Corporate Governance and Responsibility Forum – Day 2

Here are we are back to the Forum in Day 2. Multi-days forums usually show their effectiveness in following days, when the first impact of excitement is starting to wear-off. So, it is good to see that momentum remained in the second days in more heated discussions and debates to the benefit of all.

I would like to share a very interesting session we launched towards the end.

Conventional wisdom in such forums calls for pushing for concepts within these forums, so the sensible thing to do was to continue to rally for corporate governance and responsibility. BUT, we thought we wanted to challenge that. In the final session we brought two panels of experts on two sides:

1. PRO corporate governance and responsibility (makes sense!)
2. COUNTER corporate governance and responsibility (dangerous)

For some reason, I was chosen to be in the second panel and bring possible counter views on implementing governance and responsibility, which I personally thought to be fun!
So the first panel started by illustrating on the benefits that governance will bring to the region and attracting foreign investments and such, which was sort of clear after two days of workshops.

Comes our turn to “respectfully” disagree about the timing and the maturity of other systems in place before good governance and responsibility are to be in place.

I, along with my fellows, challenged that people rallying beyond governance may loose the bigger picture of the real motives behind it, which should be doing the right business and doing business right. The race towards rules and regulations may empty that good concept of its soul. I draw an analogy on the ISO certification that became the craze of the industry in the 90’s and factories were piling loads of paper trail just to show that their ISO.

My panel actually succeeded in coming up with strong arguments!

HOWEVER, towards the end we countered ourselves in saying that governance is not about just having the laws, regulations and procedures but about having the right thinking about what works and why it should work. Corporations have existed for a long time. The main mission of corporations has been and still will be to create value and wealth. In that process there has to be a balance in the environment between maintaining ethical and transparent conduct, and allowing freedom for operations.

In summary, everything we do or preach for has two sides. We need to see that and maintain an outlook at the bigger picture in our choices.

The Forum ended with a great enthusiasm and helped the attendees to exchange views and more importantly enjoy that in a relaxed atmosphere.

Until the next forum …

Corporate Governance and Responsibility Forum - Day 1

This is a forum means a lot to me since I have been involved in it since its inception (which doesn’t really mean I have been actual work organizing it! Thanks Maali! :) until it became a reality. Today (March 13th) is the first day and it seems it is up to a good start.

Audience is coming from diverse backgrounds which is enriching. We have international organizations like the OECD, NGO’s, government agencies, and of course the private sector.
In the press conference, we were faced with some good questions, and here is a summary of key responses:

• This forum has not been prepared without regard to other seemingly similar forums and conferences, contrary we consulted with others to ensure the timing and theme meshes well with other events.
• In our forum we are concerned mostly on the view and the role that the private sector can play in instituting good governance and responsibility practices. Some of the comments assumed that we are planning that in isolation of the government, which is not really accurate since we have a good participation from relevant government agencies.
• Good corporate responsibility is not an issue of creating sets of laws, but a genuine and honest desire by companies to truly engage with the interests of their societies to create a sustainable development beneficial to both.
• No matter how tight rules and regulations are weaved, they cannot ensure a perfect state of good governance, transparency and ethical conduct. There has to be a balance between creating a good operational environment and making that environment a feasible one to operate in without too many complexities.

Witnessing the discussions of the day I got with some key observations. There has been some courageous remarks of leaders in their discussions, as in “we have been spending on responsibility programs for 10 years and people do not know about it. Shall we be more vocal about it?”. Oppennes of people was really good in sharing their experiences and being honest about waht worked and what didn't.

The general mood is one that is being influenced by two main forces: the sheer amount of challenge facing this region in creating sustainable development environment that creates jobs and enhances living conditions, AND having faith that what we do today and need to do tomorrow will succeed in addressing these challenges.

Although this forum is organized by my firm and partners, I am personally very satisfied with the whole setup and the logistics, which was immaculate.

Until tomorrow ..

