Entries from September 2007 ↓

I took a lesson last night at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of Regency Square Syndic meeting. Perhaps, it was a well learned lesson in humility and a trim to my overlarge ego. It took me some time to get to sleep after I climbed on my bed, my mind kept running like an engine. I could not stop myself from reflecting on the 3hours and a half session with my fellow co- owners. I was drained and felt non resourceful after attending to two of the co-owners. I really had to make a very special effort to contain myself from busting my temper. I applied my turbo brakes. My self- esteem dropped. My feelings were hurt. I sensed the reptilian portion of my brain flashing lights to start off. How is it possible that I have landed so low? I had two cases to deal with.

CASE 1

To be accused of incompetence, I readily accept, as nobody is perfect. But to accuse the Conseil Syndical under my chairmanship of cooking the books with the Syndic in public, ( which of course is false and unfounded)and taking us to task on a transparency issue, just because he was refused the right to take a copy of the accounts was really too much. Especially after the steps taken last year to change the bye- laws to give the Conseil Syndical additional powers to control closely the Syndic, we felt that our good faith was targeted. This was beyond my understanding! I could not read the motivation that drove such actions, in spite of all the supposedly knowledge & competencies (NLP) I have acquired in human behavior. The night through, in my mind, I scanned back to the past scene many times to identify signs and markers that I could possibly attribute to this unexplained behavior. I could not find a sensible answer. What has made this grieved soul so sour to accuse us? Is it possible that we inadvertedly caused him some pain? What has triggered such a foray to my integrity as well as that of the Conseil members? From my previous dealings with this fellow owner, I could only term him as eccentric and full of ego. I had the intuition that the AGM would be a tough one. (Refer to my previous blog on co-propriete).Luckily, I took the precaution not to chair the AGM and to avail of the possibility of nominating a meeting chairman. In the end, the incomprehensive behavior got the other owners to rally against him to bully him: I felt sorry for him.Why would somebody otherwise so intelligent get himself in such a predicament?

CASE 2

The second ache was caused by another co-owner who, according to me, was easy to deal with. From my past interactions with him, I had read his recurrent motives and have remedies for his unwanted behaviors. He only needs to be in the limelight and for this; he would take the floor on any subjects. Any experienced chairperson knows how to deal with over bloated characters with a voracious need for recognition and how to give them a rope to hang themselves. In addition,my impatience grew to break point level last night because the appointed chairman did not act fast enough to contain him.He souped up the precious time of all and got every body bored with his trivia. In hindsight, I have to admit that I should have briefed the acting chairperson beforehand.

Writing this blog now and sharing my heart, I feel, is my therapy for soothing the sour taste of last night.

La semaine dernière, j’ai eu le grand plaisir d’assister à un séminaire sur l’évolution du contexte énergétique mondial par le conférencier Daniel  Ratard.

Qui est le professeur  Daniel Ratard et quel est son parcours ?

Docteur en Sciences (Chimie) РUniversit̩ de Paris VI
Ph.D (Houston -Texas)
Expériences en entreprise : 30 ans d’expérience dans le secteur de l’énergie
Directeur de Gaz de France (infrastructures de transport Région Est)
Vice Président d’une société américaine (PeTech.)
Expériences en situation de formateur ou conférencier :
Charg̩ de cours РFacult̩ des Sciences de Tours.

 

Il débuta une séance passionnante avec un premier postulat :

L’époque d’une énergie abondante, bon marché et n’intégrant pas les coûts externes est vraisemblablement terminée.

En bref, qu’avais je retenu des 7 heures d’écoute du brillant et savant conférencier ?

Après un exposé de divers quartiers, entre autres les organismes internationaux d’études  sur les réserves mondiales du Pétrole et les énergies fossiles, il conclut que pour les prochaines décennies:

PETROLE: Incontournable,  GAZ NATUREL: Fort accroissement,  CHARBON: Reste une composante importante de l’offre, NUCLEAIRE: Futur déterminé par les coûts et l’acceptabilité sociale, ENR: Développement subordonné à l’intervention des Pouvoirs Publics. La maîtrise de la demande d’énergie devient primordiale.

