Entries Tagged 'books' ↓

For too long, business has been teaching that politics and commerce are two different arenas. I disagree. Political awareness and activism must be incorporated into business. In a global world, there are no value-free or politically disentangled actions. Few motivating forces are more potent than giving your staff an opportunity to exercise and express their idealism to influence change—locally, nationally, and globally.

Campaigning is not only about changing the world, but changing how individuals work together. Giving people a sense of their own power is as much a part of the goal as resolving the issues. It provides a new forum for staff education. They can get into issues and into areas where they might not normally venture. Campaigns are a fabulous way of integrating the behavior of staff at work with the values they hold dear as individual citizens. Business leaders need to realize that this is the way forward in the workplace: the personal becomes the political, which becomes the global.

There are no rules or formulas for success. You just have to live it and do it. Knowing this gives us enormous freedom to experiment toward what we want. Believe me, it’s a crazy, complicated journey. It’s trial and error. It’s opportunism. It’s quite literally, “Let’s try lots of this stuff and see how it works.” I’m proud to look at my company and see that we’re at least on the right track.

The above text comes from Dame Anita Roddick CBE, the successful CEO and founder of BodyShop. Her premature death last year in September left the business world grieved. She left an institution worth studying for her vision, drive, creativity, leadership she put in. She shaped and coined ethical consumerism and practiced socially responsible businesses. For decades she has been campaigning for a sustainable economic development which is environment friendly.

This reminded me of the green store I saw when I have last in Heathrow airport and the article I recalled reading from her where she said that she was associated with 4 letter words. I still have a copy of this article written in 1998.

I have long been associated with certain four-letter words: love, give, care, feel, hope, fair, soul and true—all to be found in work, my all-time favourite four-letter word.

I would recommend you to visit her website.

Reading this week, Andre Comte Sponville philosophical works in relation to Time, reminded me of the NLP Time orientation. Our spatial representation of Past – Present- Future is linked to the vision and out look of our being. A change in the representation will certainly change our outlook thus operate a corresponding change in our behavior. Do you want to be a more future oriented person? Do you want to have a better Time Management? Read below an extract of the book: Change your mind and keep the change, by Connirae and Steve Andreas, my NLP tutors. It is one of the NLP books which I cherish.

Time Orientation
Let’s talk a little bit more about past-, present-, and future-oriented people, and how their orientations relate to their time sorts. For example, one person that I worked with had the past right behind her, the present directly in front of her, and the future going out ahead. Now, what kind of person was she with respect to time? If you try on that timeline, what will your orientation be?

Al: I’m not sure. It’s confusing.

Well, can you see the future?

Al: No, not really.

Not unless your pictures are transparent, and hers weren’t! If the present is right in front of you and the immediate future is behind that, so you can’t see it, what is your time orientation?

Sally: Present.

Right, and for her it was the immediate present. When she said “right now,” she really meant right now–this split second! Five minutes from now would be in the future for her. She had a very narrow sense of the present.

Now try this out. What if your future goes off to your right at an angle, so you can see most of what’s in each picture, and it gets bigger and brighter as it goes forward in time? The far future will be more important for you. You would tend to live for the far future, and respond less to the present and past.

If the near future or the present were bigger and brighter than the far future, you might experience difficulty with long-range planning or thinking about the consequences of your behavior, but be very good at planning immediate future events. Investigating your timeline can often give you some clues about how to change it in a useful way.

Carol: I started out being very present-oriented. My present was big, bright, and close, and both future and past were small and dim. We changed it so that I could keep all that wonderfulness of the present, but move some of that brightness into the next several weeks also, so that I’d respond more to the immediate future and get more done.

That sounds like a useful change. Here’s another timeline you can all try out. One man had his past on a line straight in front of him. His future went way off to the right. You know the phrase, “My past flashed in front of my eyes?” This man lived that way all the time. What does that do to your experience? It certainly focuses your attention on the past. Depending upon whether your past was wonderful or horrible, you might like it or not, but you wouldn’t pay much attention to the present or future. This is the kind of person for whom using the Change Personal History pattern will be very impactful, because he responds so strongly to representations of the past.

