Welcome back to my little blog site and if you are here for the first time - well you have not missed much except for some football banter (and yes - you guessed it right - mostly about the Gunners and the Spanish win at the WC 2010).
And wherever you are tonight - don't drink and drive - coz.. you will spill some costly beer. And I am hoping you had a fantastic 2010 and all the goodness of this year will follow you and your family and dear ones into 2011 and beyond.
As always, the end of the year is always a good time to think about the 364 days gone by and see if we can learn anything to take into the new year. Here are my favorite memories, perspectives and musings from Twenty Ten !!
1. Change = omniconstant !
Personally I changed jobs this year (happens every year we have a Wold Cup - joined left ITC to do my MBA in 1994, moved from India to Saudi in 1998, moved from Saudi to Dubai the next World cup, and in 2010 to my current employer), had a status change to immediate family (which by the way seems to happen in multiples of 5 years...- got married in 2000, had Alexis in 2005 and Ethan in 2010....) and visited the U.S of A for the first time (which by the way my American friends could not stomach...the typical retort being.."what - you have not visited the U.S ???). Around me, the world changed so much last year - companies disappeared and some reappeared (read AIG, citibank), China and India continued on their path to being the new superpowers, Facebook became the new Google & Hotmail combined...(chuckle, chuckle...) and the an Apple share on the NYSE became almost as expensive as buying an I-Pad. And to my huge disappointment - all the ga ga about the Tata Nano fizzled with the model selling less than 700 units in November 2010 !! BP and Toyota moved from being global brands to having plasters all over their corporate reputations while unknown players like Facebook, Zynga and Groupons became the new hot beds of talent. The Spanish national team shrugged off their inertia to lift the WC for the first time while the English (cricket team) revived their fortunes by playing some outstanding cricket and most importantly India finally started (what i think is a long term trend) to win big in global sport esp: the CWG & Asian games.
2. Leaders across the globe provided us hope while those that provided 'Hope' sprang some extreme surprises...
Obama disappointed (after promising so much in 2009) esp: on his lack of progress in the Middle East/the economy and on his moving away from his 'çhange' platform to move right to side with Bush era tax cuts. Labour fell in the U.K (although my British friends mention the new Govt's cost cutting will take the U.K into deeper recession, I think this is the best long term structural change that the Brits need to regain their place on the world stage), Merkel sparkled with her personal leadership to revive the German economy. Steve Jobs continued to reveal electronic goldmines, Zuckerberg increased his personal fortune by maybe 10 Billion and thereby brought billions of near ones closer. Asange created the biggest media 'Breaking News' of all time but then the very nature of his business brought him down....and in a similar fashion - Mohamed Yunus moved from hero to villian with his microfinance business model. The Congress party in India unleashed (in my opinion) their media cronies to expose corruption within the opposition only to be sliced in half by a two headed scorpion (which reminds us that 'people in glass houses......should not change clothes without drawing the curtains !!!') - am anxiously awaiting to see the end game on this - will Manmohan and the Congress Govt come down in 2011 ? Five leaders stood out for their exceptional work -
a. Luis Urzúa - the leader of the trapped miners at the San Jose mine. His first message to the outside world: “We’re fine, waiting for you to rescue us".
b. Paul Polman - CEO of Unilever who will lead the company to the next round of growth (who by the way was at the Oberois on 26/11 when the shootout happened and for perspective - have had the personal satisfaction of having presented my Ariel business plan in Dammam in 2000 when Polman was still with P&G !!
c. President Lula of Brazil - the less said about the Brazilian miracle, the better. I look forward to seeing him if I get to travel to Rio for the 2014 World cup.
d. The teams that organised the SA 2010 World Cup and the cleaning up of the BP oil mess.
e. And finally - Vincente Del Bosque the spanish football coach who led the team to their first WC glory !!
The world awaits similar leaders and stories of courage in 2011.
3. Exciting times ahead (as always!!)
a. A smaller, connected world - The world became smaller in 2010 thanks to Facebook and Skype. In 2011, I hope that video social networks will bring us even closer.
b. A better world economy with jobs and prosperity for everyone - I hope that the the rally in world stocks, commodities and trade in H2 2010 will help all of us do better in 2011 - governments must help us by tackling inflation that seems to be the biggest danger.
c. Let more money flow into Africa - this means better times for our brethren in these poor countries and better investments would mean cheaper access to commodities, oil and food. I pray that African states are blessed with better, less corrupt leaders.
d. Finally drugs will be cheaper and hopefully the Big Pharma firms will discover some great medicines to tackle AIDS, Cancer and Malaria !!
And before I sign off, let me thank all my family and friends for sharing some memorable moments in 2010.....I hope to see many of you in 2011 and keep in touch with you on a regular basis. And as usual the excitement in 2011 will be significantly better than in 2010 - Arsenal (I did not say I will completely avoid football) have a good chance to win some trophies this year and so my Man U, Barca and Chelsea friends - we may disagree on many points, esp: on football...there will be a new royal couple in May,
India wil
l hopefully beat SA in the third test, many more friends will visit us in Amsterdam and we will hopefully see many of you around the world, leaders will show us the way...and whenever you think hope is lost, remember this image from 2010..
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/trapped-chilean-miners-rescue-to-start-this-morning/story-e6frg6n6-1225937973343
God Bless and Good luck,
Neil
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