Things to do in 2014

Wishlists and rankings.

I really do not like them and this time of the year, everybody is making their own "special recipe" with things to do to become a great man, a leader, to earn more money or simply to lose some weight.
I have seen a list of 26 (twentysix!!!) points required to be a better leader.
Probably the point number one should be "NEVER write a list of points to become a better leader".

But apparently to be a great Blogger you need to put down a list. And here I am.
In this Blog I want to list the things I would like to do to improve myself and, in all modesty, that I think everybody should try and implement.
Simple, clear and straight forward points.

Let us then decide how many of them though.
I think that 3 is the perfect number. Enough to remember all of them and to give most of the information. Also when doing my presentations I tend  not to list more than 3 things in one slide or to give three reasons why something works better than something else.
Trying to limit the number of items obliges you to think about what is really important.
It is clear that "give more time to your family" or "try to have an hobby" are good points to improve life quality. But everybody knows that and everybody tries to do this. So I took these things out of my list.
I managed to bring the list down to 4 points. This is the bare minimum.

4 things to do in 2014 to be a little happier.

1) Always follow what you think is right.

It looks something normal but it's not.
We must first understand WHAT we believe and what we think it's right. We need to understand WHO we are and WHY we are doing what we are doing. We need to leard how to communicate it and then stick to that.
If you want to behave differently you will not show your abilities and your best parts. You will be simply an actor playing a different role from what you really are.
Always remember: “If you can't do great things, do small things in a great way.”  

2) Mens sana in corpore sano (a healthy mind in a healthy body).

We need to keep our body fit. Not only doing some sport but eating properly. I was once told: "would you put gravel instead of fuel in your car? Well, by eating what we're eating today we are doing this with our body".
I sincerely think that we are overestimating our "healing capabilities" by not caring about ourselves at all. Until it's too late.
Then, once we are taking good care of our body let us focus on our mind. Read, listen and learn. Find one new thing to learn: a Language, a sport, a game, whatever, and do it.
Keep your "mind gears" well lubricated.

3) Semel in anno licet insanire (once in a year one is allowed to go crazy)

Do something crazy. One thing that you want to do and that you always postpone.
Do one of the things that you want to do before you die.

4) Celebrate the achievements

We are always setting our targets higher and higher and working hard to reach them. It is always a difficult road, paved with problems, hurdles and difficulties. But when you are able to win, when you are capable to go there you must celebrate. Have your celebrating time will allow you to be rewarded and restart full and motivated.


Here it is then. My first list and, in all fairness, I quite liked doing it.

Some of these points are included in this manifesto.
This is my present for a great and happy 2014.
See you soon

 

Resilience

The Wikidefinition of Resilience is the ability of a material to absorb energy when it is deformed elastically, and release that energy upon unloading.
This has been the definition that I studied during my University times.
Then I started working and Resilience changed from being a Material characteristic to being a PERSONAL characteristic.
Books, meetings and presentations made me understand the meaning of this new meaning for Resilience and the importance of this attitude to succeed achieving your targets (see my Post "Persevere").

But last Sunday I have clearly understood what it means.
First Half Marathon of my life. Good conditions, slightly cold (around zero deg.C) and great view of the mountains around.
This has been my "running target" for this year and to reach this I have trained early in the morning or late at night regardless the weather conditions. Well, I tried my best to be prepared and FINISH the race. 
Finish my first half marathon.
750 people were at the startline ready to run 21km (and some meters) around a beautiful Belluno. 

750 normal people and some real athletes ready to prove themselves they could do it. 
That they could arrive or run faster than last year: simply everybody had a WHY to have moved from other cities, other countries even to be there on a freezing Sunday morning dressed with a red shirt ready to run.

And during the race there were difficult moments, bad feelings, things not working fine but also other runners that helped keeping the right pace or giving some piece of advice to help out of the crisis.
The more you're getting close to the end, the more you are alone though.
And then the last three km are the worst. I was tired, my legs heavy and feet soaring. I am definitely not a real runner and I was clearly feeling that.
But, finally I could see the finish line. Go, go, go, slightly faster to finish propely the race.
Then... no, although the finish line was at 20meters we had to do 1 more km going around the town first down and then uphill.
one km, one thousand meters. After having run 20km. I was completely out of fuel.
Resilience is the ability of a material to absorb energy when it is deformed elastically, and release that energy upon unloading.
I was "deformed" (my feet definitely were) and I had to release the energy, the last energy I had coming out of this.
And that was a real understanding of it.
Now I can say that I am an Halfmarathon finisher (1h 54min... not an athlete yet) and that I know quite well what resilience means.