Carl: I’ve noticed that in certain circumstances I can focus a lot on the past. My past was right up here in front of me. So I just moved it over there to my left, and went, “Beep. Bang!” and slammed the door.

And how does that work for you?

Carl: Well, I don’t know yet.

If you now take this new timeline into future situations, you can get a good idea of how it will work, and if any adjustments need to be made. The ideal is to have some flexibility with your timeline–to be able to move the past where you can see it when that’s useful, and move it out of the way when you want to be more present- or future-oriented.

I think you are all getting the idea that in general, whatever is right in front of you and noticeable–big and bright, colorful, etc.–will be most compelling and you will pay most attention to it.

Fred: I’m interested in hearing about some useful timelines.

Well, the question is always “Useful for what purpose?” or “Useful for whom?” You’re getting a sense of what the possibilities are. Let me tell you some fairly standard ones. Most people have some kind of gentle, open curve, the way Linda has. The past is usually a line off to the left, the present right in front of you, and the future in a line to the right. Images may be stacked behind one another, but they’re usually offset or arranged at an angle, so that part of each successive picture is visible.

Deciding whether a timeline is useful or not depends on what your personal outcomes are, and what’s ecological for you. Saying “this is the right timeline” is like saying “this is the right way to be, and there are no other useful ways to live in the world.” A person’s timeline can make him unique. But if it gets him into trouble in certain situations, or if a different timeline would allow him to do things that he can’t now do with his own, then it might be appropriate to explore alternatives, at least for specific contexts.

Timeline Spacing

It’s often useful to find someone you think is very capable and skilled, investigate how she sorts time, and try it out. For example, people who are good long-range planners tend to have the future close in front of them rather than off to the side. We know a man who teaches business people long-range planning, and he’s very good at it. He has both his five-year and his ten-year plans right there in front of him, very detailed, and quite close. Ten years is only about two feet away. That works fine for him, and he really likes it, but when I try it, the future seems to press in on me too much. I want the future a little bit farther away and less detailed, so that I have more room to move in the present.

What difference might it make in a person’s life if his future timeline is really e-x-p-a-n-d-e-d instead of compressed, like that of the long-range planner I just mentioned? Try putting tomorrow halfway across the room, next week down the hall, and next month so far away on the horizon that it’s barely visible. What might be the behavioral consequences of having such an “expanded” timeline?

Anne: I wouldn’t be very motivated to do something that was way out there someplace! I’d feel as if I had a lot of time to kill before getting around to it.
Mike: How true! When I was writing my dissertation, finishing it was quite a way off in the future. There was lots of room to add other projects between the present and the completion date of my dissertation, so I kept taking on new jobs and putting off the dissertation. When I finally realized what was happening, I “reeled in” the deadline until it was so close to the present that there wasn’t enough room to add anything in between. Any new projects had to get added on after the dissertation was done.
Nice! That’s a good illustration of how compressing a timeline can help someone meet deadlines.

Lars: I think I need to do the opposite. My future is all bunched up close, and I always feel like the future is pressing in on me. When I spread it out a little more, I feel much more relaxed.

You look as if that might lower your blood pressure 30 points. Let’s check carefully for ecology, though. Imagine taking this new spread-out timeline with you through the next day . . . and the next week . . . Can you still get the things done you want to get done? Or are you too “laid back”?

Lars: No, not at all. In fact I think I can plan and schedule better. Before, my future was so bunched up that I couldn’t really see it to plan very well.

That sounds good. We’ve also noticed that for some people, having a long-range future that is filled with big bright goals literally gives them “something to live for” and they’re more apt to stay alive! One study on cancer patients found that survivors are apt to be future-oriented, whereas non-survivors are past-oriented.

Bob: I used to be much more future-oriented than I am now. In the past couple of years I’ve slowed down, and my future seems to be less clear than the way it was before. There are obviously advantages and disadvantages.