Everyone is a Producer! Everyone is a Star! The power of Web 2.0

Have you heard about Tila Tequila? I am sure those of who frequent MySpace have probably passed by this young lady who is becoming a known figure in modeling and singing. She did do some modeling jobs “here and there”, But her big break came three years ago when MySpace founder Tom Anderson invited Nguyen over to his new site. She is even featured in the TIME magazine issue of Dec 16th, 2006

“Over the next couple of years she turned her online persona into a full-fledged business."This is my job," she says. "That's how you maintain your popularity and keep it alive."” Now, she boasts more than 1.7 million friends on her MySpace profile! She has her own fashion line now!

The story of Tila is not an isolated one, as there are many people who became known film makers or writers and many more who will be under the lime light.

Just now I understand what Marshall McLuhan has said longtime ago that “medium is the message” and “audience is the content”, which does not need any explanation now as we are witnessing how the Web is making a difference as a communication medium and how we, as audience, are fueling the Web with our own creations.

So what is going to happen next?
Let me caught Marshall McLuhan again in his saying “if it works, it is obsolete”! So the current abilities and tools of today are soon to be out of sufficiency as people will demand more and be supplied with more.

Here is what I foresee:
1. More people will be contributing with their content in blogs, media, and “digs”.
2. Majority will not be able to sustain the drive of creations and will fall off the curve.
3. The few who will stay in the game will have a good chance of “commercializing” themselves. Already, we see video sites paying top hitters or sharing revenue. The relationship will be more professional.
4. There will be added-value services to “manipulate” content as in providing online mixing of videos (check eyespot.)
5. There will be “agent” services to check on the “creations” of people of various sources (photos posted, videos watched, or blogs written) and determine if a person is a good employee, suitable partner or a security threat.
6. We will see “hyper” sites that provide aggregation of content, access and subscription to various services.

What do we need to do?
My simple suggestions:
1. Experimentation – try out the different things that you can do online. Start a blog, upload a few pictures or videos. Use that as a learning experience of your own interests and creativity.
2. Moderation – it is easy to get sucked in this world. Watch out the time you spend online and be disciplined at the amount of time you spend online. Perhaps dedicate certain times for your online contribution. There is a real life out there!
3. Self-regulation – Always know that whatever you do online will be (or is) being watched by someone and assess what would that could mean a few years down the road.
4. Enjoy is as another channel of self-enriching source

Corporate governance forum set

RazorView, under its new trademark Schema, will hold the first regional Corporate Governance and Responsibility Forum this month.

The forum, to be held at the Mövenpick Dead Sea Hotel from March 13 to 15, will bring together leading businessmen, stakeholders, family business owners and experts of corporate governance and responsibility from the Mena region and internationally to create a localised framework for corporate governance and responsibility that compliments the regional business environment and corporate culture.

Attendees and participants will be coming from Jordan, Qatar, Bahrain, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait, Egypt and Lebanon, said an official spokesman.

Regional and local companies have become aware of the competitive benefits provided by corporate governance and responsibility and their implications on developing businesses, ensuring the sustainability of businesses and the positive impact it creates on the international markets.

The forum will be addressing the corporate demand and processes to bring into effect value generating corporate governance and responsibility corporate cultures.
'The need to hold such a forum has become a necessity and well overdue in order to evolve the region's implementation of corporate governance and responsibility and align the regions business practices with international standards in a manner that is both applicable and effective in the MENA region,' said chairman of the organising committee Maali Qasem.

The idea of holding this forum has been very well acknowledged by many companies in the MENA region that believe in the necessity of implementing relevant corporate governance and responsibility concepts, and that is shown by the number of participating companies and organisations.

The forum is sponsored by Investment Dar, Agility Logistics, Hikma Pharmaceuticals, and the Arab African International BankTradeArabia News Service

Problem Solving and Strength Seeking – The Art of Appreciative Inquiry

Ask any consultant about how he (or she) approaches a typical engagement, and most probably the answer will be somewhere down these lines: “we understand the current situation, the future position, what the gaps are and then create plans to bridge that”. At the heart of this process is “problem” identification and solving. There is no “problem” with that, as we instinctively seek to identify what is “wrong” with the situation and engage in rectifying that.
However, by using negative words and descriptions (‘the problem’), we can often over-emphasize the negative aspects of the situation and depress the enthusiasm of those involved. Instead, why not look at what is working, and take that forwards? It is a more positive approach.

