Afternoon Tea in Jerusalem Archives - Page 52 of 75 - Michael Horesh Business Coach and Mentor

13 May 2011

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Categories: Business, Israel

Sarah Lacy is a talented journalist on the hightech scene. Look up her writings on TechCrunch et al.

One of Lacy’s pet themes is the Israeli economy, which for nearly three decades has made a name for itself as a “Silicon Valley of the Middle East”. Since the onset of start ups, internets and cleantechs, Israeli companies have been making noises louder and further than may be associated with a country the size of Wales.

The Israeli pavilion at the Barcelona World Mobile Congress this February was not short of impressive. Teva iPharmaceutical Industrie, located outside Tel Aviv, is “the tenth largest firm by market capitalization on the Nasdaq”. Leviathan in wind energy, WeCU in homeland security, BrightSource in delivering solar energy, Better Place powering non-diesel fuel cars, etc etc are leaders in their respective fields.

Lacy will be one of the first to recognise this. Equally, she is very au fait with the nuances of the Israeli society that encourages innovation; government subsidised business mentoring for small enterprises, matching funds for new technology via the Office of the Chief Scientist, a culture that challenges you to think out of the box, and more.

Where she differs is when she argues that: –

Somehow, as Israel developed more of the ingredients that academics would consider crucial to high-growth company formation, returns from those (early) start-ups have plummeted….The problem is that Israel hasn’t had a lot of home runs……….Israel always outperforms elsewhere. Now, that seems to not be happening…………..

And it is that last phrase that is the key to my questioning of her judgement. “According to Bank of Israel estimates, GDP growth in 2011 will reach 4.5 percent…”, and more of the same is expected in 2012. So what ain’t happening, lady?

Lacy is concerned that few Israeli start ups go on to something mega. Two questions; (1) So what? And (2), Who is to blame?

Let’s be honest, 4% growth these days is pretty damn good. The UK and USA can only dream about such numbers. Unemployment is at a near record low. Exports have continued to zip ahead in 2011, although admittedly the trade gap has extended due to the strength of the shekel.

So based on an immediate statistical argument, Israel is still doing something well according to the textbooks; ensuring that the country’s wealth is being driven by SMEs, small and medium sized enterprises, that make up 95% of many economies.

As for start ups not going on to make a fortune, why blame Israeli macro managers? Simply put; A young firm becomes attractive to an investor or a VC, money pours in, the management board is “upgraded”, and sales are then set to take off. The new decision makers are often located overseas. But if they get it wrong, I suggest to Lacy that she should not look for other scapegoats.

Lacy could adjust her arguments in order to be on firmer ground. For example, Israel is about to benefit from newly discovered offshore gas reserves. Yes, Lacy, that will shift the emphasis of the economy away from hightech. Voters can only hope that the extra tax revenues will be invested wisely in infrastructure.

There is also doubt over some of the support being prepared for 2012 on behalf of small businesses. I have not been too thrilled of the rumours emerging from the Ministry of Industry, as the experts ponder what to do next. If you cannot find anything better, why change established procedures?

That said, Lacy should bear in mind a comment I heard from a London banker back in February 2009. We were sitting in Tel Aviv and he was commenting on the credit crunch. He noted that the same problems were turning in on people, be they in the UK or in the Holy Land.

The difference is that in Britain, everyone was walking around pessimistic, head down. In Israel, people had the attitude of “OK, so things are tough, but how do we move on and make the next buck.”

That level of innovation, the route to the next success story, is what Lacy does not see.

9 May 2011

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Categories: Blog, Business, Israel

On May 10th 2011, Israel will celebrate its 63rd Independence Day. Positive growth figures are everywhere. Over the past year, the population increased a further 2% to nearly 7.75 million and the economy moved forward by around 4%.

The economy has come a long way in 6 decades. Back in the 1960s, the country was still securing barter deals with the Soviet Bear, using Jaffa oranges as currency. In the 1970s, the defence budget amounted to a massive third of the GDP. By 1986, Shimon Peres, then Prime Minister and now President, had to freeze wages and prices. An economy that had cowered behind tariffs was about to be exposed to the world.

Leap forward a generation to today, and Israel is an economic success:

In 2010, the country was accepted into the OCED and the top rank of stock exchanges
It is a leading force in cleantech, particularly solar and biomass techniques
For years, Intel computers have been powered by the success of its 3 r&d centres in Israel.
The industrial revolution, as driven by the communications industry, continues to feature a massive effort from the Holy Land.

Put it another way, there are not many OECD countries that have emerged from the credit crunch so proficiently. Unemployment is at a near record low and falling.

For international investors, there are large positives to be found. It is not just about VCs or choosing the right share. Large public utilities are being sold off. The Port of Eilat is looking for a new owner form overseas. And a tender has been issued for the new metro in Tel Aviv. The Electricity Corporation could be next.

True. Not everything is perfect. The OECD has yet again warned about the increasing gap between rich and poor. The Bank of Israel has actively warned that the continuous rise in housing prices could threaten the economic stability. There again, of the near 200 countries on the globe, I am not aware of one state without some financial concerns.