Absolutely. If you are too fixated on the future, you may not be taking care of things in the present. You may not notice that you’re having a lousy time now, and that your family’s having a lousy time, too. On the other hand, if all your attention is on having fun in the present, you won’t notice the future consequences, and your future won’t be as enjoyable as it could be. Depending on the consequences you ignore, it could be a lot shorter, too!

Peter Drucker’s Story of Two Vice Presidents (Why What Everybody Knows Is Frequently Wrong) I enjoyed that piece of wisdom so much that I had to blog it for you.

In 1975  William Cohen was among the first students in legendary management guru Peter Drucker’s Executive Ph.D. program at what was then Claremont Graduate School and is now The Peter F. Drucker and Masatoshi Ito Graduate School of Management at Claremont Graduate University. In the following excerpt from his new
book A Class with Drucker: The Lost Lessons of the World’s Greatest Management Teacher (AMACOM, 2007), Cohen describes a lesson he learned in the fall of 1975 during his first class with the master.

The Story of the Two Vice Presidents
Drucker  began with a story about a company he had observed. As the president of the company grew older, he knew that he should begin thinking about succession. Fortunately, he had two vice presidents, both equally outstanding, and of the right age, and each with a record of outstanding prior accomplishments with this firm. He increased the responsibility of both subordinate executives and gave them each the new title of executive vice president. He called them in together and announced that he intended to retire in five years and that one of them would be named to succeed him as president.

Both men thanked the president for the opportunity. The president had confidence that he had picked the right candidates. Although both were ambitious, he knew that both would put the company before themselves in whatever they undertook. He knew that either would make an excellent replacement.

Over the five years of their apprenticeship a differing pattern began to emerge from each of the prospective presidents-to-be. Although both men did well in every task given them and were equally successful in accomplishing their assignments, the process each followed was quite different. One would be given a task by the president. He would request the information needed and would ask when the job was to be accomplished. He would go off, gather his subordinates together, and would invariably present the president with a completed job well done days, weeks, or months later. Unless he needed some specific information or permission to do something a little out of the usual process, he would do this without ever bothering the old president.

The other executive vice president took an entirely different approach. Given a project by the president, he too would organize his subordinates to complete it successfully. However, there was a big difference. The first candidate worked independently and didn’t bother the president with the details of what he was doing unless specific help was needed. However, the second candidate met periodically with the president to discuss the project and frequently requested additional meetings, continually seeking the president’s advice.

“Now,” asked Drucker, “when the president retired, which candidate did he pick to succeed him: the executive who was always successful without bothering him or taking his time, or the one who continually seemed to seek his help and approval?”

Many hands shot up, including my own. Drucker called on several students. Each stated his opinion that the president picked the executive who was able to succeed on his own without having to report back until the job was done unless there was a specific problem. This was my opinion too. Our thinking was that the new president would need to operate on his own and would not have the old president’s counsel to fall back on.

Drucker  asked for a show of hands as to how many agreed that the president selected the executive who demonstrated that he was able to operate independently and without the president’s ongoing approval. A large majority agreed with the students Peter had previously called on. Only a few thought that the second executive who constantly bothered the former president had been the one selected.

Drucker  stated the results: “Most of you are wrong. The former president selected the candidate who continually consulted with him.” The class was in an uproar. This went against everything we knew about management and leadership. Everyone knew that the candidate who demonstrated that he could make decisions on his own should and would be selected.

Drucker’s Lesson: Question Your Assumptions
“What everybody ‘knows’ is frequently wrong,” Peter responded. “We are dealing with human beings. Most top managers want to feel that their policies and legacies will be continued. The constant contact and interaction with the second manager gave the president that confidence.

“Both executives were outstanding, but while the president felt that he knew and understood the executive who maintained contact, he was less certain about the other executive and he was less invested in his success. After picking candidates based on accomplishment, he went with his gut instinct, a perfectly correct way in which to make such an important decision after considering all the facts. Unless the president’s preferred style was to let those who reported to him operate independently, the first executive should have tried to adapt his preferred method to what his boss preferred, even though ‘everyone knows’ that continual consultation with a higher manager is less desirable.”