As usual it is a question of setting targets and work to get there with passion and belief. 
No excuses. No "I do not have time". No "I will do it tomorrow".
As usual a question of people and to give them targets that they can achieve even if there is a "last minute problem". 
And, at the end, sit down and appreciate you have reached your target. 
Then set another one.
Need to stay alive. Need to set the next step and work to reach this. Need to enjoy this.

Next step... 30 km. Bellunofeltrerun

This is my next "running target".
I should probably avoid the thousand of calories that we will have during the dinners on next days. I should, I do not know if I will.
Happy Christmas to everybody

Tell me WHY

It's still a tough time. Though people start being optimistic and there is apparently some positive trend.
It is now time to push the throttle and continue promoting your strategy and ideas.

My recent posts always put the accent on the NEED of having a strategy and to continuously pursue it but are we sure that we know what a strategy is?

I have started having this doubt after a read a post of an ex colleague that was referring to a book written by Simon Sinek "Start with WHY".
Frankly speaking I didn't have a clue about who is Simon Sinek and then I read his BIO. You can find it clicking HERE.
Well, interesting guy and with good ideas and capable to communicate quite well.

Something to learn here!
Being curious, I immediately checked a TED Talk that he made and that you can find here

I can summarize this video in three titles:

1) What you do and how you do it is important but make you no different from the others
2) Marketing message is crucial... we must tell WHY you do things and find "linke minded people" to spread this message and "like minded customers" to buy your strategy
3) There is, according the "law of diffusion of innovation", a tipping point that will make your strategy going from "shared among friends" to "shared everywhere" (or almost).

So... does it mean that willing to have a great product and being the "best one" in the business IS NOT A STRATEGY? Is "WE WANT TO DO" not a strategy?

Well that's tough point to understand. That's a tough point to understand on a "me too" society, where going to a supermarket you can find 100 different types of shampoo.

But it is true. You can be in the business, even survive or grow in the business telling people how good you are in manufactoring products, the products as usual, and how good are your products but you will never be the leader.

It is not that simple though to BELIEVE in something.

Most of all

to clearly TELL PEOPLE what you believe
to PROVE PEOPLE what you believe is right
to PRODUCE THE TOOLS  (or products) that will BE ACCORDING TO WHAT YOU BELIEVE.
to TELL EVERYBODY that you have already "early adopters" that used it and it was good

need a team that is fully involved and that must be a "like minded team".
If this is not the case the message will always be diluted and without a clear and precise  message you cannot reach the tipping point. This famous 15% that will have your "early majority" users (1/3 of the market) start using your solution and paying back your investment.
People don't buy what you do but WHY you do it.
Products, technology, target markets are just ways to reach the strategy.

Ideas
People
Communication
Products

Ingredients are always the same
Recipe is different
Results will the different

Have a nice week end

Assemble or Produce?

I must thank everybody's reading my posts.

So far this blog has been read almost 1600 times, but what is really great for me is that some of the people that read it contacted me to comment and to give me some more ideas for new posts.

This confirms what I once read... if you have something to say, you will find someone that will listen.

One of the recent chat I had with a colleague of mine about my last post was about the fact that what I am writing is not "produced" by myself but I am assembling ideas of others.

That's a good point indeed.
Is this reducing the impact or the meaning of what I am writing?
Well, I am not so sure. Let's put it in this way...

The company I work with is assembling components made by others (even though we are still manufactoring some of the key components that our competitor are buying outside) but we are continuously innovating and differentiating.
The clear strategy we have is to approach in a different way the market to give to the customers SOLUTIONS to increase the efficiency of the system, to improve the indoor air quality and to reduce the total life cycle cost.
But we are doing this assembling components that are made by others.
Where's the secret then?
The secret lays on HOW WE ASSEMBLE the components and HOW WE COMMUNICATE our ideas.

Well, that's also what I am doing. I am assembling in MY OWN WAY what I read, hear and see from others.

If I must be frank, the real reason why I am  keeping this Blog, beside the fact that I like doing this, is to try and learn and put down in a tidy way what I gather from others in order to share it with everybody.

"Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others" and to grow yourself you must ALWAYS study, listen, look and learn.

At the moment I try to be a good assembler and this allows me to use, AGAIN, a quote from Mr.Jack Welch.