 Que devons nous faire ?

Nous devrons oeuvrer pour mettre en place une transition énergétique. Il n’y a pas de solution « miracle »: Le mix  énergétique devra regrouper un ensemble de solutions mais les technologies de substitution (non émissives en carbone), ainsi que le nucléaire, sont loin de pouvoir répondre à temps au défi climatique, La contribution des énergies renouvelables restera marginale.

Il conclut avec les mots suivants: Cette transition s’imposera et sera d’autant plus difficile que nous aurons tardé à l’anticiper. C’est maintenant progressivement ou plus tard très brutalement, mais il est illusoire de croire que nos choix futurs ne seront pas «inconfortables »

Ma conclusion : L’énergie coûtera de plus en plus cher. Economiser à tout prix !

All through my work career, I had always used the basic microeconomic conception of the balance of the three elements: Time, Quality and Cost which I believed was unalterable. Time and time again, I used the argument that one can have only 2 elements of the trio but never the 3 elements at their peak concurrently. You cannot get a top quality product at rock bottom price immediately. Should you want the product now, you will have to trade off the quality or pay a higher price. Should opt for quality and advantageous price you might have to wait. It was one of my favorite sales argument for selling premium products and services.

I was stunned today to learn that this concept has now evolved and can be altered. Vince Poscente in his recent book, ‘The Age of speed’ postulates that because of technology we are able to save money and time whilst producing better quality. Surely to stop myself from being a ‘has been’, I admit that in the reality of today and the speed that we are now experiencing the once immutable concept got transformed. Now I shall be able to demand superior quality product at cheap prices to be delivered now. This very much in step with the time now: lucky us who live today!

Vince Poscente in his book has helped me to put in new perspectives to some of the ingrained concepts that I have carried from my past. I recommend you to avail of his writings which I am enjoying this week.

Here is an extract on the topic I just mentioned:

A Love Triangle: Time, Quality and Cost

Ingrained in our perception of products, services and

activities is a very basic microeconomic concept: There

is a balance that must be maintained between time,

quality and cost; if you want more of one, you have to

sacrifice another. It’s a time-tested formula and the

foundation of many decisions we make in our personal

and business lives.

But in the Age of Speed, the rules have changed.

Though it is unlikely that trade-offs among time, quality

and cost will ever cease to exist, the old model is no

longer a given. Because of technology, we have more

shortcuts available than ever before, and these shortcuts

not only save us time but often also save us money and

produce equal or better quality.

If we can accept the positive potential that speed

offers, we can do more, be more, live more. We don’t

have to assume that if we embrace speed, our lives will

just get busier and busier. We need to adapt, evolve and

shed our outdated or misguided perceptions of speed.

We need to reshape the way we define, manage and categorize

our time.

 

 

 

 Profitant de la visite de la famille, mon épouse et moi, nous avons choisi de séjourner ce week-end à Trou aux biches. De ce fait, nous avons assisté  à la messe à Notre Dame de Fatima et nous avons eu le père Wheelan comme célébrant. Le début de son homélie m’a tout de suite aiguillé vers des pensées existentielles.

 Qui suis  je pour mériter le pardon de Dieu ? Pourquoi Dieu est si miséricordieux envers moi? Certainement, Dieu n’a pas besoin de moi, ni de mes relations, encore moins, de ce que je possède. Est-ce que Dieu a besoin de me récompenser pour mes actions? La réponse est encore une fois négative. Homme que je suis n’est qu’une créature libre que Dieu  créa pour me combler de Son amour malgré mes faiblesses et manquements. Père Wheelan insistât que l’Homme était aux yeux de notre créateur plus grand que ses avoirs, ses actions, ses relations ou appartenances, son histoire. Dieu n’a qu’un regard d’amour vis-à-vis de sa créature : ce qui explique son infini pardon. C’est à l’homme libre d’en prendre conscience et de l’accepter malgré ses infidélités et trahisons. Il me suffit  simplement de demander pardon et il me sera accordé. Or je sais combien des fois il m’est difficile d’admettre que j’ai fauté. Mon orgueil, mon ego m’en empêche. C’est  bien le péché qui habite en moi qui m’interdit de recevoir le pardon. Comme le fils prodigue : je dois faire le premier pas en acceptant et  en confessant ma faute. C’est aussi dans la mesure que je connais mon Dieu qu’Il me reconnaît.

