Norman Rockwell: The Photographs Behind the Art was brilliant.
Useful link:
www.nrm.org
Small is beautiful. It takes a lot to bring about change. It's a state of mind. Living small isn't easy, but people are starting to take notice of the trend. It may not be for everyone, but I love it.
They get one letter from me every couple of years. And basically it says, run this business like it's the only business that your family can own for the next 100 years. You can't sell it. But every year don't measure it by the earnings in the quarter that year. Measure it by whether the moat around that business, what gives it competitive advantage over time has widened or narrowed. If you keep doing that for 100 years, it's going to work out very well. Then I tell them basically if the reason for doing something is everybody else is doing it, it's not good enough. If you have to use that as a reason, forget it.
- Warren Buffett
www.berkshirehathaway.com
Spot on. I loved it.
Luke Johnson's opinion piece in the Financial Times about the dos and don'ts of business partnerships was interesting. I look forward to reading more of your posts.
Useful links:
www.lukejohnson.org
www.riskcapitalpartners.co.uk
www.channel4.com
www.pentagram.com
I thought the web-based project Galaxy Zoo was a brilliant simulation exercise. The simulated images not only show the different aspects of galaxy formation, but also generate data that will help astronomers' understanding of these collisions.
Useful links:
http://mergers.galaxyzoo.org
www.galaxyzoo.org
Forbes magazine has named U.S. President Barack Obama as the world's most powerful person. I hope he does the right thing for the world, and wish him the best in his future and all of his endeavors.
Useful link:
www.barackobama.com
Justin Lahart's story on Arduino in the Wall Street Journal was interesting. I think allowing duplication is a better way to spur innovation than keeping designs under lock and key.
Useful links:
www.arduino.cc
http://interactionivrea.org
http://web.media.mit.edu/~leah
http://thehighlowtech.com
www.sparkfun.com
Dance with Chance: Making Luck Work for You by Spyros Makridakis + Robin Hogarth + Anil Gaba is an insightful about how luck plays an important role in a person's wealth, health and happiness. A must read.
The global financial crisis had its origins in short-term, unsustainable strategies and actions. Before the crisis and since, we (and others) have called for a more long-term and responsible form of capitalism – what we call “sustainable capitalism”. Yet despite our collective best efforts, one year on, the capital markets seem to be reverting to business as usual.
- Al Gore/David Blood
www.generationim.com
www.algore.com
Spot on.
The Economist special report on the art market was interesting. The best that can be said about the market at the moment is that it is holding its breath, and there are still buyers in the market. Stay tuned.
Useful links:
http://sarah-thornton.com
www.artseconomics.com
www.us.capgemini.com/worldwealthreport08
www.christies.com
www.sothebys.com
www.drouot.com
www.bonhams.com
Chaim made a very interesting point. I love your posts and looking forward to read more from you. Thanks Chaim.
Useful links:
www.antwerpdiamondbank.com
www.diamondintelligence.com
http://ec.europa.eu
Ken Gassman's survey about the diamond retail jewelry sector was interesting. Diamonds and diamond jewelry are the largest selling category in a specialty jeweler’s store everywhere. Period. Thanks Ken.
Useful links:
www.kennethgassman.com
www.jewelers.org
www.americangemsociety.org
www.instoremag.com
www.tiffany.com
www.bluenile.com
Check out Frank Auerbach’s paintings of the rebuilding of London, from the 1950s and early ’60s at the Courtauld Gallery. Don't miss.
Useful link:
www.courtauld.ac.uk
The International Council of Societies of Industrial Design has named the city of Helsinki (Finland) the World Design Capital for 2012. Congratulations!
Useful links:
www.icsid.org
www.wdc2012helsinki.fi
A handwritten manuscript of Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol has gone on display at the Morgan Library and Museum in New York. Don't miss. Charles Dickens exhibition - The Morgan Library and Museum
Check out a 60 Minutes piece on the role gold plays in fueling conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo this Sunday, November 29, 2009.
I really liked Marc Benioff’s (Salesforce.com) 1-1-1 Model + his new book Behind the Cloud
Thanks to the falling cost of hardware, overseas coders, and on-demand services, start-ups need less capital to get off the ground.
- Marc Benioff
Check out Commute Greener application via Volvo Group. The technology helps reduce global and personal CO2 footprints by greener commuting. Give it a try.
Useful links:
www.commutegreener.com
www.volvo.com
Getting Real is a collection of essays from the founders of 37signals. The concept of Getting Real is about doing it. Brilliant.
Useful links:
http://37signals.com
http://productblog.37signals.com
Seeing is believing. Statkraft's osmotic plant located in Tofte, Norway, is the first pilot plant to use the power produced when salt water and fresh water combine in a polymer membrane. The company believes it could be viable anywhere that a river meets or comes close to the ocean.
Useful link:
www.statkraft.com
Peter Day's viewpoint on Brazil's ethanol industry was insightful.
