Afternoon Tea in Jerusalem Archives - Page 41 of 75 - Michael Horesh Business Coach and Mentor

19 June 2013

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The “Calcalist”, which means ‘economist’ in English, is a daily financial newspaper in Israel.

Today’s leading story makes for sad reading. The country’s coffers are missing 14 billion shekel – say US$4 billion. Nothing original there. The Ministry of Finance can explain half of the reasons for the less than expected revenue – downturn in the stock exchange etc. What is worrying is that leaves another nearly US$2 billion ‘wandering around’ and unavailable for public use. Looks unprofessional.

Sure, the Finance Ministry is now pushing a series of cutbacks through the Kenesset, Israel’s Parliament. They are unpleasant. They should help and could well work out in the end, hopefully.

However, life is not static, certainly not in commerce and finance. And as you move through the next few pages of the newspaper, you pick up on a very different picture for Israel’s economy.

First, there is an interview with Professor Larry Summers, President of Harvard University, one of Obama’s prime economic advisors, and tipped to be the next head of the US Federal Reserve. To summarise, he does not hide his praise. Israel has an economic weight above its supposed role as a small country locked away in the Middle East. While some of this is due to the role of departing Bank of Israel boss Professor Stanley Fischer, there is something more positive and of deeper note. For all its short-term fiscal issues, Israel’s economy is stable.

Summers did state that Israel has to apply itself more fully to the issue of deregulation and thus ensure greater openness. So, turn the page, and you will find an article detailing how another chink has been taken out of the power of the unions at Ashdod port.

For years, the unions at Israel’s sea ports have run the authorities like personal fiefdoms. For example, it was known that the best way to obtain employment there was to be a family member of somebody in the inner circles. In the past month, the government has been able to present plans that will create more efficient working conditions and even see the building of a new private port. The knock on effects for the rest of the economy must only be beneficial.

So, I went hunting for a third piece of good news that ensures we have a pattern of dots lined up in the correct direction. Yes, the tax authorities have finally encouraged Israelis to be more open with their holdings abroad – another 12 million shekel ‘has come out of the closet’. Roman Abramovich, Russian oligarch and owner of Chelsea football club, has declared his intentions to increase his financial involvement in Israel. And there is hardly a day that goes by without further glowing reports on Israel’s developing gas industry.

Summers is right. For all of Israel’s structural issues, the economy is doing well.

16 June 2013

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Last week, I wrote about the meaning of the phrase “business model“. New companies are asked by potential investors to describe commercial plans for a product, service or technology that at best may exist on a few scraps of paper. So a nonsense request elicits in turn a silly set of commercial eloquent yet empty statements. Sounds like a Monty Python sketch.

And quite often, amongst the justifications you will find a sentence that says: “The core value of our product is its ability to………..do something fantastic.” Yet I have just said that that the product or service is barely in existence. So how can they make such claims, which can only be based on unproven assumptions?

Is there a methodology that can enable us to understand and then to evaluate the core value of any product or technology?

At the Kahena Digital Marketing Conference last month in Jerusalem, I listened to a lecture by Tal Zilberman, who has worked as product manager for several successful apps. He referred obliquely to lecture by Chamath Plaihptiya, former VP of Facebook and now one of the richest men in Silicon Valley. It is entitled “how we put Facebook on the path to one billion users”.

This 40 minute clip has received barely 8,000 views. And yet its importance for any entrepreneur cannot be overstated!

Chamath has his roots in Sri Lanka and in Canada. One of his first premises is not to make strenuous assumptions. In parallel, understand what it is about your idea that will push people through the door. Then, bring as many of them to that “aha moment” as soon as possible.

Chamath related those concepts to his time at Facebook. The company became fixated on a motto to ” get any individual to 7 friends in 10 days”. That ensured these new customers would become part of a mass market, which was and remains the value of Facebook’s core product. The rest is commentary and add ons.

Facebook’s vision has not really altered since day one. That is why it seemingly vast sums for Instagram and Waze, which with hindsight may have been very reasonable prices.

So, what are you trying to do? And what is it that people will really like about what you are offering? In other words, what do you really have, which is of value to others?

14 June 2013

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Categories: Afternoon Tea in Jerusalem, Business, Israel, Jerusalem

Many a business coach will often start by encouraging a client to state their goals or vision, at least on a commercial sphere if not also a personal agenda.

This approach is certainly something that I have stressed over the years from a number of different perspectives. I have used biblical anecdotes as well as analysis of leadership qualities and some basic 101 psychology.

John Whitmore, writing in his excellent book”Coaching for Performance“, takes the subject one step forward. In describing how a company can adapt to changing conditions, he observes how managers “are likely to be called on to live up to the values and ethics they so boldly claim in their mission statements“.

This is when people through their services and products will be challenged to make a “genuine contribution”, both internally and towards their customer base.

