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.

J’ai eu le grand plaisir d’assister, grâce à un DVD de l’APM, à une intervention d’Alain Comte Sponville sur “le temps de l’entreprise, le temps du dirigeant”. Devant une assemblée de chefs d’entreprises, au fil d’une rencontre des clubs du nord de la France, Il tentait de définir “le temps”. Alain Comte Sponville (ACS) fit allusion à Saint Augustin d’Hippone et à commenter sur les écrits du saint du 3eme siècle sur le sujet. Cette approche philosophique d’ACS sur le temps m’a beaucoup amusé, intrigué, et mieux encore il m’a tenu en haleine par son éloquence et la clarté de ses propos. ACS fit une plaidoirie pour que nous vivions “au présent”. Son discours m’a propulsé dans la recherche des écrits de Saint Augustin, Aristote et de Spinoza. Oh lala! Quel travail! Me voila parti dans mes nuages de philo !

Augustin reste connu comme auteur de la fameuse boutade « Qu’est-ce donc que le temps ? Si personne ne me le demande, je le sais; mais si on me le demande et que je veuille l’expliquer, je ne le sais plus » (Confessions). Également célèbre pour la citation suivante : “Ce qui autorise à penser que le temps est, c’est qu’il tend à n’être plus.”

Mais il cherche tout de même à défricher ce mystère. Il admet avec les philosophes que pour l’homme « Il y a trois temps, le présent du passé, le présent du futur et le présent du présent », mais se refuse à considérer que Dieu puisse être, comme l’homme, « prisonnier du temps », et en particulier impuissant à connaître l’avenir. Il estime que l’ensemble des instants de l’univers doit être, pour ce dernier, « omnia simul » : tout est présent à la fois, simultané, sans succession, éternel.

 

Last night I attended a dinner to bid farewell to Jean Noel Perrault who has successfully completed his contract term with the supermarket chain WAY.

The farewell dinner party allowed me to be reminded of the friendship and work association I had with this wonderful gang of hardworking entrepreneurs: the WAY group.

When I was handed over the responsibility of SPAR supermarkets way back in 1997 in my capacity of Cluster Director of Rogers & Co, with my team, we devised some scheme to grow the supermarket business that Rogers owned. Rogers, at the time, owned 3 supermarkets and had to face the competition of the hypermarket Continent, the chain of Winners stores from Ireland Blyth, and the GSR chain of supermarkets. How to grow the business without investing in it?  Operating a Franchised SPAR chain supermarket was the decision taken. The team managed mostly through external growth, in a span of 2 years to create a SPAR chain of 11 supermarkets. Later Rogers cashed in with a hefty profit by selling off the SPAR business to Bourbon group’s Jumbo hypermarkets.

In 2003, the franchised members of SPAR became uncomfortable with the new management of Jumbo. We met and thrashed out a solution. After some work, together we decided to create and build up a new chain under the name WAY. Since its opening in October 2004 WAY has been growing from strength to strength to stand today as a chain of 11 stores will a yearly turnover of 2.2 billion rupees.

WAY is now positioned to grow further with the internal 20 % annual growth experienced in the last year. Possibilities are now opened for external growth too. Should WAY seize the opportunities, further development & growth would occur to become the largest supermarket group of the country. That is the WAY.

How was it possible to  build up the present notoriety of WAY in Mauritius in such a short span with minimum expense?

Trust me. Dr. Karen Stephenson, who I am still reading, like most business Gurus insist that human interactions flourish only when the trust level is high. Here again a short extract from her on “The Role of Trust in Transferring Tacit Knowledge”. I am fond of her story of a cocktail party to illustrate the social human behavior.

I have stated that tacit knowledge is the source of innovation. A catalyst for the creation of tacit knowledge is trust. Unarticulated, tacit knowledge can find expression in collegial discussions with others, in which experiences are shared. This knowledge transfer is subtle and mediated by the trust among colleagues. Thus, trust is the medium and knowledge the message. In this way, experience is transferred from those who have it to those who don’t.

This is the primary reason why mentorship and apprenticeship are critical practices of knowledge transfer, Mentoring is the oldest form of knowledge transfer and still the most efficient when exchanging knowledge between humans. It is made tangible by the trust relationship that develops between mentor and mentee. How does it happen?

To understand how mentorship works, let’s take a view from afar. Imagine a cocktail party which you have been persuaded to attend by your spouse. Your spouse needs your moral support at this business function as he or she plans the tactics for their next promotion and your subsequent vacation to the Bahamas. Being a selfless and loving spouse (and imagining the wind against your face on the beach) you go. Hundreds of people are in full party by the time you arrive. Lit faces, rooms and cigars create a three-ring circus. At the periphery you take a deep breath and give a sidewise glance to the space by your side that was filled by your spouse only moments ago. Now vanished, your spouse is working the room, making that promotion happen, So there you are. Stranded! A server places a glass of wine in your hand. You hurriedly gulp the wine to take the edge off your discomfort and have already started on your second glass when your feigned knowing nods and smiles invite the ‘small talk’ of others. “How do you know our host?’ and other bland queries lead you to a third, even fourth glass of wine and more meaningful discussions about such things as educating the next generation, public elections, neighborhood issues and global warming. By the time the fifth glass of wine is making its way to your brain and you no longer recognize your spouse, you’re in deep conversation about more intimate matters such as marriages, divorces, parenting, etc. These and other life -threatening situations are the times in which trust (and, sometimes trouble) are forged.

