Yo ya había visto esta reflexión en un e-mail, pero ahora me encontré con el video. Como un mexicano radicado en el extranjero, orgulloso de mis orígenes pero que también ha aprendido de la cultura del lugar donde se encuentra, me da pena. Y rabia.
Via Vivir México.
You know that the times are a-changin’ when terrorists armed with paper cutters are a serious menace to the world’s largest superpower, unpaid networks of developers can build an operating system that is now used in enterprise-grade IT solutions and when strategies designed to erradicate a problem such as terrorism or poverty add more fuel to the fire. While this book is geared towards an American audience and focuses on the ramifications of this phenomenon in foreign policy, I have been thinking about what kind of lessons this can provide business.
The author introduces in this book the concept of resilience, where instead of trying to have grand monolithic strategies to anticipate every single scenario we should instead focus on having different approaches towards a problem, “gardening” our way to ride the ever-coming waves of change and take advantage of them. This idea resonates on many levels with many concepts I use as part of my daily life, which I will make a list of (and no, I’m not Chinese =P):
The interesting conclusion to which the author arrives, which I also find very appealing, is the need for empowering diverse change agents who can drive different approaches to solving a problem to work as a sort of “immunity system” for an organisation, be it a country, a company or the world.
It’s not a complicated book (in reality, I found it a little bit too light as I would have wanted a few more examples from other fields and more detail on the conceptual framework) but definitely a recommended read.
You might have heard of peak oil, the idea explaining the point in time when we have reached the maximum amount of oil produced, after which starts a decline that affects the world as we know it (and yes, I’m using this phrase on purpose). Jeff Rubin, a Canadian economist, took the issue head-on in this book, explaining not only why in his view the current economic crisis is at its source one huge oil price shock, but also how will the world economy change once oil is not so plentiful, more expensive and there are more economies hungry for it.
Basically, what he predicts is an end to the current version of globalisation, where you have distributed value chains, cheap travel and products from all over the world at your doorstep. I don’t know about you, but even if I live more or less ecologically, use renewable energy where possible and don’t have a car, such a future would wreak havoc with my lifestyle as it would be impossible for me to find the food I want and be able to visit my family over the holidays. The subtitle of this blog is “musings from a child of globalisation” after all, isn’t it?
I think it is time to sweep this issue under the rug every time it is brought up and start thinking about what kind of innovations are needed. Who’s with me?
A summary in English of this topic in this note from AP.
Nos tocó estar en México justo antes de que tuvieran lugar las elecciones para el Congreso de la Unión, presidentes municipales y uno que otro gobernador. Además de la contaminación visual, por lo que pude ver la calidad de las propuestas era francamente patética. Para la galería del horror teníamos varios ejemplos:
Con semejantes alternativas, no me extraña en absoluto que se haya registrado un crecimiento tan fuerte del voto nulo. Como dice el siguiente afiche:
Y sí, trágicamente para muchos fue su mejor opción.
Como todos sabemos, el gran ganador de estas elecciones fue el PRI. Tanto cacarear durante años con sacar al PRI del poder para terminar regresando a lo mismo. Sólo espero no le hayamos terminado de dar en la torre a nuestra naciente democracia.
When I realised Martin-Éric had already done a better job of listing the same points, in slightly more colourful language.
I am very disappointed in the level of the campaigns for the European Parliament elections this year. Since the average Finnish voter knows very little about the EU (they may have not explained it to you, but the European Parliament has broader powers than the Eduskunta in some matters, but not as much as certain politicians would have you believe) and is naturally very sceptic of the unknown, the themes of the election have been mostly domestic issues such as immigration and social security.
Most parties (including those in government) use the cheap trick of blaming everything that’s wrong on the European institutions to the tone wherever the European Union is present there will be problems, forgetting completely the advantages of being part of the EU and being in the decision-making process. You know, small things like access to a huge market for Finnish products and services, huge agricultural subsidies for Finnish farms, a strong, stable currency (just ask the Icelanders or the Swedes if they wouldn’t want that at the moment) and the fact you don’t need to show a passport to go to Greece or Spain are forgotten by most. Shame on them.
Regardless of that if you haven’t done so already, please vote by the 7.6. Any vote that doesn’t go for the Perussuomalaiset is a plus (I mean, do you really want people like them to represent Finland in Europe?).
What does this mean? What we are seeing is the shift of economic power from the United States & Europe to markets elsewhere, and especially China, India and parts of the Middle East are in good shape to reap the rewards. However, since the system is built around the countries of the G7 with the US as the main motor of worldwide consumption, co-operation between all countries is needed, or else the rise of protectionism will amplify the current situation.
I wouldn’t be surprised if in case the crisis lasts long (hopefully not) China ends up bailing the US so that its own economy can keep on growing…
Posted in in english
Tagged austria, china, economy, europe, european union, india, japan, latin america, mexico, middle east, politics, sweden, united states, world
A man without an abundant experience in politics, a man very different from his predecessors and one of whose parents had been born abroad, runs for the presidency of his country through a grassroots movement, great oratory and the promise of change in big, bold letters. His campaign imposed his candidacy on his party and eventually clinched the presidency with enormous expectations. The handover between administrations was smooth and the incoming government met with support from the international community.
I'm not talking about Barack Obama in '09, but Vicente Fox in 00'. I hope against hope that the sky-high expectations don't crash this time, as the challenges are many.
There's been a lot of discussion in the traditional media and the blogosphere about Mexico becoming a failed state after a report by the US military on such eventuality. Frankly, as gross as the news on the Mexican drug cartels are, I think it is an exaggeration for two simple reasons:
I'm not innocent enough to say that everything is going beautifully, but I have a thermometer that most people in the international media don't: family and friends living in the country. I'm sure many of them would among be the first to start leaving if the situation becomes as untenable as these reports claim. Otherwise I'll keep on hoping for the best and agreeing with opinions like this.
In the meantime, tourism seems to be more affected by the international credit crunch than by that kind of news items. Fair, since most tourism attractions are very far away from where these sad events are taking place. As a tourist, I'd be more afraid in Los Angeles or Chicago than Cancún or San Miguel de Allende.