Drucker was right, and I should have known better. I was in the process of losing the confidence of my then boss by behaving exactly like the executive who operated independently. That in itself is an important lesson, but the idea that what everyone knows is frequently wrong proved even more important to me, and I think many other of Drucker’s students. Over the next few years, I heard Drucker say this quite a few times.

Maybe through repetition I finally began to think more deeply about what the words really meant. This seemingly simple and self-contradicting statement is amazingly true and immensely valuable, and not only in business. What Drucker wanted to emphasize was that we must always question our assumptions no matter from where they originate. This is especially true regarding anything that a majority of people “know” or assume without questioning. This “knowledge” should always be suspect and needs to be examined much more closely. In a surprisingly high percentage of cases, the information “known to be true” will turn out to be false or inaccurate, if not generally, then in a specific instance. This can lead to extremely poor, even disastrous management decisions.
Things Once “Known to Be True” Are Now Known to Be False
Of course there are many old “truisms” once thought by everyone to be true which we laugh at today. “The world is flat.” “The earth is the center of the universe.” The ancient Greeks knew that everything was made up of only four elements: earth, air, fire, and water. Of course, in modern times we learned that they were mistaken. When I took chemistry in high school, I learned that a Periodic Table of Elements had been formulated by a fellow named Mendeleev and that it had been established that there were exactly 93 elements, no more, no less. We got an “A” if we could name them all. Today, there are 102 elements—or so “everybody knows.”

Questions Raised by 100% Agreement
Interestingly, Drucker’s lesson goes back over the millennia. In ancient Israel, the highest court was called the Sanhedrin. It corresponded roughly to the U.S. Supreme Court today, although it had a lot more power. The Sanhedrin tried the most important cases, and it had the power to exact capital punishment. In this high court, there were no prosecuting or defense attorneys and no appeals. The Sanhedrin court consisted only of judges. Some historians say 71 judges, others 23. The actual number is unimportant to some factual points.

The judges could examine the defendant, the accusers, and any witnesses either side brought before it. To exonerate a defendant required a majority of one, while to find him guilty required a majority of two. But perhaps the most interesting aspect of this ancient Jewish legal body was that if all judges found the accused guilty of a capital crime, he or she was allowed to go free! This was because the ancient Hebrews were convinced that there is a defense to be argued for every individual accused, regardless of the gravity of the crime and the persuasiveness of the evidence. If not a single judge thought that the defendant’s case had merit, then it was clear that no matter how heinous the crime, something was wrong in the situation and it was likely that the accused was innocent. In other words, when every judge “knew” something to be “true,” it probably wasn’t.

In modern times, the impact of mass agreement about an issue has been addressed and confirmed in psychological research. In one experiment, subjects were asked to rate the attractiveness of individuals depicted in selections of photographs. However, there was only one real subject and the results were rigged. Unknown to the subject, the other participants were part of the scientist’s team of experimenters. These participants were to agree about the most attractive individual depicted in any particular set of photographs at random. It was found that the subject could usually be influenced to agree with any photograph that the group selected, regardless of merit. This experiment demonstrates the influence of social proof, while it confirms one reason why Drucker’s theory that what everyone knows is frequently wrong is correct. Accepting what everybody knows without any examination will often result in faulty decisions.

© 2008 William A. Cohen.