In one of his books, Winning, there's a good point. “You are not a leader to win a popularity contest – you are a leader to lead”

No reason to assemble for the sake of showing you are good.

Assemble to learn, to share and to give some ideas.

Ah, before going... I would like, like millions others, to remember Nelson Mandela BUT in a different way. I am sure he would have liked this, still modern after 73 years...

Have a nice week end

Sorry... NO!!!

Everytime we are getting close to Holidays, things are always going crazy.

On the last weeks of the year it's time to make some reality checks and I hope to try and fix the last things.

In the "time management secrets", having a clear idea of:

1) where you want to go
2) when you want to arrive
3) how to go there
4) where we should check the developments
5) which are the results you expect

is crucial to define the priorities and therefore to identify WHAT is ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY to do and WHEN.

Writing down, better, handwriting down your targets is generally the best thing to do.

Handwrite is something that has been forgotten but implies some activities that allow your mind to properly concentrate.

All the preparation phase, taking pencil and paper and starting from the white paper obliges you to make an effort to imagine the complete picture.

When you start writing down, you must create the story, follow the Whole process and finally read it again.

And then... you can judge if your plan is ok based on...

 

 

And then, once you have a GOOD, HANDWRITTEN, SIMPLE AND WELL DESCRIBED PLAN what will happen?

Now another point comes out. It's like in the videogames.
When you destroy a monster, the next one is always more difficult.

Impelementation is now the point.
And implementation needs:

1) TIME
2) FOCUS
3) RESILIENCE

I think, or better, I HOPE that your working life is like mine.
I start the day knowing what I should do and then routine things happen. The famous activities URGENT NOT STRATEGIC.
You can infact divide the activities in

-URGENT STRATEGIC
-URGENT NOT STRATEGIC
-NON URGENT NON STRATEGIC
-NON URGENT BUT STRATEGIC

Having said that everybody should run away from the activities non urgent non strategic and focus on the strategic ones, the urgency always wins.

And also the human nature goes that direction as the "sense of satisfaction" that you have when you solve an urgent problem is one of the things that make yourself feeling happy.

But is this what you SHOULD do?
Maybe not
But this is what everybody ask you to do... quickly please.
Now we enter into "delegation" discussions that are probably too long to be dealt here.
The real point here is that we must start saying NO.

There are even discussions on how to make it. THIS IS one of them.

This is also another link http://lifehacker.com/a-scientific-guide-to-saying-no where it is explained how and why.

This is a difficult task. Not a question to be impolite. Just a question to TIMELY AND EFFECTIVLY reach your targets.

Have a nice week end with the SANTAKLAUS running in Pedavena. Warm up!

 

As time goes by

Saturday morning is MY morning.
I am using it to try and do things I like among which there's also writing on my Blog.

I had a chat this morning with a friend. We were complaining about the fact that in the three months we will be travelling a lot and we will not have time to do our things. To try and get a life.

Try to be happy.

This is the point. And trying to be happy, for you and also for people that are with you, is quite difficult.
And this is not a question of being selfish. Being happy is not equal to selfish and the things that really count for you will only benefit of this.
To be happy though, you must have time to dedicate to things you like. To yourself, to your family to your passions.

You will never make ANYBODY HAPPY if your not happy yourself. And the point is to try and fix things that are going against this.

But the time is always the constraint.

I am a strong supporter of priorities and choices. Probably this is a direct consequence of my technical and engineering background. Quite schematic.

But not being able to decide the priorities, and consequently what must be done first and what after, will take you away from your target.
Stop being driven by the events. Put yourself in the driver seat.

This is a big change for most of us.
Being in the driver seat is a difficult target though.
You must decide what to do and what NOT to do. You must learn to say NO.
You must take the responsibility to that and to make somebody upset.

But what's the other choice?
Well... The other choice is that YOU WILL BE UPSET.

Time management is therefore a sort of initial step to try and be happier.

Choose what to do and what to be.

Set your Targets. Work to get them... and GO THERE.

DO IT

I like a lot this manifesto

This does not refer to Work only. This refer to everything.
The base is always the same though.

DECIDE WHAT YOU WANT TO BE

Enjoy your week end
 

GET OFFGRID

I personally think that the best way to save the resources is not to use them.

There are infact very few resources that are considered inexhaustible (will not run out in foreseeable future) – these are solar radiation, geothermal energy (that must be managed with care though), and air (though access to clean air may not be). The vast majority of resources are exhaustible, which means they have a finite quantity, and can be depleted if managed improperly.

