Entries from April 2007 ↓

I was watching over the weekend on the BBC TV channel, an interview of Maurice Flanagan, the CEO running the most successful Emirates Airline. I was enthused to hear of Maurice’s abundance mentality and vision of the future. During the interview, he spoke of the fantastic growth that his airline has experienced and the challenge the airline has taken to grow even larger in the coming years with a detailed plan to operate over 150 fuel efficient wide body aircraft. Emirates airline has on order from Airbus 47 A380!

The development of the airline is in the overall strategy of the Dubai foremost family, the Al Maktoun’s vision to develop Dubai past the wealth that can be drawn from pumping “black gold” crude oil from the underground of the gulf area. Dubai today has become a center for many things and a great attraction for tourism, finance and trade.

Maurice grew the airline with the open skies policy of Dubai which today is served by over 110 airlines. I recommend the reading of the write up on the history of success of Emirates under the leadership of Maurice since 1978. He is known in the aviation field as a fierce supporter of open competition.

To the question of the rising competition being planned by the neighboring states of

Abu Dhabi and Qatar airlines, he replied in his interview that the more there will be competing airlines in the region, the greater the traffic in the region will grow. The Gulf area with great airlines he said will become an enormous airline hub for the benefits of the whole area and a cross road to serve east and west. A market place is a location where you have the choices between many operators. The larger the market place: more opportunities open up.Let the cake grow larger and may the smarter of the operators share the largest slice.

From his position as the sales Manager of B.O.A.C in Southern Africa when I first met him years ago, Maurice has surely forged himself a very successful career. I had the chance to meet him again sometime back in the 90’s when with my mate Omar Ramtoola we attempted to secure the general sales agency of Emirates for the Indian Ocean region. He used to be friendly with one of my bosses, the late John Ribet at Rogers Aviation in the early 70’s. We surely have to learn from Maurice’s business acumen.

“Emirates is run on the principle that customers are smart, recognize and reward better service – and are willing to pay for good value-for-money.”

 

 

Ce dimanche, la liturgie nous propose l’image du bon Pasteur qui donne sa vie pour ses brebis. Un acte d’Amour inestimable que seul Dieu est capable de faire. Tout donné jusqu’à la mort pour sauver le monde et de nous donner la vie éternelle. Ce qui m’a également interpellé est unicité du Père et de Jésus à faire ce cadeau à tous qui écoutent sa voix. La question reste quand et à quelle fréquence j’écoute sa voix ? Ma voie serait d’écouter sa voix!

On my last blog written in French, I shared my enthusiasm on the seminar I attended. It is worth noting that Process Communications is the brain child of Dr Taibi Kahler who formulated his process following works he did for the NASA to ensure the the team of Astronauts who had to live in close confinement for relatively long period had the necessary psychological tools for better communications amongst them.

Process Com provides very useful people skills to acquire by us all.The french book I am now reading thereon give a myriad of examples to be put in application in family, work and social environment. I recommend that you pay a visit to the web site.

Eric Berne nous parle de 3 types de leadership :

Ø Le leader responsable

C’est celui qui occupe la place de leader dans l’organigramme. Il est responsable du groupe et rend des comptes à une plus haute autorité (hiérarchie, conseil d’administration, actionnaires, …)

Son niveau de leadership se mesure par sa capacité à prendre des décisions en toute autonomie

Ø Le leader effectif

C’est celui qui est reconnu par le groupe comme ayant un niveau de compétence pointue sur un ou plusieurs domaines (techniques ou non techniques)

Son niveau de leadership se mesure par l’écoute qu’il suscite et par sa capacité à déléguer officiellement une partie de son leadership effectif à une personne plus compétente sur un domaine.

Ø Le leader psychologique

C’est le plus influent. C’est celui qui représente aux yeux d’une équipe l’image du leader. Il se révèle souvent dans les périodes de tensions. Il occupe, de ce fait, une place particulière dans le groupe.

Son niveau de leadership se mesure par la confiance qu’il inspire et par sa capacité à réguler les énergies au sein d’une équipe.

· Les 3 sortes de leadership peuvent être exercés par la même personne

· La réalité nous montre que c’est très rare

• Toutes sortes de combinaisons existent

Le leadership effectif

Le leadership

Psychologique

J’ai été enthousiasme du séminaire que j’ai participé la semaine dernière sur La process com.