Ma prière à partir du parabole du fils prodigue devrait être : Père, j’ai péché contre le ciel et contre toi. Je ne mérite plus d’être appelé ton fils.

So why is it that we can put a man on the moon but can’t fly him from Atlanta to Charlotte, N.C., without at least a two-hour delay? This is an extract of an article describing the pains of traveling by plane today. I guess the situation is getting worse with more people traveling, the threat of terrorism increasing and increased pollution. Air travel will become also more expensive with the increase of fuel in years to come. Travelers have now to pay for higher airport taxes, security taxes, fuel surcharges and may be soon a pollution tax. This week the US is not likely to sign the international agreement to cut down on CO2 pollution or the implementation of CO2 tax. The US may be the nation with the largest emission of CO2 and definitely the world biggest user of fossil fuel per capita.

The ecologists have been warning us of the threats of climatic changes and are telling us that we may be reaching the danger point when it will be impossible to balance back the excess CO2 in the atmosphere. The travel industry is surely a very great polluter. In the very near future, I would not be surprised to see a green tax on air travel. The pressure on ecology is increasing. Already corporations are trading their CO2 emissions quota through the emissions trading or similar organisation. I could well imagine that each citizen of the world would be given a quota of environment pollution which could be traded.

Another idea that crossed my mind: would there be ecology-terrorism or ecology-Kamikaze soon?

Food supplement consumption is the craze of today. At least in our environment and amongst the people we socialize with, the conversation some how get to health issues and food. Is it particular to us or is it a universal trend? For sure the pharmacies of the world now stock and sell more food supplement. Even supermarkets have now expanding shelves of food supplement. People are indeed more health conscious and takes more vitamins and health dietary supplementary food.

My neighbor with whom I had a lengthy and mind opening conversation last week, I learnt of her project to start off the production of Spirulina. She triggered in me the interest to learn more of this food supplement. She is planning to start off a production through a social enterprise. I find that it is a very good idea to combine the objective of alleviating poverty by giving jobs and rural development.

What are challenges of starting this enterprise? What resources are available? What technical and managerial knowledge would be necessary? What are the added difficulties in running a social enterprise?

Let us wish her success in her Spirulina enterprise.

Have you ever heard of the term ‘Hind-sight wisdom’? You have heard some guys saying wiser of the event. Truly enough, we become always wiser after any event whatever the outcome may be. It is very much the case of reflecting and analyzing the factors that affected a past event and learning from it.

How was it possible to build up the present notoriety of WAY in Mauritius in such a short span with minimum expense? Can you explain hind-sight how the name WAY has now a distinctive persona which is recognizable by a large number of persons in Mauritius?

Ask yourself what does WAY immediately brings in your mind’s eye?

The answer may be:

For some shopping at value for money prices;

For others, proximity convenience shopping;

For some others guys, a group of reliable supermarkets;

And perhaps the favorite shopping place where the owners know me.

Why do we today get these answers?

The simple answer is: because some guys wanted the public to be imprinted with these thoughts and used means necessary for it  to happen. The first lesson would be: Begin with the end in mind, and continuously work to make it happen.

This does not explain the whole story. One of the marketing image building techniques behind the campaign in the present case was the use of ‘from known to unknown’. It was no accident that overnight the already known supermarkets under the names of London, Tangs, Sik Yuen, Central all became double barreled name of London WAY, Tangs WAY, and SikYuenWAY,etc. All public communication contained the –WAY syllable. From the know name of London & others supermarkets were tagged the unknown WAY syllable which carried all the London & others supermarket experiences. After some time, once association & familiarity has set,the values associated with the older brand get transferred.