The only solution is to use them when it is REALLY NECESSARY and to increase our overall efficiency.

I like the increased sense of "recycling" that is growing more and more in Italy and I am proud of Belluno, the province where I live, being the best Province in Italy.
However, even though the recycling is good, the energy required to re-use the products (glass, plastics, paper) is relatively high and the quality of the recycled component is normally low.

As it is a mountain area though, we have a lot to improve. We are still using a lot of wood and biomasses in general to heat our houses. But too many of them have a poor insulation.

Improving the Energy class from the typical values today (Primary energy required of about 250-300kWh/m2) to much efficient values (150 kWh/m2 can be achieved by insulating and changing the heating and domestic hot water system with a heat pump) would help reducing even the consumption of these biomasses and gas.

Going back to the discussion about decentralization that I made on my on of my recent Posts There always the sun.

The reduction of the requirements and the possibility to relocate the production of heating, electrical energy and every other need close to the area where it will be used will help improving the overall distibution efficiency.

A great idea, that seems coming out from an 80s post nuclear war scenario but is quite suitable to meet the above targets, is the OFFGRID BOX.

This container includes all the components to be self sufficient, or almost self sufficient, for:
1) Electricity
2) Domestic Hot water
3) Water

A DELOCALIZATION concept brought to the maximum level.

Check this video and see how it looks like.

Maybe not the solution to all the problems but a good start.
From Italy...

A Greataly idea!

Have a nice week end

 

 

 

The art of Candles

One of the ideas I had when I started my Blog was to use it as a possibility for the Italian Companies to show their presentation.

The first Company that has given me its presentation is the "Cereria Pernici" based in Bergamo.
It is a great pleasure for me to introduce this company that is mixing the typical Italian Style and Handicraft.

The factory was established in 1892 and has a story entirely familiar.

New shapes and colours, perfumes and fragrances are studied each year in the workshop in Bergamo (Italy) and the family, the heir of a more than centennial tradition, oversees all the phases of the production with utmost attention and care.
"Cereria Pernici" uses only high quality materials in the respect of the same tradition of excellence the founder taught them to pursue.

Thier candles are all handmade and produced with a long manufacturing process. Some imperceptible differences made by these particular procedures enrich our products and they are a precious guarantee of uniqueness for the consumer.

The pride to possess these creations, unique and precious, enchants our customers, spread in more than 60 countries all around the world and it is the asset that our family entrusts to our affectionate customers since 1892.

There are several different product lines that can be see at http://www.pernici.it/index.php?lang=en including a senses' path that Elena Pernici wanted to create and dedicate to body care, mind well-being and restoring massage gentleness.

Should you want to contact them, check the web or leave a message on this Blog.

Have a nice week




There's always the sun

It is known to everybody. Questa è la terra del sole! This is the land of sun, as an old song says.

And sun, with wind and water, has allowed Italy to reach a good percentage of renewable energy production.

In total 13,6% was deriving from hydroelectric and 10% from Geothermal, Photovoltaic and Wind.

 

 

The Photovoltaic percentage is growing and, even though I always thought this was not going to be an option for the production of energy, it looks like I was wrong. The fact is that I grew up with some prejudices.

1) a sustainable technology is the one that does not need financial help

2) a good energy source is what is available when you need it

3) a good energy source can be stored

In reality photovoltaic is not ticking any of these boxes.

 

The first one is probably the quicker to achieve but mainly because the oil extraction is becoming more expensive and less efficient, the oil price is leveled relatively high and the solar cells are produced in a low cost country that, maybe, is giving some help to become the main (I wanted to say the sole) manufactorer.

But who cares... Machiavelli said "the end justifies the means" and our target is to increase the renewable energy production.

Target achieved.

Now some other challenges open before us.

1) we still need to increase the energy efficiency of our system. Starting from the houses (in western Europe 70% of the buildings are built before 1980) and going to the transports.

2) we need to find a way to store the solar energy.

I know about new batteries for PV being developed.

Is there anybody having some information?

I always thought that fuel cells could have been the solution. Store solar energy by generating Hydrogen. I am probably too optimistic though.

This is the key issue. Solving this limit will further boost the solar generation and will also change completely the energy production strategy. Decentralization. Istead of having power plants serving big areas, we will have local plants serving cities, towns, blocks. Less transport losses. Better control.

