The main difference, Eric observes, is that Slovenians need to be won over individually. “They need trust and they need to know,” he says. “At the beginning, it’s difficult if they don’t know the brand. Even though they say it’s a nice shop, they only buy something small or perhaps take only the catalogue. But once you gain their trust and they see the quality, they become regular customers. They are attracted by something new but they are quite cautious and traditional. This is also true of restaurants. Ten years ago there were almost no foreign restau-

rants. And they are still concentrated on traditional and domestic products, which are often good.”

A TASTE OF THE FUTURE

Changing eating habits are, of course, indicative of changing times. Mateja Pohlin, a 27-year-old who has worked at Vivo Catering, one of the leading catering companies in the country, for the past six years can vouch for that. Having started out working on location, she now helps arrange special events that can cater for over a thousand people. She can’t wipe the smile of her face when she recalls catering for the Queen of England’s visit to Ljubljana, or Bill Clinton’s in 2009. “Yes, tastes have changed,” she says, “But people like Slovenian ingredients – ham from Tunka or from the Prekmurje valley, in the heart of the country; Mediterranean spices, breads, pumpkins. We use a lot of olive oil and pumpkin seed oil. In the last three years, we’ve included organic ingredients, although people don’t really have the money for this now.” She makes the point that she counts herself fortunate to be working in a field of her

Magneti Ljubljana is a worldwide supplier of permanent metallic magnets. The company was founded in 1951 as Iskra Magneti. Now as Magneti Ljubliana it has been continuously trying to satisfy customers in terms of quantity, delivery and price for fifty years

Albert Erman, Managing Director of Magneti Ljubljana [W magneti.si]

The Saline Industry

Salt making is one of the oldest economic activities on the northeastern shore of the Adriatic Sea, and the salt trade was once one of the most important branches of commerce in the territory of present-day Slovenia. This trade had a decisive role in the development of Trieste, Piran, Izola and Koper. At the beginning of the last century, Slovenia's coast – all 46.6 kilometres of it – was dotted with saltworks.

01 Salt workers

02 Saltworks

All photos are courtesy of Soline Pridelava soli [W soline.si]

own choosing. Certainly most of her friends don’t have such a luxury. And there is a perennial shortage of chefs and waiters because most job seekers are either over-qualified or aiming for something in the service industry. “At the beginning, there were just warm and cold buffets,” she says. “People just wanted to get full. Now there’s a lot of finger food. And the main point now is also decoration… the presentation of the dish… the taste. It’s a fair reflection of what’s happened here over the last 20 years.”•

Working in Slovenia A springboard for global success and creativity

By Lidija Vinkovic, Marketing manager for JAPTI, the Public Agency for Entrepreneurship and Foreign Investments

Hella Saturnus is a globally positioned, independent, family-owned company with a history spanning more than 100 years. They develop and manufacture lighting technology and electronic products for the automobile industry and have one of the largest retail organizations for vehicle parts and accessories in Europe.

Andrej Wagner

Christhof Droste, CEO of Hella Saturnus

[W hella-saturnus.si]

All photos are by Urban Stebljaj

The country’s economic wellbeing is largely attributable to foreign investment and despite the current global economic uncertainties, support for foreign investors remains unshaken. Legislation is favorable to supporting foreign direct investment with particular incentives for the manufacturing industry, selected services and research and development that are in line with the rest of the European Union. Foreign investment has benefited from the modernization of Slovenia’s economy, meaning that its businesses are prepared to take on competitors in sectors that range from pharmaceuticals and the environment to electronics and information technology. And the State has made opportunities for investors even more attractive by reducing the weight of its civil service. Slovenian labor is qualified and flexible and there is also an efficient migrant workforce for large projects. A long tradition of trade with regional neighbors and with Arab states has many advantages. The European Union is Slovenia’s leading trade partner and exports to the countries of Eastern and South-eastern Europe are significant. Companies that want to relocate or set up subsidiaries in a country with good growth prospects, where starting a business is easy, investor protection is high and both labor and taxation offer value for money, will find Slovenia an attractive location. Business startup is now made easy through single access points to register a limited liability company, and obtaining a construction permit and other administrative procedures have been simplified. As investors and entrepreneurs look to get a foothold in the country, improved credit information, creditor rights and collateral infrastructure as the main obstacles to corporate lending and project financing can

be heart-lifting when it comes to successfully gaining investment. That said, the last survey of Slovenia as a location for foreign investment made by JAPTI among foreign investors in Slovenia, shows that the main obstacles for foreign investors here are financial indiscipline, difficulties in firing employees, high taxes and complex administrative procedures. Companies with foreign capital also find the importance of economic incentive policies quite high, but the most important incentives are the reduction of administrative barriers, removing obstacles in the labor market and reducing corporate income tax.

Japti Awards

The 2012 Foreign Direct Investment contest for foreignowned companies operating in Slovenia in 2011, organized by JAPTI, were as follows:

• Best employer in 2011 Boxmark Leather S.A.

• Best performer in terms of corporate growth Belimed S.A.

• Company planning strong growth and creating new jobs for highly qualified staff Yaskawa Slovenija S.A.

• Special award for celebrating 20th anniversary in Slovenia IBM Slovenija

JAPTI – Public Agency of the Republic of Slovenia for Entrepreneurship and Foreign Investments

Verovskova ulica 60 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia, Europe T +386 1 589 18 70

[W japti.si]

LIDIJA VINKOVIC

Where to Work 100 Work Cities of the Next Decade

Work Cities Around the World

Since 2009, we' ve been interested in cities around the world that are oriented to work, in terms of welcoming new companies in a framework of good quality of life and good business opportunities.

CRITERIA

Our criteria for the choice of cities are the following (always considered with tolerance, according to the local situation):

1. Mid-sized Work City:less than 500,000 inhabitants

2. Work-inspired: Presence of international companies and a clear dedication to work

3. Work Quality of Life: Quality of life of employees’ families, ease of access to housing and to leisure of various sorts

4. Work Fair Play: Low corruption level, high level of environmental commitment and respect of workers

CONTENTS

The contents of the guides are divided into six chapters:

• Identity card

• Quality of life

• Cost of living

• Society

• Leisure

• Interviews

The texts are available on the website theworkstylemagazine.com and soon there will be a website entirely devoted to the city guides. They will be also available on an app.

You can read the introductions to the three city guides coming out on this issue and the previews of the next three city guides that will be published in Fall 2013 in the boxes on the next page.

TARGET

Our targets are consumers, companies or workers who have to relocate for work and the cities that would like to present their attractiveness to the global business community, by developing aspects of collaboration between public and private sectors.

PHOTO EXTENSION

The criteria for the selection of the photos are: 1) expressive value in describing the relationship between working and residing in the city; 2) ability to represent the city’s symbols in relation to the themes of the guides.

SPONSORING

Our commercial office is looking for sponsors interested in supporting our project. We have already identified several stakeholders, corresponding with companies operating in the fields listed in the box “target sectors”.

TIMING

Our goal is to create 80% of the city guides within 2014, furthermore we want to systematize the Video City Guides of Work Style (see the article about it), the realization of vertical Creative Talks in the cities featured in the project (see the program for Plovdiv, Abu Dhabi and Dakar) and the creation of a network of stakeholders, that will meet in a great event that will take place in 2017.

CONTACTS

If you want to know more about the project, please visit our website for more information.•

APP Soon available

A WorkStyle Project

Our goal is to report on 100 work cities. We are on the right way and we've already made more than 20 city guides. During 2013-2014 we are going to do more.

Target sectors

Transport and storage

• Land transport and transport via pipelines

• Water transport

• Air transport

• Warehousing and support activities for transportation

• Postal and courier activities

Accommodation and food service Information and communication

• Telecommunications

• Computer programming, consultancy and related activities

• Information service activities

Financial and insurance activities

• Financial service activities, except insurance and pension funding

• Insurance, reinsurance and pension funding, except compulsory social security

Professional, scientific and technical activities

• Legal and accounting activities

• Activities of head offices; management

• consultancy activities

Architectural and engineering activities; technical testing and analysis

Administrative and support service activities

• Rental and leasing activities

• Employment activities

• Travel agency, tour operator, reservation service and related activities

Security and investigation activities

• Services to buildings and landscape activities

• Office administration, office support and other business support activities

Education

Where to Work Ljubljana, Izmir and Almaty

Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, offers all the services of a modern city together with a high quality of life, due to its small dimensions and the preservation of its natural surroundings. This is a vibrant city, rich in culture and history that is also an important business center. Its unique geographic position, at the crossroads of the Slavic world and Germanic and Latin cultures, has always promoted the development of the city and today it still facilitates the multiculturalism of its inhabitants and the diversification of the business; moreover, nowadays Ljubljana is well connected to all the European major cities.

Izmir

is the third most populous city of Turkey, located on the western coast of Anatolia on the gulf bearing the same name. Until 1930, the city was internationally known by the name Smyrna, the name of the ancient settlements that were in the area probably more than 8,500 years ago. With its strategic location, Izmir has been one of the principal mercantile cities of the Mediterranean Sea for much of its history and today it is still one of Turkey's primary ports for exports. Its location, moreover, makes a city where Western life-styles are combined with Anatolian traditions. And this is one of the treasures of Izmir, that today offers several cultural and leisure activities for its visitors and many business opportunities for its workers.