La présence des entreprises chinoises sur la scène mondiale est aujourd’hui incontournable. Et pourtant, nous ne les avons pas vu venir… Comme le chat, elles ont cette aptitude à bouger très vite, à sauter et à retomber sur leurs pattes, quelle que soit la hauteur de la chute. D’où tirent-elles leur force ? Pouvons-nous nous en inspirer ?
À travers des allers-retours continus entre Chine et Occident, entre pensée chinoise et philosophie occidentale, Sophie Faure développe la métaphore féline. Les qualités indispensables à cultiver dans l’environnement actuel, marqué par l’ambiguïté, l’incertitude et la complexité, sont justement celles qui définissent le mieux les entreprises chinoises. Loin des considérations habituelles sur le “péril jaune” ou le “miracle chinois”, ce livre nous invite à nous interroger sur chacune d’elles :

• l’audace,
• la persévérance,
• la fluidité,
• l’intelligence mouvante,
• le lâcher prise,
• la perspicacité,
• le sens de l’équilibre,
• le discernement…

Toute personne désireuse de mieux manager trouvera ici des clés précieuses pour explorer d’autres voies, en changeant de regard et en osant une pensée plus mobile, plus adaptable.

Ainsi après ses premiers livres : Manager à l’école de Confucius, et Enseignements d’un dirigeant asiatique, elle écrit « Mettez du chat dans votre management. »Sophie que j’avais rencontré en décembre 2005, m’a annoncé la sortie de son livre la semaine dernière et j’attends de le lire.

Do you know Alain Simon? The name could be very common. Google found 2600000 pages to a inquiry in the English & French pages on the names. Two first names: Simon and Alain flocked together. But past yesterday, Alain Simon has a new significance for me;Alain Simon opened my gate to the new world of Geopolitics. Alain Simon is a professional speaker, entertainer, world observer, and researcher, thinker with a vivid and alert mind. Alain Simon is an economist and lawyer by training; he leads a consulting firm International Development, Groupe Phileas and contributed to many magazines and publications. He accompanied for several years business strategies to COFACE. He is the author of two books, Le sens des cartes (1977) and geopolitique et strategies d’entreprises (1974) which was award best book of the year in the economic section. He gave last thursday, a brilliant 7 hours lecture to the APM group shared his reading of the economic world through the prism of Geopolitics using up to date observations.

What I enjoyed most was the use of multi perceptional positioning on different world maps with layers of different legends to read the intentions of the world political decision makers and by extension to identify their strategies and predict the possible moves. He told the group how to read an emerging trend as opposed to a breakthrough. 1985 according to him is a milestone date for contemporary world politics. The advent of M. Gorbachev at the helm of the then USSR marked the end of the cold war and the start of the next war.

I had always thought that the strength of the Euro was the making and initiative of the Europeans to conquer the supremacy of the green bill dollars. He proved my thinking wrong. A strong Euro is in the plan of the US. The Euro up to now is the currency traded for 20% of world trade which was the position of the D mark before the advent of the Euro. What is the use of being a strong currency whilst not being a sought after currency? No doubt the US is still the main player and dealer in world, may it be for world equilibrium of war & peace or world economy. He demonstrated that all the moves of the US in spheres of economics, cultural, trade are governed by its Geopolitical intent & strategies. According to him, American Geopolitics rules all. Economy is only one of the means of Geopolitics.

What then is Geopolitics? The study of geopolitics has undergone a major renaissance during the past decade. Multidisciplinary in its scope, Geopolitics includes all aspects of the social sciences with particular emphasis on political geography, international relations, the territorial aspects of political science and international law. With globalization, I now realize how Geopolitics influences all, including the smallest business one may operate in remote Mauritius. Entrepreneurs beware, keep watch. Understanding and following up Geopolitics is a must to succeed in international trade.

Merci Alain Simon

Do you know Chin -Ning Chu? I was very glad to listen to her on video streaming from her website today. Couple of years ago, I had read her first book Thick Face, Black Heart which was offered to me by one of my good friends.

The Art of War by Sun Tzu is a known theme and many authors have written thereon. Chin-Ning Chu now proposes The Art of War for Women. In her address to a women assembly in San Francisco, she confirms, like many other scholars who have studied Sun Tzu that the art of war is to win without ever going to war.

Some points that I have retained from her speech:

The weak can overcome the strong just like water can crack the hard rock.

Sun Tzu is a self taught philosopher who used his mind to devise strategies to win wars.