I recalled this over the past few days, as I was asked to summarise the business model of one of my clients, Marx Biotechnology Ltd, a biotech start up located in Jerusalem. The idea was to write flowing words about partnering up with larger companies, and thus convince the reviewer that Marx will conquer the market in half a nano-second…or words to that effect.

As we thought about the task, Dr Marx and I realised that the business model was actually more profound than that. It originated in his initial mission statement from which he has never wavered. It is wrapped in his daily quest to do his level best, whether it be in the lab or as he delivers investor presentations. And Dr Marx had constructed from the outset a modular approach towards commercial success that has gradually been implemented and is now showing results.

It is from this foundation – Dr Marx’s original vision, full of core personal values that he tries to abide by daily – that I will base my work. It is this start that will allow me to describe the future link ups with new strategic partners, while mentioning lots of large financial figures in the process.

13 June 2013

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The Israeli mobile application, Waze, has been sold to Google for over a billion dollar, assuming that the regulatory authorities do not block the deal.

Several institutional investors have made a killing. An Israeli charity has also reaped a relative fortune. However, the question is why did people put their money into such a start up, which even today is barely making a profit?

The newspaper “Calcalist”, which means “economist” in English, asked the same question. The answers make for important reading for the next generation of entrepreneurs.

Ehud Levi was one of the first major investors, back in 2008. As he said, he was impressed by the initial vision – the need to create a mass product, Equally important, this goal never changed. It drove the company forward over the years.

Moodi Rozen put it slightly differently. For him, Waze is not just another app. It is a solution that meets the modern needs of drivers around the globe.

As another newspaper asked: Who’s next? Or, which CEO has the ability to create a company around a similar business model?

12 June 2013

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Nick Baird is the CEO of Britain’s UKTI, the government’s prime public organisation to promote exports. A seasoned diplomat, Baird was recently in Israel. As he explained in an interview published in Hebrew, UKTI is deliberately targeting Israel because of the country’s “innovation and energy”.

What Baird is saying is that the UK can not only benefit from Israel’s position as the Silicon valley in the Middle East. Just look at the ” Tech Hub” set up between the two countries, exploiting Israel’s strat-up methodology. He understands that as Israel’s economy has continued to grow at around 3% annually, the Holy Land is open for business to receive Britain’s hungry exporters.

There are no end of examples of Israel’s technological capabilities. This week, the news wires are blaring out how Google is paying over a billion dollars for an Israeli app called Waze. That makes the deal more valuable than for Instagram.

The result is that Google will attain a very important capability which will slot in with its maps and Google Plus services. People will begin to use Google to find parking places. In effect, Waze will provide a healthy lead on competitors looking to profer similar options.

Israel is also a prime player in biotech. At this week’s Biomed forum in Tel Aviv, the official British delegation was comprised of over 20 members. For example, I met up with Medidata from West London as well as Huntingdon Life Sciences. Both have quickly realised the potential commercial scope of the Israeli market.

What I found fascinating was the speech given by Dr Jeremy Levin, CEO and President of Teva, which when translated into English means ‘nature’. Addressing a reception at the home of the British ambassador to Israel, Levin noted that Teva now has four factories in the UK. He estimates that they produce about eight billion tablets a year or about one in six of every pill consumed on the British mainland.

This is not just about saving lives. As Levin noted, by sharing ideas, lives are improved and communities are enhanced – just what Nick Baird is setting out to do.

9 June 2013

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Categories: Afternoon Tea in Jerusalem, Business, Israel

One of Britain’s largest trade unions with over 600,000 members has voted to ban any association with pro Israeli groups. This was the message that went whizzing round the net this weekend, ironically.

You see most computers are powered by Intel technology, which was developed in Jerusalem. And let us not forget that RAD Data’s communication device, also Israeli, that has been chosen as this year’s best networking device by Dr Robert Metcalfe, famous for creating the Ethernet.

So why is it so important for trade unions to consider Israel in such a negative light? Just look at these recent stories coming out of the Holy Land?

Miss Israel 2013 is Yitysih Aynaw, who was born in Ethiopia and recently made a return visit the country for the first time.
Soda Stream, a successful Israeli company, operates in the West Bank and was reported to be sought after by Pepsi Cola, is one of many companies that seeks to “build bridges, not walls“.
Waze, whose app is allowing millions of people around the world to beat traffic jams, is a typical example of an Israeli start up helping those in other countries. It has drawn interest from Apple, Facebook and now Google.
In fact, Google has been instrumental in bringing together Israeli and Palestinian industrial leaders. The search engine giant is merely following the lead of others like Cisco. Last year, it invested billions in Israeli tech, and this has not stopped it continuing its promotion of Palestinian developmentt.
Earlier in June, the life of a 10 year old Palestinian was save by a kidney transplant, donated by an Israeli family.

The list goes on, extensively. As Israelis and Palestinians are finding ways to come together, British trades unions are trying to keep them apart!

