BUSINESS: CEO and Chairman of the Board

A lot of discussion this year and last year about the mix of both functions: CEO and Chairman of the Board. Knowledge@Wharton published an interesting article in its last release (19 Mai - 1 June).

Interesting in the way that some people by Wharton think that there is no evidence the separation between the CEO's and the Chairman of the Board's position improves corporate performance. Actually, 377 companies of the Standard & Poor's 500 index are still managed by only one person as CEO and chairperson.

Michael Useem
Many people would believe that, if nothing else, you diffuse power to some extent and decrease the probability of a scandal by separating the chairperson and CEO positions. But that doesn't mean you will have great business results.

On average, it's neither here nor there in terms of financial performance if a company separates those roles. But when companies are distressed, the market looks for a separation of those two roles as a sign of good governance or certainly a commitment to restore lost luster and the earnings that go with that.

Whenever you have a company where the founder is still in the company, like Siebel, he may have given up the CEO title, but don't kid yourself, he's still running the place. That's a split in name only because his personality is such that he is unlikely to stay out of it. It's similar to Microsoft. Gates and Ballmer split roles, but they had been a team for a long time and they're still a team. The split changed responsibilities, but Gates still plays a day-to-day role, especially in product development.

WEEK-END: in the country

I was today with my family in the country. As usual, a very restful and "fresh-your-mind" moment :-) Nice "meetings" with some cows (they always give the impression not to be very clever), a donkey (they are definitely smart) and two trees lost in the middle of a field.

BLOG: site migration almost finished

So, after having invested some hours in my hosting migration, I am almost finished :-)
I must say, I was completely unprepared for this move, let me sumarize the steps. Could be useful for some of you ;-)

Choice of a new web-hosting provider

My site and weblog were hosted before by free.fr, which is, as indicated in the name, a free hosting provider, linked, logically, with limited possibilities. I decided to move to OVH, a quite well-known web-site hosting provider in France. The solution I choose is the 240GP PLAN. This package costs 65& euro; (incl. VAT) per year for the following characteristics:

• shared hosting


• operating system: Linux


• guaranteed availibility: 24x7, 99.9%


• OVH's bandwidth: 1 GB


• disk space: 240 MB


• unlimited traffic (data volume)


• maximum number of daily hits: 45 000


• Perl, C, Python and PHP (v4.3.6) supported


• private FTP access


• statistics: access to the raw web logs, Urchin


• POP/IMAP accounts (25 MB per account and 10 MB per email limit): 8 Emails


• webmail access


• SMTP server


• MySQL database: 1


• maximum number of simultaneous connections: 3


• unlimited disk space for SQL data


• disk space occupied by the MySQL bases, POP/IMAP accounts and logs files is not counted in the quota of disk space allocated


• domain names not included

The transfert process

I decided to move the entire web site "as-it-is", with exactly the same structure. So, with a FTP transfert and the new definition in the DNS (duration of the propagation: about 24 hours in my case), I was mainly done (with few changes in some URLs).
I had then to change quite a lot of options in blogger. The FTP directory changes were specially annoying....

Google & Page Ranking, search engines

After having searched information for such kind of transfer case (no domain change, hosting/DNS move, same web-site structure), I opted for redirections commands in the .htaccess file by free.fr. Free.fr allows very limited possibilities (no URL rewriting) in this field. The .htaccess file looks like:

redirect 301 /home.htm http://www.didierbeck.com/home.htm
redirect 301 /index.html http://www.didierbeck.com/index.html
redirect 301 /about_me.htm http://www.didierbeck.com/about_me.htm
.....

The "301" code tells the search engine (as the browsers ;-) that the requested resource has been permanently moved.
"The requested resource has been assigned a new permanent URI and any future references to this resource SHOULD use one of the returned URIs."

Generally speaking, URL-rewriting is ok, as redirection in the .htaccess file or in a PHP header. As usual, javascript and META tag should be avoided!

Let's see in a few weeks if this method actually worked efficiently :-)

BUSINESS: Corporate Entrepreneurship (14) - Jim Collins' thoughts part VI a

After the "Level 5 Leader", "First who, then what", "The Hedgehog concept" and the "Confront the brutal facts" concepts, let's have a look at the way how to build a company's vision.