The Elements of Strategy

Before waging a war, the five elements that govern success must be examined. Only then can a proper assessment be done.

Those five elements are: 1. Tao (moral standing or ethics); 2. Tien (timing); 3. Di (terrain or

resources); 4. Jiang (leadership); 5. Fa (managing).

According to Sun Tzu, five elements govern success and must be understood in the planning stages of any action.

TAO: Your moral standing and the motivation that drives your actions. If your moral position is pure, colleagues will be willing to go to the mat for your cause.

TIEN: Timing. There are certain times when you should take action, other times when it is far better to wait. Tien lets you know which way to decide.

DI: “Earth,” “terrain,” or “resources.” Di refers to the obstacles that you face on your journey to success. Are you traveling over level ground? In other words, is everything going smoothly at work—or is each task akin to scaling a great mountain? Di also includes the distances you need to travel to accomplish your goal.

JIANG: “Leadership.” Sun Tzu believed that a leader must be wise, trustful, benevolent, courageous, and strict.

FA: “Method” or “how to”—what we today would call managing. Your “army” must be well organized, disciplined, and responsible, and as a leader you must be strong, and merciless in your attempts to maintain order.

Today (25 October) is a great day for Singapore and for Airbus, the first commercial flight from Singapore to Sydney of the Airbus A380. 150units of the aircraft ordered for a break even number of 400units, will be another Concorde economical disaster? Airbus experts reckon that the A380 will be an economical success in the long term.

The commercial flight only became possible 2 and half years of strict and strenuous testing the specimen model. The unveiling of the test specimen aircraft was held on the 15 January 2005.A giant of 300 tonnes of 24 meters high and of a span of 80 meters capable of transporting 900 passengers on a 15000kms trip. The 18 months delay in the first delivery, caused the shaking up of the organization of Airbus and the holding corporation Eads is the story preceding the launching of the most modern commercial aircraft. 50000 engineers, technicians and workers from 4 European countries ganged together to realize the construction of this incredible wonder made up of 4millions components.

Special airport terminals have been built to accommodate his giant of the air as the A380 is a double decker aircraft. Can you image the movements of 900 passengers in one go?

A number of books have been written on the construction of the A380. Erik Orsenna is one of the authors who gave an interview on the French radio yesterday. Gérard Chambon & Jean Denis Renard published “La grand aventure de l’Airbus A380”. Pierre Sparaco wrote « Airbus la véritable histoire ». Yves Marc has his version of this formidable challenge in ‘A380: le defi’.

Is not battle of Boeing and Airbus to a large extent alike to the race of the Euro and the US dollar in becoming the world’s currency?

“The extraordinary overlap between human and chimpanzee genomes does not result in an equal overlap between human and chimpanzee thoughts, sensations, perceptions, and emotions; there are considerable similarities but also considerable differences between human and nonhuman primate brains. “From Monkey Brain to Human Brain” uses the latest findings in cognitive psychology, comparative biology, and neuroscience to look at the complex patterns of convergence and divergence in primate cortical organization and function.” This is the essence of the work published by ‘Stanislas Dehaene’ who I had the chance to listen to yesterday thanks to the internet. He also published earlier another book: The number sense: how the mind creates Mathematics.

“But how then did the brain leap from this basic number ability to trigonometry, calculus, and beyond? Dehaene shows that it was the invention of symbolic systems of numerals that started us on the climb to higher mathematics, and in a marvelous chapter he traces the history of numbers, from early times when people indicated a number by pointing to a part of their body (even today, in many societies in New Guinea, the word for six is” wrist”), to early abstract numbers such as Roman numerals (chosen for the ease with which they could be carved into wooden sticks), to modern numbers. On our way, we also discover many fascinating facts: for example, because Chinese names for numbers are so short, Chinese people can remember up to nine or ten digits at a time–English-speaking people can only remember seven. Dehaene also explores the unique abilities of idiot savants and mathematical geniuses, asking what might explain their special mathematical talent.” I rejoice now because I have arguments to my belief and accepted general saying in my younger days that Chinese are better in maths. No, it is not a racist statement,the differentiation is cultural from educational methods. I understand and accept that my statement is a general statement and may be statically valid with large variances.