No, it was not a strike of genius. This technique was used before, and in the case of WAY it was only redeployed and re adapted to the circumstances and context. This tacit knowledge was be used over & over again.

Yet another website to visit everyday. I have to congratulate Anne Robert, a Mauritian journalist settled now in Canada who runs Global Mauritian with a clear vision. It is refreshing to read the opinion of some Mauritian at heart, who are geographically outside the medley & hopefully unbiased by the daily mind pollution that we are exposed to living in the country. Mind you, when reading their opinions one must always take into account the back ground of the author who very often tints its writing. I would also discount the content with the interests the author may be defending. I am a believer of digesting different feeds from the various sources before formulating my own opinion. I have read the comments on the hot subject of the day in Mauritius: Ilot Gabriel and all the rumbling around the subject, namely the Union Park speech of our Prime Minister as reported by the papers.

 

Ce dimanche, l’Eglise de Maurice fête notre saint apôtre des mauriciens le Père Laval. L’homélie était surtout sur la vie de notre bienheureux Père Laval et comment nous pourrions suivre ses pas vers la sainteté. Ne voulons nous pas être disciple de Jésus pour nous sanctifier ? Le texte de saint Luc nous propose justement le chemin à suivre : Préférer Jésus avant sa propre vie, avant les attaches fraternelles humaines les plus légitimes. C’est à mon avis : une tâche  humainement pas facile ! Est-ce que Jésus nous demande-t-il l’impossible ? Si c’est oui, alors IL saura nous donner les moyens de réussir notre sainteté si nous Lui demandons car Il est venu pour nous sauver. Le schéma que je vois se dessiner dans ma tête : animal=> humain=> Dieu. Ma vie terrestre est une lutte de passage : la transcendance  de ma condition animale vers une condition divine. Peut être que comme ma femme, vous auriez préféré penser ‘de ma condition humaine’ plutôt qu’animale vers une condition divine. Mon postula est : l’homme vient par son corps du monde animal, il a été dans son évolution doté des potentiels et facultés de vaincre ses instincts animaux par l’esprit et le raisonnement : son discernement du bien et du mal. La réussite de notre vie terrestre est bien l’exploitation de ce discernement par l’action qui nous transcendera vers la vie divine. L’étude de notre cervelle et sa composition en 3 étages nous démontre bien nos antécédents du monde animal. Aujourd’hui, le genre humain est doté d’un néo cortex plus développé que tout autre animal. Saint Paul nous parle bien du ‘vieil homme’ qui habite encore chez nous.  Notre salut  ne serait il pas de faire que ‘l’homme nouveau, disciple de Jésus’ prenne le contrôle du vieil homme. C’est bien avec compassion que j’observe mes frères lutter pour sortir de leur condition animale. J’ai le devoir de les aider à sortir, à s’affranchir. Ainsi, le chemin de ma conversion serait la domination du méchant vieil homme  qui habite encore mon être pour faire épanouir la bonté et la sagesse de l’homme nouveau.

« Seigneur j’ai peur ; peur de ne pas être à la hauteur ; peur de ne pas vouloir – ni même désirer – choisir ce chemin. Je peux seulement t’offrir mon ‘désir du désir de te suivre’. S’il te suffit, je t’en prie, viens me séduire, afin que je trouve dans ton amour, la force de mettre mes pas dans les tiens afin de ne jamais être séparé de toi. »

When I watched the thousand of well-wishers paying their final respects to Luciano Pavarotti, I was filled with a sense of thankfulness to God for having given the world the pleasure of enjoying such a voice.

‘The legendary tenor got one last standing ovation today as friends, family members and dignitaries gathered for his funeral’ wrote an English newspaper.

On hearing of his departure to the eternity on the news, I immediately dig out from my music collection, ‘The 3 tenors in concert 1994’ and the few music recordings I had on hand to listen to his great voice once again.

I also relived the time I visited Modena Italy many years ago. . Souvenirs! Souvenirs!

Adieu Luciano Pavarotti.