Voila de ‘Quoi’ m’occupait pour la semaine : la lecture des recherches de Taibi Kahler et le livre de Gérard Collignon.

Merci Pierre Agnese pour ta brillante animation.

Cardinal Newman Cardinal John Henry Newman (1801-1890), prêtre, fondateur de communauté religieuse, théologien avait écrit sur ce texte de l’évangile : La faiblesse de la foi de Thomas, source de grâce pour l’Eglise. Ces commentaires méritent d’être lus. Sur demande, je serai heureux de vous envoyer une copie par mail.

Je vous livre mes interpellations sur le texte :

N est-ce pas notre cas ? Combien de fois nous faut il ‘voir pour croire’ ? Ne sommes pas des Thomas ? A l’opposé, des apôtres Jean, Pierre et les autres ont cru immédiatement aux témoignages des femmes qui ont été au tombeau. Ne sommes nous pas de temps en temps crédules par rapport aux dires des uns et des autres, et des fois n’avons-nous pas besoin de voir pour croire? Pourquoi ?

Cette leçon de Thomas me questionne sur ma Foi : La Foi don de Dieu : j’ai la Foi, un cadeau du Divin ou faut il que je désire la Foi pour qu’IL m’en fasse cadeau ? Quelle part l’obtention d une Foi vivante et inébranlable, je pense, nécessiterait une démarche ou une initiative de ma part.

Sur une note plus terre à terre, je vois un parallèle :

-Je désire quelque chose,

– je suis convaincu que je peux l’avoir,

-Je fais comme si je l’ai (la chose),

-Je l’ai déjà.

Ainsi, je ne sais pas combien est grande est ma foi en Dieu et mon espérance en la résurrection promise par Lui. Si je fais comme si j’avais cette Foi inébranlable, j’agirai différemment, et par là ma foi grandira et je vivrai la résurrection promise.

Peut être bien du « Wishful thinking » ? N’est ce pas cela l’Espérance ?

I am pleased to read on today’s newspaper that a report of the consultants on Aquaculture was given at a workshop destined to operators in the field. Both l’Express and le Matinal featured reports thereon. From what I have read on various reports of the FAO, Aquaculture will be a growing market of the future. The industry has grown by over tenfold in five years in Greece only.Aquaculture in Turkey is reported to grow even faster! On the other side, the EC has decreased the quota of the catch of wild fish in northern Europe to save the ecology and the eco-system of over exploitation of fish resources. Nature cannot sustain the level in some area and experts fear that some spices of fish may disappear forever. On the other hand the demand for fish is increasing.

The great advantage of Tropical Sea Aquaculture is that due to the higher temperature the rate of growth of the fish is much faster.

What are the main attractions of Mauritius as a world class Tropical Aquaculture center?

1. The sea region of Mauritius is very vast compared to the land region.

2. The sea region is off the polluted seafaring shipping lanes.

3. The industry is new and could be set up with the international norms in respect of the ecological requirement of today.

Idée the consultants commissioned for this study seems to advise that Mauritius could produce an annual 10000 tons of fish within the lagoon of Mauritius by developing expertise in floating nets. At a later stage, the same techniques could be extended to the deeper waters in our territory.Whilst it is necessary to have norms and rules establish by the authorities, I am skeptical to the contribution of the different government bureaucratic institutions to be set up as announced by our minister.

I dream of seeing complete floating farms and processing plants being implemented right in the middle of the Indian Ocean outside the cyclonic zone.

The very best Easter wishing card I got….At least it gives the essence of the feast we were celebrating.

I saw the bus load of holidayer s and cars filled up to the brim with merry and not so sober passengers driving back from Flic en Flac last night. I could not prevent me from thinking 1. I am pleased to know that so many people are rejoicing for the festivities and 2. I wonder how many of them understand the meaning of this feast.

Alleluia

You will recall that I wrote in my blog for Valentine day the love story of Valentine and Chocolate namely: the apparent psychoactive ingredient contained in chocolate. This time Easter is again bounty time for the chocolate industry with the Easter eggs made of chocolate of course.

I am of opinion that the chocolate industry has been clever in finding occasion to sell their product by associating every rejoicing moment with chocolate. Easter is indeed rejoicing time for the Christians who during the 40 days of lent have kept a low level of pleasure and lived a period of privation. Hats off to the marketers of Chocolates!In my childhood, we were given for Easter eggs shells stuffed with custard which my parents delicately prepared to celebrate the occasion.