Do you know what is core and what not?

The fundamental distingushing dynamic of enduring great companies is that they preserve a cherished core ideology while simultaneously stimulating progress and change in everything that is not part of the core ideology.



The most enduring and successful corporations distinguish their timeless core values and enduring core purpose (which should never change) from their operating practices and business strategies (which should be changing constantly in response to a changing world).

What is your vision?

A well conceived vision consists of two major components – core ideology and an envisioned future. Notice the direct parallel to the fundamental “preserve the core/stimulate progress” dynamic. A good vision builds on the interplay between these two complementary Yin-and-Yang forces; it defines:
“what we stand for and why we exist”
that does not change (the core ideology) and sets forth
“what we aspire to become, to achieve, to create”
that will require significant change and progress to attain (the envisioned future).

TOOLS: new release of Skype

A new release (v0.98.0.04) of Skype war released on last Tuesday.

Skype v0.98.0.04

BUSINESS: Corporate Entrepreneurship (13) - Jim Collins' thoughts part V

So, we already talked about the three Jim Collins' concepts:

• Level 5 Leader


• First who, then what


• The Hedgehog concept

It is now time to have a look at confronting the brutal facts of reality...

In confronting the brutal facts, the good-to-great companies left themselves stronger and more resilient, not weaker and more dispirited. There is a sense of exhilaration that comes in facing head-on the hard truths and saying. “ We will never give up. We will never capitulate. It might take a long time, but we will find a way to prevail”. On the one hand, they stoically accepted the brutal facts of reality. On the other hand, they maintained an unwavering faith in the endgame, and a commitment to prevail as a great company despite the brutal facts. We came to call this duality the Stockdale Paradox.



Who is Mr. Jim Stockdale?
[This] name refers to Admiral Jim Stockdale, who was the highest ranking United States military officer in the “Hanoi Hilton” prisoner-of-war camp during the height of the Vietnam War. Tortured over 20 times during his eight-year imprisonment from 1965 to 1973, Stockdale lived out the war without any prisoner's rights, no set release date, and no certainty as to whether he would even survive to see his family again. He shouldered the burden of command, doing everything he could to create conditions that would increase the number of prisoners who would survive unbroken, while fighting an internal war against his captors and their attempts to use the prisoners for propaganda.

An extract of an interview from Jim Collins of Jim Stockdale:

Mr. Stockdale
“I never lost faith in the end of the story. I never doubted not only that I would get out, but also that I would prevail in the end and turn the experience into the defining event of my life, which, in retrospect, I would not trade.”

Mr. Collins
“Who didn’t make it out?”

Mr. Stockdale
“Oh, that’s easy, the optimists.
This is a very important lesson. You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end—which you can never afford to lose—with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.”

The moment a leader allows himself to become the primary reality people worry about, rather than reality being the primary reality, you have a recipe for mediocrity, or worse. A short story about Winston Churchill could help to illustrate this point:

Winston Churchill understood the liabilities of his strong personality, and he compensated for them beautifully during the Second World War. Churchill, as you know, maintained a bold and unwavering vision that Britain would not just survive, but prevail as a great nation. [...] Armed with this bold vision, Churchill never failed, however, to confront the most brutal facts. He feared that his towering, charismatic personality might deter bad news from reaching him in its starkest form. So, early in the war, he created an entirely separate department outside the normal chain of command, called the Statistical Office, with the principal function of feeding him—continuously updated and completely unfiltered—the most brutal facts of reality. He relied heavily on this special unit throughout the war, repeatedly asking for facts, just the facts. As the Nazi panzers swept across Europe, Churchill went to bed and slept soundly: “I…had no need for cheering dreams,” he wrote.

"Facts are better than dreams."

BLOG: site migration (ONLY hosting)

Umh....you had perhaps some problems to access my website and / or with syndication.
I'm sorry, I'm moving my site to a "real" hoster ;-) And I have underestimated the effort requested by the migration.

Sorry for the inconvenience!

NEWS: Extension Google Deskbar planned

Since a couple of weeks, I posted a short article about the Google deskbar, which I am using quite intensively. This Windows tool allows to search the Internet without opening a Web browser. It integrates a small search bar within the Windows toolbar (it can be also used as a line calculator). The results are showed in a small window near the toolbar.

