Eu achei o Miguel! Ele e bem!

So on a national road in the vicinity of Montsaraz in the Alentejo region of southern Portugal...who did I run into? Well, not literally run into because our VW van (courtesy of Avis)...would have received the short end of the deal...since Miguel and his familia are very very big...and very very thick...hmmm...kind of like some of my Portuguese relatives...but anyway....Miguel is obrigado muito bem...

...So we stopped and I gave Miguel a little sugar...and he...or could have Miguel been a she? (o Jesus!)...and I am pleased to report that Miguel...sans his outer layer of bark...is doing very well, thank-you!

...Why is Miguel so red? That is a good question...and is an indication that the cork was just harvested...or at least in the last 6 months...and they paint a number for the year (my Miguel had the number 9 on its huge trunk)...and so for another 9 years Miguel will have the time to regrow a new layer of cork (.75-2" thick)...and be ready for another harvest...very cool stuff...

...On a beautiful day we have entered Southern Portugal...the Alentejo and then further south to the Algarve...where we are now closer to Morocco than to Lisbon...and enjoyed our time at a walled city...where Christians and Muslims slugged it out over several centuries...and then arriving later at the Algarve in Praia do Carvoeiro for the night...

All is well...and I am seeing the manifestations of faith and business and life and entrepreneurs all over the region...and it renews in me the strength of the ordinary people...prevailing against the odds..taking chances and working hard...either in a small business or a fishing boat or a restaurant....whether in New York or a small rural village in Portugal...and it confirms in me once again that our destinies lie in our own hands and not the government...and rulers and politicians...

It is up to us! So have a wonderful day and smile as you pass into it

Ciao!

Save Miguel! Save Miguel?

Well, Portugal has entered the modern era...it is perhaps an inconvenient truth...and yet something that must come to light...in this lovely old nation of merely 10 million citizens...about 1/4 the size of California...or the San Joaquin Valley come harvest time...but anyway, in addition to modern highways (yes, far better than most of the roads in the US), vino verde, nice grocery stores, shopping centers and malls, great cell reception, vino verde...ummm...well yes, all of that, Portugal has found its environmental voice...

Yes...the home of Cabrillo, Enrique the Navigator and Rosa Ramos Ataide has its own passionate environmental cause...and it is a doozy!...while other nations and their environmental activists shoot paint balls at whaling ships...chain themselves to nuclear reactors...and refuse to use deodorant....my ancestral home has found the right balance...and it is about saving Miguel!

Who is Miguel? Well the link below will explain it all...and in all seriousness saving Miguel is a beautiful thing...for it is truly a cultural and historical tradition worth saving...and Miguel provides a habitat...a Portuguese garden of Eden...in its own unique way...

So sit back and enjoy a little trip to Lisbon and then to the South...where I am actually traveling to in a few days....and help save Miguel! Viva Lisboa! Viva Miguel!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_gecqWJPx8

c'est la vie

Well, yippee kai yay little doggies! I just had the good fortune of spending five days in France (mostly in Paris but 36 hours in Normandy as well)...and once again had a wonderful time...Paris is all at once wonderful and horrific...the food, landscape and setting is the former and the traffic, signage and expense the latter...but I for one want to go on record and give you my view of our dear French friends...


...I really don't know where the French and the American relationship went astray...because it really has been my experience in a few visits to France that we have more common interests than differences...and that we have many reasons to want to get along...OK now don't go getting your coullotes in a bunch...because I know there are some legitimate points of disagreement...but all in all I actually enjoy the French a great deal...and here are just a few reasons why:


1) They are really really smart. I have had the opportunity to speak to some French and let me just say that they are well educated, articulate, thoughtful and earnest. And I really enjoy being around smart people.


2) They enjoy a high quality of life. From their roads (sans litter!) to their cuisine to their bike share program to their monuments and common areas, they really have got it going on. Now, I know what is paying for all of this, but let me observe that the results are c'est magnifique.)

3) They know their history. I didn't say it was all worth knowing, but there is really an appreciation for the past in France, and how it has meaning (good and bad) for the present and the future. We could really use more of this attitude in the states.


4) They appreciate respect, civility and courtesy. There are times in France that I am really struck with how it reminds me of my grandparents treated conversations and discussions (albeit from Portugal and not France). But there was a level of honest inquiry, the process having value and not only the answers, a willingness to listen and to argue points fairly, and do this with a sense of dignity that I don't often see in America.


Now before you go getting all worried about me packing it in and moving to "gay Paree" there really are too many obstacles in life (way too many) to get me to ever consider such an action...but my trip there has once again left me with a deep personal impression that there is much we need to learn in the States...and yes, we do a great many things well but some things certainly need improvement...and it has been a good reminder to me of some quality of life issues I need to think deeply upon...it has been a good trip so far...and I look forward to a return in the next year or so...and a desire to travel to the country more beyond Paris...