Here is an extract of a blog which questions the relationship between Chocolate and Easter!

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Chocolate and Easter

I’m not particularly religious, at least in the Judeo-Christian traditions, but I can easily appreciate the holidays that affect the American Culture. This weekend, a fairly big one occurs.

Easter.

One thing that has always made me wonder about Easter is how the heck did chocolate come to represent the resurrection of Christ. After a bit of reading, I have found the answer.

Easter Chocolate has nothing to do with the resurrection. Rather, it can be traced to the pagan celebration of all things spring related, with the vernal equinox and such. Hares and eggs have long represented fertility, which is a fairly big deal when it comes to spring. Those wacky Germans, always looking for an excuse to add chocolate to anything celebration, probably were the first to make chocolate eggs and hares. My own theory (not based on anything other than an anecdotal familiarity with religion) contends that chocolate was often seen as a luxury, and after the several weeks of fasting and giving up items of pleasure for lent, chocolate was one of the first items re-introduced to the decadent Catholics and Lutherans.

Later the tradition immigrated to here in the United States along with the Germans, where the custom took hold in the culture after the Civil War.

Baskets of food for Easter dinner used to be taken to church to be blessed. Over time, this became instead baskets of chocolates for children left behind by the Easter Bunny.

So if you’ve ever wondered what’s up with Jesus and Chocolate, now you have a clearer understanding. We eat chocolate bunnies due to a melding of Pagan and Catholic traditions. As to why the head is the first thing we eat off of a chocolate bunny, it’s because we’re sadistic bastards.

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Happy Easter!

 

I was away for a fortnight in France for some business meetings and took the opportunity to spend a week at La Chapelle MontLiniard to undergo some Laser Poncture Therapy.
You may visit the website which gives a very good description of the therapy, its possible benefits and its history. In short, it is unique combination of two therapies Laser and Acupuncture.
Dr. Albert Bohbot, a very kind & generous gentleman, the researcher delivers personally the therapies presently. He intends to roll out a plan to start new clinics in various locations akin to the present one and to train qualified therapies.
I was enthused with the professionalism of Dr Bohbot’s team and the set up of the laboratory clinic which caters mainly for Spinal Cord Injury and Neurological disorder. After my first week of treatments, I have a small increase in sensation in my right limbs and more flexibility in my arms. Let us hope this is the start of some more improvements to be gained. I am now planning a new visit to the clinic.
Beside the treatment, thanks to my brother in law and nephew who accompanied us throughout the stay in the wine country of Nièvre in Burgundy region, we had a wonderful time staying in a countryside chalet with a fire place, delighting ourselves with the local products and visiting the nearby towns of Bourges and the surrounding wineries: the famous Sancerre area and that of Pouilly Fume.
 

My interest in the future of the world is natural and I would like to get more people to be drawn to the global warming and the harm we are making to the environment. To think that the sun is supplying us with 12000times more energy that we need and yet we are burning fossil fuel more that we should, is really disheartening.

Time magazine came out with: “The global warming survival guide” recently. I would encourage every one of you to read through the 51 tips given and to act positively to our need to reduce the effect of global warming personally.

We do not unfortunately in Mauritius seem to be concerned with world environment phenomenon. Or at least I do not see it mentioned enough in the media. Our government does not seem to undertake remedial actions, pass laws and enforce measures to attack the global warming effect. A very simple action like changing the bulbs that are lighting our roads and towns with more efficient and environment friendly ones would have been a good start.The question is who foots the bill for the electricity and who cares!

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Light Up Your City

Cities can save energy—and money—by illuminating public spaces with LEDs, or light-emitting diodes. Last December Raleigh, N.C., turned one floor of a municipal parking garage into a testing ground for LEDs The new white, brighter fixtures use 40% less electricity than the high-pressure sodium bulbs they replaced. Although they cost two to three times as much, they can go five or more years without upkeep. Traditional bulbs must be replaced every 18 months. Other types of LEDs are already at work in traffic lights, outdoor displays (like those in New York City’s Times Square) and stadiums; airports even use LEDs on their taxiways. If your city is still burning tax money on old lights, ask the mayor why.

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