Following in 2013: Plovdiv, Auckland and Da Nang.

Almaty

is the former capital of Kazakhstan (until 1997), and today it still remains one of the most important cultural and economical centers of the country. The city is located near Kazakhstan’s southern border with Kyrgyzstan, at the foot of the mountainous area that characterizes its landscape. Almaty played an important economic role during the Soviet period, when the city was known by the name of AlmaAta and was transformed from a small town into the capital of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Having overcome the crisis that followed the end of the USSR, nowadays the city is a prominent scientific, cultural, historical, financial and industrial center of all its region.

100 Work Cities

The top 100 cities for workers over the next decade are profiled in a project put together by Work Style Company.

• Plovdiv, the second-largest Bulgarian city. Throughout the 20th century the city grew as an important industrial center and still today its industrial and commercial sector is expanding.

• Auckland is located on the North Island of New Zealand, its metropolitan area is one of the largest in the country and the city is considered the economic capital of New Zealand.

• Da Nang is a diversified industrial center in Central Vietnam and one of the most important port cities of the country.

Download your guides from: www.100workcities.com

Free download of the guides of:

Brazil: São Paulo

Chile: Valparaiso

France: Marseille Germany: Düsseldorf

Greece: Thessaloniki

Italy: Turin

Japan: Kyoto Kazakhstan: Almaty

Malawi: Blantyre

Malaysia: Kuala Lumpur Nigeria: Lagos Norway: Bergen Portugal: Oporto

Russia: Ekaterinburg UK: Manchester Ukraine: Mariupol

USA: Denver, Albuquerque

Slovenia: Ljubljana

Turkey: Izmir

Slovenia Ljubljana Turkey Izmir

Kazakhstan Almaty

A Glance on the City Moving On

By CESAR A. HIDALGO

The Evolvable City

More than a century of evolutionary theory has taught us that there is a trade-off between adaptation and evolvability. After all, cities are literally built on their own past.

First, it is worth noting that a design that has evolution in mind is not the same as a design inspired by nature. Design requires us to incorporate our ignorance, as much as our knowledge. A design that can evolve is a design that can adapt to uses not originally imagined. It is therefore not a design that is inspired by one of evolution’s many design accomplishments, but rather one that attempts to incorporate the evolutionary process instead of the final result.

SOME TIME AGO IN BRASIL…

Most cities, however, are not very evolvable, Brasilia is an obvious example, with its super wide streets, no sidewalks, and gigantic radio antennae. When it comes to evolvability, we can always move away from this classic example and consider almost any city. One conspicuous illustration of the inability of modern cities to evolve is that most of them have failed to develop new or multiple centers during the 20th century. This is surprising, since population in most of them has grown, on average, more than threefold in the last 50 years. As population expanded, many cities were unable to distribute their services to adapt to a growing population, accentuating their core/ periphery structure, and fueling the never-ending traffic jams we see today.

…IN THE MEANTIME IN CHILE

Take Santiago de Chile as an example. Here, the southeastern municipalities of Puente Alto and La Florida hold nearly one million people, which is more than the total population of Santiago only eighty years ago. The rapid growth of these two municipalities, however, was based almost exclusively on housing. It was based on “bungalow plantations”

constructed through private-public partnerships subsidized by the state. Now, twenty years after the demographic explosion of these neighborhoods, these once agricultural lands have plenty of houses and people, but no “city” to connect them. These municipalities' inability to evolve, however, holds true for most neighborhoods build in the later half of last century. Understanding the traffic jams of Santiago, therefore, is easy. In Santiago, developers appear to have acted as if they were building the last neighborhood of the city, the neighborhood that clearly did not need to have any services because it was clearly on the edge. But why?

KEEPING UP WITH EVOLUTION

Like most complex problems, the answer to the evolvability of these neighborhoods, or the lack of it, cannot be just the will of designers, developers and planners, but the result of a complex set of factors that constrain behaviors in peculiar ways. The most likely cause here is architecture. This is easy to notice because most cities have neighborhoods that are clearly more adaptable than others. Take Boston’s Newbury Street or New York’s Greenwich Village as examples. These once residential neighborhoods were able to seamlessly change from residential to commercial, without massive wrecking ball and dynamite interventions. The bungalow plantations that populate our cities' peripheries, however, represent developments that would never be able to evolve in such a way. Yet, since the architecture of a neighborhood’s building is a proximate cause, there must be other forces shaping the evolvability of neighborhoods. Architectural movements following different tech-

Adrian Sommeling is a Dutch designer and photographer. Has owned a small, one-man, design agency since 1995 and in 2011 he decided to dedicate himself to photography too, as he says “photography has a big impact on your life and the way you look at it. It opens your eyes.” Almost all of his work is created by putting together different images, just like the one presented here.

01 Binnenhaven 02 Havengebied 03 Hangar 04 Erasmusbrug

no-utopias certainly provided an antievolutionary force. This is because they assumed that it was possible to know the needs of a city in advance, while evolvability implies that these needs are likely to change.

NOT ONLY ARCHITECTURE

Hence, it is also important to look beyond architecture, and into market forces. Given the right set of conditions, market forces can create incentives that do not promote the development of evolvable neighborhoods. For example, in a hyper-populated world, and in markets in which repeated interactions are rare (you don’t buy the same house twice), the market can be a strong force towards short-term thinking. In fact, in these cases the market encourages commercial “onenight stands” where it is always possible to make a living by “screwing” everyone once. These incentives certainly apply to the development of housing, since developers hardly need to think about the fate of their neighborhoods once the units are sold. Because of this, there is little in-

Photos by Adrian Sommeling.

centive for them to think about the longterm evolution of the neighborhoods they build. Commercial incentives promote the construction of neighborhoods that are built to sell, not to last. Certainly, developers are entitled to abandon many responsibilities after they have sold the last unit. But, in a world in which the initial conditions of a neighborhood are important determinants of its future fate, developers do have a moral responsibility to incorporate evolution into their design thinking. After all, they are creating environments that people will use for centuries, and that will affect future social and economic outcomes. Moreover, markets can provide clear incentives to “free-ride-the-city”. Why build a building that has commercial

space in its ground floor, when there is one across the street? After all, developing commercial space on the ground floor is more costly than just building housing units. Moreover, commercial space raises the insurance cost of above ground units. This makes an equivalent unit more expensive in a world where banks require properties to be insured in order to provide a mortgage. As a result, evolvable neighborhoods are made of units which were not built originally to accommodate multiple purposes, but that had the ability to evolve into such, as the needs of the people evolved. Because of the lack of evolvability of most streets, Santiago’s evolution has been concentrated in malls, which have evolved to adopt all uses that

the city is unable to provide. They are a salad of what the city left behind.

TECHNO UTOPIAS?

New techno-utopias will continue to emerge, the web being the techno-utopia of our time. Designing exclusively for such technologies, however, is inadequate, since there is a well known tradeoff between adaptation and evolvability. Hence, if there is one design constraint that a city needs to satisfy, it is the ability to adapt to future needs. Evolvability is therefore, the ultimate design constraint for cities. It's a constraint that invites us to accept our ignorance about the future, and to do best to incorporate it into the way we build in the present.•

Where to Work Japan Women

By PETER CONRAD

Housewives 2.0

To understand Switzerland, it takes something between 20-25 minutes, bacause you see is what you get. To understand Japan, it probably takes something in the region of 20 to 25 years. If ever.

If one wants to have some rudimentary understanding of Japanese culture, the first step is to get rid of the politicallycorrect neo-colonial-judgmental western thinking still pretending to teach others what is right and what is not. If you try to analyze Japan with a western symmetrical and common-sense toolset you will fail, spectacularly. And understanding women’s roles in Japan is no exception.

IT’S NO COUNTRY FOR NON-HOUSEWIVES

Japan is known to have the least number of so called influential women in the world, be it in politics, or in the corporate world. Despite being a futuristic high-tech country in some ways, and the 3rd largest economy in the world, the women’s role is still just a modern version of feudal Edo-era Japan. A housewife in Japan is considered “Kachigumi” (“winner” in Japanese) having very high status and respect from girlfriends and society. This is in contrast to a girl who continues to work after marriage who is considered “Makegumi” (“loser” in Japanese). It’s simple. If the husband can afford for his wife to stay at home and raise the family, it means she got a husband with a good position, another Kachigumi probably. But if she continues working, it usually means that he cannot afford the whole household budget, therefore she has to work and will not get the same level of admiration from Japanese society. The perfect dream of most of young Japanese girls is to marry a well established guy with a good job and salary, raise children, live in a good area, have afternoon tea with other housewives, go shopping, and take care of her beauty. Of course 20 years of economic downturn are now forcing more married women to work, at least part-time. Men’s wages have dropped by 30% over

the last 20 years. But still the image of the wealthy and beautiful housewife in an elegant neighborhood like Denenchofu or Daikanyama or Jiyugaoka (all Tokyo areas) remains the idealization of the Japanese fairytale.