That is a school of thought that I recently came to learn about through a good old friend of mine (Hania Qubain), who was kind enough to direct me to “Appreciative Inquiry” (AI).

Wikipedia explains Appreciative Inquiry (AI) as ” a process for engaging people across the system in renewal, change and focused performance. The basic idea is to build organizations around what works, rather than trying to fix what doesn't. A proven benefit of the approach is its reliance on the acknowledgement of contribution at the individual level, which leads to trust and organizational alignment. Since the method creates meaning by drawing from stories of concrete successes and lends itself to cross-industrial social activities, it is enjoyable and natural to many managers, who are thought to be naturally social people focused on the bottom line.”

AI manifests some key assumptions to start with:

1. In every society, organisation, group or individual, something works


2. What we focus on becomes our reality


3. Reality is created every moment. Every society, organisation, group and individual has their own realities


4. The act of asking questions of an organisation, or group influences the group in some way


5. People have more confidence to journey to the future (the unknown) when they carry forward parts of the past (the known)


6. If we carry forward parts of the past, they should be what are best about the past


7. It is important to value differences


8. Te language we use creates our reality.
   

Appreciative Inquiry utilizes a 4-stage process focusing on:

• DISCOVER: The identification of organizational processes that work well.


• DREAM: The envisioning of processes that would work well in the future.


• DESIGN: Planning and prioritizing processes that would work well.


• DESTINY (or DELIVER): The implementation (execution) of the proposed design.

I immediately felt how well AI meshes with a lot of my personal thinking that I actually decided to attempt to use it at a current case in hand, where we were asked to envision a new future for a 30-year old organization. The proposed approach captured the attention of the leadership team and clearly showed a positive change in mood, just by introducing the concept. Of course, a lot of work has to be done to carry that approach in reality. The good thing is that there are so many practitioners of AI that openly share their experiences.

We are still at the beginning of the process, so there is a lot to learn and practice. I hope for this to be a success for that organization and share the experience with the rest.

I conclude with a famous quote of Albert Einstein provoking the “genius in the question” who said ““What would the universe look like if I were riding on the end of a light beam at the speed of light?”. An attendee enlightened me that he said that when he was 16 years old!

Thank you Your Majesty! Cancelling two public holidays in Jordan

I’ve been contemplating writing about the amount of public holidays in Jordan for sometime after the last “Eid Adha” which coincided with the New Year and Christmas occasions resulting in a over a week of public holidays. But that was not the only occasion. Jordan is “blessed” with a good number of public holidays. In brief, economists in Jordan estimate near to 4.5 months of holidays, or 139 days! These include public holidays, weekends, paid leaves, and sickness leaves. They also estimate around $30M of lost productivity per day. For a country like Jordan with ambitious targets for economical development, each day really counts.

So, His Majesty King Abdullah the II declared the cancelation of two public holidays in this news piece by Petra:

“King Abdullah on Wednesday directed the government to scrap two public holidays to help “boost productivity and dedication” starting this year. “I hope that Jordanians can celebrate the two occasions [the Monarch’s birthday on January 30 and King Hussein’s birthday on November 14] by enhancing national economy,” the King told Prime Minister Marouf Bakhit in a letter. The King asked the government to set a clear calendar, pointing out public holidays and daylight saving time for the coming five years to “help public and private institutions set well-defined and long-term plans” — Petra

I know some people, mostly employees, may not like this, but think about the large number of daily workers, merchants, and small (and large) business owners and how too many days-off impact their living and their financial performance, which in turn reflect on the overall economy.

I am really glad that a country like Jordan has looked into that and make an action about it. I highly value that His Majesty has chosen the most personal days to him to let go of, which are the birthdays of His late Father King Hussein, and His.

Related Links

King Abdullah II Official Website

Late King Hussein Official Website
Arabic - الملك يوجه الحكومة لالغاء عطلة عيد ميلاده

Meta Planning – An Effective Group Brainstorming Tool

You are a consultant or a manager faced with a pressing issue that you want your team/client’s input as a group, to explore root causes of the current situation, or ideas for resolving the current situation. What do you do?