A recent article in New York Times said that Google could launch a new version of the Deskbar which will allow to search files locally on the HD's (as a kind of Windows "search"). The ability to search local files would be a logical addition to this existing Google Deskbar. Microsoft plans to integrate this type of functionality in Longhorn (launch in 2006).

NEWS: extensive and interesting article about Skype

If you are interested in VoIP and Skype, let's have a look at this extensive MIT Technology Review article:

Skype beyond the Hype

NEWS: Fahrenheit 9/11 has won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Festival

Incredible...Michael Moore's controversial anti-Bush documentary Fahrenheit 9/11 has won the prestigious Palme d'Or best film award at the Cannes festival!

Tarantino said when he was on stage with Moore on Saturday night to present the award, he told the director politics had nothing to do with the choice. "I just whispered in his ear and said, 'I just want you to know it was not because of the politics that you won this award, you won it because we thought it was the best film that we saw.'"

Umh....ok ok :-)

TOOLS: The Panorama Factory v3.2 from Smoky City Design

I tested here different panoramic stitching products. I got a very good impression of The Panorama Factory v3.2 from Smoky City Design.

After some intensive tests and more than 10 days of usage, I decided to buy this product ($59.95), which is really great.

TOOLS: blogging, RSS and Sauce Reader

Since about 10 days now (see this post), I am using Sauce Reader from Synop.
I had at this time a good feeling/first impression concerning the tool, and, I must say, I am quite convinced about it. Great interface, very active development team, some good ideas. You can find the last realease here (free for personal use):

Sauce Reader v1.4.1

For me, the best tool on MS platform at this time :-) Let's see how the competitors will move on.

Laurent is also testing intensively the tool. His impression here, and an explanation how to configure Sauce Reader for blogging on .Text (I got really no problem to configure the Blogger part ;-).

NEWS: have a look...

Have a look here: a very nice and design way to have the right time ;-)



via Loïc.

PRIVATE: I was here today

I was here today - a pond near Suarce in France, very restful day with the whole family. Nature and familiy are helping to keep the right priorities :-)

BUSINESS: Corporate Entrepreneurship (12) - Jim Collins' thoughts part IV

It is now time to talk about the Hedgehog concept of Jim Collins.

Basics

In this famous essay "The Hedgehog and the Fox", Isaiah Berlin divided the world into hedgehogs and foxes, based upon an ancient Greek parable: "The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing."

Those who build the good-to-great companies were, to one degree or another, hedgehogs. They used their hedgehog nature to drive toward what we came to call a Hedgehog Concept for their companies. Those who lead the comparison companies tended to be foxes, never gaining the clarifying advantage of a hedgehog concept, being instead scattered, diffused, and inconsistent.

The essential strategic difference between the good-to-great companies and the comparison companies lay in two fundamental distinctions. First, the good-to-great companies founded their strategies on deep understanding along three key dimensions - what we came to call the three circles. Second, the good-to.great companies translated that understanding into a simple, criytline concept that guided all their efforts - hence the term Hedgehog Concept.

The three circles

A Hedgehog Concept is a simple, cristaline concept that flows from the deep understanding about the intersection of the following three circles:



1. What you can be the best in the world
(and equally important, what you cannot be the best in the world at). This discerning standard goes far beyond core competence. Just because you posses a core competence doesn't necessarily mean you can be the best in the world at it. Conversely, what you can be the best at might not even be something in which you are currently engaged.

2. What drives your economic engine
All the good-to-great companies attained piercing insight into how to most effectively generate sustained and robust cash floww and profitability. In particluar, they discovered the single denominator - profit per x - that had the greatest impact on their economics (It would be cash flow per x in the social sector).

3. What you are deeply passionate about
The good-to-great companies focused on those activities that ignited their passion. The idea here is not to stiulate passion but to discover what makes you passionate.