MOTHERS AND WIVES

Many young Japanese females wish to quit their jobs because the working culture in Japan, beside being very tough, is also not female friendly. The young Japanese female will probably never climb the career ladder in a traditional Japanese company, their salaries will usually be quite low, in their typical O.L. (“Office Lady” or “oeru” in Japanese) role. Therefore many women wonder why they should try so hard in the tough corporate Japanese world, instead of focusing on becoming a highly respected housewife. A necessity becomes virtue. Still, among highly developed countries, Japan has probably the highest number of housewives. The old Japanese expression “ryosaikenbo” stands for “wise mother and good wife” and is still used in Japan, less in Tokyo, but certainly in other smaller cities and the countryside. It was used in Meiji Era, and is still embedded in the Japanese way of thinking.

BUT HOUSEWIVES HAVE THE POWER

Does this all lead to the western stereotype of Japanese women being submissive and devoted? Again, the western view is totally wrong. The level of influence and power of Japanese women, is high, just not visible to western eyes. Just think about this. Most husbands' salaries are directly credited to the wive’s account and men get a so called “allowance” for their daily expenses. Surprised? Most of the family decisions are made by the wife. The husband is way too busy

01 Geishas and Samurais, Palazzo Ducale, Genoa, Italy, from April, 18 to August, 25. 125 original photographic prints created by great Japanese and European exponents of this art between 1860 and the beginning of 1900 who were able to explore the idea of men and women, both in an unconscious way, and according to real sociocultural conditions of the time. Anonymous, View of Miyajima, 1880-1890 ca.

with his tough corporate career and prefers to delegate the household decisions. The real life within the family is often totally different than the image projected to the outside.

It is like Emperor and Shogun role in ancient Japan. The emperor (the man in this case) was given the formal authority and respect, but the Shogun had the real power in his area (the woman in this example).

THE YOUNG AND BEAUTIFUL

Being young and beautiful in Japan is an explosive combination like nowhere else. It’s no secret that being 20-25 years old and beautiful in Japan means highest value and power in Japanese society. And a big portion (maybe 30%) of these girls will have a part time job in “Kyabakura” or a Hostess club, places where men go after work either alone or with clients, where they can talk (just talk) with very attractive young girls. They will be very kind, seductive, and flattering to the men’s egos. It is usually quite expensive, though the difference between a casual place and a Ginza Club can be enormous. Young girls choose this part time job for two simple reasons.

To increase their incomes and to, and meet wealthy or influential men. Some of the clients are married, some are not and are looking to date one of these girls.

A COUNTRY OF SINGLES

Because don’t forget that Japan has the highest percentage of single people in the

world. Meeting, and dating is very difficult in Japan. Overwork and shyness interfere greatly with the natural process of finding a soulmate.

So, as pragmatic as it can sound, men in decently good positions are looking to date these girls, who also want to meet men, who already passed the first selection, being wealthy. They won’t lose time dating “makegumi” guys with unstable or lower salary jobs. I can imagine you are a bit confused, but Japanese relationships would require a special chapter. For now just think that the majority of Japanese marriages are not based on what we describe as “love” but rather on “amae” dependance on each other.

The reason why the hostess culture is important to understanding the women’s role in Japanese working culture is because sometimes a young female hostess meets a “sponsor”. A “sponsor” is usually a wealthy and influential man willing to help a girl to get a good job or to realize her professional dream. He will help her to set up her shop, her company, whatever. Of course, they are usually

in a lovers relationship. Actually, if you stretch it a bit, it is not so fundamentally different from the old Geisha-Danna relationship in pre WW2 times. The Danna would take care of this “shadow” wife for many years, and by all means. Now it’s just more consumeristic and less romantic, but some traits are the same.

CHANGE IS IN THE AIR

But it seems something is changing, at however a glacial pace.

A few women approaching their 30s are thinking about an alternative lifestyle, where work can become the center of their life. Getting married is becoming increasingly difficult. Therefore, especially in Tokyo, there are some examples of entrepeneurship. For example, Chiyuki Asano, a fashion designer who just opened her showroom in one of the most posh areas of Tokyo after showing her collection in New York. She started design school in Tokyo, and in order to pay for her study and to attend another designer school in Paris, she was a hostess in Ginza. Which is a prestigious job

in Japan. She always refused sponsorship though it was often proposed to her and chose instead to make it on her own. She is now succeeding and her vision is to promote Japanese design and manufacturing around the world. When I asked her about her personal life, she had no hesitation in telling me she wants a family, but in a more western mode, where she could continue to work and express her talent. This could possibly be the bell of change in Japan, single women who prefer to take control of their destiny and be entrepreneurs, even if through the financial springboard of a part - time job as a hostess or through a sponsor. After all, the severe economic downturn is not producing so many successful and eligible potential husbands anymore. The vast majority of young Japanese men are expected to dedicate their lives to the company and for a small salary, without having the chance to increase the salary in other ways. So, what does it mean to be a woman in Japan? The answer is not easy and the Japanese paradox won’t make it any easier to find.•

Where to Work South Sudan

By ARNE DOORNEBAL

World’s Newest Country Flooded by Foreign Workers

South Sudan is proud to be the newest country on earth, after it seceded from Sudan in July 2011.

MORE THAN A YEAR AND A HALF AFTER GAINING INDEPENDENCE

MOST OF THE JOBS IN THE COUNTRY ARE TAKEN UP BY FOREIGNERS.

The 2.10 meter tall Philip Marial throws his hands in the air. “It is now seven years since the peace agreement that ended the war. Should we still recruit foreigners to develop our country? We have skilled people.” With his statement Marial stresses a sentiment quite common among South Sudanese. South Sudan broke away from “It is true, most of the jobs in South Sudan are taken up by foreigners,” says 28-year old Jennifer Laker. Thousands of Kenyans, Ugandans, Ethiopians and Eritreans have come from to seek opportunities in the new country, where salaries are higher than elsewhere in East Africa due to the influx of aid dollars. Large scale businesses, NGO’s and the various United Nations agencies also see quite a number of ‘Khawajas,’ or white people, among their staff. “The higher jobs go to foreigners because they are usually more skilled and experienced,” Laker says. “The strange thing is that also the lower jobs, like driving a motorcycle taxi which we call boda boda, are often done by foreigners. South Sudanese don’t want to do those jobs, they think this kind of work is too low for them. To be honest, many South Sudanese are very lazy.”

USED TO HAND-OUTS

Philip Marial, who lives in neighbouring Uganda just like Jennifer, is the chairman of the South Sudanese Business Community in East Africa. He chooses other words to describe the South Sudanese attitude towards work “it is a challenge, I admit that. South Sudanese want to dress smart and sit

in offices, but they seem to detest hard labour and working on the land. They also shy away from jobs as house-maids or mechanics. During the war, growing food in our gardens was a source of income. People used to dig in the gardens as there was no other way to put food on the table. But when the peace deal

Last April, South Sudan's president Salva Kiir visited Beijing and came back proclaiming an $8 billion development deal. Nearly one year after China's top official in Africa claims that the deal never existed in the first place.

01 A Misseriya woman stands in front of a thatched shelter. Photo by Tim McKulka and courtesy of UN Photo.

was signed, people became reluctant and started moving towards the towns. If they have one family member with a job, the rest will depend on him and wait to be taken care of.”

Although helpful in times when starvation looms, the free food distribution by the World Food Programme (WFP) has a disrupting influence on both markets and on people’s attitudes, argues Marial. “People received food and cooking oil free of charge from the WFP. This has affected the business community, because when people get free things they won’t go to the market and buy it anymore. Chiefs who were supposed to distribute the United Nations food sometimes kept most of it for themselves.”

EMPLOYING SOUTH SUDANESE

At Juba, South Sudan’s capital, there are huge markets where only Ugandans work, and where their language Luganda has become the lingua franca. “One day a South Sudanese man wanted to start selling matoke to the Ugandan traders,” says Marial. Matoke is the staple food of Uganda, consisting of green bananas. “Then the Ugandans refused to buy it from this South Sudanese man, simply because they didn’t believe a South Sudanese could supply high quality matoke,” he laughs. Although many companies in South Sudan employ foreigners for office jobs, the Charter One bank has done the opposite. Dutch CEO Ben Kalkman is the only non-South Sudanese staff member, leading a team of 31 locals. “Working in South Sudan is challenging, difficult, and we face extreme conditions. There is absolutely nothing: legal and regulatory framework, infrastructure, education etcetera,” says Kalkman by phone from Juba.

Describing Juba as ‘a wild west boomtown’ he has been working here for over a year. He calls the work ethos of the South Sudanese “Generally pretty disappointing, with exceptions; they are simply not used to a working environment with responsibilities and remuneration based on performance.” This begs the question why he employs so many of them. “The Bank of South Sudan requires us to employ at least 90

percent local people. That is one of the rules the government is setting to encourage local employment” Kalkman explains.

RESTARTING OIL PRODUCTION

Another cause of the low appetite for hard work may be the oil boom the country has experienced in recent years. Since the peace agreement with the north, the country received billions of dollars in oil revenue, making South Sudan dependent on oil for 98 percent of its budget. The money has been flowing freely in South Sudan, on one hand from donor countries and on the other hand from oil revenues. The country still produces virtually nothing, a 50-million dollar beer brewery being the largest plant. South Sudan relies on imports of practically everything, which have been financed by petro dollars until in early 2012 when it halted oil production after a disagreement with Khartoum over transit fees for oil. South Sudan is a landlocked country by itself so oil exports run through pipelines under Khartoum’s control. But after the two Sudans struck an oil deal in October, the oil--and the money--is likely to start flowing again soon.

