Global Economy Experts

Sometimes I wonder if we would be better off with fewer English speakers on the planet. Why? If we were forced to hear people speaking from a different platform than our own and had to “translate,” we would be confronted by an obvious difference and prepare to accommodate it. And we may presume that other differences also lurk and raise our awareness.

But instead, we are numbed. Americans are especially prone to this problem because we constantly hear our own language spoken by new Americans. Their heavy accents create an uncertain consistency in our language. There is no “right” way to s…

I am one half of a couple that approaches the Michelin Guide with caution. We use the guides – plural – when we travel around the world to find the best places to eat but there are times when what we find is fancy rather than good. Typically this happens across the whole country (Italy is a good example) and we end up ignoring advice Michelin has collected.

This approach to eating and seeking out places to do so makes me highly interested in the new release of the Japan Michelin Guide. Stars were handed out to local haunts offering newspaper wrapped fish and other delicious things not se…

In my last book and in subsequent speeches and essays, I have addressed some of the challenges of incorporating today’s young people into established businesses. With unemployment rates among America’s youth currently around 20%, and many recent college graduates working at low-end jobs, it seems appropriate to revisit the issue. The trigger for today’s newsletter appeared in the Chicago Tribune, in which a front page story, “Are students, parents too connected?” (August 5), asserts that many parents may well be hindering the independence of their teen-aged or young adult offspring.

Today…

Last Thursday, the government released the updated first quarter 2010 GDP figures. (Gross Domestic Product reports the total market value of goods and services produced within a country.) GDP results showed a 3% increase over a year ago. Is this good news or bad news? In order to put the GDP in perspective, it’s important to understand what is driving the GDP. Researching information from the BEA (Bureau of Economic Analysis) and the Treasury Department provided parts of the answer, but did not provide analysis on how to interpret the data. Obviously, in the last year the U.S. governmen…

2010 presents a historical moment to define the path forward to the ‘future of enterprise risk management and mitigation strategies’ of increasing compliance risk for asset managers. The recent financial crises and cases of material compliance violations, Ponzi schemes, fraudulent activities, misappropriation of investors’ assets and collapse of major financial firms have had significant, harmful impact on investors and shareholders. Serious compliance violations, such as insider trading, have proven to be self-destructive to asset managers. No one is immune to these trends. ‘Enterprise Ris…

When I watched the film Pirate Radio, I laughed, learned and was transported back to the rock and roll rebellion of the sixties in the U.K. I had no idea that the U.K.’s only licensed radio station for broadcast prior to 1964 was the government-owned and operated BBC. The government feared that commercial radio, even ad jingles, threatened society. But, in 1964, a handful of entrepreneurs started Radio Caroline, broadcasting rock and roll from a ship three miles off the coast of England in international waters so that their operations would not be illegal. The government resented its lack …

It looks like 2010 is off to a cautiously optimistic start. We’re told the economy is rebounding. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is above 10,000 points and many Wall Street banks are expecting a blockbuster year. On the flip side, 85,000 jobs were lost in December, unemployment figures hover at 10 percent, and Main Street business owners remain frustrated, unable to secure loans that would in turn create jobs. So what gives?

As we kick off the new year against this discordant backdrop, employers feel like they’re stranded in uncharted territory. Many new workplace obstacles have emerged…

If you have read my blogs on the 85 Broads website, you have heard me say that we are living, as Charles Dickens would say, in The Best of Times and the Worst of Times. We are going through a tremendously, changing and powerful time in this nation’s history. In the decades to follow, we will have to look back and say – how did we come through as a nation or a community or individually? Did we do the right things? Did we think the right way? Did we sculpt the right public policies? Were we selfless to a certain extent always keeping the bigger picture in mind? Did we connect the dots?…