Example: a personal analogy

Suppose you were able to construct a work life that meets the following three tests:

1. You are doing work for which you have a genetic or God-given talent, and perhaps you could become one of the best in the world in applying that talent.
   => "I feel I was just born to be doing this"


2. You are well paid for what you do.
   => "I get paid to do this? Am I dreaming?"


3. You are doing work you are passionate about and absolutely love to do, enjoying the actual process for its own sake.
   => "I look forward to getting up and throwing myself into my daily work, and I really believe in what I'm doing."

If you could drive toward the intersection of these three circles and translate thet intersection into a simple, cristaline concept that guided your life choices, then you'd have a Hedgehog Concept for yourself.

PRIVATE: I bought a Creative MuVo2 4GB

I bought this afternoon a Creative MuVo² 4GB, an MP3/WMA/WAV player for about 280 euros


(real size: 6.7 cm x 6.7 cm x 2 cm)

It contains a Hitachi HD (3.78 GB free), which is very fast and quiet. The MuVo² needs no special installation on XP, it is seen as an external HD, the copy works fine and fast thanks to the USB 2.0 connection. The Winamp playlists are recognized without any problems (.m3u, ID3 tags). Battery life should be ok, let's see next week with a real utilization.

Its small 132x32-pixel blue-backlit LCD offers ample information while a song is playing, such as the filename, the elapsed time, and the number of tracks in the current directory. It remains small, with just one line for displaying the information but it seems to be ok.

Last but not least: what about the sound quality? In this field, I'm a kind of - umh - annoying user... For me, the minimum acceptable bit-rate for MP3s is 256 kbit. I've tested the player with my AKG headphones, which are one of the reference for profesionals, largely used in studios. In a sense, they are my ears' reference :-) I must say that the MuVo² is really great in this field, an astounding sound quality!

So, first impression: great! Let's see in some days.

NEWS: Bill Gates about blogging :-)

Yesterday during the Microsoft CEO Summit, Bill Gates presented some of most important trends which are driving the IT industry. And, surprisingly, he talked about ... blogging and RSS. Not bad ;-)



Another new phenomenon that connects into this is one that started outside of the business space, more in the corporate or technical enthusiast space, a thing called blogging. And a standard around that that notifies you that something has changed called RSS.

This is a very interesting thing, because whenever you want to send e-mail you always have to sit there and think who do I copy on this. There might be people who might be interested in it or might feel like if it gets forwarded to them they'll wonder why I didn't put their name on it. But, then again, I don't want to interrupt them or make them think this is some deeply profound thing that I'm saying, but they might want to know. And so, you have a tough time deciding how broadly to send it out.

Then again, if you just put information on a Web site, then people don't know to come visit that Web site, and it's very painful to keep visiting somebody's Web site and it never changes. It's very typical that a lot of the Web sites you go to that are personal in nature just eventually go completely stale and you waste time looking at it.

And so, what blogging and these notifications are about is that you make it very easy to write something that you can think of, like an e-mail, but it goes up onto a Web site. And then people who care about that get a little notification. And so, for example, if you care about dozens of people whenever they write about a certain topic, you can have that notification come into your Inbox and it will be in a different folder and so only when you're interested in browsing about that topic do you go in and follow those, and it doesn't interfere with your normal Inbox.

And so if I do a trip report, say, and put that in a blog format, then all the employees at Microsoft who really want to look at that and who have keywords that connect to it or even people outside, they can find the information.

And so, getting away from the drawbacks of e-mail -- that it's too imposing -- and yet the drawbacks of the Web site -- that you don't know if there's something new and interesting there -- this is about solving that.

The ultimate idea is that you should get the information you want when you want it, and we're progressively getting better and better at that by watching your behavior, ranking things in different ways.

PRIVATE: a new pair of swallows

After the first pair of swallows who came back on Mai 9, a new pair of swallows are now making their nest.

    

NEWS: Giant of Jazz Elvin Jones dies, 76

He set the highest standards of technique and uncovered possibilities in multi-layered rhythms which are still being explored.



Elvin Jones, regarded by many (and by myself) as the most influential modern jazz drummer, has died in the US of heart failure. He was 76. Jones was a member of the John Coltrane Quintet and played, among others (500 recordings!), with:

• Duke Ellington


• Charles Mingus


• Miles Davis


• Charlie Parker

His health had deteriorated in recent months, but Jones only played his final show with his group last month, using an oxygen tank while on stage (!).