DIVIDED COUNTRY

Although Jennifer’s efforts to find a job in South Sudan failed, she insists one day she might return home. “Uganda still has a lot of benefits. It is more peaceful, there are more job opportunities and there is better education.”

Ben Kalkman, the CEO of Charter One bank, acknowledges the divide between people coming home from the diaspora and the South Sudanese who stayed home. “You see exactly the same thing with the Khartouma’s, or the guys who worked in North Sudan,” he says. South Sudan may be independent, but it is far from united. Several rebel groups still cause havoc in rural areas in the country. “And it remains very tribalistic,” acknowledges Jennifer Laker. “If you are not from the Dinka, the largest ethnic group in the country and the ones in power, you might as well forget about finding a job there.

”•

Ory Okolloh and the Politics of Social Media in Africa

As Google’s policy manager for Africa, Okolloh has become one of the most influential women in technology on the continent. Cofounder of Kenyan parliamentary watchdog website Mzalendo.com (“patriot” in Swahili) in 2006, she worked to increase government accountability by tracking and recording campaign contributions, debate attendance, parliamentary bills and speeches, providing Kenyans with access to legal and political information as it becomes available. Through the use of technology, Okolloh has played a leading role in ensuring that the voices of African citizens are heard. In a 2012, Okolloh highlighted her views on digital activism and social change. “I don’t think technology or social media alone can bring political change. At the end of the day you still need to go offline into the streets. If you look at the uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia- even Occupy Nigeria here, it might have been spurred and organized online, so technology plays the role of a facilitator, but at the end of the day the real impact was felt when the people went out into the street. So no amount of protests with a popular hash tag would have achieved the kind of impact that happened when people actually went out. But then again, the organizing, the encouragement and the build-up to people going to the streets happened online. So I think technology and digital activism is more of an enabler- a means, not an end by itself.”

By CARLA DE YCAZA

Where to Work Sino-Africa

By SAM NALLEN COPLEY

Seeing Opportunities Where Others Didn’t

In 2012, China is Africa’s main trading partner. Since China as no former colonies and a minimal involvement in the slave trade, many of us might be inclined to ask – China in Africa? Really?

Even to some of our most enlightened thinkers from the post-colonial period, this union seemed unthinkable. A line from W.H. Auden’s poem, As I Walked Out One Evening, springs to mind –“I’ll love you till China and Africa meet, and the river jumps over the mountain, and the salmon sing in the street.”

CHINA GOT THERE FIRST

With ninety percent of the world’s platinum, fifty percent of its gold and a staggering ninety eight percent of its chromium, Africa’s abundance in natural resources should place it at the top of the list of continents to invest in. Home to many of Earth’s poorest, most corrupt and most dangerous countries however, raking in profits from Africa can cost foreign businessmen more than the price of a mining drill. As European has-been superpowers attempt to atone for the crimes of the 19th Century, the rulebook has been rewritten, with Chinese salmon infiltrating the streets of almost every African capital, singing louder than ever. This is not the complete picture however, and if we cast a closer eye to the history books, it is clear that as with many other things, whether we acknowledge it or not, the Chinese got there first.

A LOOK AT THE HISTORY..

Much like the compass, papermaking, printing and gunpowder, an active interest in Africa flourished in Qin Dynasty China well before it even entered the consciousness of glassless, sewerless pre-Roman Northern Europe traders. Largely centred around the northern East African coast for obvious geographical reasons, China’s early contact with the lands of ‘Po-pa-li’ (modern day Somalia) and ‘Ts’ong-pa’ (modern day

01 On the building site, Imbolou dam, Congo, 2007

Nigerian workers and a Chinese technician at Federated Steel, Lagos, Nigeria, 2007 03 Algeri, Khemis el Khechna compound, on the Mitidja plain, 2007

Mr. Wood, Lagos, Nigeria, 2007 05 Festive dinner at Mr. Chang restaurant, Lagos, Nigeria, 2007

In 2007 photographer Paolo Wood went together with journalist Serge Michel to meet the Chinese stirring up Africa. From the barren countryside of Central Chine to the leather armchairs of African ministries, the photographs capture the adventures of the Chinese who came to Africa to make their fortunes and who invested their lives and their money in a continent that the West has long considered fit only for hand outs. All photos are by Paolo Woods and courtesy of Editions Grasset

Zanzibar) was mostly motivated by an anthropological and faunological curiosity. Documents from the early 15th Century demonstrate the presence of giraffes in China and Sino-African marriages in Kenya. With the groundwork laid, everything suddenly seemed to stop. From Joseph Needham to Niall Ferguson, many have sought to explain China’s lack of aggressive trading and gunboat diplomacy – a question mark particularly conspicuous in a continent ravaged by Europe’s scramble for Africa in the 19th Century. Whether because of the lack of commercial competition or the so-called ‘diffusionism’ of Taoism and Confucianism, traditionally, expansion has never been a feature of Chinese foreign policy. Unlike the Japanese – who actively adapted their en-

tire political system in order to become a European-style conquering nation –China, much like most of Africa, instead fell victim to resource hungry colonialists. Indeed until the end of the Second World War, to most, Sino-African relations was an arcane avenue of research reserved for Somali archaeologists and the odd student of Classical Chinese. However, as the business-savvy CEOs of Beijing say, tianxià wú bù san zhi yán xí (nothing lasts forever).

A LEADER IS BEST WHEN PEOPLE BARELY KNOW HE EXISTS – LAO TZU

A modern map of Chinese investment in Africa proves the hibernation is over. From Cape Town to Cairo and Mauritania to Madagascar, China is estimated to have offered over one hundred

billion dollars to various African business sectors. Nearly a fifth of this investment has gone into the oil and natural gas industry, another fifth in rail and road, with mining, iron ore, copper, hydroelectric dam building and a variety of other sectors comprising the remainder. So how did this happen, and why couldn’t the west see it coming? In the mid 1960s, Sino-Soviet relations cooled and Beijing was in no position to turn to McCarthy-era Washington. China needed new friends. Of the three great political ‘isms’ of the 20th Century, Africa had suffered the most by colonialism; despite the best efforts of the fascist Greyshirts of South Africa and communist brotherhoods in the Maghreb, the might of European imperialism undoubtedly scarred the continent more than any other external force. Aside from having avoided the embarrassment of colonial participation, China could also offer a new ideology – Maoism – a system that promised to be the saviour of revolutionary peoples worldwide. In short, China was in a perfect position to pounce. D. J. Muekalia explores this in his 2004 work, Africa and China’s Strategic Partnership, in which he claims China positioned itself against both the US and Russia, and "began to cultivate ties and offer…economic, technical and military support to African countries and liberation movements in an effort to encourage wars of national liberation and revolution as part of an international united front against both superpowers." Staying under the radar, Sino-African interaction increased in importance by the year, culminating in the founding of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in 2000.

TO BE WRONGED IS NOTHING UNLESS YOU CONTINUE TO REMEMBER IT – CONFUCIUS

The question of how a modern-day Chinese presence in Africa differs from that of a 19th Century European one has become something of an obsession for contemporary political analysts in the west. Inevitably, the key issue is neo-colonialism – that is, the use of various tools within the capitalist arsenal

to control a country without the need for a substantial physical presence. In 2007, Jack Straw, the Lord Chancellor of Great Britain remarked, “Most of what China has been doing in Africa today is what we did in Africa a hundred and fifty years ago”. Is this indeed the case, or are these simply disparaging remarks from a former empire past its expiration date? Is China exploiting an already unstable region and hindering the spread of democracy, or simply using a newfound capitalist framework to help those in need? China does not appear to be making any attempts to occupy Africa within an official military capacity. This creates a fairly standard trading model whereby African nations exchange goods for money –a win-win situation closely monitored by the World Trade Organization. In 2006, the Chinese wrote the so-called ‘Beijing Declaration’, a pledge to avoid any attempts to influence African political or social affairs. In an interview with CNN, South Sudanese rapper and former child soldier Emmanuel Jal put it the following way, "The Chinese don't influence our politics, They don't comment on it, and what they want, they pay for - sometimes double the amount. This tends to make all Africans happy

- from the dictators to the democrats. There isn't a party in Africa that doesn't like them.”

MORE

THAN MEETS THE EYE

This is not however the full picture. Much of the money channelled into Africa is either declared as a concessional loan, or sometimes even as aid.

On top of this, many of these investments, far from offering employment to locals, have instead kickstarted a sort of Chinese migration. In fact, there are now more Chinese than Europeans in Africa! We can’t ignore isolated incidents that conjure up images of the worst horrors of the 19th century colonies; the shooting of local workers by a two Chinese mine managers in Zambia in 2010 is one such example. There are also questions to be answered on the state level. According to ministers from Omar al-Bashir’s government, before the split of Sudan in 2011, China had supplied the Republic (the North) with helicopters, fighter planes, bombers, rocket-propelled grenade launchers and machine guns in exchange for raw materials – mostly oil. This is highly reminiscent of the 19th Century colonial tactic of arming certain tribal leaders with firearms – a huge and often

disastrous interference into local power struggles – for resource rewards. China has also used its political power to help Omar al-Bashir’s questionable regime. As a permanent member of the UN Security Council, China was able to veto attempts to impose sanctions on Sudan during the war in Darfur, or, as many consider it, the Darfur Genocide.