Clearly we will not be able to generate this

 

 

 

but it will be sufficient for a more sustainable development.

But then, another big challenge starts.

What are we doing with the current powerplants?

 

We are already facing this as, due to the crisis and to the unexpected quick raise of the renewable, the italian thermal power plants are woriking below the "phisiological level". This level is the one that allows to be repaid whithin the budgeted period and therefore to repay who has financed the structure.

 

Less need, less energy, less money.

 

The solution that has been put forward is simple... Let us put the burden on the enrgy bill as an extra tax. So in our bills we should pay for the Nuclear powerplants that have been discontinued, to sustain the renewable energy and also to sustain the non renewable that have been replaced by the renewable sustained by ourselves. Isn't that silly?

What about turning our life from being oil driven to be electricity driven?

What about replacing the gas burners with heatpumps? What about increase the electric transport?

Maybe someone will tell me "yes, but you have signed contracts saying that you must buy a certain minimum quantity of oil and gas". Maybe. Maybe not. But in this case we need to plan for our future. Possibily more sustainable.

 

Have a nice week end. Hopefully with a lot of sun

 

 

Too many choices... no choice

VERONA, one of the most beautiful cities of the world.
Besides the Arena, the Juliet balcony and all the "touristic attractions" what I like of Verona is the atmosphere. A mix of new and old, roman theater with Venetian style squares with "high Street" style shops.
And, clearly, the shopping part is one of the main attraction for "my better half"... my wife.

We were there with some friends and we decided to go and look for a restaurant.
I took out my mobile and started surfing and checking on Trip Advisor. Despite some recent facts that ruined the reputation of Trip Advisor, I usually choose the restaurant and hotels after a quick check there.
So... around Piazza delle Erbe...

this wonderful place where to have a drink, there are tens of restaurants and pizzerias. We looked at them, checked them and discussed whether that was a good one and at the end we ended up going to the usual one, the "Trattoria alla Colonna" that is known for its cotoletta.

This made me think about the incredible choice we have today in all the aspect of your life.

It is something that is creating expectations and a continuous sense of "not being satisfied" because the other choice was probably better.

But also there's a waste of time. What shall I buy? What shall I choose? Is it the right choice?
And this aspect is delaying the decision.

There is a great video of Barry Schwartz about this point that is explaning this effect quite well.

Clearly I am not as good as Barry Schwartz but I do basically agree on what he says. On every point he's raised. Even the Blue Jeans even though, I must say, my style is slightly different from his.

What I am currently experiencing is the same effect also on my work.

For a salesman having too many choices leads to not being able to focus on anything and always to try and find someone that had got something more.
People are not satisfied and stressed because they have too many things to sell and they're never enough.

-No specialization
-No knowledge
-No expertise

But also this is a bad sign of the current strategy of the companies.

Everybody is offering the same thing with some small little variations. Some details. Everybody swimming in the same red sea. Everybody eating each other and fighting on... price.

The  book "Blue ocean strategy" is a good manual to find how to get out of this deadly loop.

This is also part of the strategy. Product strategy, management strategy, development strategy.

Few things. Be different. Be happy.

 

2...000 is the magic number

It is a fact that today we are consuming more resources than what we have available.

This has been the effect of a 150 years development that has used the fossil resources to an extent that made everything EASY AND APPARENTLY COST FREE (at least in this part of the world).

August 20th 2013 was this year's OVERSHOOT DAY, marking the date when humanity exhausted nature’s budget for the year. We are now operating in overdraft. For the rest of the year, we will maintain our ecological deficit by drawing down local resource stocks and accumulating carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
As this condition is a result of more than 150 years development, we cannot expect to change it overnight.
It would be like braking a car running at 350km/h in 1 meter... without seatbelts.

Clearly it is a process that will be long. Hopefully not too long as time is not infinite.

The main point is to reduce our energy need and, finally, try and limit our fossil fuels dependence.
As I highlighted on my last blog

1) EFFICIENCY AND ENERGY SAVING (starting from buildings)
2) USE OF RENEWABLE ENERGY both electrical (like photovoltaic) and Thermal (like heat pumps)
are two key points that would allow our energy footprint to reduce.

BUT BEWARE!!!

This does not mean to worsen our life quality. Innovation must develop to help us doing this.
We must simply reduce what is thrown away.

There is a great project ongoing in Switzerland in this respect.
It's called 2000W society (http://www.2000watt.ch/). It targets to reduce the energy requirement per person from the actual 6000W to 2000W that is the energy level that would be sustaionable for an equal and even distribution Worldwide.