And is there a lesson in this for others, especially neighbours in the region? Israel has learnt to forge success, despite on-going threats to its existence. Decision makers in Jerusalem long ago came to realise that an economy based on crying and requiring international loans is not a recipe for success.

The way to build a better society for all is by creating the conditions to let the nation use its natural skills.

6 May 2011

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Categories: Business, Israel

My IIB colleague, Siu Ling, has written a great blog on how to get a “yes” from your bank. Her solution – “a well-prepared complete financing proposal package”.

And I am total agreement. But here’s the strange thing. So many of us ignore this excellent advice. To understand why, look at the following typical scenario. I probably have to face it about once a week on average.

When I ask my client what is their situation in the bank account, I am met with a look of pain. Yeah, but how bad, I press. And as I try to drill down, I rarely receive any precise numbers. The client simply does not know, and they do not want to know.

And here in lies the problem. The client begins to lose control. They then become afraid of the bank staff. The next step is simply to try to ignore the bad news. Even less control, and the vicious cycle sets in.

Meanwhile, what is the humble banker thinking? “Please come and talk to me Mr Client and we can sort this out together.”

As one bank manager once told me, we want people to communicate with us, to tell us of their problems. That way we can resolve issues with minimal pain. Bottom line, we can then ensure that the cash flow of the business will not freeze up!

Surely that’s incentive enough to prepare a financial plan?

29 April 2011

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Categories: Business, Israel

So there is fighting in Libya, one of the largest oil producers in the world. Bahrain’s reserves are expected to last for another 15 years or so. Yemen and Syria also have a few barrels of the black gold. And the list goes on.

So, while all the leaders of these countries are under threat, the dollar revenues keep flooding in. The more they fight, the more they profit. Brent Crude his risen 25% in the past quarter alone.

But what goes for the top brass is not necessarily true for the rest of the folk in the Middle East. A report from The Economist notes that of the countries surveyed “real GDP growth outlook for 2011 has worsened in nine between December and April, improved in eight and remained the same in three”….

Most of the countries registering higher growth forecasts are oil exporters, but Israel and Turkey are both in this group by virtue of better than expected actual performances last year and as a reflection of our modest upgrade of our global economic forecast.

It is somewhat ironic that Israel was given a positive citing. When oil prices first surged back in 1973, it was an aftershock of the Yom Kippur war. Blame Israel for the instability all those years ago? Debatable, but that is certainly not the case with the current violence in the region.

A few days ago, Moody’s issued its annual report on Israel.

The Israeli economy is resilient and dynamic, and the macroeconomic policy framework is coherent. Having eased fiscal and monetary policy to support activity and avoid a pronounced recession during the global crisis, the Bank of Israel is rapidly removing its monetary stimulus in order to ensure the recovery is sustainable and inflationary pressures remain in check.

And here’s another irony. Israel is one of the world leaders in pioneering alternative energy sources, such as solar energy. I wonder why that is?

27 April 2011

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Categories: Israel, Palestinians

My son is just finishing basic training in an infantry unit in the Israeli army. When I explain this to colleagues around the world, a wave of enforced silence hits the conversation.

Am I mad? Is he mad? Can’t you send him off to university? Isn’t it dangerous? etc etc

Well, yes Israel is surrounded by enemies. Our democracy needs defending. There is talk of the next Gaza campaign. And that’s before you mention the possibilites of Egypt worming its way out of peace treaty or the Iranian threat or Syrian unrest …..

There again, this is not Syria. Nobody sends soldiers up on rooftops to fire at protesters in Tel Aviv, nor in the West Bank for that matter. For all the complaints raised by international protest groups over the January 2009 battle in Gaza, no soldier was found guilty of issuing immoral orders.

This is very much a people’s army, where your commanding officer can often be your neighbour.

Mere words? I think not. Have a look at recent postings on the website of the army, the IDF, Israel Defence Force.

1) “There is a 200% increase of minorities volunteering to join the IDF”. This includes Bedouin, Druze, and Arabs of different religions. The report does not mention the many immigrants, who are able to complete their voluntary conversion process to Judaism through the army.

2) Over the past 4 months, the IDF has helped Druze farmers transfer 12,000 tons of produce to their fellow religionists in Syria. This has become an annual process, facilitated by the Red Cross. Fortunately, this year’s crop was completed before the Syrians closed the border as part of their clampdown.

3) The IDF was one of the first teams to send a field unit to Japan. This follows on its success in Haiti and other countries, which have suffered from a natural disasater in recent years.

Many elements of the ultra orthodox continue to ignore the importance of the Israeli army as a motivator, as a builder of society, as a provider of skills for life, and much more. In truth the IDF remains far more than just a big bully as frequently projected by the likes of the New York Times or the BBC.

And if my son is part of that process, I am proud of that.

20 April 2011

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Categories: Business

Imagine gathering the leaders of Syria, Libya, Iran and Yemen, taking them up in a helicopter, dropping them off two miles from the coast in the dark of night and giving them one order: “Swim for it”!