You can always throw in the issue as it is and solicit feedback. Well, it may work, however , chances are: the starting point can be sluggish as people struggle to gather their thoughts, there can be some people with strong opinions and others shy to share, input may not be captured
in an organized way, or simply it is too dry of an approach and not fun!

Alternatives?

There are a variety of structured brainstorming tools and techniques out there to take advantage of that will encourage group participation in an organized fashion and fun way.
One of these tools that we have used in various occasions and was extremely effective is ” Meta Planning”. If you take my word for it, you would be curious how it would work.

How it Works
Gather the group in a comfortable setting, a meeting room with chairs and tables arranged in a semi-circle will be ideal. The circular arrangement will allow people to be facing each other while focusing on the main board or the presentation screen.

Carefully prepare your questions to solicit the right response. “What do you think of the current situation?” will be obviously vague. Whereas, “What are the main causes that are contributing to decreasing customer satisfaction?” will likely focus the response of the participants.
Distribute several (A5 – 5.83’’X8.27’’) cards along with markers. Instruct participants to write a thought or response per card and to fill as many as they need.

Give sufficient time for participants to think and write down their thoughts. Then, collect the information. You can do this in one of several ways. You can either take the cards and start “arranging” them on the board (we will come to the arranging part in a bit). Or, start by one person in whatever order you like and read the thought, ask if others have similar ones. Go on a round until you have collected all thoughts.

Arranging and Posting Cards
Now, this is the most beautiful part! Take each card reading it loud, then “post” it on the board. You can use either pins on a soft-cloth board, or simply use scotch tape. There are some commercial systems out there, but expect them to be a bit expensive. Your call!
Post another card either in another “area or column” if it was a new thought, or in the same area/column as similar ones. Keep doing that until you exhaust all cards and take a look at the board now!

The board should show clear patterns and clusters of thoughts that contribute to the issue discussed. You can actually go ahead and summarize the themes of each area for further analysis.

To summarize …

Meta-Planning is a collective group effort for brainstorming a defined issues to solicit feedback from all participants.

Tools
• A good number of A5 cards. My rule of thumb is 10 per participant per question.
• Markers (you can use whiteboard markers)
• A board (a wall can do as well)
• Pins or scotch tape
• Facilitation skills
• A willing group to participate!

Advantages
• Each member participates in the session
• No dominance by a few members
• Participants commit to the outcome as they helped it in creating it
• Ideas are visually shared and can be physically moved around the board
• Helps break the ice
• It is fun!

Disadvantages
Ideas expressed are bounded by the experiences and ideas of the participants, so it may not be totally effective when deep business/technical expertise is required and it is not present within the group. For example, if you are planning on optimizing the financial structures of a business and the audience is not financially-oriented

Last Word of Caution
You have taken some valuable time of the participants, so on moving forward you need to leverage their ideas or act on at least some of them. Otherwise, they will quickly become disengaged and may not support similar efforts in the future.

Have fun Meta-Planning!

A modern bed-time story for the aspiring venture capitalists, entrepreneurs, and consultants!

Long time ago in a far-away land, there was this King who had three daughters. One day, he summoned all his daughters to his royal office and asked them what they wanted out of life.

The eldest daughter said “Oh father, I want to marry a charming prince of a large kingdom, who would become king one day”. The king was pleased with her answer.

The middle daughter said “Oh father, I want to marry a charming CEO with a huge bonus package and stock options”. The king was pleased with her answer as well.
The youngest daughter said “Oh father, I want to start my own business”.

The king and the other two daughters were all shocked and dismayed by her answer. “You are a princess. You live in royal palaces surrounded by servants who would fulfill your wishes, not in an office or a board room surrounded by employees and “clients” and stuff!” the King replied.
“But, father, this is what I want to do with my life and not just get married”

The King was unhappy with her insistence, but respected her wishes. “Ok then. You are on your own. You shall receive nothing from me but your monthly allowance”.
The princess coyly left her father’s royal office under the mocking looks of her two other sisters.