It will be a long process. I am sure we will be able to go there and we cannot stop going that direction.

Whichever different thought would mean that we think it's over and...

There are small things that we can start doing though.

One exemple is the bottled water.

Not disputing the taste and the quality of the water that, normally, are good both for bottled water and for tap water, I invite you to follow me in this quick calculation.

Italy is drinking an average 184 liters of bottled water per year i.e. 123 bottles of 1,5 liters.
Every bottle weights 0,04 kg so we need an average of 5kg plastic per year per person that we throw away. Everyone of us.

Now the point.

To produce 5kg of plastic we need:

1) 10 kg of oil (63kWh of primary energy)
2) 87,5 liters of water (every kg of PET needs 17,5 kg of water)

And I am not counting what is required to transport them.
Then we throw it away

This video will probably be more explanatory...

Cheers
Have a nice week end
 

IT COULD WORK!!!

It is true.

People living in small towns or villages are spoiled. It is easy to reach everything. And, even though we always complain, we are not wasting so much time commuting.

India is the maximum exemple of this. Time is not measured in minutes. It is measured in hours. Whichever distance you have to cover in a big town, regardless is 8am or 11pm, will take hours. One two three... Nobody knows.

Unfortunately, this is also happening in Europe. My last trip to Paris was a good example. 6km. I can run 6km in less than 30min.

But I was well equipped. A VW golf, a good navi system, traffic control to suggest the best routes to reach the goal. 6,5km.

Departure time 18.00.

Go.......

I have been given thousands of info, of suggestions that I have followed precisely. 6,5km. C'mon.

And looking around me there were hundreds (probably thousands) of cars going moving like in rails. 20km/h. Stop. Change line. 20km/h. Stop.

I reached the goal at 19.10.

1hour and 10 min. If I'd run I could have taken also a shower.

 

Yes the result was very nice (not so much the food) but it needed some energy.

 

 

In a scarcity society (that is a concept that should be well developed), TIME is today one of the most important resources.
How many of you are not able to do something "because I do not have time". How many are staying in the office longer because time is never enough?
This will probably need a post on its own. There are hundreds of "time thieves" every day. We need to properly use our time.

 

Is it queing in a motorway the right way?

Is it good to waste liters of fuel and hours of life in your car, maybe alone, talking with your hands free device?

Accepting this means that we do not realize how important is to reduce the energy consumptions and maximize our efficiency.

I am not commenting the SUVs stuck in the traffic or the big engines car that were slower than myself running. I was impressed though when I read that the average speed for a car during its life is around 50km/h and I was wondering about the real need of these. But this is part of the personal happiness and there are some nice muscled cars that I would like to drive.

I am commenting the huge waste of energy and of resources that are burnt every working day queing and doing nothing. Human energy, fossil energy, mental energy.

 

Not renewable energies

This is probably not sustainable for very long time. Probably it is not sustainable already. We need to start thinking about how to be more efficient.

Starting from everybody's house . It is probably the simplest thing. And is does not mean to live like into a monastry. I think that technology today must be used to improve the efficiency of your life and of things around your life.

- Insulation

- clever use of energy

- use of heat pumps and Photovoltaics/Thermal solar

are some of the possibilities we have to reduce our CO2 impact. And have a modern, confortable and long lasting home whose value will be high for long time.

Are these too expensive? Is it something only Rich people can afford?

Well no. If we properly value the time and the energy that we are daily wasting.

We must start doing something before it is too late.

 

Technology is available. Knowledge as well.

 

 

 

Now it is up to everybody to suggest how to make it.

That is all for today. Maybe I have been slightly negative. But I was "kidnapped" in an airport for 8 hours after having been trapped in the traffic.

Far too much for a mountain guy. Looking forward arriving to his small and quiet village among the mountains.

I would appreciate you input this time.

What can we do to make our life less "energy eater"?

Have a nice week end

Persevere

TOR DE GEANTS

This is possibly one of the hardest races in the world.

330km with 24.000mt positive altitude range

These two figures give you the idea about what is this running race.
Yes, you must run!
And this year 706 people from all over the world started this challenge and 383 finished it within the max time.
I have started looking at this type of races (just looking though) after I read a nice book. Again in Italian...
PERSEVERARE E' UMANO (Pietro Trabucchi).