It is different for me to understand why a UK workers’ union deliberately targeted Israel. Is the country perfect? No. Compare that to Britain, host to the EDL and where mosques are burnt down. Meanwhile, Palestinian NPOs have for years been protesting against the use of torture in local prisons, but the reactions of the Ramallah and Gaza governments have been minimalistic, at best. A stunning no comment from the unions!

Such hypocrisy is dangerous. It not only excludes members from the benefits of learning from other cultures. It also breeds a form of hatred that was supposed to have been eradicated from Europe in 1945, an abyss of human tragedy for all peoples. I guess that by ignoring Israel, the supporters of the unions new policy are hoping for that epoch to return.

7 June 2013

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I am no expert in social media, but just recently I have tried to catch up. A few days ago, I posted some useful tips that I heard picked up at the inbound marketing seminar run by Kahena in Jerusalem. And yesterday, I attended an internet conference at the Jerusalem College of Technology.

Now what was really cool was the presentation by Alon Chen, responsible for Google’s marketing in Israel and in Greece. Entitled ‘Art, Copy and Code’, he described how modern technology leads traditional marketing concepts, bringing together the creativity and copywriting teams.

Of the many examples Chen referred to, I want to concentrate on three case studies. My aim is to repeat Chen’s message – with some simple clear thinking, small business can take on these features without too much investment.

1) Connect the dots

Snickers is a chunky chocolate bar that people tend to eat at work, when they are hungry. The manufacture understood that hungry people make mistakes at work. So, they contacted Google to find out the most misspelt words on the search engine. The result was an effective, humourous advert that produced a clear upward spike in sales.

The point is that the Snickers team just followed a logical pattern of thought, without trying to be too clever.

2) Collaborative stories

Kraft foods recently launched a new ‘hummus and cheese’ dip. Their advert was centered around a stereotype “old Greek grandmother” figure, dressed in black and telling off a younger generation.

While the campaign has drawn some criticism, the revenue stream has been healthy. The reason is that Kraft posted the advert on an open utube page and then encouraged others to make and post similar films. Thus, a community has been created and Kraft has increased its branding power.

3) “Just help me”

Google is trying to promote “google hangout“, a potential rival to skype. One of the first companies to embrace this potential was Toyota cars. For example, they created a mind-boggling advert where three people in different locations are seen choosing a car, while hanging out together on-line.

And here’s my point. From the conference, I visited two of my clients and told them what I had learnt. Both are small businesses with limited time and resources. Within minutes, my customers were putting together the framework for a marketing plan, based on hangout and thus increasing their interaction with their potential community. In laymen’s terms, they are seeking to apply user-friendly tech, available to all, to up their revenue base.

4 June 2013

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Oscar Garcia had a useful but not spectacular career has a football player in the Spanish League.

Maccabi Tel Aviv is a typical football club that spends more time talking about past glories and future dreams rather than actuals on the pitch. Over the past decade, they have signed as many coaches in as many years……until they suddenly coasted to triumph and secured the Israeli football league last month.

And you have to ask the question: What happened? What made the difference? If by essentially using the same squad with little new talent, how did the players conquer their foes and what can others organisations learn from this turnaround?

Garcia entered the changing rooms of the Tel Aviv club in the summer of 2012. His managerial experience was limited, but he had come through the system of the great Barcelona outfit. In an interview last weekend, he explained that he set out for himself in Israel a two-year programme towards success. I will ignore all the silly comments about club politics, fans and the press. I want to keep to three salient points.

One of the first things he did was to break down a wall between his office and the rest of the training outfit. To summarise, as far as Garcia was concerned, ‘everyone was in it together’.

Garcia was also astute enough to learn about Israeli footballing culture. It is a well-known secret that training in the Holy Land is not always taken seriously and the major effort is held back for match days. For Garcia, this was unacceptable. I understood his comments to mean that if you want to give of your “very best’ on the big occasion, you have to learn how to do so, every day – day in and day out. Garcia implied that fines were handed out until the message sunk through.

Third, on the same theme, Garcia insisted that the whole squad use the correct resources and only the best available – no compromises. An essential part of that regime was eating a proper diet. As he put it, in order to ensure that everyone was towing the line, the squads ate breakfast and lunch together. (By the way, at Garcia’s insistence, the club also attached a GPS system to each player so that they could measure how far they ran).

Take all of this, and now imagine you are a manager in an office – high-tech, non-profit, or finance company. Look what the mind of a Spanish footballer is telling you about how to create a management team and how to ensure that your staff is loyal, determined to give whatever it takes.

Oscar Garcia is now officially one of the world’s top football managers. For personal reasons, Garcia has left Maccabi Tel Aviv. His next team will be fortunate to work with him.

31 May 2013

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A very special client of mine was complaining to me this week. Call him David.

David had submitted a price quote to a potential customer. That person kept fixing a meeting to finalise details and then postponing for a number of seemingly acceptable reasons. “What should I do?”, David asked me.