This is how former navy SEAL officer, Rob Roy, operates. He runs an intensive leadership training course for CEOs.

The purpose is to tell them that they can walk into any situation and come out ahead…Motivation is not leadership—real leaders inspire, guide and give hope.

Now I accept that politicians, and especially brutal autocrats, do not possess the same characteristics as business executives. However, neither group can afford to fail. And they are all leaders of complex organisations.

Roy’s programme makes for interesting reading. There is a great deal of ‘extreme’ physical content. Distractions and sub plots are thrown out at all angles. And the reason why?

Roy’s extreme training conditions force people to work by themselves. They are deprived the luxury of customary support systems. In contrast, CEOs (and dictators) often have other people do their dirty work for them.
In parallel, the course participants do have to support each other in order to survive. If you ditch somebody, you will not succeed. How often do we hear of those leaders dumping those who are considered redundant?
The demands of the exercise ensure that decisions are made under pressure. Filibustering, spin and delaying tactics are out of bounds. Nowhere to hide.

The article on Roy poses a challenging question: “What does this teach people?”

Military people know that if something happens to you, someone will come and get you no matter the cost. And if you want my loyalty as an employee, I have to know that no matter what, you’re going to save me. That’s what this drill is for. It’s a defining moment of loyalty and integrity. It’s not about skill, it’s about knowing that they’ll be there for me when the company goes to crap.

And who are the people protesting in Syria, Libya, Iran and Yemen? Those various different parts of the societies, who know that their leadership does nothing and will do nothing for them.

Time for some Middle Eastern rulers to put on their swimming trunks?

17 April 2011

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Categories: Business, Israel

It is mid April and Jews around the world are getting ready to celebrate the festival of Passover. The main event is where the exodus from Egypt is recalled by the family, and even the youngest participants are giving a part in the proceedings.

The story is told through a book called the Hagaddah – a Hebrew word, which means to explain. And from the earliest years, Jews are encouraged to learn more about what happened and why by asking questions, just as a business mentor probes their clients.

You see by asking questions, both sides become engaged with each other. Accepted norms are challenged and evaluated. You discover things about yourself or your business that you did not realise were there, often in front of your very nose all the time.

Going back to the Hagaddah, and early on in the proceedings, the book describes four types of sons. Two are considered positive influences; the clever one and the one who tries to learn but does not have the ability.

Two others are placed on the other side of the spectrum; the evil one who simply makes arrogant statements and the one who sits passively without comment. And the same characters can often be found in companies, acting negatively on their departments’ activities. How so?

Somebody, who just issues statements without checking facts nor allowing for discourse, will sooner or later not progress nor meet targets. Steganation if not worse. Similarly, the person, who just lets things drift, thus assuming that others can pick up the slack or that nothing bad will happen, are simply irresponsible. Life is not static. Situations change, especially when you think that all is tranquil.

So where does this leave us?

The Exodus took place over 4,000 years ago. Few commercial activities survive from that time. But sages have shown how we can learn from history and in what manner in order to make our present lives more fruitful. These are the decisions we then make in order to shape the history of the future.

14 April 2011

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Categories: Business, Israel, Palestinians

Palestinian Prime Minister, Salim Fayyad, is canvassing Western support for a US$5 billion investment package spread over three years.

Compared to the needs of Portugal ($113b) or Ireland ($50b), that ain’t so much. And nobody can argue that the Palestinian economy is one of the richest in the world. So, in the context of an era when despite open persecutions in Syria, Yemen, Iran or wherever, the Palestinian issue is still considered the cause of unrest in the Middle East, Fayyad’s plan has a real chance of going through.

In my private capacity, I deal with small investors, who always have questions before they throw their money at a new project. So here are my three questions, under the bold assumption that a Western taxpayer might be interested.

1) Is so much money needed?

The World Bank report, “Building the Palestinian State” from 13th April 2011, is highly informative. The press release implies that future growth via overseas help will depend on the relaxation of Israeli restrictions.

Well, nobody can deny that. Before the violence of the second Intifada and the ensuing clampdown, World Bank researchers showed that the economy grew under Israeli governanceby over 5% annually since 1968 . Yet just two weeks ago, a British tourist was killed by a Palestinian bomb in Jerusalem, not allowing a removal of all security measures.

Yet in parallel, there are signs that the Palestinian economy is actually doing very well. In the executive summary on page 5, the report notes:

Education and health in the West Bank and Gaza (WB&G) are highly developed, comparing favorably to the performance of countries in the region as well as globally. For example, enrollment in secondary education is roughly 20 percentage points higher than the rate in the average middle income country, and levels of malnutrition are 7 times lower.

A week previously, Reuters had described how:

The hilly city of Ramallah, which lies just to the north of Jerusalem, has undergone a massive boom in recent years on the back of Western donor support, with new smart eateries and bars mushrooming alongside a plethora of pristine office blocks.