Like jazz drum greats Kenny Clarke and Max Roach before him, Mr. Jones de-emphasized the standard time-keeping role of jazz drumming. But he then went several steps beyond, constantly subdividing the beats he played and creating a free-flowing pulse that was a marvel of intricacy and invention. His stunning work earned him a broad array of admirers, including such top rock drummers as Mickey Hart of the Grateful Dead and former San Diegan Matt Cameron of Pearl Jam.

BUSINESS: Corporate Entrepreneurship (11) - Jim Collins' thoughts part III

After having talked about the Level 5 leaders, let's have a look at the central concept "first who, then what".

First get the right people (on the right seats) on the bus (and the wrong people off the bus) before you figure out where to drive it.



If you begin with WHO rather than WHAT

• If people join the bus because of who else is on the bus, then it’s much easier to change direction to be more successful. You can more easily adapt to a changing world.


• If you have the right people on the bus the problem of how to motivate and manage people largely goes away. The right people don’t need to be tightly managed or fired up; they will be self-motivated by the inner drive to produce the best results and be part of creating something great.

If you begin with WHAT rather than WHO

• If you have the wrong people, it doesn’t matter whether you discover the right direction; you still won’t have a great company. Great vision without great people is irrelevant.

Are you rigorous or ruthless?

• To be ruthless means hacking and cutting, especially in difficult times, or wantonly firing people without any thoughtful consideration.


• To be rigorous means consistently applying exacting standards at all times and at all levels, especially in upper management.


• To be rigorous not ruthless, means that the best people need not worry about their positions and can concentrate fully on their work.

How to be rigorous:

1. When in doubt, don’t hire – keep looking.


2. When you need to make a people change, act.


3. Put your best people on your biggest opportunities, not on your biggest problems.

BUSINESS: Corporate Entrepreneurship (10) - Jim Collins' thoughts part II

Let's talk about the first finding of Jim Collins, the Level 5 leaders.

Level 1: Highly Capable Individual
Makes productive contributions through talent, knowledge, skills and good work habits.

Level 2: Contributing Team Member
Contributes individual capabilities to the achievement of group objectives and works effectively with others in a group setting.

Level 3: Competent Manager
Organizes people and resources towards the effective and efficient pursuit of predetermined objectives.

Level 4: Effective Leader
Catalyzes commitment to and vigorous pursuit of a clear and compelling vision, stimulating higher perfomance standards.

Level 5 Executive
Builds enduring greatness through a paradoxical blend of personal humility and professional will.

• The term Level 5 referes to the highest level in hierarchy of executive capabilities. While you don’t need to move in sequence from Level 1 to Level 5 – it might be possible to fill in some of the lower levels later – fully developed Level 5 leaders embody all five layers of the pyramid.


• Level 5 leaders channel their ego needs away from themselves and into a larger goal of building a great company.


• It’s not that level 5 leaders have no ego or self-interest. Indeed, they are incredibly ambitious – but their ambition is first and foremost for the institution, not themselves.


• Level 5 managers are a study in duality: modest and willful, humble and fearless.

This duality looks like a mix between professional will and personal humility.

Professional Will

• Creates superb results, a clear catalyst in the translation from good to great.


• Demonstrates an unwavering resolve to whatever must be done to produce the best longterm results, no matter how difficult.


• Sets the standard of building an enduring great company; will settle for nothing less.


• Looks in the mirror not out of the window, to apportion responsibility for poor results, never blaming other people, external factors, or bad luck.

Personal Humility

• Demonstrates a compelling modesty, shunning public adulation; never boastful.


• Acts with quiet, calm determination; relies principally on inspired standards, not inspiring charisma, to motivate.


• Channels ambition into the company, not the self; sets up successors for even greater success in the next generation.


• Looks out the window, not in the mirror, to apportion credit for the success of the company – to other people, external factors, and good luck.