...So what was I doing in Paris?...well, I was asked by some dear friends who have lived there for many years if I would come and speak on entrepreneurship...and they have formed a wonderful new association called Coherence...see http://coherenceparis.com/... so let me impress you now with the title of my remarks:


L’entrepreneur aujourd’hui :évolution, défis et opportunités




So I will be posting my lectures for you on this site...if you want to read more...but for now I will simply say au revoir!

We Won! We Won! He Won! He Won!

So there I sat watching CNBC talking about how the price of gold took a big ol' jump...tickling $1050 bucks an ounce...and I am thinking about those gold crowns the little lady is wearing...and...ummm....well not really...and so what pops up on the internet?...that the Prez wins the Nobel Peace Prize! Wow!...so once I realize that I haven't gotten up too early and that this isn't really Mad TV and Stuart in his jockey shorts in trouble again...and I realize it has really happened...I cannot tell you the full sense of my joy in this award to a sitting American President!

And with full respect to our President the Nobel folks say that he had no knowledge of the nomination and that actually didn't call him from Sweden (or was it Turkmenistan?)...and wake him up...because we know he needs and deserves a full night of shut-eye...and they soon announce that he is humbled by the award...and will donate the proceeds to charity...what a giver this guy is!

...I don't know about you but the Nobel Prizes and the Olympic Gold Prizes are just about the top of everything...holding kind of a mystique like JFK and World War II...but they really outdid theirselves this time! Wow!

...So I am thinking that they must have made a bit of a mistake...cause President Clinton and Hillary have been traipsing around the world for nearly 20 years campaigning for a "legacy"...and I would have thought all of those trips and summits would have counted for something...so maybe they were really awarding it to the Clintons...kind of viewing him all of them collectively...you know like the old Three Dog Night song "Black and White"...what? you don't remember it? Here you go...


The ink is black


The page is white


Together we learn to read and write


The child is black The child is white


The whole world looks upon the sight


The beautiful sight


And now a child can understand


That this is the law of all the land


All the land

Or full the full version you can check it out at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOr4O66WZW0

...but let me warn you that this version is the spiffed up one...because when they really did this song in the 1970's it was under the influence of pretty much everything they could find....and consume...

...but I guess that kind of makes my point that everything gets kind of spiffed up when it comes to Mr. Prez...because no one really wants to talk too much about Chicago politics...from whence he came...

...but anyway...once I realized that the Nobel Prize has kind of fallen a bit in status in the last day or two...because under the terms of the nomination they officially closed 12 days after Mr. Prez took office...and we all know that in those 12 days he had accomplished a lot...like...ummm...he boldly...talked...and spoke...and had some photos...and....well...ummmm...

...So now I think the mystique...the prestige...the brand power... of the Nobel is in my mind right there with...say...

...I want you to know that I hold that little fellow in the highest of regard!...and the picture of the medal above? You don't recognize it?...well it actually is the Nobel Peace Prize...but it is the backside of the prize...seriously...and so I close with that thought...the three people hugging each other...embracing the world...and all us getting the backside...

....I am so proud to be an American!

TGIF!

...Sunny Day Sweepin' the clouds away On my way to where the air is sweet!...boy oh boy oh boy have I had a couple of great days...no, not flying with our dear Prez. to Europe to pitch Chicago as the next Olympic venue...nope, didn't get a Nobel Prize nomination...and missed the lottery again..but I couldn't eat for 36 hours and I got a colonoscopy! Yipee!!...and when you hear from the dear ol' doc that you have a "perfect colon" it really makes it all worthwhile...makes me just want to run out and rear up and click my heels....but if I did so you better not stand too close...

...Boy is there a lot going on in the world!...and I had the opportunity to travel to Oxford University, which was quite nice...there is an awful lot to like about the Brits...first there is the public transportation system...reliable and inexpensive...and then there are the lovely towns and buildings...walking around ChristChurch College in Oxford was just incredible in the fall with the flowers still in bloom and the lawns perfectly striped...and then there is...ummm...there is....ummm....ehhh....oh yeah....they have the Beatles...well I guess not really...they only have Paul and Ringo...and I think Ringo lives in El Lay to avoid taxes....but as I was saying...everytime I travel to England it helps me understand how the whole Colonial thing got going here a couple of hundred years ago...I mean, they still cannot make a salad!...toilets?...they use 8 gallons to flush and make more noise than a Oster blender grinding on ball bearings...so much for going green...