As the days went by, the two daughters married the men of their dreams in great celebrations and festivities, while our young princess worked hard to earn her MBA from a good school living on her “little” allowance. To support herself, she also took a part-time job in a department store. While working there, she developed a good understanding of clients’ buying trends. She noticed that younger generation wanted more variety of casual/outing clothes that have a strong sense of style and a vibrant brand.

She thought and thought until an idea blinked! Why not launch her own “Princess Line” brand of younger fashion and accessories! She did a market study, evaluated the market size and growth rate, evaluated competition, performed her SWOT analysis, considered Porter’s five forces, identified suppliers, designed the supply chain and operations requirements, and created financial statements (balanced sheet, income statement and cash flow) for the next five years. All she needed was the capital to start her venture.

She went from one bank to another and from one VC to another, but no one would finance her thinking she is just a “spoiled” princess and would not be serious about her own business.
One day when she was leaving the offices of a VC, she got into the elevator with a young gentleman. He casually asked her if she worked there. She briefly gave him her 30-second short talk about her business idea. He was genuinely intrigued and gave her his business card; it read “Prince Charming” – **** Holding! What luck! And he was handsome too!

The next day she called him and arranged for a meeting. From that point on, things started taking a momentum. After, meetings, presentations and discussion, Prince Charming eventually provided the Princess with the seed capital.

She started her business by launching a limited line in one of the prestigious department stores (another investment of the Prince) and it was a hit! She expanded her operations by adding more line items, improving on the brand by linking it to her royal image, participating in public events, fashion shows and sponsoring events. The brand did position well with target audience. The business grew nicely to a level where it received further equity investments from private equity funds, some of those who had rejected the plan at first but now getting in at a premium!

Working together very closely, spending so much time together, and seeing how they complement each other, the Princess and Prince kindled and nurtured a loving relationship.
As in any happy ending, the Princess and the Prince got married and now they are running a portfolio of successful ventures and helping other entrepreneurs realize their dreams and potential.

“Dad/Mom what happened to the other two daughters?”

Well, the eldest daughter’s Kingdom turned into constitutional monarchy, in a democratic move by the parliament and people. Members of the royal family are living on set allowances and little political influence.

As for the middle daughter’s husband (the CEO), a year after their marriage he was caught in a financial scandal amidst allegations of insider trading and over the board “creative accounting” practices. He is going through legal investigations and persecutions.Through that process that is both long and tedious the princess and her infamous CEO are living on stipends that have to be approved on a month by month basis.

“Sweet dreams and goodnight”

Moral of the story? I leave that to your comments : )

Up in Smoke! Or, the new venues of doing busines in the Middle East!

From Up in Smoke!

*Caution* This posting is no way an invitation to get into the harmful habit of smoking, so be warned!

Tables and chairs are all well organized and spread over the elegant place. Waiters take orders of favorite flavors (apple, strawberry, lemon, or what have you). Active “servants” move between tables skillfully placing hot burning coal atop the “head”. Mouths slowly inhale drags through elegant pipes and gently release it. Clouds of smoke start filling the place, with a mix of fruity aromas. The mood starts getting mellow and discussions are now more facilitated. “Let’s talk business”. You are in a typical café in the Middle East.

Welcome to the new arena of doing business and exchanging market information in the Middle East. No more are elegant hotel lobbies the exclusive place for conducting business deals. ““Argileh” (called "Shisha" in Egypt and the Gulf) places (simple called cafes) are offering an increasingly popular place to meet business partners and clients who share the same affection for smoking the shihsa, to relax and discuss business deals.

Go to any elegant café in Amman, Beirut, Cairo, Dubai, Jeddah or any other vibrant city at day time and chances are you will find it occupied by business people with their notebooks getting together blowing away smoke while they work out details of a business transaction, perfect a presentation or simply exchange business intelligence.

In our company, we have a saying, “If you haven’t had coffee (outside the office) with a business partner, you are not close enough!”. I personally take it further and add Argileh to that cup of coffee! Some of us are guilty of the sin of introducing countless business men from all over the world to this atmosphere! If there is any consolation in that, it is that they have enjoyed it, some to the extreme of carrying the whole works (Argileh, tobacco, coal, etc.) with them back home!