Significant is the contradiction in the World Bank report, which concentrates on the importance of donor aid. However, as the IMF noted and then cited by Forbes, the need for donor aid is dropping all the time, down to under US$1 billion for 2011.

2) Where is the accountability and transparency?

If the aid or investment is to be given, who will track that it is to be put to correct use? Despite the best efforts of the World Bank and the use of interim mechanisms, money is still transferred via Ramallah to pay for the salaries of thousands of Hamas supporters and operatives in Gaza.

Of equal concern is the opinion of Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas. Back in January, he was quoted in Al Hayat al Jadida that “the US is assisting us in the amount of $460 million annually. This does not mean that they dictate to us whatever they want, because we do what we view as beneficial to our cause.”

In a period of international economic instability, with governments cutting billions from their budgets, US$5 billion is no small sum to let go of and wander off on its ownsome.

3) What about other countries?

Fayyad’s appeal is to the West. He specifically started the ball rolling at a conference in Brussels. Yet, in the past month alone, the price of crude oil has jumped by around 20% or US$20 per barrel. Now that is one heck of a lot of extra revenue, which sure ain’t going to the protesters on the streets in Bahrain or Damascus.

So tell me again; just why are Western governments going to accept the brunt of this call from Fayyad? Is anyone going to challenge the figures?

13 April 2011

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Categories: Business, Israel, Jerusalem

I often find that in many of my discussions with clients there is an unspoken question, lurking in the shadows of the conversation. “Will my business be a success?”

As a mentor, it is not my job to predict or to guess. However, I can prod around two pertinent themes, which pop up continuously.

Belief in yourself and in your product

For all the problems of cash shortage, lack of trained staff or whatever, you have to believe in yourself. It is one of those secrets that they do not teach you at Harvard Business School. This belief contains a massive passion and drive that often helps people overcome enormous hurdles.

Paul Green, an IIB colleague, directed me towards a fascinating utube clip. It is 15 minutes of inspiring viewing, where Caroline Casey’s personal determination allowed her to “look past conventional limits”.

I recalled this to some people this week. Late last year, they had established a service business in Jerusalem and they admitted that it was not easy to wake up every day and “go to war”. The are times when they have to dig deep in order to carry on, and yes the first clients are now coming in the door.

Another client told me how he is no good at selling. So I challenged him and asked: “How come that when you talk about what you want to do, everybody becomes interested in the subject and wants more info.” By the time we meet again, he should have a drawn up an initial marketing campaign.

The importance of the client

A recent posting of mine referred to “putting your audience first”. Remember that it is your customers who keep you in business.

Siu Ling’s latest feature in Ruminations echoes the same point. Servicing customers is all about providing them with value.

Here is a simple example of what I mean. Israel currently has 3 providers of mobile telephones. Annual profits repeatedly hit mega numbers. And yet, those figures seem to be matched by a similar amount of customer complaints. I personally simply do no trust my provider, Orange, and cannot wait to change.

Yesterday, the government of Israel announced that within 12 months there will be two additional companies on the market. Prices will drop, while services should improve all round.

In the past, I heard one senior sales macho argue that his mobile company invests millions in training. I believe him. The question is not the amount, but where it went. They probably have not invested enough time and resources into helping the customer and ensuring that they were happy.

Two simple rules of thumb to drive the success of many a business.

10 April 2011

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Categories: Business, Israel

We have all been there. Shop owner, insurance salesperson or business mentor like myself; We are about to reel in a client, but they keep putting off the decision.

How do you know when enough is enough and that it is time to move on?

A few months ago, I watched a utube video from a former advisor for Hilary Clinton. He suggested flicking back in your diary or calendar, counting up all those recurring appointments with people, which had led to nothing. Why did that happen? Was there a common theme?

And what jogged this thought was that last night, I had the fun of clearing out a whole load of old notes and papers. Sure enough, a few thick files popped up, where I could not recall receiving a dime for my input.

This is not about correct business models, pricing policies or success fees. The provider of a service must assess in advance what a customer is worth and can deliver. In parallel, that same provider has to be armed with clear guidelines as to how much they can afford to invest in set up work. Either way, the dream must be balanced very coldly against existing reality.

If one of other of those above elements is blurred, then the result may be a big loss of time for yourself. A secondary negative impact is that you effectively forgo the opportunity to invest in establishing a commercial relationship with an alternative client. Double ouch!

Each story is different. Everybody has to make their own judgement call. Last year, I went beyond my usual parameters. The result has been an exceptionally commercially exciting adventure for both sides.

Before every additional meeting with a potential clients, you have a right and a duty to ask yourself: Is this meeting truly of value and is there a realistic chance that it will bring me some revenue?

3 April 2011

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Categories: Business, Israel

Spring 2011 in Israel and it’s exit time. Everybody’s doing it.

Conduit may be sold for a billion bucks – not bad for 6 years work.
Align Technologies bought out Cadent’s dental imaging capability for US$190 million
Merck is investing heavily in establishing a Biomed incubator in Israel.