...But I did enjoy myself and attended a conference at the Said School of Business and met some fine people...and walked a great deal...and hope to go again...but next time I will bring my own salad dressing....

...Wow! What a great couple of months for the stock market! Happy days are here again!...Let's pass a trillion dollar health bill!...Yippee!!...

...Well maybe not...sorry...but I have to tell you I am really concerned about just a couple of things...well, maybe a couple of hundred things in this economy...let's start with the lack of small business capital access and a looming tax increase that will crush thousands of entrepreneurs...the exact thing our Prez and Congress need to be helping right now...but the only stimulus package that appears to be heading down the pike is similar to the one I have just experienced at the doctor this morning....ouch!...and that employment remains tepid at the best...consumer confidence stinks......and what of the GE dumping NBC?...what does that tell you about their view of the future of mainstream entertainment for the next five years?...does GE need cash that bad to sell one of their jewels at this time when deals are so depressed?...makes one think that GE may be wanting to build more cash than they were thinking a year or so ago...and they already have lots of cash....

....and we have idiots in Iran and North Korea that appear to be smarter than us in foreign policy...should I continue? It just feels to me like business is so hunkered down right now that the stock market gains of the past few months are just the calm ahead of the storm...and I really fear it is going to be another big storm...especially if the commercial real estate meltdown occurs...but good thing we flew Air Force 1 across the pond to pitch the Olympics to Chicago..... I wonder what other sports they could introduce if they IOOC would have placed it in Chicago...maybe gang wars...knife fights....political corruption...perhaps Acorn could have been the organizing Committee as they have done so well in other areas....

...which I think is the real wild card in this whole economy...and while so far the banks, REIT's, developers and government have been content to "kick the can down the road" there is only so much road to walk down before you hit a river, wall or pile of...ummm....manure....and while commercial real estate doesn't touch the homeowner's and ordinary consumer in quite the same way as residential real estate...it still is a much bigger thing than most of us think...and makes me glad that I am not over-invested in the stock market at this point...no more than 20% of my liquidity are in stocks...and I am sleeping better because of it...

...so with that I say to all of you nighty-night!

Two Lefft Feet

So here we are going out for pizza...after a fun day...and so we are walking down to the car...and Kathleen Atchley looks down at me as we exit the elevator...and notices something peculiar...illustrated above...so what does she see?

...She sees a dufus who has put on two different flip-flops to go out on the town...a very proud moment of my life...and not just two different flip-flops but both were the left one...of course our dear friends and my lovely bride have promised to never mock me over this faux pas...but then again they also said they would never mention my other major doofus moment...involving our small group friends in Morro Bay long ago...

...So I figured it would be better to just get it out there...admit I was a knucklehead...and then turn it into a witty story about being an entrepreneur...and that there was some great lesson I will extract and share with each of you...of making mistakes and bouncing back through it...or turning a "sows ear into a silk purse"...or something else...but really I just needed to say that I was a knucklehead...and sometimes that is really all you can say...and not much else...

But on the plane back stateside I had the opportunity to listen to a book summary that was really great...very useful and much that I agreed with...which is high praise for most books on entrepreneurship and small business management that I come across...


Never Bet The Farm was a great "read"...and I will soon read it in its entirety...and if any of you have been through it let me know your thoughts...but I put it right up there "Small Giants" and you all know how I feel about that great little book..

...So anyway, time to sign off...but what was that other great doofus moment...I mentioned earlier it was in Morro Bay...about ten years ago...and let's just say it involved the picture below...and that despite what some say...the price of good friends can sometimes be too much!...especially when you miscalculate the price of crab legs...boy I hope Albertsons found that bundle of legs in the poultry section...where I left it...

Are Christians Social Entrepreneurs?

Well as promised I am posting my recently completed research article on religious and social entrepreneurship. This is a topic that I have been thinking about since I attended the Skoll World Forum at the Said Business School in Oxford in 2007.

Go to this link and you should be able to access it.

http://www.scribd.com/share/upload/13426022/w5e3fy04m9p33sfgcyz

And if you are wondering about the picture...of those handsome and youthful men approaching the lovely young ladies...this is a cover from a magazine I read...a long long time ago...titled The Door...originally known as The Wittenberg Door...edited by (the late) Mike Yaconelli...probably the funniest Christian ever...who diligently labored to create the very small field known as Christian Satire...which few people ever understood...and Mike and The Door had a wit and wisdom that was inspiring to those of us who feel way too many people (aka Christians) have their undies cinched down too much...Yaconelli was prophetic in his own way...and I would highly recommend some of his books to you...

I hope some of you enjoy the article...and feel free to dialogue with me on your opinion!