Dans l’étude de prospective Ci’Num 2007 des experts des grandes sociétés, J’ai noté au scénario 2, Toronto est mentionné parmi les premières villes
« 100% durables ». Je suis heureux que mon fils, ait choisi d’élire domicile à Toronto. Je sais fort bien que les scénarios ne se déroulent dans le futur, que très rarement comme prévu, cependant le jeux des scénarios permet d’anticiper le futur et de s’y préparer. Des tous les différents scénarios Je préfère le scénario 2 parce qu’il couvre les éléments de l’écologie mondiale et les percées technologiques de la science. Le scénario est également optimisme. Les autres scenarios méritent également d’être lus et étudies pour une meilleure perspective.J’en recommande a tous surtout les entrepreneurs.

Mes notes extraites du Ci’Num 2007Scenario 2 qui est titré, l’Imperalisme.

Les Jeux Olympiques de Beijing ont envoyé une véritable une onde de choc à travers le monde. Les visiteurs et les téléspectateurs, qui s’attendaient à rencontrer

un pays post-communiste en voie de développement, découvrirent des villes gigantesques, propres, modernes et sûres, des installations de pointe, une organisation parfaite, des produits des grandes marques internationales vendus dans d’immenses centres commerciaux, des marques chinoises proposant des produits de haute technologie et des athlètes (peut-être dopés, mais impossible de le prouver) capables de gagner des médailles dans presque toutes les disciplines…

Le nouveau superpouvoir affirmait fièrement sa puissance. Il profita même de la dynamique de l’événement pour annoncer l’abandon de sa «politique

de l’enfant unique», afin de stimuler sa croissance à long terme et d’éviter un vieillissement trop rapide de sa population.Ce succès a suscité plus de crainte que d’amour vis-à-vis de la Chine. Les gens se montraient certes impressionnés, mais aussi frappés de voir qu’il ne restait à peu près rien de l’ancien Beijing. La mort de deux marathoniens fut attribuée à l’air vicié de la capitale, et les touristes et les journalistes qui avaient profité du voyage pour visiter l’intérieur du pays rapportèrent des cas de pollution encore plus graves. L’étouffement des contestations sociales avant et durant les Jeux, qui put être dévoilé malgré tous les efforts de la police pour censurer l’internet, a révolté l’opinion publique mondiale.

• Reveil

Les négociations de Kyoto II échouent en dépit des efforts américains.

• Tensions

Le baril de pétrole atteint 200$, mais les pays post-industriels en souffrent moins que les autres.Au contraire, ils en profitent pour investir dans les énergies nouvelles, tout en faisant pression sur les autres économies…

Les grandes métropoles modernes prospèrent et innovent. Les transports intelligents et de nouvelles formes de relations réelles/virtuelles voient le jour.

Le coût de l’énergie, les problèmes climatiques pèsent de plus en plus sur les économies émergentes. La tension monte dans le monde.

• Les grandes métropoles modernes prospèrent et innovent. Les transports intelligents et de nouvelles formes de relations réelles/virtuelles voient le jour.Le coût de l’énergie, les problèmes climatiques pèsent de plus en plus sur les économies émergentes. La tension monte dans le monde.

Toronto et Stuttgart sont les premières villes « 100% durables.

• Epreuve de force

L’accord «Kyoto IIB» impose aux pays en développement un échange : l’accès aux dernières technologies environnementales contre une croissance plus lente, l’ouverture des marchés, la dérégulation, la coopération policière et le contrôle de l’émigration.

• Réorganisation

La science et la technologie réalisent d’importants progrès, sous le contrôle étroit de la Défense et des multinationales des pays riches. Ces derniers recréent de larges sphères d’influence, sources de matières premières et de produits manufacturés.

• Brèches