And so the list goes on. The happy days theme can also be found in the stock exchange, almost back to its peak by the end of March. As for unemployment, it’s at a near 3 year low.

So where’s the “but”?

Any first year student of economics learns that you can only use the rate of interest to tackle one problem at a time. However, Israel’s financial policy makers are facing two issues, each tugging in a different direction.

In the left corner, inflation is raising its head, being dragged along by a housing market that won’t stop bubbling. Prices have risen 4.2% in the past year and look like moving on up even more in the near future. April is usually a bad month. So, the Bank of Israel has moved to raise interest rates sharply, and quicker than expected.

On the other side of the ring are Israel’s exporters, crying out that a strong shekel is ruining profitability. The currency has already appreciated 2% in the past quarter and worse is expected. However, higher interest rates push up the price of the shekel against other currencies, leading to even lower profits. Ouch!

So what’s the way out? Stanley Fischer, governor of the Bank of Israel, has long since stopped relying on politicians to do the right thing. So, he has taken a step forward. As Avi Temkin observed:

The practical significance of the decision (to increase interest rates sharply) is that more interest rate hikes will come until the rate is higher than inflation expectations. Export profit margins and mortgage payers’ peace of mind are all subordinate objectives, if that, compared with what the central bank perceives as its primary mission.

A simple bit of responsible home economics. Shame that the finance minister has not found the courage to match this move for now.

30 March 2011

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Categories: Blog, Business, Israel

I have just returned from mentoring my latest client, a fast food shop with a wonderful local clientelle. And they have decided to join the 21st Century, looking to set up a website.

The reason is clear enough. Everybody is doing it; searching for ways to ramp up their unique virtual content or message in order to increase profits.

I recently tweeted the article by Sonia Simone: The Simple 5-Step Formula for Effective Online Content. The author asks a basic question – “What makes some content marketing succeed, while other writers work and work and never seem to get anywhere?”

And the answer is short and self-explanatory.

All of the “rules” of great content marketing come from one rule: put your audience first. It’s not about how much money you need to make with this launch, where you want to rank on Google, or what your cat had for breakfast this morning.

It’s about them — the readers, prospects, and customers — not you. (original emphasis)

Earlier this week I attended the latest event of the Jerusalem Business Networking Forum. Around a 100 people gathered to learn about the intricacies of social media from 5 experts in the field.

Rabbi Issamar Ginzberg – Using Testimonials to make your Website Visitors Buy.
Mike Mintz – Facebook Advertising That Gets Attention for Your Business.
Hillel Porath – Generating Business Leads Using LinkedIn
Debi Zylbermann – Bringing Traffic to your Website with Link Building.
Charlie Kalech – Defining a Keyword Search Strategy for Your Site

Read their blogs. Check them up on google. All really whiz people with many credits to their names. If they had one message, which they could echo together, it concerned the customer, the client, the one who is being searched for and targeted.

In other words, it is not just a case of plugging info that you find thrilling, If you want to find this person – a.k.a. a new source of revenue – via a web presence or Facebook or whatever, you have to understand what makes them tick and then write something on their terms.

The customer determines the size and colour of the crown jewels for the monarch.

27 March 2011

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Categories: Business

Many of us went through school petrified of getting things wrong. Just do something, anything. Make some clever mark, so it will look as if you have tried. Then they will ignore you and “pick” on another child.

As a business mentor, the more I mention this syndrome to clients, the more people that nod their heads back to me in agreement. Yup, “me too”, they are saying. Been there and done that.

And the relevance of all this several decades on? These same individuals have grown up and many have done well at university. They have opened a business. They can point to some form of success, socially and commercially. And they have all one other thing in common – they have “got stuck”.

Whatever the business, they are all stuck with the same thing. They find any excuse to move forward. Some will come up all kinds of spin to explain away lack of progress, but it remains spin. Procrastination rules OK.

And the reason for the excess of hot air and the lower revenue levels is that they were taught not to make a mistake. It will be bad. You may get punished. You will get a low mark. Your contemporaries will not like you. Crawl into your shell or hide the problem.

The real problem is that these same teachers forgot to explain that you can also learn so much from your mistakes, and then move on to better things. It may sound strange but by getting things wrong, you can then begin to make more money.

It is the latest issue of the Harvard Business Review, which highlights all of these themes in detail. The magazine effectively gives”a stamp of approval to failure”.

Failure. We’re hypocrites about it. Go online, and you’ll find scores of pleasant aphorisms celebrating the inevitability of failure and the importance of learning from it. But in real life — and in real companies — failure is anathema. We’re afraid of it. We avoid it. We penalize it. It’s time for managers to get past platitudes and confront the F-word taboo

“Failure is inevitable and out of our control. But we can choose to understand it, to learn from it, and to recover from it.” Why did nobody talk to me like that when I was growing up.

25 March 2011

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Categories: Business

Managing your time – how many of us think we are pretty good at it? And how many of us are deceiving ourselves?