First, it is clear that David has to present himself in a manner that does not allow his clientelle to play around in that manner. And that may include the option of walking away from a potential sale. However, David has more weapons in his armoury, which initially may not be so apparent.

A second tip for David is that he should begin to use a diary – electronic or the pen-and-paper type – and stick to it. Every time he sets an appointment, commercial or private, he should record it. This even includes phone calls and other tasks to be performed.

This helps to show to the Davids of this world in two different ways just how valuable their own time is. Not only do they create an in-their-face-tool that will illuminate just how they much they achieve (or not) in any given day. It helps them to handle problematic people who duck out of engagements. David will be in a better position to respond to them with a sentence like: “No, I am not available whenever you suddenly decide to turn up”.

A final suggestion for David is to consider if they really want to work with such a person. For example, last week, I was called up by a potential prospect, who started off in a highly professional manner. However, they then began to encourage me as to how and when I should mentor them. The ‘warning lights’ duly came up in my head. I duly found a tactful way to decline the project, and felt that I was much better off in seconds.

In other words:

Know what your own boundaries are
Operate a comprehensive diary of your own
Before you take on a new client, question if you are fully aware how great are the time requirements demanded of yourself

29 May 2013

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Categories: Afternoon Tea in Jerusalem, Business, Israel, Palestinians

Many a government will claim that it utilises commerce and overseas aid to close the gap with less than friendly nationalities. A classic example is USAID, whose annual budget extends in to the billions and reaches dozens of less-wealthy countries.

There have been numerous commercial efforts to mobilise trade in order to bring the Israelis and Palestinians together. President Peres has been particularly active over the years in trying to set up joint industrial and agricultural facilities near the border with Gaza, although persistent Hamas rocket fire has ensured that the results have been minimalistic.

So, it was encouraging to read in the Palestinian media that earlier this week representatives of Israeli and Palestinian high tech came together in Tel Aviv. Significantly, this drew the support of the tech multinationals like Microsoft as well as Cisco, whose boss is known to be close to Peres.

It is not just that Palestinians are considered an educated community and relatively cheap compared to their Israeli counterparts.

During the last few years more than 500 Palestinian engineers and analysts have been employed in Palestinian companies working with Israeli IT companies. There are 4,000 working in the Palestinian private IT sector and another 3,000 in telecoms. Beyond that, 1,500 to 2,200 more graduate into the field every year from the 13 universities in the Palestinian territories.

With some irony and sadness, the downside to all this came from the office of the Palestinian chairman, which described the meeting as “unacceptable“. This is the direct opposite of the comments from one of my business colleagues, who recently attended a forum in New York where both Jews and Muslims were prominent. To paraphrase: they had never before learnt so much about each other and thus come away with a greater feeling of mutual understanding, even if some of the Arab delegates were forced to speak in a different tone form the public podium.

Israel has earned its reputation as the start-up nation of the Middle East. Two days ago, the CEO of Intel in Israel, where they have three plants, noted that his company had already invested over US$10 billion in the Holy Land. The Dutch are now following a London-based example and setting up a technology centre deliberately based on Israeli concepts. In the Israeli high-tech each of the past three financial quarters, companies have raised nearly US$500 million dollars from local and foreign based investors, a staggering amount for a country of barely 8 million people and where 50% is a desert.

It would be a shame for Israel’s neighbours to miss out on such benefits due to misguided and historical hatred amongst its leaders. It really is time to learn how to talk the language of understanding.

27 May 2013

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KahenaCon emerged as a fascinating one day seminar in Jerusalem on inward bound marketing. For the non experts, this combines the fields of SEO, online advertising, social media, and apps.

Sometimes I feel politically or socially incorrect, because I am no whizz on these subjects. So I went along to find out more, and learn is just what I did. If nothing else, I emerged with three interesting takeaways, which act as ‘warning lights” for those involved in the industry.

First, if you wanted to dummy down the world of SEO, you could describe it as lots of clever people trying to direct the general public to specific sites and content. In other words, instead of scrambling over the minds of TV viewers, they are looking to grab the attention of owners of computers and smartphones. And as the software tools become more sophisticated, the question has to be asked if the pliers of these applications actually end up “cancelling each other out”?

This links me up with a blog, which I wrote recently. What do you do in an industry, where your unique selling point – that marketing position which keeps you ahead of your competitors – has a shrinking shelf life? SEO operators only succeed in ensuring that your competitive advantage remains ‘out there’ that extra bit longer. However, SEO cannot put off the issue of transience. In other words, SEO does not afford you the luxury of preparing the move towards the next stage of commercial development.

Second, it is no secret that the world of social media is increasingly cramped. To develop a new platform that is both useful and is commercially viable has become more like a hunt for the Holy Grail. At KahenaCon, Waze – being sought by Google and by Facebook – was mentioned several times. Another popular Israeli app is Magisto and which was represented at the conference. The company has already raised US$8 million, as it enables customers to create home videos in real time.