Let’s step back and analyze the situation closely. In the small talk of cocktail parties, humans are at random walk, desperately seeking points of similarity through visibility: height, girth, dress, gender, race, accent, hair and eye color, etc. Reading the audience and working a room are ancient skills encoded in us by our forebears who sat cheek by jowl around the campfire; an earlier and more primordial form of cocktail party. I confess to having attended countless cocktail parties and continue to be amazed how, after just a few drinks, I end up with people who are like me in some way – same experiences, same clothes same interests, etc. It’s not the alcohol talking, but the ancient drive of seeking similarity: ‘You look like me, you think like me, you dress like me … you’re one of us.‘ When people connect at this basic level, they are engaging in an embryonic form of trust with each other. What began as a room full of disconnected people may end up as a network of people connected in invisible lines of trust.

These invisible lines of trust don’t just operate at cocktail parties. They also surreptitiously galvanize people in an organization by connecting them to each other. These connections, or networks, of trust are the veins of a natural resource of knowledge, a honeycomb of collective consciousness which is mined for hidden sources of innovation. The challenge is to detect them, render them visible, understand their underlying structure and leverage them to increase productivity.

The practice that I have used and recommend to build trust and better human interactions in organizations as well as families is that of creating frequent occasions for cocktail parties or similar gathering activities. In the corporate world set up, the ‘small talk’ where important issues are discussed happens very often in the relaxed environment at the water fountain or around a cup of coffee or tea at the break.

Avons-nous la même vision de la scène ou d’un festin quand nous sommes placés au dernier rang ou à la première place? A la première place, certainement, je suis livré au regard de tous; tout au contraire, dans les derniers rangs je suis spectateur et participant comme la plupart de mes frères. ‘De la prépondérance à l’humilité’ serait la leçon que je prends de la première partie du texte. Mieux encore que ‘la prépondérance’ citée,  le contexte d’un repas chez les pharisiens,  évoquerait  la réputation pharisienne proverbiale de l’arrogance et de l’hypocrisie. Or Jésus dans sa venue sur terre, s’est fait le dernier des derniers. Il est né dans une étable et s’est retrouvé, à la fin de sa vie, en croix et tué comme un dernier des derniers avec des bandits notoires. La contemplation de Sa vie comme le dernier des derniers nécessairement m’invite à plus de compassion pour nos frères démunis. C’est bien l’humilité qui devrait être le maître mot.

 Pour enchaîner la leçon, dans le texte de ce dimanche, et plus encore, Jésus m’encourage d’être humble tout en ayant un regard de compassion dans un amour inconditionnel pour les démunis.

« Seigneur, purifie mon cÅ“ur du levain des pharisiens: l’hypocrisie et l’orgueil. Conduis-moi sur le chemin de la vérité, c’est-à-dire de l’humilité, en dehors duquel je ne peux te plaire. Accorde-moi la grâce de considérer les autres supérieurs à moi, et de trouver ma joie dans leur service. Ne permets pas que du haut de ma suffisance, je repousse avec mépris l’humble Pain eucharistique; mais donne-moi de pouvoir y discerner ta présence, toi le Dieu tout-puissant qui te fais le Serviteur des serviteurs, pour nous ouvrir le chemin de l’amour et de la vie. »

I received and read the article Optimum Strategies for Creativity and Longevity by Sing Lin, Ph.D.

He is a Member of National Council of Chinese Institute of Engineers – USA/Greater New York Chapter, and Member of Board of Director of the National Taiwan University Alumni Association – Greater New York.

 

The conclusion of his article reads as follows:

 

4. Conclusion and Recommendations. The most precious, creative and innovative period in your life is the 10-year period around the age of 32. Plan your career path to use this precious 10-year period wisely and effectively to produce your greatest achievements in your life. The pace of innovations and technology advances is getting faster and faster and is forcing everybody to compete fiercely at the Internet speed on the information super-highways. The highly productive and highly efficient workplace in USA is a pressure-cooker and a high-speed battleground for highly creative and dynamic young people to compete and to flourish. However, when you get older, you should plan your career path and financial matter so that you can retire comfortably at the age of 55 or earlier to enjoy your long, happy and leisure retirement life into your golden age of 80s and beyond. In retirement, you can still enjoy some fun work of great interest to you and of great values to the society and the community, but at a part-time leisure pace on your own term. On the other hand, if you are not able to get out of the pressure-cooker or the high-speed battleground at the age of 55 and “have” to keep on working very hard until the age of 65 or older before your retirement, then you probably will die within 18 months of retirement. By working very hard in the pressure cooker for 10 more years beyond the age of 55, you give up at least 20 years of your life span on average.

 

His study, based on statistics, was worked out in US corporations such as Boeing, Lockheed Martin, AT&T, Lucent Technologies and their respective pension funds.

We could interpret his findings in many ways. Whilst we assume that the statistics are correct, they are not translated in each individual case. Looking back in my own life, I reckon my most creative and innovative period in my life where I achieved my greatest achievements, were around the age of 40- 50. At that time, opportunity knocked, all the factors were present for me to catch the opened window. I seized it. Was I a late developer?

On the other hand, what about the longevity of workers beyond the retirement age of 60 or 65, who are coolly collecting their salary whilst not under the pressure of the cooker? I am lucky to have passed my 18 months of retirement. Do I conclude that I was not pressured enough before my retirement?

I have always been skeptical in what people can make out of statistical studies? All told, it is always  helpful and wise to take into consideration the statistical findings in one’s decision making process.