BUSINESS: Corporate Entrepreneurship (09) - Jim Collins' thoughts part I

So, let me summarize what we already discussed in the last posts (from 29th April to 9th Mai) concerning Corporate Entrepreneurship:

we know a little more about the different definitions and terminologies in the field of Corporate Entrepreneurship

we analyse shortly the meaning of Entrepreneurship and Innovation by General Electric and 3M

we discuss the new roles and requested competencies of managers, linked with entrepreneurial processes

the discussions of the above three points are based on the book The Individualized Corporation: A Fundamentally New Approach to Management from Bartlett and Ghoshal

we finally have a look at a kind of "pragmatic check list for entrepreneurs"

I would like now to share some very nice and interesting thoughts of Jim Collins concerning key success factors of great companies on the long run. Jim Collins wrote (among others) two central books:

Built to Last : Successful Habits of Visionary Companies co-written with Jerry Porras

Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't

  

The first book was published in 1994. Enclosed an extract from the amazon.com's review:

This analysis of what makes great companies great has been hailed everywhere as an instant classic and one of the best business titles since In Search of Excellence. The authors, James C. Collins and Jerry I. Porras, spent six years in research, and they freely admit that their own preconceptions about business success were devastated by their actual findings--along with the preconceptions of virtually everyone else. [...] The core myth, according to the authors, is that visionary companies must start with a great product and be pushed into the future by charismatic leaders. There are examples of that pattern, they admit: Johnson & Johnson, for one. But there are also just too many counterexamples--in fact, the majority of the "visionary" companies, including giants like 3M, Sony, and TI, don't fit the model. They were characterized by total lack of an initial business plan or key idea and by remarkably self-effacing leaders. Collins and Porras are much more impressed with something else they shared: an almost cult-like devotion to a "core ideology" or identity, and active indoctrination of employees into "ideologically commitment" to the company.

I definitely like these ideas :-)

The second book was written in 2001. Enclosed an extract of the book description:

The Challenge
Built to Last, the defining management study of the nineties, showed how great companies triumph over time and how long-term sustained performance can be engineered into the DNA of an enterprise from the verybeginning. But what about the company that is not born with great DNA? How can good companies, mediocre companies, even bad companies achieve enduring greatness?

The Study
For years, this question preyed on the mind of Jim Collins. Are there companies that defy gravity and convert long-term mediocrity or worse into long-term superiority? And if so, what are the universal distinguishing characteristics that cause a company to go from good to great?

The Findings
The findings of the Good to Great study will surprise many readers and shed light on virtually every area of management strategy and practice.


I would like to invest some time in the coming posts to discuss some of the innovative and disturbing findings of Jim Collins:

Level 5 Leaders

First Who, then What

The Hedgehog Concept

A Culture of Discipline

Confront the brutal facts

Building your company's vision

NEWS: Google blog is out

Hey, Google started on last Monday 10 Mai its blog :-)

TOOLS: blogging tools

So, what's my current situation concerning the blogging tools?

Blogger and comments

I'm still using Blogger, but without the new comments functionality. I will surely continue to use the Holker's blogkomm tool. Why?

• No possibility to customize deeply your comments' part (for the writing of comments).
  
• The posting of non-anonymous comments requires a (free) registration in Blogger linked with the definition of your profile (too long!), which is to my mind a KO-criterion.
  
• More on the technical side, I don't like the idea of having the comments stored by Blogger, although the rest of my weblog is saved by another ISP.
  
• It's not important for me but you cannot have a comments interface in another language as English.

All in all, as I said, I will stay on blogkomm. One comment as a conclusion: in the past version of Blogger, there was a section dedicated to comments in the Blogger's FAQ. I found blogkomm thanks to this input. This section (with all the other comments' possibilities) disappeared in the new version, although Blogger is not covering the minimum requirements (to my mind!) in the field of comment. A strange thanx from Blogger to all the people who contributed to fill its comment functionalities' gap.....
You can find more information / other inputs and views on the following two posts:

from Holker

from Le Danois

Feed reader with posting functionality

Based on an advice from Nathan (Synop), I am now testing Sauce Reader, which is quite cool (first impression!). This post is actually coming from the publishing component of Sauce Reader. First feedback:

• you have to be first online to be able to define your account. and without account, no possibility to save your posts...
  