However, there was a clear message for people who wish to follow these examples. Creating a product or service that will be required by a billion users is becoming less and less easy.

Third, for all the wonderfully clever tools and apps available to those engaged in digital marketing, there often seems a gap between the industry and their potential customers. To paraphrase a question rasied by Charlie Kalech of J-Town: How is a small business, which barely understands the concepts of social media and is struggling with day-to-day cash flow, supposed to visualise an sms campaign through a website that he can barely operate? There is often a misfit, a gap that the industry should address, if only for its own benefit.

To end on a positive note, the buzz at Kahena was wonderful. In many ways, it was encapsulated by the personality of Mr Tomer Hen. At the mature age of 19 years old, he runs an operation of 18 people called the Israel Mobile Marketing College, which provides advisory services to leading Israeli multinationals. Welcome to digital marketing, where you can live your dreams.

25 May 2013

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The moment we pop our heads into the world of commerce, everybody teaches us to focus on maintaining your competitive advantage. Swim ahead or drown.

However, what happens if the global commercial climate does not allow you to do that? What happens if an industrial revolution comes along – call it communications or the internet or globalisation – which ensures that anybody can copy you very quickly? What then?

That is the question posed by Rita Gunter McGrath in the latest edition of the Harvard Business Review. Her answer is what she describes as “Transient Advantage“. As she writes, successful business leaders in the current decade “view strategy differently—as more fluid, more customer-centric, less industry-bound. And the ways they formulate it—the lens they use to define the competitive playing field, their methods for evaluating new business opportunities, their approach to innovation—are different as well.”

The author lists eight points that define how to build a successful strategy, based on transient advantage. Significantly, McGrath begins with stressing the need to think about ‘arenas’ rather than industries. She continues by focusing on the importance of building relationships – with customers, suppliers, even competitors.

One paragraph for me stood out:

…..firms can use the logic of “real options” to evaluate new moves. A real option is a small investment that conveys the right, but not the obligation, to make a more significant commitment in the future. It allows the organization to learn through trial and error. Consider the way Intuit has made experimentation a core strategic process, amplifying by orders of magnitude its ability to venture into new spaces and try new things. As Kaaren Hanson, the company’s vice president of design innovation, said at a recent conference at Columbia Business School, the important thing is to “fall in love with the problem you are trying to solve” rather than with the solution, and to be comfortable with iteration as you work toward the answer.

For business mentors, there is a clear message. When you help a client formulate a USP, be aware that this position is liable to change, sooner rather than later. As McGrath concludes, strategy is far from dead. However, it is no longer formulated within a game where the status quo remains in the same place over the long term.

24 May 2013

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One of the most interesting descriptions of Professor Stephen Hawking’s decision to boycott a conference hosted by the President of Israel came from a Palestinian academic, who saw it as a message “of cosmic proportions”.

If you played a game of word association with the name of Hawking, I bet the answers of “Cambridge” and “brilliant scientist” would come up more often than not. And it is in that context, I want to analyse just what Hawking’s actions have shown about Israel, and just what this country stands for.

Starting off with Cambridge, the university is not just known for its beautiful academic surroundings. It is the home to the Footlights, one of the world’s consistently brilliant centres of satirical theatre. And satire forces you to think beyond what you see on stage.

For example, the Presidential event in Israel is to be attended by the Munib al-Masri – leading member of the Palestinian Authority, a billionaire member of the PLC, and who was reportedly wooed several times to serve as PA prime minister. And the Hawking’s announcement was received just days after the Palestinian minister of health paid an official visit to the Hadassah hospital in Jerusalem, at the head of a delegation of Palestinian officials.

And here is the strange point. While Hawking is not prepared to return to Israel, even when senior Palestinians are in tow, he is happy to get on a plane to China and to Iran! This is beginning to read like a ‘Monty Python’ blog, many of whom acted in the Footlights.

Moving on, Hawking is known for his thrilling contributions to science, even though he has suffered from motor neurone disease since his university days. Today, his picture, sitting in a wheelchair, is world-famous. And the various technical gadgets attached to the chair are stuffed full of Israeli technology. For example, Intel has three large r&d centres in Israel, which have created the previous, current and next generation of chips powering computers around the world.

In fact, as a response to Hawking’s decision to stay at home, the internet was swamped with a plethora of articles highlighting Israeli achievements in the medical field. I could not find any comparative articles for the rest of the Middle East. With some irony ,as reported in the Financial Times, one of the world’s leading companies searching for a cure to MNS or ALS is Brainstorm. And guess where the company is located?

Israel does not keep this wealth of IP to itself. CNN featured how Israel has literally saved the lives of Syrian children in recent weeks. Israel Elwyn, a national charity for facilitating the role in society of people with special needs, has increased its efforts to bolster its centres for minorities in Haifa and in East Jerusalem. The French drug company Sanofi is sponsoring the research of a joint Israeli-Palestinian project to study the effect of pharmaceutical residues in water. And so the very long list continues.