Useful links:
www.eesp.fgv.br
www.iconebrasil.org.br
http://english.unica.com.br
Jens Martin Skibsted + Bjarke Ingels + Lars Holme Larsen = KiBiSi
Useful links:
www.kibisi.com
http://biomega.dk
www.big.dk
www.kilodesign.dk
A painting by Paul Delaroche is going back on display after being damaged in a World war II air raid and hidden away for decades. The painting will be shown in London's National Gallery from 24 February, 2010. Mark your calendar.
Useful link:
www.nationalgallery.org.uk
Check out Wellcome Collection's new exhibition on Identity. http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_8375000/8375695.stm
Peter Jackson's latest film, The Lovely Bones, is based on Alice Sebold's best-selling novel, a brilliant story told from the perspective of a murdered teenage girl who reaches out to her family from the afterlife + he says Tintin film is finished. I am a huge fan of Peter Jackson, and I can hardly wait to see this movie!
Useful links:
www.lovelybones.com
www.tintin.com
The Rapaport Group/RapNet Diamond Trading Network have implemented an immediate trading ban on all diamonds from Zimbabwe's Marange diamond fields due to severe human rights violations. I think that this was the right thing to do and the ethical thing to do.
Useful links:
www.diamonds.net/Zimbabwe
www.kimberleyprocess.com
www.wfdb.com
I thought Ron Arad's architecture was stunningly beautiful. The building looks very similar to Frank Lloyd Wright's Guggenheim New York. I liked it.
Useful links:
www.dmh.org.il
www.ronarad.com
Luke Johnson was spot on. How to murder your company in 10 easy steps.
- Take on too much debt
- Choose the wrong business partner
- Become overdependent on one customer
- Get ill
- Make a mess of a major IT project
- Get into a price war
- Sign a burdensome property lease
- Forget your customers
- Never evolve
- Don’t bother investing
Useful links:
www.lukejohnson.org
www.riskcapitalpartners.co.uk
www.channel4.com
Check out the educational programmes designed for CIBJO by AIFOMD.
Useful links:
www.sustainablejewellery.org
www.aifomd.org
www.cibjo.org
www.unitar.org
www.un.org/millenniumgoals
www.antwerpdiamondsymposium.com
I should charge 600 euros (for a meal at elBulli), but I do not cook for millionaires. I cook for sensitive people. Creativity comes first; then comes the customer.
- Chef Ferran AdriÃ
www.elbulli.com
Interesting thoughts, really.
Megan Gambino's story in the Smithsonian about coral spawning was educational and insightful.
To me, coral spawning is like a total eclipse of the sun. You should see it once in your life.
- Nancy Knowlton
Useful links:
http://sio.ucsd.edu/Profile/nknowlton
http://cmbc.ucsd.edu
Efficiency to creativity. A call to develop design propositions for a 2050 scenario.
Useful links:
www.icsidcongress09.com
www.icsid.org
www.thedesign2050challenge.com
Bob Buford's opinion piece in BusinessWeek about halftime impact was brilliant. Thanks Bob.
Useful links:
www.halftime.org
www.activeenergy.net
www.bobbuford.com
Jon Pareles's viewpoint in the New York Times about Fela was interesting.
Useful links:
www.felaonbroadway.com
www.felaproject.net
The Farming Game by Bryan L. Jones is a fascinating book about farm economics and commonsense with wit and insight. A must read.
Diamonds are terrifically difficult to value or to audit the value. The only time the value is certain is when it crystallises in a sale.
- Ian Henderson
JPMorgan, London
www.jpmorgan.com
Spot on.
On the Street / Colors. Stylish women are wearing many points of view -- so long as it's black with a touch of white. It was brilliant. Thanks Bill.
Naazneen Karmali's special report in Forbes Asia about India's 100 Richest was interesting.
Check out Le 104 or the Centquatre, a multidisciplinary arts center in Paris. A must visit.
Useful link:
www.104.fr
The Economist story about colored diamonds was interesting. Laurence Graff was right. If you have money to invest, there is no safer haven than something rare. Rarity is the greatest single factor influencing today’s auction prices for superb colored diamonds.
Useful links:
www.graffdiamonds.com
www.christies.com
www.sothebys.com
Souren Melikian's viewpoint in the New York Times about Fal-Nameh/Book of Omens was interesting.
Useful links:
www.asia.si.edu
www.ee.bilkent.edu.tr
Japanese companies reinvented the process of making cars. That's what we're doing in health care. What health care needs is process innovation, not product innovation.
- Dr. Devi Prasad Shetty
www.narayanahospitals.com
Spot on.
By 2050, the United States and Europe will be joined in economic size by emerging markets in Asia and Latin America. China will become the world’s largest economy in 2032, and grow to be 20 percent larger than the United States by 2050. Over the next forty years, nearly 60 percent of G20 economic growth will come from Brazil, China, India, Russia, and Mexico alone. Read the full report.
Useful link:
www.carnegieendowment.org
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