This book is about motivation or, better, self motivation. Pietro Trabucchi is a psychologist that is active in the study of sport performances. He's been following as a doctor, but also as an athlete, some of the most phenomenal "extreme runners" (it is a shame that nobody knows them) like Bruno Brunod or Jean Pellissier.

I am not a Psychologist. In reality I really could never understand Psycology even though in my life I must behave often more as a moral support than an engineer or a salesman (or maybe a salesman MUST be a psychologist). I found in that book, though, quite some communalities with my ideas.

The key point is MOTIVATION, DRIVE.
This is the real difference that is making us developing. To persevere in what we think is the right direction.

Clearly this means that:

1) we have a CLEAR target
2) we know what we must do to reach this target

Too many times today we continuously change our ideas or our strategy simply because we are proceeding through trial and error.

NO CLEAR TARGET, NO DIRECTION, NO CHECK POINTS.

What is even more important is that, according to Trabucchi, we are today living with some myths that are completely wrong:

1) Talent
2) Luck
3) External motivators

This is clearly valid for sports but we can also consider this true for your working life.

Some people are today using these myths as excuses for not being able to reach their targets.
I am not saying that Lionel Messi is not talented. I am saying that EVERYBODY MUST SET THEIR TARGETS and fight to reach them.

Are people doing Tor de Géants different or more talented from who's doing the "Camino de Compostela" (800km walking)? NO, THEY HAVE SIMPLY A DIFFERENT TARGET.

We are today confused by this continuous competition area.
This is giving bad input to people. In the Tor de Géants race the target is, first of all, to FINISH IT.

BE A FINISHER.

Try to get close to the limits and not be afraid of being scared is something goes wrong. Just be scared, check where you are and correct the mistakes.
Then start again with great personal motivation and focus on the target.

Are Coaches useless? Clearly not. But they can only show the direction.
TARGET and PERSONAL MOTIVATION is something personal.
In sport and in life.
Sometimes being a finisher is much important of being the champion.
Expecially if you have managed to reach your targets according to your plan.

Have a nice week end.

People always get used to beauty, though.

I always thought that people get used to beauty. And today, surfing the internet, I found that also a good writer, John Green has the same idea.

And this is also what I thought last week, when, unfortunately , it was everything but a beautiful day.
It was raining and that was one of the typical days in which you start understanding that summer's over and now it is time to start wearing your raincoat.
We decided to go to a new museum. The MUSE in Trento.
Designed by a great Italian architect, Renzo Piano, this is part of a bigger former industrial area that has been completely transformed called Le Albere.

This is at the foothill of the mountains and, in its modern development, it is designed not to take the scene to the majesty of the Dolomites (the mountains that are in that area) but to properly mix with the nature thanks also to the high quality of the finishing that is minimising the consumptions.
It is using local materials, the same wood that you can use in the old houses built in that area. And the same wood that was used in the Paganini's violins and in this fantastic speaker set.

Everything was build with the same concept:

-use local materials
-create something that is not "shouting" but that is well placed in the environement.

Everything not to take the attention out from the natural beauty that is all around and that, after a while, people do not see anymore.

This is where I live. That's what I can see (almost) every morning. (Not today... unfortunately it's raining for the week end, again!)
There is no artifact, no human product that will be able to compete with the natural beauty of these mountains.
So, the only possibility is to produce, to build, to create things that are helping the natural beauty to be well appreciated.
This is normal for me. I often do not even see what's around as I am also used to that beauty.
But I am lucky enough to have guest from all the world and they are opening my eyes, often closed and looking at the daily problems.

And thank to the people that give respect to this natural masterpiece, people like me should remember that we need to always give the importance to this.

Is this art? It probably is. Not the art as we commonly think about but still art. Something that we must take inspiration from and not destroy.

And most of all, art that we must Always remember to properly appreciate.
This year is the 50th anniversary of one of the most tragic events that happened in this area. The flooding of a massive area on the Piave river. This is the tragedy of the Vajont Dam. You can have a look at the story clicking on this link.

On 12 February 2008 UNESCO cited the Vajont Dam tragedy as one of five "cautionary tales", caused by "the failure of engineers and geologists".

We should always remember this.

Never try to win the Nature. Just help the Nature being appreciated.


That's all for today. I just want to finish with a link to a TOP GEAR episode. This is my favourite one. Jeremy Clarkson is presenting one of the most Amazing Italian Cars. The ALFA ROMEO 8C. Pure art.

 

Back to the roots

Pasta al pomodoro

Yes, Pasta al pomodoro is the food I mostly miss when I am abroad.