Three times this week, I met up with good educated people, offering quality services to clients. And each one was flunking on their own time management. Ask why, and the excuses came tumbling out:

Not important
Get by anyway
Too afraid to think about it
Etc

And as the business mentor, it was my job to “prick their cosy bubble”.

Let’s face it, many of us procrastinate. We are afraid of putting out price proposals in case we bid too low. We don’t call back prospective clients, just in case they say no. We delay completing tasks, because we are afraid of criticism. And sometimes, we are just down right lazy.

We all have that job at work (or at home) that we want to put off. So how do you get around all that twisted thinking?

I have started to introduce to my clients a very crude method. I get them to write out a very large sign with the word “MONEY” printed in bold letters. Why?

Whenever you do not get something done in time, you are giving up on an opportunity to increase your income. That money has the same value as a treat for your partner, a holiday with your kids, some home renovations, or whatever.

And in a small business, if you blow that opportunity, there is rarely somebody else to pick up the slack. The income has gone, and you are left with finding silly excuses as to why you are not as successful as you could be.

If and when my clients flap around in the future, I assume that they will be looking at that sign and feeling the true cost of their nonsense.

16 March 2011

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Categories: Business

Two clients – two case studies – two bagfuls of pain

Wearing my hat as business mentor, I listened to a client explain how she had been delighted to be employed by a large American set up. Just the right job for an enthusiastic college graduate. And after all, they would train her, hold her hand at the beginning in important meetings, and develop a career path together.

Was it naivety, or just a fear to verify the facts in advance? Because at it happened, she came to realise that she had been employed as a stop-gap measure. She lasted barely a year in the place.

But here’s the catch. Until recently, she continued to blame herself for not making it work out.

Situation number two is more delicate. It is a tale of two sides who really want to broker a deal together. No doubt – the will is in place. However,one or the other assumes that the second person will act in a manner that, in reality, is not going to happen. The result? Numerous e-mail and or phone calls via third parties just to stay in the same place. All very agonising for both sides.

Why? These are classic cases of missed expectations. If people were to ask a couple of direct, pertinent questions – firmly not rudely – then life would be much simpler.

The latest posting by Dr Robert Brooks relates to this issue: It is advisable to spend 5 minutes and real the whole blog. In brief, Brooks observes how many of us are fooled into false expectations, both privately and in commerce. The antidote is often an extra bit of “self-compassion”, which many parents and teachers are not familiar with!

Brooks concludes:

…….you might wish to keep in mind the words of the late Willie Stargell, a Hall of Fame baseball player for the Pittsburgh Pirates. I have quoted his words in previous writings. When asked after his retirement what he thought baseball had taught him, he replied:

Baseball taught me what I need to survive in the world. The game has given the patience to learn and succeed. As much as I was known for my homers, I was also known for my strikeouts. The strikeout is the ultimate failure. I struck out 1,936 times. But I’m proud of my strikeouts, for a feel that to succeed one must first fail; the more you fail the more you learn about succeeding. The person who has never tried and failed will never succeed. Each time I walked away from the plate after a strikeout, I learned something, whether it was about my swing, not seeing the ball, the pitcher, or the weather conditions, I learned something. My success is the product of the knowledge extracted from my failures.

Stargell certainly possessed a healthy, self-compassionate attitude towards mistakes (strikeouts). When he came to bat he expected to do well, but also realized that when he did not, he would avoid a self-defeating, harsh assessment. Instead, his plan was to learn from the setback so that his next at bat might prove more successful. Although it is difficult to change negative scripts, to not do so is to continue to lead a life of disappointment, anxiety, and unhappiness rather than one filled with optimism and resilience.

15 March 2011

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Categories: Business, Israel

I have spent the past 2 months encouraging a client of mine to see “Social Network”, a fascinating product of Holywood, which portrays the rise to fame of Facebook.

Clearly, I am in good company. Niklas Zennstrom, a co-founder of Skype, has written an excellent critique of the film. He correctly ignores parts where the director may have possibly assumed facts for the sake of the box office.

Instead Zennstrom observes that start ups strive to be “category winners”, and the entrepreneur is often desperate for success at almost any price.

There are implications here not only for start-ups, but also for the venture-capital firms that back them. Indeed, we founded Atomico, our firm, to address precisely these kinds of issues, seeing that new technology would disrupt not just consumer markets, but the venture-capital industry itself. For example, traditional financing rounds, when companies seek fresh capital at different stages of development, start to blur when start-ups grow so fast, and potentially require more capital at short notice.

This can create a situation where venture capital firms, not just entrepreneurs, struggle to keep up. Both need to think ahead if they want to create category winners, and understand that it’s essential to aim for this goal.

Back to my client, and I am seeking a way to urge them to realise that what they have is unique. Getting it to the market will have to be a fast process, ensuring that the competition is left with no choice but to give up. But unlike Zuckerberg – and the film’s creators – they don’t get it.

In comparison, I want to praise a lovely lady, Sonya Davidson. Now Sonya has discovered an amazing technology to create electricity out of hydrogen. With around US$50,000, she has put together a prototype and got herself in front of a key investors audience in New York – all within a year.