THE SUPREME ART OF WAR IS TO SUBDUE THE ENEMY WITHOUT FIGHTING – SUN TZU

Sustaining China’s economic boom requires the opening of fresh markets and the extraction of large quantities of raw materials. Western liberal democracies may not see eye-to-eye with the Chinese approach in this regard, but the holier-than-thou remarks of European leaders must simply sound like sour grapes to the Chinese CEOs. While China’s lack of concern for human rights and extremely aggressive investment tactics are problematic to European commentators, in the vast majority of cases it seems that both parties in the Sino-African partnership benefit from this little understood union. The question we should be asking is instead –how did we get so much wrong? •

Workplace Inside Factories

Changing the Industrial Landascape

Factories and manufacturing continue to be a key part of our so-

cial and economic existence, creating employment and reflecting technical innovation.

In the past, factories brought people from the country to the town, creating industrialized centers and enterprises that defined our cities, their organization and their cultural identity. And even though industry has been responsible for many of the ills within modern society, destroying our natural environment, inflicting health problems and hardship etc., there have been enlightened models of entrepreneurship, obviously Olivetti comes to mind, where industrial production, community, education and a sense design found a balance and harmony which benefited all.

In recent decades, the focus of attention on the workplace, its buildings, its furnishings and internal landscape has been concentrated on the office, reflecting the huge growth of service industries driven by the evolution of information and paper processing technologies. Today however, as the classic model of ‘white collar industry’ erodes and office work becomes less and less tied to a fixed physical space, we are witnessing a fresh appraisal of the design and development of new types of manufacturing environments in which the diversification of industrial processes, increased automation, sustainability credentials, company brand identity and employee satisfaction are driving new types of specifically ‘designed’ and enlightened solutions.

PRODUCTION SHOWROOM FACTORY

As part of the whole process of purchasing and having a ‘luxury’ custom product, you can go and visit the factory which is designed more as a showroom in which all processes are transparent and if you can't visit in person, you can always watch it on line.

GREEN INNOVATION FACTORY

A shared manufacturing centre or ‘HUB’ that supports co-working for contemporary artisans where knowhow and advanced equipment can be rented to help create new types of product ideas, prototypes and batch production all driven by sustainable goals.

APPRENTICESHIP FACTORY

Traditionally, industries were based on the idea of apprenticeship; modern educational reforms favour the idea of people going to ‘college’ instead of gaining practical experience. In Switzerland however, about two thirds of Swiss 15-19 year-olds do apprenticeships where businesses are aware that training employees for the future creates knowledge within the factory.

CLUSTER FACTORIES

Industrial sectors recognize the need for collaboration and synergy in which different organizations realize the importance of group technical innovation. Cluster factories create centres where common goals, shared amenities and efficiencies can be optimised.

HEALTH AND CARE FACTORY

We all remember seeing Chinese workers participating in Tai Chi before entering the factory. This ethos has evolved with our growing desire to work for our well-being and to create well-being while working. New brands aspire to a total approach to healthy environments, work styles, manufacturing and product enhancement. Traditional furnishings are replaced with products that also support and create physical movement, for example exercise balls that replace workplace seating.

By NICHOLAS BEWICK

Technogym Village. Cesena, Italy.

Design Antonio Citterio Patricia Viel and Partners

Year 2012

Area 54.000 sqm. Use factory, administrative and management offices, wellness centre, laboratories, R&D centre.

The new office building (block B), linearly developed along the industrial building (block D) for 200 meters distributed on four floors and providing a total surface of about 10,700 square meters, was erected next to the production site, in order to complement the functional units that have been included in the largest Technogym project. The main entrance is through the park, near the most representative area which gathers the rooms of the presidency and the auditorium. A big curved roof in lamellar wood and the continuous façade in wood and glass overlooking the park enrich this building which, generally speaking, has a very simple and economic structure with a mixture of pre-fabricated elements in steel and reinforced concrete. Inside the building, the offices are organized on two different sides: the south side, towards the park, is shaded against the sun by the presence of the curved roof, whereas the north side, more operational, looks over the undulated roofing of the factory. The central area of the office building hosts the services, common spaces for meetings and open workspace areas while along the façades there are individual offices. In line with the concept of “wellness”, this project underlines the relationship between the inside of the building and the outside looking onto the park (transparent indoor partitions) and the use of high performance natural materials (wood and glass). The site is complemented by the “Wellness Centre” (block A), a building with an elliptical plan on a 2,700 square meter surface area, which is connected to the offices near the main entrance. A gym and a spa cover a two-level area which has been entirely designed in lamellar wood with transparent walls to look onto the park.

[W abb.com dhl.com henninglarsen.com kilometrorosso.com koppertcress.com mclarenautomotive.com progettomanifattura.it technogym.com volkswagen.com]

SELF SUFFICENT FACTORY

The desire for self sufficiency for traditional non-renewable energy sources is driving innovation in all sectors. Factories have always been huge consumers of power and water, so new factories that can function using sun, wind, geothermal, power, etc., with zero emissions and waste, demonstrate huge improvements in environmental ethics.

BEAUTIFUL ENGINEERING FACTORY

Beautifully engineered products in beautifully engineered buildings in an immaculate green field landscape is the maximum reflection of a brand's desire for performance and global leadership in an idyllic setting.

SIDE BY SIDE FACTORY

A new generation of robots that can easy adapt to different tasks are transforming industrial thinking and production methods. New models even emulate human form and flexibility, making side by side activity a potential future model.

ESSENTIAL PLANT FOOD FACTORY

By 2050, with another 2.5 billion people on the planet, we will require completely new process of growing and supplying food to citizens. New models of automated food factories, hydroponics and aerophonics, vertical farms, algae plantations and seawater greenhouses are creating huge design and employment opportunities.

OPEN SOURCE FACTORY

Growing global issues are creating ideas for future social and economic models that seek independence and freedom from commercial interests and protective industrial practices. This is creating new types of ‘backyard’ production which is focu sed on producing ‘tools’ for basic community needs such as housing and farming in which ‘open source’ information exchange provides free advice and technical knowledge.

GLOBAL MOBILE LOGISTICS FACTORY

The globalization of production more than ever before relies on a perfect sequence of ‘just in time’ delivery services. This concept is also driving a shift towards time-based competition as opposed to price-based competition.

Organizations like DHL could become manufactures themselves, coordinating a network of suppliers from the product's final assembly and its installation or delivery to the end user.

MEGA FACTORY

So what does this all mean for the future of ‘work styles’ and designing for and with industry?

Firstly of all, industrial production must return to be a central part of society and be developped where countries and regions have a clear vision and strategy. We are already witnessing changes as the cycle of global competition based on cheap wages is beginning to dwindle, even Foxconn is planning to move

to the US. Secondly, the idea of ‘working’ within industry must reclaim an importance that provides everybody with new ambitions and aspirations. The ‘art of making’ is a very noble and intrinsic human activity.

LAST BIT OF THINKING

And finally, as designers we have to move on from the singular idea of aesthetics and ‘fashion’, we must use our powers of observation and foresight to re-think and re-invent our role. Industry is a process that needs design at every level. The reason for a product, its entire lifecycle, how and where it is made and the impact it has on the people who make it. It’s more than ever a great time to be a ‘real’ designer.•

Workplace Iconic Buildings

By PAOLO CITTERIO

Company Towns, Hidden Vocations

This means that the materials that sculptures and buildings are made of must grow old.

At the end of the 19th century in Europe, some entrepreneurs-pioneers such as Tomáš Bata and Camillo Olivetti, and some architects such as Adolf Loos, Rudolph Schindler or Richard Neutra, became hunters of that '"American gold” that it was still in many ways the last frontier of the West.

Everything became a large-scale implementation of a typically European dream: the illuminist one of the humanized machine of the Salt Works of Chaux, the Fourier’s Phalanstery, the great metaphorical and monumental representation of productivity and its control devices. Such an exuberant culture to become new nature, loyal to the belief of the cancellation of Adam’s curse and confident in the beneficial and “natural” character of industrial growth.

A "company town" is the city created by management, where beauty is a logical consequence of the "product" of good organization.

However, there is no company town without a "garden villae" or an "edge town. There is no profitable industrial development without the moral leadership of the rural and bucolic worlds. This founding contradiction between urban

and anti-urban, widely spread all over the West, shows that the inevitably artificial and manipulative intent of politicians, financiers, planners and architects in the foundation of these new cities or parts of previous cities cannot be hidden. Today are these cities “real” or “fake”?

The religious secret of abandoned factories which have lost their "vocation" (work) is perfectly captured by photography, a way of seeing, stopping at what will never be. A way to move towards a deeper and stranger sense of things. Cities are more complex than a transport system or a well designed production/ dwelling. There's very little "nature" even when covered "green" and immersed in the landscape. In the words of entrepreneur Henry Ford "a great city is really a desperate monster" that is full of "warehouses and storage facilities that produce nothing," a contradiction or, for other reasons, an irregular majesty.