When it came to Israel, Hawking tried to do the impossible – judge the country like a scientific experiment and demand perfect results. Well Israel is not perfect, but neither is England nor Norway nor anywhere else. What Hawking conveniently ignored is that no other country has faced a continuous existential threat and also maintained itself as a democracy. Just look at the recent success of the Arab writer, Sayed Kashua, who has a hit TV show in Israel.

Professor Hawking is a genius, who (unfairly?) has yet to receive the Nobel Prize. Winners from the Middle East number five Egyptians and Chairman Arafat. In parallel, Israel, a country of barely eight million inhabitants, has clocked up ten awards. In order to achieve that level of success, you need a truly open society.

23 May 2013

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Categories: Afternoon Tea in Jerusalem, Business, Jerusalem

“I don’t seem to cope – there’s too much to do – I never catch up.” Whether people consider themselves good or poor at time management, these are the sort of comments that I hear time and again as a business coach.

So when I confront people with the fact that I complete 85% – 90% of my set tasks in any given week, I am faced with looks of incredulity. How? Well, here’s the secret that I expounded to a client in Jerusalem this week.

1) Use a diary or calendar. Whether you use an electronic system or resort to a paper-and-pen method, find something that work, is readily accessible, ……….and stick to it.

2) Every task has to be written down – meeting, phone call to be made, visits to the doctor, whatever.

3) Differentiate between personal and private issues. Personally, I colour-code meetings in yellow and my family commitments in blue.

4) Divide your diary page into two – one side for meetings and one side for reminders or notes. Thus, when you are supposed to be in a meeting, you cannot allocate that time to call somebody, prepare a document or otherwise.

5) If your meeting is scheduled for an hour, ensure that you have also blocked off extra time to arrive and return – even if that only means popping out to another floor in the same building.

6) If you have one or a series of projects to complete, map them out in full. Define fully what tasks will need to be completed by when, and how much time each stage will require. Then, when those parts have been broken down, enter them individually into the diary. Thus, you should not be scheduling meetings when you have allocated time for that (equally?) important work.

All this can be summarised under Point 7 – be honest! Don’t try to pretend that you can cram 25 hours into 24 hours, because it rarely works. You are cheating nature and I do not know of too many people who get away with that for more than a brief period of ………..time.

20 May 2013

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My work as a business mentor brings me in contact with many different people, in all kinds of commercial fields. Young or experienced, retail or non-profit, financial issues or failing sales campaigns – I have the fun and honour of working with them all.

My aim is to make my clients aware of their surroundings, enhance their self-belief, and then empower them to take responsibility. The results should be seen in a balance sheet shower higher value.

Seems simple enough, although the process is rarely that smooth. The reasons vary enormously – the commercial environment changes, personal issues need to be resolved, technological problems emerge. However, progress is achievable.

So, if it is that straightforward, why do some customers just miss out?

Just recently, I was faced with the pained expression of a Jerusalem-based customer, who has really gone through a rough patch. That said, I threw out a couple of seemingly innocuous questions, which were designed to ram home the extent of his dire situation.

What had he done to date?
What specifically did he intend to do?

The fact was that despite vague commitments, vary little had moved in his business over the past months. There had been a few cosmetic alterations and some small additions to the purchasing policy, but very little more than that.

As for future moves, the client muttered about swopping premises. So, when I told him to just do it, he merely sighed. And when I asked him more sympathetically if such a policy would truly make the difference and how, I was greeted with more silence.

The sad fact is that this person neither wants to change nor is capable of changing under present circumstances. Defeated by a combination of his own surroundings and those of the market place, it is most unlikely that something new and creative can emerge from our discussions. The ‘olympic flame’ of perspection required has been reduced to glimp flinders.

Whenever I take on a new mentoring client, after an initial mapping session, I ask them if they are prepared to change and if they realise what it takes. Not everybody is able to be truthful enough with themselves.

17 May 2013

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Categories: Afternoon Tea in Jerusalem, Business, Israel

Blogs and literature are full of responses to the question ‘what skill-set is required to turn you into a born-leader’.

Many will recall Churchill, Steve Jobs, Pope John Paul II from Poland, and maybe even Bill Clinton. However, in an age of globalisation, where information is everywhere along with cynicism, there is an increasing popular feeling that fewer and fewer politicians meet standards of the voters. The people we tend to admire come from the world of sport or the arts or commerce.

In recent months, I have quoted items from Dr Robert Brooks and from Daniel Pink. Both discuss the issues of credibility and the challenges we face when encouraging others to believe in our methods. And both of them quickly move on past the subject of empathy. Instead, each with his own approach, talks about the need to understand sincerely what a person is thinking and why. I pose that few politicians do not have time for such a manner.