I must emphasize that l never attempt to persuade anyone who does not already smoke Argileh to try it, or even go to an Argileh café with someone who is anti-smoking. I simply make the offer, and the rest is their call.

If you are new to this and If you have already made up your mind to joining the scene, then perhaps the following pointers can be of use.

Argileh Etiquette and Tips

1. Use the provided tip (plastic piece that fits over the metal tip of the pipe). If they don’t provide one, politely ask for it. If they do not have one, then you in the wrong place!
2. When smoking, place the tip at the corner of the mouth not the center. Oh! And not the whole tip.
3. Blow the smoke away from your adjacent person.
4. First coals are usually larger to start burning the fresh tobacco, then renewed ones are smaller to sustain the hot tobacco. Unless you are an expert Argileh smoker, do not tamper with the strategically located pieces of coal.
5. If you notice the smoke to be decreasing in volume and intensity, take note of the coal, it may need to be refreshed with a fresh supply. Simply ask for servant with a simple word “Coal” with a hand gesture towards the shisha. Respectful place will not require you to do that as they are “proactive”.
6. Do not share the Argileh of someone else! (Newcomers and tourists sometimes get excluded from that)
7. Every now and then blow0-IN the pipe to release congested smoke inside the glass bottle to refresh the intake.
8. Do no light a cigarette from the coal on the “head”. (In my experience, very few people do both).
9. If you need to excuse yourself but want to get back to the Argileh, simply keep the pipe placed on the table. (See the following point).
10. When you finish your Argileh consumption wrap the pipe around the shisha.

The final most important recommendation in my mind is to “qualify” a place and frequent it as much as you need. This will allow the people of the place to know your habits, your preferred flavors and drinks, and greet you by the name - Important to show a status when you come in with someone for the first time. It will also make you used to the place so you are more comfortable and more focused on your work or your guest.

Enjoy sensibly!
Visit my Argileh gallery

Special thanks to Adel Awad who contributed nicely to this post while we were smoking Argileh together! :)

Warsaw, here I come!

So, this is my first posting. There is a lot that I want to share with all of you, but I have just started and I believe there will be other times to sort of structure my thoughts. I mean after all I’m a strategy consultant, right? : )I’m preparing for an interesting trip tomorrow by midnight. I’m leaving Amman to Warsaw. Interesting, eh? I’m part of a working meeting attended by a number of people around the world to plan the launch of an “Executive Program”.
The Program is aimed at supporting executives at various regions better understand how to benefit from global trends in Information Technologies (IT) and not be driven by the hype or pressures from large vendors (you know who!). Coincidently, the Program is organized by one of “them” global IT vendor, however, I have full confidence that they are organizing that out of genuine desire to show leaders the way. There are no hidden agendas. The whole material is about strategic planning, IT Governance, global trends, opportunities identification, and business case preparation. There are no discussions of deep technological issues or promotion of any specific technology. I am proud to be an active part of the team who prepared the material that will be given to many executives around the world!
This is my first time to Warsaw, and I truly do not know what to expect. I’m having visions of European style city, older buildings, red roof tops, museums, musicians in the streets, and techno night clubs! Some of my concerns are language, food and missing my gym training (lame!)
I have done some basic research on the city and this is some of the finds:
“Many people still have an image of Warsaw as a dull concrete jungle, a wasteland of Soviet-era housing with little appeal. The city does undoubtedly have its fair share of problems and whole swathes of its suburbs are indeed dominated by the less-than-imaginative creations of communist-era architects. But there is far more to one of Europe’s most underrated cities, with a string of things to see, an impressive cultural scene and an increasingly lively nightlife. Warsaw is a real survivor – the city’s current day existence is impressive in itself.”
Taken from http://www.explore-warsaw.com/ They have a good list of key attractions as well that I plan on visiting some as long as my time permits *sigh* http://www.explore-warsaw.com/352/Key_Attractions.htmlI actually prefer not to do extensive research on places I’m traveling to in order to keep some space for surprises. Life is better enjoyed spontaneously with a taste of adventure!
I’ll share more with you once I’m back and hopefully with lots of pictures. I consider myself an acceptable photographer and will illustrate more about my photography in the near future. Wish me luck!