Once their original functions are lost, the rational processes, multi-annual programs, all their production settlements go back to level 0 of their existence: assets or capital goods that have used architectural styles and collective memory propagandistically. The space reified by

photography, emptied of the social relations involved in its construction, still has a character, a form that lives in spite of everything. These buildings-fossils continue to respond to an ancestral need of monumentality that seems to belong to the inhabitants of the city of the 21st century as well. They should not be overlooked, but even forced to respond to their global and uninterrupted aging. Aging can also mean an accumulation of potential received from the environment that is just waiting for the opportunity, the circumstances necessary to give unexpected and metamorphic results. The depletion of the liturgy, as a cult, as a use, does not mean the end of a habit understood as propensity, but rather can mean the transition from the particular to the universal, the end of a resistance. Paradoxically, when a company has created its buildings-town not just to generate and advertize its products, but really to propose a way of life (as in the case of Zlín or Ivrea) it becomes an “example that speaks,” Pasolini would say, a place to which people attach more than life itself. And this is the very first step of a new phase of the evolutionary process captured by the photographs. •

bata.com ford.com olivetti.it borovo.hr comune.ivrea.to.it nh.pl

Ivrea Italy

Borovo Croatia

Nowa Huta Poland

Batovany Slovakia

Zlin Czech Rep.

Company Town

By PAOLO MAZZO

Hanna Arendt suggested that artistic creation produces something that must last for a long time. This means that the materials that sculptures and buildings are made of must grow old.

The richness of the European city lies in its stratification, in the fact that what we live in today is a territory shaped by the past. We have been

given the privilege of living inside a physical territory of memory. But there are cities that have attempted to live without stratification. They came about as autonomous, independent expressions of an ideology that has transcended the work of architects and urban planners, who must yield to the physical reflexes of human powers and weaknesses. Even if they were

01.2 01.4

expressions of different ideologies in different contexts and at different times, these cities – such as Zlin in the Czech Republic, Batovany in Slovakia, Borovo in Croatia, Ivrea in Italy and Nowa Huta in Poland –represented a model of towns based on work and workers and were places for experimentation with an idea of collective living, without the uncertain imminence of something that may or may not happen. Not garden cities, not satellite towns nor dormitory "banlieues" on the edges of Western cities, these towns were conceived as constructed

fragments in which the relationships mixed the present with the past, and in which industry was at the centre of a dawning new civilization. Apparently timeless, these cities perpetuate an eternal present without eliminating the past: they are characteristic of the creation of a world in evolution. Thus a landscape is formed that is lost in the past and emerges in the present. Thus a sense of time is perceived that both passes and lasts at the same time.

Memory is entrusted with the task of transcending the contradictions and

02.2 02.4

03.1 03.3

03.2 03.4

conflicts that those ideologies have also created.

The city thus becomes a shared place where we are accompanied by the narration of history. The spaces speak through the register of lived experience, assuming the role of the mirror of humanity. They are the spaces where the hierarchical functions and production activities of and in the community are ordered and distributed.

Their main vocation is territorial; they aim to create identity, symbolic relationships and a common heritage.

Photography is entrusted with the task of portraying people through architecture, even in their absence, the task of building a form of cultural anthropology of the spaces inhabited and traversed by people. Photography depicts spaces in the beauty of their historical dimension, immersing itself in their enigmatic dimension, preventing us from fully grasping the original perception.

These images are journeys that pursue the sense of time following an irrational drive consisting of nostalgia for what we have not experienced,

04.1 04.3

04.2 04.4

of the desire to anchor existence to something that gives it meaning: journeys of memory and into memory, in search of the wealth of architecture that is consumed in the history, the culture, the geography.

Paolo Mazzo has been a photographer since 1988 and partner of F38F - Famiglia Trentotto Fotografi (with Francesco Di Loreto and Mimo Visconti), that produces advertising, publishing and architecture photographs. Focused on social themes, beside studio work he conceived

and produced several personal projects about the cultural regeneration of a forgotten mining city.

Groupe 01 Nowa Huta, 2010 Poland Groupe 02 Borovo-Vukovar, Bata’s industrial site, 2012 Croatia Groupe 03 Zlìn, Bata’s industrial site, 2011 Czech Republic Groupe 04 Batovany-Partizanske, Bata’s industrial site, 2011 Slovakia

Workplace Architects

Vicente Guallart: It’s All About Innovation

As an architect, traditionally, the idea is that architecture is everything you put in the wall in order to make it more livable.

The job of an architect is to create the human habitat and for this precise reason their job should be executed on more than one level. Architects don’t only design buildings, in reality they design everything that can help people improve their living of a space.

ARCHITECTURE, ECOLOGY AND IT

Today, unlike in the past, architects work from geography to the city as well as introducing crucial digital technology. We have also started to design everything that makes the world more intelligent, but at the same time, we work on a scale that’s even bigger than the city. From this point of view for the last 10 years, I've been working in two environments: my studio Guallart Architects, that I founded in the middle of the 90s, and where I have been developing many projects in different parts of the world, from buildings to urban landscapes as well as projects in Taiwan, China and Costa Rica. On the other hand I have, together with other architects, decided to establish the Institute of Advanced Architecture of Catalonia, in Barcelona at the end of the 90s. We realized that a new kind of architecture and urbanism was appearing, mainly because of the evolution of information technologies. If the industrial age gave birth to modern architecture, the digital age will create what we call advanced architecture. This is why we felt the need to found the Institute and we have been researching for the last 10 years how to mix architecture, ecology and IT.

REGENERATION OF BARCELONA

When I became Chief Architect of the Barcelo Municipality, I established a new department that I called “City Habitat.” This new bureau aims at bringing together everything that relates to urbanism, environment and IT. Our vision of the city is that it is not only buildings and streets, but it is also the

nature surrounding it, infrastructures, information moving between things.

URBAN HABITAT

I am an architect who would like to help the transformation of the world by innovating the places where people live. I am an architect who left tradition and started being radical and avantgarde in order to speed up innovation and bring analytic vision to the meaning of “living the city.” I strive to use the best technologies, but also mix social sciences to create better architecture. Functionalism is over. It is much more important to integrate different aspects of living such as architecture, ecology and IT, creating a new science called Urban Habitat.

INDUSTRY BACK IN THE CITY

The first thing for me is to define strong principles about what it is wanted for the future of our cities, and my vision is that cities should be productive again. That means that cities should produce energy again, bring back industries and should also be able to produce food.•

Vicente Guallart is an architect exploring emergence in Spain. He spent part of his time with research and educational projects as former director of the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IaaC), in Barcelona, that holds an international postgraduate program on Architecture and Urbanism. In 2000 he was co-director of MIT’s Media Lab and another research Center, the Media House Project, the prototype of an informational house, based for the first time, in distributed computation. He is author of the master plan of the project Sociópolis, a housing project in Valencia. He has given lectures at different Universities and Cities around the world, such as Princeton University, Upenn, Architectural Association, UCLA, MIT, Space (Seoul), Woodbury University and Taipei, among others. His work has been exhibited in the Biennale di Venezia 2002, 2004 and 2008, Archilab, Gratz, and elsewhere.

He is currently Chief Architect at Ayuntamiento de Barcelona, Spain.

01 Barcelona Smart City Campus from 02 to 07 ENDESA Pavilion is a self-sufficient solar prototype installed at the Marina Dock, within the framework of the International BCN Smart City Congress. Over a period of one year it will be used as control room for monitoring and testing several projects related to intelligent power management. It was designed by IAAC of which Vicente Guallart isa member of the Scientific Committee.

Photos are by Rodrigo Rubio and courtesy of the City Hall of Barcelona

Workplace Events

By PAOLO GALUZZI

Brick Sculptures

The 13th International Architecture Exhibition sought to return architecture to its origins, however reality begged to differ. Architects are, in fact, still stuck in a limbo between art and architecture.

Except for some projects and pavilions at the 13th International Architecture Exhibition, it seems that architects haven’t recovered from their identity crisis after all. In fact many of the projects presented had to be considered far more as a works of art than actual buildings, urban plans or places. Many projects really lacked concreteness and functionality. Some others took into account the many different aspects that architects come to face today, such as environment, corporate social responsibility, social issues and technology. Common Ground could have been a very interesting opportunity, but unfortunately this opportunity remained unfulfilled. The exhibition shows architects as producers of extra matter through aesthetic quality, but not as people who imperatively have to play a part in the decision making processes in reorganizing, reworking or remodeling our cities and communities. Unfortunately, the exhibit fosters uncertainty on how to address today’s disorganized social, political, economic and architectural processes that go into making good buildings and places to live. One project worth mentioning was the one proposed in the Japan Pavillon by the Japan Foundation, where three emerging architects Kumiko Inui, Sou Fujimoto and Akihisa Hirata, collaborated with famous architect Toyo Ito to design a “home for all” in the city of Rikuzentakata, disastrously devastated by the tzunami and earthquake that hit Japan in March 2011. As Toyo Ito briefly explains “since the modern period, architecture has been rated highest for its originality,” and adds “as a result the most primal themes, such as why a building is made and for whom, have been forgotten. A disaster zone where everything is lost offers the perfect

opportunity for us to take a fresh look, from the ground up, at what architecture really is. “Home-For-All” may consist of small buildings, but it posits the question of what form architecture should take in the modern era and beyond.”