What next for Sonya? Simple: get the job done, and do so quickly – understanding all the time what is core value and what is not. As I said to her this morning, the final product would (unfortunately) have been a winner in Japan this week.

13 March 2011

3 Comments

Categories: Israel, Palestinians

Yesterday evening, my regular keep-fit routine was disturbed. I could not get out of my head that 5 people had been slaughtered in their sleep, just a 2 hours drive away. That includes a 3 month old baby. Even now, it keeps buzzing in my mind – how can anybody be driven by such manic hate to do that?

According to initial reports, a couple of people had climbed over a fence, which had set off an alarm. The security team treated it as a false alert. 2.5 hours later, 5 bodies, and time for the perpetrators to celebrate.

Most readers of this blog will not have heard of the incident. Drowned in the information avalanche from Japan’s awful tragedy and hidden by the news of the no-fly zone re Libya, there was no space left for coverage on Sky TV. (There was just room for Charlie Sheen on its website.)

And of course, these were 5 humans who lived in Itamar, known as a right-wing hot house in Israel’s West Bank. So, in the politically correct spin of 2011, the media can afford to ignore the story.

Obama was disgusted. Hague, France and others were similarly shocked. The Quartet condemned the incident “in the strongest possible terms”.

I am not an expert on the peace process and rarely comment about it directly, but it seems to me that it will take a mix of 4 elements to get it to work.

Israeli compromise: Israel has already ceded land to Egypt and to Jordan in return for peace. It had offers on the table to both the Palestinians and to Syria a decade ago,which were ignored. And I dare say that while Netanyahu is most reluctant to give up anything else, he has declared repeatedly his willingness for a two-state solution.

Palestinian compromise: The Palestinians have pulled out of peace talks twice in the past decade, as they were approaching decision time. Chairman Arafat ran away from Clinton and Barak at Camp David in August 2000, seeking the path of Intifada. And two years ago, President Abbas could not bring himself to announce an agreement with Olmert. In fact, since the details were leaked, the Palestinian team has denied the whole story.

Support from Arab states: Former President Mubarak is no saint. As ruler of the strongest military regime in the Arab League, he kept the peace process alive with Israel. He enabled King Hussain of Jordan to join in, etc. He is now gone. Israel’s gas supply from Egypt has been “temporarily” shut off on a continuous basis. Iranian ships have sailed through the Suez Canal for the first time in years.

Western encouragement and neutrality: The commitment of Europe to find a just peace cannot be argued. Only last week, the EU’s most senior foreign affairs diplomat, Catherine Ashton issued another statement, demanding increased Israeli flexibility. Hague, Clinton et al did the same. However, as at Munich, it was difficult to find a similar demand from the other side.

Tragically, this flexibility has now been reflected in some poor patrolling and the death of five civilians. No generous comments of sympathy from Arab states and no return to the peace table by the Palestinians.

Meanwhile, I continue share something in common with Western diplomats. We have both put on a few kilos this week for lack of effort. I gave up on my exercises, and they have been sitting around again with the wrong peace formulas for the Holy Land.

11 March 2011

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Categories: Business, Israel, Palestinian Society

2011 and the centenary of International Womens’ Day had a special meaning. From Algeria to Syria and down through the Saudi peninsular, the female gender has been on the streets in male-dominated societies. It is their desire for greater freedom of expression that has one of the main fear factors, haunting the President of Iran, the Sultan of Oman and the rest of them.

The Prime Minister of Israel is also known for caving in under pressure. Despite the protestations of the Finance Ministry, Bibi Netanyahu raised the minimum wage barrier – immediately deflating cries of protest from women voters. He still has to appease social workers, whose conditions are a national disgrace.

You can surf the net and find all kinds of articles criticising or supporting the way Israel supports women in society. Most these – Guardian (against), Haneen Zoabi (against) and the Jerusalem Post (Israeli newspaper) – come from established positions.

So, what makes Israeli women different from their counterparts in the region.

Is it that they can lead political parties openly, and even become Prime Minister as Golda Meir did?
Is it that in a society with a heavy military influence, they can readily be accepted as army officers?
Does the open opportunity for women to play sport rank as a factor?
Or how about the increasing openings for females from minority sectors, such as the Bedouin community?
And what about the achievements of Israeli women in science and research, which are increasingly recognised by the international academic community?

The answer is probably none of the above…as individual issues. It is the sum of the whole that counts.

Just this past week:-

A female VP of a Tel Aviv media group called to pressure me to move on an issue.
I have helped a lady in the ultra orthodox community to sell a business in order to expand in to another area.
A young mother is asking me to help her business diverse, having bought it for very little and converted it into a successful commercial identity.

All of these people have opportunities to control their lives as women, and are seizing the moment. They are not alone.

None of this is to deny that sexism and violence is still prevalent in some sectors of society – as the demoralising trial of ex-President Katsav demonstrated.

That said, the next hundred years of International Women’s Day in Israel should continue be a triumph to what and how others in neighbouring countries can aspire to.