This week, I read an article by Charles Harary, a clinical professor of management, who developed the theme one stage further. He was commenting about the Book of Ruth. By way of background, I should mention that leadership is a strong undercurrent in this biblical story – the role of Naomi, the character of Ruth, and how this lineage runs through to the future King David.

Harary argues that what made these female heroines different and what also separated Moses from the rest of his family was the characteristic of “humility”. And in one powerful paragraph, he observes that:

Humility comes from the Latin word which means ‘grounded’ or ‘close to the earth’.
Humility is not the same as meek, but it is an dynamic quality.
“Humility is appreciating our talents and focusing them on the needs of others”.

Harary concludes:

To be great leaders, we have to examine the motivation behind our actions…..To be real leaders, we have to think about the needs of others…..(And thus) Humility is a true form of strength to be used at every moment of life.

Now, when you tell me where you can find humility, I will point out that there might be a real leader of people lurking in the area. And I suggest that you do not start looking in your legislative assemblies.

14 May 2013

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Categories: Afternoon Tea in Jerusalem, Business, Israel, Palestinian Society, Palestinians

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Palestine witnessed remarkable growth of 5.9% during 2012, Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) said in its report.

That is certainly progress for an economy that was set back for a decade by the Intifada. Accordingly, there are encouraging signs in multiple sectors. Government revenues have risen marginally.

In parallel, some international aid is having a positive impact. For example, last month the UK’s International Development Minister Alan Duncan announced to an audience of the Hebron Chamber of Commerce the details of a new £15 million Palestinian Market Development Programme. The previous grant had “helped hundreds of businesses turn over £80 million in sales and exports, enter 87 new export markets, develop 129 new products, create 3,400 jobs and increase their exports by 52%.”

That said, all is not rosy. Just look at the unemployment rate that seems pegged around 25%. With a young population, that raises ominous social questions for the immediate future and stability of any governing party in Gaza and in the West Bank. So here are two suggestions that should help to make a positive change and relatively quickly.

First, to paraphrase a detailed report from the International Monetary Fund, ‘better governance’ would make fundamental difference. In fact, the report makes for more depressing than the official Palestinian stats I have cited above. The key recommendations are hidden on pages 17 and 18. While it no longer blames Israel for all the economic woes in the Palestinian territories, there is a demand for halting pay rises to a bloated public sector, implementing better tax revenue collection systems, and reducing capital outlays on dubious public sector projects.

However, second, in order for this to happen, the Palestinian people will need a leadership that is…….well, capable. Unfortunately, after weeks of internal haggling, the Palestinian Prime Minister, Salam Fayyad, resigned on April 24th. Texas-educated, IMF-trained and one of the few that was determined to introoduce transparency in the system, Fayyad had had enough.

According to some observers, Fayyad could see that the Palestinian economy under President Abbas may be heading for a dive. Not only has substantial donor aid from Arab countries effectively dried up. Just as pertinent is the fact that corruption and graft amongst the leaders in Ramallah and in Gaza have rarely seen better times.

An analysis prepared by a Gaza journalist, details how money is leaking out of the official Palestinian financial system, which lacks accountability . It is near unbelievable to read how “the report criticised the murkiness surrounding the PA’s security budget, which accounts for nearly one third of the Palestinian public budget, because it was comprised of only one figure, without details….”

The truly worrying aspect is when one links that statement with the policies of Western governments. Less than two weeks ago, on May 6th, the European Union released a further €20 million to help fund the payment of the April salaries and pensions of nearly 76,000 Palestinian civil servants and pensioners in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Totally funding in this field has reached around €1.5 billion since 2008. If the corruption is so widespread, you have to ask what has European taxpayers money actually been spent on?

There are countless micro examples, which illustrate the lack of open government, at least from the point of view of Western standards. Even when the UN is supposed to hand resources and aid out to Palestinian refugees, the money slips away unguardedly from the hands of those who need it.

The Palestinians deserve a better economy. For that to happen, they require a true leadership, neither laden by the demands of corruption nor beholden to violent ideologies.

10 May 2013

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Categories: Afternoon Tea in Jerusalem, Business, Israel, Jerusalem

Blog sites are full of articles on ‘how to spot an entrepreneur at birth’ or ’10 things great entrepreneurs do’. You have the feeling if life is so obvious, then we could all be doing it.

The fact is that many of these comments are written ‘after the fact’. They often seem to be full of lines that are readily adjustable as the entrepreneurs keep moving the goalposts.

Take the example of Israel – a.k.a The Start Up Nation or Silicon Valley of the Middle East. Yossi Vardi has long been heralded as one of the local kings of high tech. By way of proof, he has a prime listing on Techcrunch.

According to a recent interview in Hebrew, Vardi has invested in over 80 companies. It is over 15 years since AOL bought his first ‘biggie’, ICQ for US$407 million. ICQ was one of the first of its kind for internet chat.

However, Vardi goes on to say that only 20 of the same 80 have resulted in a decent exit. In other words, while the man has made a very healthy fortune over the years, he has also bet on what turned out to be losers.