Some other interesting works were seen in the United States pavilion, organized by the Institute for Urban Design, where all participants brought intereting projects, that certainly suggest where architecture and urbanism should go. The project had a shared idea, but also a shared ground, where it is important to recreate, reinvigorate as well as reimagine spaces for common good. One of the projects presented that’s worth a mention is the Parkman Triangle Park in Los Angeles. The project was created by the collective group of architects and designers Urban Operations, who were able to transform a space in concrete, that once was a turn lane, into a small green space. The fact that many projects shown avoid authority and do not involve architects surely implies not that architects aren’t fundamental or that our cities aren’t directly dependant on top-down plans, but that both cities and architects have to find ways to come back together in a world where people are always looking and searching for better design and living. The Biennale was nothing different than previous years, a sort of failed mission for the common ground that hoped to be achieved. Even collateral events and exhibitions seemed more common ground than the enormous aluminum sculpture presented by Zaha Hadid in the central pavilion. Beautiful yes, but not architecture.•

01

— 03 JAPAN PAVILION Architecture possible here?

Home-for-All

Naoya Hatakeyama; Kumiko Inui, Sou Fujimoto, Akihisa Hirata, commissioner: Toyo Ito, deputy xommissioners: Atsuko Sato, Tae Mori.

04 — 06

LUIS FERNANDEZ-GALIANO CON/ WITH FRANCISCO MANGADO, MANSILLA + TUNON, NIETO SOBEJANO, PAREDES PEDROSA, RCR ARQUITECTES Spain mon amour, 2012

Masked characters act as if they're concealing something, hiding from something, or perhaps are trapped somewhere they can't get out of. These masked characters are architects, still hidden behind art.

by Francesco Galli and courtesy of la Biennale di Venezia

Photos

Moving Commuting in Istanbul

By ROBERTA ZANCHI

If Only I Had a Helicopter!

Commuting in a metropolis of almost 15 million people takes time. However if you plan your route leaving some extra time devoted to mapping out the city before you set out, you can enjoy a fascinating trip before and after work.

It’s 6 am and you hear a voice singing, it’s the Muezzin calling the devout to prayer. After prayer they will get ready to go to work. Istanbul is also the city of two worlds, spread across two continents, Asia and Europe, separated by the sea. Moving around Istanbul can be a true nightmare. Traffic is often very bad, the metro lines work very well, but they are few, and going to the main airport it can take up to 2 hours with public transport.

LIVING OUTSIDE ISTANBUL

Who doesn’t like the quiet environment and clean air that one can enjoy in the countryside? Akin Gündüz, Chairman and Chief Executive of ERIH - European Reclimate Investment House, lives in the countryside just outside Istanbul, and goes to work by car every day. He doesn’t drive but has a driver and he says “It takes about 30/35 minutes one way,” which makes his average time spent in the car about 1 hour or 1 hour 10 minutes daily. According to Akin there’s no time to waste as he uses 20 minutes of the 60 to make work calls, “almost 15 or 20 minutes of the 60 minutes is spent on the phone and for the remaining time I read books or do some language practice. I try to teach myself as much as possible during the drive, especially in the Istanbul traffic that sometimes becomes horrible.” Mr. Gündüz sometimes works from home and suggests that he prefers it, especially from a neutral carbon footprint point of view. The option of telework is not only for top management in the company. Every team member is given the opportunity to enjoy telework as he says “a serious percentage of our team members prefer to work from home,” adding “to me the most important thing is the goal, the result. What counts is what we

deliver. The rest is unimportant to me.” Mehmet Yildirim, Country Manager at Phonak, lives in the European side of Istanbul, but as he puts it “out of town,” approximately 35 km from the centrally located company offices. Depending on the weather, he goes to work either by car or motorbike. The drive is not so bad, but the traffic can make the journey become a nightmare, he claims “if the traffic is not terrible, which is very rare in Istanbul, it takes me 30 minutes each way,” this means that he spends, on average, one hour commuting from home to work and back. In his company, telework is a real option for many employees, especially those in sales and management as they’re often traveling, so they can work from airplanes, or hotel rooms, because “you don’t need to go to the office at this hour and leave at that hour. What’s important for some functions is to meet the set targets,” says Mehmet Yildirim.

LIVING IN THE ASIAN SIDE

Ali Doruk, Founder and Managing Partner at Net Mimarlik, lives on the Asian side, in the family home where he grew up and commutes to work every day. He has arrangements with his staff, he says, “I come in a little bit later, but also leave a little bit later.” He goes to work by car and has a driver. “I don’t drive, I talk in the car,” he says. Even for Ali the drive of approximately 1 hour one way is an opportunity to do some work and he confesses “I used to take the seaboat, but I couldn’t handle the expense,” apparently not because it’s expensive, well certainly not for every budget, but the cost came out of his own pocket. Ali Doruk is also fond of telework as he says “I have an office room in my house, fully equipped, so that sometimes I work from there un-

Watch the movies produced during the Work Style Talk Istanbul

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til 2 or 3 pm.” “If it’s the rush hour, the commute from home to work and back it takes me roughly 1 and a half hours or 2 hours,” says Belgin Ertam, HR Director at Microsoft Turkey, who drives to work everyday. Thanks to the flexibility her company allows employees to have, she has found a way to trick the traffic by leaving a little bit earlier or later than rush hour so to avoid being sucked into traffic jams on the way home or to work. Another positive aspect of the drive is the opportunity to make business calls while Driving. With today's technology, professionals can attend meeting while driving in their cars or can make business calls, which is a huge advantage, allowing the commuting time to become productive. Telework is in option at Mi-

Tahsin Aydoğmuş was born in 1953. His photos have been published in several magazines and editions and they’ve been exhibited internationally. Thus far, Tahsin Aydogmus has had 8 personal exhibitions. He lives in Istanbul and he still works on long term photo projects. For the last 10 years, he has been preparing a photo report about Urfa. After he retired, he founded his own workshop. He used to work with colored slides, in recent years he’s mostly worked on black&white studies using “archival edition” techniques.

01 Don’t run, you'll fall

02 Waiting at the restaurant

03 Nice glasses

04 A robot with an umbrella

Photo by Tahsin Aydogmus

crosoft as well, where employees are allowed to work from home if they don’t have a client visit or a face to face meeting to attend. The only requirement is for them to be reachable online, because at the end of the day what’s important is the results, so there’s no need to check up on them. “We trust our employees,” says Belgin Ertam. Ahu Özyurt, CNN Turkey Chief Writer and Senior editor, who lives on the Asian side of Istanbul. Traffic in Istanbul is awful, as she claims “if you’re working in the city that means that you have at least 2 and a half hours commute every day, and that’s if you’re lucky.” According to her, however, there’s a way to avoid the horrible Istanbul traffic, she confesses “I go to work really early in the morning around 6.30 o 7 and try to leave at around 4 or 5 pm,” and adds “if you leave after 6 o’clock you’re practically stuck in the traffic, so it’s much better to stay in the city for a drink, or to meet up with friends or find an excuse to kill time in the center!” According to Özyurt, Istanbul should make much more use

of the sea passages available, as the city only uses 25-30% of the Bosphorus to cross from one side to the other. She claims “we’ve seen it this summer when bridges underwent reconstruction, people ended up stuck 5 hours in traffic, people would go mad, half of your day is practically dead behind the steering wheel, that’s insane!”

LIVING IN THE CITY

Serap Yetis, HR Assistant General Manager at Dogus Media Group, lives in the center, very close to Taksim Square and travels to her company’s offices located in Maslak, in the northern part of Istanbul’s European side. The drive takes on average 30 minutes, 45 minutes if there's traffic. She says “sometimes I have a driver, for example if I have to go to a meeting for which I didn’t have much time to prepare, so I have the drive time to do so, but I don’t like having a driver everywhere I go.” At Dogus Media Group, many people work from home, but for Ms. Yetis telework is not an option as she confess-

es “I have to meet at least 6 people every day, and I can’t see them at home. We could talk on Skype, but it doesn’t work for me, as being next to each other is a different thing, so to convey the message I prefer to be in the same environment.” “I’m not too far from the office” says Ipek Yegunsü, Manager of the Istanbul Art Center located off Istiklal Caddesi, in the city center. Reaching her workplace is pretty easy since she can use a taxi, the underground or walk part of the way. “I try to do the right mix every day” says Ms. Yegunsü.

A GREAT PLACE TO LIVE AND WORK

Istanbul is pure fascination, the perfect merging of two cultures, where everybody wants to live and work. A city offering magnificent scenery, isn’t as kind when it comes to traffic, so the advice is to either look for a place near where you work or find a way to beat the traffic. Otherwise, be ready to spend nearly half of your day stuck in your car behind the wheel.•

Workplace Water Issues

By STEVE LEFFIN

Global Water Stewardship

As the earth’s population grows and climate change accelerates, the demand for fresh water will grow so fast that by 2030, agriculture and industry will face scarce supplies.

Insufficient information makes it difficult for governments to assess and manage water resources. Companies consider water as not just an environmental issue, but also as a complex issue threatening their business sustainability. The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) has begun to respond to this challenge.