And the recipe is quite simple. I still remember my grandma preparing it.

A little bit of onion, one carrot and celery.

Then olive oil, tomatoes and basil.

You chop a slice of onion, the carrot and the celery together and you put it in the olive oil that is already warm. Few minutes with fire veeeeery low until the onion is light brown and then you put the canned tomatoes and you wait.

You see it starting bubbling, always at low fire stirring every now and then for some time until the oil starts been on the surface and the sauce is thick enough to be able to stay attached to the pasta.

Then the magic touch... Basil...

And that was starting at 8.00am and when I was child I had my milk and cereals with the pomodoro sauce bubbling in the background.

But that's Italy and I have a golden rule. NEVER expect finding something similar to Italy when you are abroad. And this is valid mostly for food. Not that the local foods are bad but the Italian food outside Italy is simply not the right one.

And once, a colleague of mine tried what I had told him to avoid. He tried to order a pasta al pomodoro during a business trip. I will not tell you what he received te comments that followed. But that was obvious. This was not their recipe. Not their cup of tea.

This allowed me to taste some delicious plates. Tajin in Morocco, Dahl in India even a well prepared Huggies in Scotland!

These were simply perfect. The right food in the right place.

Although the recipe is quite simple infact, to prepare the right Pomodoro sauce you need the right ingredients someone that has taught you how to put it together and experience.

This exemple came in my mind this week, during a meeting.

I had a meeting with my salesforce discussing about some opportunities they had.

One of the remarks I got from a lot of them was that we were missing some types of units because in one job they could not quote with what we had.

Always looking for what is missing and not arriving to the top of what is available. Being the best in a specific area is today crucial, more crucial that having everything and being one of the many swimming in a red ocean.

Most of the companies, expecially italian companies, must work as a corner store.
With their resources, that are limited, they must focus on one thing doing it very well.

And in today's world this is part of the strategy.

Clear cut choices. Unless you are a big name like NIKE, APPLE, SAMSUNG (but sometimes even if you are such a big name) you cannot be everything for everybody.

Simply identify where you can be the best, what you must have in term of tools and the IMPLEMENT everything.

IDEAS, TOOLS, PEOPLE

TOMATOES, A PAN AND MY GRANDMOTHER

Buon appetito

Who is gonna save the world?

During last years the "disaster theory" has been growing bigger and bigger.
We are threatening the world and we must behave properly in order to avoid the worst.

"Sustainability", "Environment friendly" all these words have been bubbling in all the normal things that we are using and buying every day.

What has happened then? Well, not very much.
We have simply done the USUAL THINGS a little better.
Is it the right way?

"If you keep on doing what you've always done, you'll keep on getting what you've always got"

This quote is clearly not mine. Actually I do not know who said this and even Internet is quite confused on this.
However explains quite well the point. By doing always the same things, even a little better, we will NOT be able to take a great step forward. A step forward as great as we would need.

So what... you would say.

The secret is SPECIALIZATION. That's the key word.

Quite a strange word though.

To try and explain what I mean I usually think about this picture that was an old (time's running fast) ad by Pirelli.

Carl Lewis is wearing a great pair of shoes! They are surely shoes but are they the BEST ONES for what he's supposed to do?
Are we in the position to use equipments, whichever equipment we are talking about, that are the same EVERYWHERE in the world and for EVERY USE?

The answer is...
NO!
And even though it is clear that we cannot multiply all equipments taking into consideration all the uses and users, we must try to optimize them.

In a word, we must change something.

Recently, a Crowdspeaking program called Phoneblocks was launched.

 

 

This is a great idea, that has also been linked to environmental issues (I am not so convinced that there is a real envioronmental reason for that).

But the key point is, let us have a device that is doing exactly what I need and I like.
A phone that is SPECIALIZED in doing what I need and that I like.

In my working life I am dealing with hundreds of salesmen, engineers, of consultants and users that understand that what they are currently doing is not the best solution.

They are understanding the different solutions that I am giving them but then, when we are trying to see if this can be used according to the "normal" rules, we are not able to find a way to fit them. And then, going the "usual way" is the simplest, quickest and safest way.

After several years I spent trying to be a "missionary" and proposing something different to:

1) save a lot of money
2) save a lot of energy

I finally found the answer to the question "Who is gonna save the world".

Who dares to change the "usual way" to do things.

Difficult, time consuming, dangerous but incredibly effective.