5 March 2011

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Categories: Business, Israel

What they don’t teach you at Harvard Business School has long been a favourite book of mine. Many of us know of the likes of Steve Jobs who never graduated from university, and went on amazing commercial success. The question is why?

I have just read about 3 highly talented Israelis, who have never bothered to set foot inside a campus. And yet their achievements are what most of us dream about.

Rami Levy is in his 50s. A native of Jerusalem, he opened a small grocery shop in a run down market in 1976. Today, his empire is quoted on the Tel Aviv Stock Market with dozens of retail outlets. The key to his success? “I learnt from experience to place corn flakes at the entrance to shops, because that way shoppers can buy something immediately for their kids and feel good”.

Fox-Wizel clothing chain has a very simple policy: Pile ’em high and sell ’em cheap. The result is hundreds of stores around the world. The owner is often one of the first to arrive at the office in the morning and one of the last to leave at night. He employs loads of graduates, yet often feels that he has got to the solution before they have.

And when he meets people from abroad, he is quick to apologise for his poor English, because he spent much of his school years on the beach.

Daniel Gross is barely 20 years old. About to enlist in the Israeli army, he took up an opportunity in California to create some software. Seizing the chance with all his limbs, he is already worth US$5 million and looking to take on Google.

I could mention Amir, who following some renovations at his mother’s place, is now sought after by international DIY chiefs. Still not 30, I spoke to him this week and he has no intention just now of returning to university. How about the owner of Shilav, with 50 outlets selling goods for babies? The founder started out as a tear away at an absorption centre, where few gave him any hope.

And the list goes on. But what do these people, clear lacking an academic background have in common that enables them to reach such achievemens?

Going back to Steve Jobs, he quoted 3 rules of thumb:

“You have to trust in something”, which will allow you to connect the dots
“Got to find what you love”
“Have the courage to follow your heart and your intuition”

Add in some hard work, and maybe you will find that you don’t need to go to Harvard either.

28 February 2011

1 Comment

Categories: Israel, Palestinians

Sky News TV is leading a brilliant expose of Colonel Ghaddafi’s reign of torture. The UN has rushed to declare wide-ranging sanctions. Obama is appalled.

But where have these hordes of self-righteous protesters been until now? It is only a few months ago that CNN and Human Rights Watch were praising the regime in Tripoli. In January 2003, Libya was elected to head the UN body on human rights and nobody muttered a word. The world was too busy condemning Israel, defending itself from Palestinian homicide bombers.

Back at Sky, they have issued an easy-to-understand map of the Middle East, explaining why so many people are revolting. No mention of the Palestinian territories. The economy in Gaza is clearly on the up, which ironically is damaging Hamas’s financial stranglehold. With amazing irony, the tourism industry in the West Bank has benefitted by the Egyptian turmoil.

So where is the West going to focus its attention next week? Well, actually if you look beyond the headlines, they are desperately trying to get back to the Palestinian Issue. Apparently, this is the main cause of instability in the Middle East, a unique spin designed to help decision makers ignore torture and riots in Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Jordan, Oman, Iran, and Yemen………to name but a few.

Tony Blair has arrived in Jerusalem to help prepare for the next round of Quartet meetings and pressure Israel. Obama needs to balance helping Israel recently at the UN. According to a report in the Israeli newspaper, Yediot, the British Foreign Minister is considering recognising the state of Palestine, even if this is in direct contradiction to the commitment of both parties not to take unilateral one-sided measures.

But here’s that all misses the point.

Mohammad Bouazizi didn’t set himself on fire in December, thereby triggering Tunisia’s Jasmine Revolution, to express solidarity with Palestinians. Instead, his suicide was a direct response to the economic and social strictures in his own country…..The conventional wisdom that the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is the mother of all problems in the region has now been exposed as nothing but a myth.

What gets me is that all the efforts of the West are based on the support of moderate regimes like Egypt and Oman and Jordan, which are supposed to help convince Israel that they will ensure that no Arab country will attack it again, once Palestinian land has been given up. But these governments no longer exist or have had to back track.

Be it Hague or Blair or Ashton or Obama or Clinton, can we believe that the word “oops” – with a large O – is in their vocabulary? Or does the Libya fiasco merely provide another distraction to learn how the Middle East really works?

Pages

Did Sarah Lacy get it wrong on Israel’s economy?

Creating an independent economy in the Middle East

Why we don’t have to be afraid of our bank manager

Economic wars in the Middle East

The Israeli army and society – a personal viewpoint

Leadership courses – something for Middle East leaders?

Business mentors, exodus from Egypt & managers

Pls sir, can I have another US$5 billion?

Will my business be a success: 2 helpful guidelines

How much time to invest in a potential client?

Israel’s economy: moving forward with caution

Failure itself or the fear of failure – what costs us more?

The cost of poor time management to a small business

What is a realistic expectation in business?

The Middle East peace exercise

Women in revolt, Israel and the Arab world

What they don’t teach you at Harvard – revisted

Libya – a temporary distraction for the West in the Middle East

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