And, there is a third part to his story. Vardi has also missed opportunities. He openly admits to passing on a chance to invest in Waze, which is currently being targeted by Facebook for around a cool billion dollars.

Bottom line. It takes many factors to be a successful entrepreneur – skill, luck, uniqueness, right market at right time, management and leadership skills, etc. To do that several times over is exceedly rare.

Is there one characteristic that links the Vardis, Gates, Jobs of this world? Walter Isaacson referred to “an ability to focus”. I wonder if it just boils down to the old thing of some people have just ‘got it’ and you have to respect and understand that.

4 May 2013

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Categories: Afternoon Tea in Jerusalem, Business, Israel

It’s official. Warren Buffet has set aside an additional US$2.0 billion and thus bought outright Iscar Metalworking in northern Israel. It’s rumoured that his first deal, worth $4.0 billion, took ten days to conclude. This one was apparently sealed up in ten minutes.

As I recently observed, foreign direct investment is still entering Israel at a reasonable rate. The new finance minister, Yair Lapid, may not like the concept of budget controls, but he will enforce them. The estimate for the reserves of gas off Israel’s coast has just been raised by 10%.

Israel has fostered another new industry in the past five years, capitalising on the app bonanza. For example, Glide Talk Ltd. was a finalist in the “TechCrunch” Disrupt New York event. The app records and sends brief video clips. Funtactix (Jerusalem and Tel Aviv) and its Hunger Games Adventures has seen over five million downloads in the past years. And of course, WAZE with its traffic reports is rumoured to be discussions with several megas, including Apple.

And the connection between Buffet and apps? I have no doubt that Buffet is not going to throw any of his extra cash at the mobile industry or its software derivatives. However, he recognises the vitality of the Israeli economy. Iscar started in the backyard of its founder and grew to become an industry leader in a few decades. Israel’s app and internet successes – see above, Conduit, Wix and others – have displayed similar versatility.

To quote Buffet:

Israel is a great place to invest in because of the people in it. There is no other place in the world where you can find people with the kind of qualities and motivation and the ability to focus like the people at Iscar.

29 April 2013

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Categories: Afternoon Tea in Jerusalem, Business, Israel, Jerusalem

It is turning out to be another good week for Israelis who like to show off the country’s ‘start-up nation’ status. The Chinese group, Fosun, has just bought out Alma Lasers with their special cosmetic surgery applications for a cool US$240 million. Happy days!

Israel continues to reap the rewards of being a Middle Eastern version of Silicon Valley. Only last week, I met up with a group of London-based merchant bankers, many of whom were visiting the Holy Land for the first time. So used to learning about Israel from the BBC or similar, they were each positively stunned at the economic and scientific miracle they were presented with.

So, here are three basic stats to reiterate just how much Israel is placing itself at the forefront of new technologies and how in turn this is attracting inward investment.

First, “Preqin’s Venture Deals Analyst shows that since 2008 there have been 403 venture capital financings in Israel, with an aggregate value of $2.53bn.” Significantly, in 2012, a year noted for the economic malaise in the Mediterranean Basin, there were 79 deals. Within the first four months of 2013, a further 23 had been completed.

Perqin claims to hold data on 83 Israeli VCs, which have raised over US$10 billion in the past decade. JVP and Fimi are considered two of the world’s best performers in their field.

Second, a new survey released today indicates that “57% of Israeli venture capital executives expect foreign investment in Israeli start-ups to increase over the coming year, and 43% expect that the number of high-tech exits will grow”. As Siemens, Microsoft and others continue to strengthen their accelerator programmes, this trend is likely to continue.

A third interesting stat is that during the first quarter of 2013, Israeli high-tech firms raised $474 million despite the continuing global slowdown. Within two days of this news being published, Fitch reaffirmed Israel’s A credit rating.

In other words, for all the abnormalities (such as import monopolies and the unions at the ports), the Israeli economy is essentially sound. Let us hope and pray that the vested interest groups keep it that way.

Pages

Israel’s economy – connecting the dots

Core product value – what does that really mean?

Business coaching – vision, values and your business model

‘Waze’ how investors look at a start up

Baird, Britain, Nature, Israel – connect the dots

Why we must ignore Israel

What the world of commerce can learn from a Spanish football coach and an Israeli squad

3 tips to ensure others do not manage your own time

Bringing the gap of hatred through commerce – Middle East case study

3 cautionary takeaways on digital marketing from Kahena

Importance of competitive advantage…..or not

Shining a spectrum on the real Israel – the cosmic Stephen Hawking

7 simple tips to get things done at work – it’s all about honesty

Business mentoring – a cure for ‘all’ commercial problems?

Leadership by example; politics, commerce and religion

Two pointers on the Palestinian economy – May 2013

Serial entrepreneur – not what you think?

Why Israel caught Buffet’s eye

Assessing value of total investment in Israeli high tech – 3 pointers

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