Founded in 1992, the WBCSD is a CEOled organization of forward-thinking companies that attempts to galvinize the global business community to create a sustainable future for business, society and the environment. Its 200 member companies, which represent almost all business sectors, have combined revenue of over $7 trillion US and share best practices on sustainable development issues. In 2007, the WBCSD launched its Global Water Tool (GWT) for organizations to map their water use and assess risks relative to their global operations and supply chains. In 2011, United Parcel Service (UPS) took initial steps to develop a company-wide global water policy using the GWT.

THE WBCSD GLOBAL WATER TOOL

The GWT defines five categories of water risk, ranging from abundance to ex-

treme scarcity of water and applies these categories to the world’s watersheds using water runoff and population data. The tool also allows organizations to determine categories for their own facilities, and enables water risk projections for 2025 and 2050 based on estimates of population growth and long-term climate and precipitation trends.

For instance UPS, by using this tool, found that water scarcity and water stress issues will affect more business locations in the future. Gathering this intelligence well ahead of time is one of the key reasons UPS began using the GWT, as it helps the company to anticipate which areas will be affected and allows them to design, implement and refine strategies before material risks arise. After an initial assessment about water insecurity, UPS gathered important information about water usage and cost. They found that approximately 20 percent of the firm’s US buildings account for 80 percent of the total water usage and cost. In this sense, their water consumption mirrored their energy footprint. It’s now clear that UPS will focus on water conservation and stewardship efforts for buildings in their top 20 percent for water usage and in locations where concerns exist about water

Photos: At first glance, the images by Bart Michiels, the Belgian photographer who lives and works in New York, seem to depict simple vast landscapes and details of nature. But as soon as we read the titles, our perception of the images change and we instinctively begin to search for traces of the sad history tied to these places.

For his series "The Course of History", Michiels sought out Europe’s most infamous and bloody battlefields, capturing them as they are today, after decades—or sometimes, centuries. All photographs were shot on 8x10 inch film sheets with a 1960’s Deardorff large format camera.

01 Gallipoli 1915, Suvla Bay, 2005 F

02 Anzio 1944, Yellow Beach, 2004

03 Stalingrad 1942, Volga I, 2008

Easy Water

By BILLIE BLAIR

California is a prototype of the water difficulties that face the rest of the nation, and other countries of the world. In previous centuries, it was relatively easy to provide clean, potable water. Today it has become increasingly evident that the enjoyment of “easy water” is at an end.

Water resources in recent years have diminished due to a variety of situations, so that water suppliers across the nation have been forced to increase its cost. This has turned water into a scarce and costly commodity in most urbanized settings and agricultural areas, requiring water rationing that is, in part, due to environmental restrictions. Water, therefore, is a resource that

All photos are by Bart Michiels

risk or scarcity. These initiatives are part of the company’s Global Water Stewardship program developed in 2011.

GLOBAL WATER STEWARDSHIP POLICY DEVELOPMENT

Deepening a company’s understanding of water as a sustainability issue, it’s easy to realize that water security can also benefit from a global statement and a commitment from the company. For example UPS established a Global Water Stewardship program based on three pillars: Transparency, Consumption and Conservation, and Engagement and Awareness.

TRANSPARENCY

Learning from comprehensive measurement and reporting that transparency is a powerful tool for motivating people and

organizations to change behavior. The company is applying the same principle to their near-term and long-term water risk. This includes:

• Disclosing water data, risks and opportunities both internally and externally

• Collecting and consolidating objective water data, enabling UPS to manage and act on stewardship priorities

• Continuing to improve data collection systems and their granularity, particularly internationally

• Seeking the highest return from stewardship efforts in water-stressed areas

CONSUMPTION AND CONSERVATION

Increasing water efficiency: measurement, management and mitigation using technology and the application of continuous innovation in tools, systems and

methods. Examples include:

• Installing high-efficiency water fixtures

• Improving processes and procedures at facilities with high water use

• Improving water efficiency within IT facilities

• Implementing best practices for storm water and wastewater discharge at distributed operations sites

ENGAGEMENT AND AWARENESS

Building knowledge and capabilities through association with other organizations, and then translating those assets into greater water awareness throughout the firm. The company has established successful relationships with leading nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) such as World Resources Institute, and the WBCSD all of which serve as information distribution points for issues related to water security. For example UPS will engage with local communities, suppliers, and with humanitarian relief partners, regarding critical water issues.

GROWING SUSTAINABLE WATER POLICIES

The WBCSD Water Tool is a useful way to begin measuring, tracking and formulating policy. The company operates 2,832 facilities around the world, and the largest segment, the U.S domestic package segment, has reduced water consumption by 27 percent from 2007 through 2011. In the case of UPS, it was soon learned that strengthening water security starts with measurement-driven management and reporting and a commitment to a sustainable program to secure and protect critical water resources across the globe.

•

will assuredly continue to rise in cost and be the center of concern over cost and supply. Among industry officials in California as well as members of the national association for water officials, the American Water Works Association (AWWA), water is referred to as “this century’s oil.” Water industry managers are greatly concerned about rising costs of water and the diminishing water resources . Tim Quinn, Executive Director of the Association of California Water Agencies (ACWA), talking about the extremely fragile environmental situation in the delta near Sacramento,

says that for “the Delta Stewardship Council’s Delta Plan, the coming weeks will be pivotal for ACWA members and others working to move the council in a direction that can truly meet the coequal goals of improved ecosystem health and water supply reliability.”

RESPONDING TO SUPPLY SHORTAGE

Extensive water conservation measures have been instituted during the past three years in numerous states and countries. This has resulted in a

double-edge sword – the water agencies have achieved impressive degrees of conservation among their customers and have decreased the amount of water that is required for delivery to customers. At the same time, however, districts have sold less water, and sales from water delivery are the prime generator of revenue for districts. These revenue streams allow the rebuilding of aging infrastructure and expansion of facilities where needed. In addition to initiating water conservation as a response to the shortage of water, other measures have been explored and utilized to varying degrees for combating diminishing water supplies. These include: 1) water cost increases, in addition to water conservation measures, as a way of encouraging the public to conserve on water use ; 2) enhanced ability to desalinate water (remove the salt from ocean water) and, thus for states in coastal regions, to produce drinkable (potable) water that can replace diminishing ground water resources; 3) recharging depleted ground water by catching and preserving snow and rainwater runoff; and 4) Title 22 treatment of waste water to constitute a recycled water product that is primarily free of pathogenic organisms.

SOLUTIONS COME AT A COST

Rising water costs create great and long-term challenges.. Increasing

water costs is a back-door conservation measure because it typically triggers less water usage by consumers. Consequently, the loss of revenues generated by water sales to consumers leaves the water districts and other water agencies without the means to carry out infrastructure replacement and/or initiate expansion when population growth requires that action. Desalination of ocean water has long been looked at as the most reasonable way to expand water supply – the ocean is vast and its supply is, thus far, self-sustaining. The drawbacks to desalination projects have primarily been the fact of the much higher pricing required for water from which salt content has been removed. This is because the technology that supports the desal processes is currently very expensive – compare the current state of desal to the original costs of cellphones (I paid $1,000). The same is true of the desalination industry - once the technology has been utilized for a few years and water sold as a result, then the process will have recouped some of the initial development outlay and will have sold the technology for wider application. These factors, combined with everincreasing costs for “regular” water sources, will bring the cost factor into alignment. For now, however, the cost of desalinated water still remains out of the range of the average consumer. Ground water replenishment through caching rain and snow run-off holds great promise. What could

be simpler than to store the water created from rain and snow melt, rather than allowing the water to run off the land and into the ocean? Nothing is more exasperating than when the snow is melting and the water is cascading down from the mountains – only to be allowed to flow into the ocean. One wonders why is it not an established practice for run-off to be captured and stored. In earlier decades the supply of water seemed infinite, thus the water stewards of the time did not see imperative reasons for building caching structures.

The last of the water measures that we’ll discuss is the practice in recent years of treating ground water wastewater run-off (from agricultural and other uses) by applying techniques endorsed in Title 22. This process involves the filtering of wastewater through sand and/or anthracite, followed by chlorine disinfection. Recycled water, derived through these processes, is used for a wide variety of irrigation and industrial applications around the world. Golf courses, parks, school grounds, freeway medians and other public areas use the reclaimed water, which is also discharged to lakes and reservoirs for public recreation and storage purposes.

ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES

When those projects are proposed, are those who are opposed to this

magnitude of excavation, or, “degradation of the land.” So, once again, as the ACWA paper points out – it’s a matter of human interests and need versus environmental considerations that include concerns about habitat, sacred ground, and impact on the surrounding areas and communities of large reservoirs for storage. Diamond Valley Reservoir, established by Metropolitan Water District in 2008, is perhaps the last storage area that will be built in the foreseeable future – when environmental concerns are combined with the fact that available land is fast being converted to private housing tracts, the two form formidable impediments to gaining additional ground water storage capacity.

THE HORIZON SAYS..

Overall, the best solutions for water supply have been developed and applied during the past five years. What remains to be seen is if these are: 1) both sustainable and able to fully meet demand, and 2) sufficient to combat unforeseen natural forces. Water agencies and the state, national and international organizations that support them have put forth admirable efforts to respond to the crisis. Time will tell whether it was an adequate response – or, if it represents “too little, too late.”