• some strange side effects when you navigate between the design-code-preview sections (version in the three section is not correctly synchronized => possible bug, I will check)
  
• on the other side, the interface is great, very easy-to-use
  
• the most important posting functionalities are present (also for offline writing)
  
• no bullshit annoying style/font/... added in the code, good point
  
• i will test the posting of images later (which is always the Achille's heel of such tools)

TOOLS: The Panorama Factory v3.2

I am testing different panoramic stitching tools and I find one of them - The Panorama Factory v3.2 from Smoky City Design - particularly good:

Very easy-to-use interface

In detail, a lot of interesting and powerful options you can play with: proper integration of the focal length (possibility to give only the type of digital camera), an efficient correction of brightness and exposure, etc.

The possibility to generate images, QuickTime VR movies, an IVR object (for iSeeMedia Java viewer or browser plug-in)

The performance is quite impressive

Two examples I generated with the shareware version (30-days trial), the first one with 6 JPEGs (2048x1536), the second one with 7 JPEGs (2048x1536). The original "usable" output sizes are 8851x1265 and 10338x1368 :-)





The full product costs $59.95 and I think I will buy it :-)

BACK TO OFFICE

I am back from Milano. It was really a nice stay, a kind of "first-class hospitality" of our Italian colleagues :-)
And yes, I was by Peck, one of the oldest food shop in Milano. A paradise, excepted for your credit card....

OUT OF OFFICE

I will be "out of office" till the end of this week. I will be in Milano - Italy from tomorrow on :-)
Large number of pizza and pasta is planned!

I will also visit the Peck's office, wahou, great perspective.

PRIVATE: swallows are back :-)

In spite of the very bad weather the last days, we were very happy to see that "our" swallows are back at home :-) These birds are really very nice and quite extraordinary. We have the chance to have some barn swallows (Hirundo Rustica) each year, coming back in spring from their very long migration journey. They are strongly protected and very useful because they are eating a very large number of insects as flies, aphids, beetles, bees, moths, mayflies, dragonflies, grasshoppers and caterpillars. Nearly all their food is captured on the wing. They can flight very fast - till 100 km/h!

These birds are special because they migrate each year from Europe to Africa (Cameroon, Gabon, the Congo) in September, which means a trip of more than 7'000 km!

TOOLS: Newsgator :-(

Three weeks ago, I started to use Newsgator, the news and RSS aggregator and blog publishing tool. I must say that the results are quite negative: I really like the central idea to integrate the tool within Outlook. This integration is a success but, on the other (dark) side, the aggregator's interface could be improved. Another negative issue is the plug-in for the publishing part (I am using blogger): the title is not transferred well, lot of problems with the composing, etc.

Conclusion: to my mind, a real good idea but not worth yet ($29). I will follow the coming releases.

I am now using the following tools for blogging:

As aggregator, I am succesfully using SharpReader v0.9.4.1 from Luke Hutteman, without any particular issues. It's also free :-) Bravo Luke!

As a publishing tool, I set up w.blogger v3.03 from Marcelo Cabral, which is a little bit strange at the beginning concerning the interface but, after some posts, quite pleasant to use! It's also a freeware. Bravo Marcelo!

BUSINESS: Corporate Entrepreneurship (08) - Entrepreneurial thoughts

Via Philippe Laferrière and via Paul Allen, Joe Ollivier - an entrepreneur with 30 years experience - gives us some thoughts about what it takes to be an entrepreneur:

I specially like the numbers 1, 5, 19, 22, 23 and 29.

1. It has to be a business that gives you an emotional high.
2. Avoid any business that is labor or inventory intensive.
3. Have independent market research done on the feasibility of your idea, then do test markets.
4. Don't think someone is waiting to steal your idea, it's paranoia.
5. Don't get started on a real business until you have someone (wife, husband, family member) who will listen to your dreams, sympathize with your failures and applaud your successes.
6. Never involve yourself in any service or product that requires a consumer attitude change.
7. Don't invest on home run schemes - invest in what you like and know.
8. Find a lifelong mentor as soon as possible. Have him continually play devil's advocate.
9. Have an exit point or harvest plan to cash out of each business you start.
10. Do a self awareness training. You are not your business, your background or your personal financial statement.
11. Pick a charity (other than a religious one) or a charitable activity where you have nothing to gain, and work at it every year.
12. Do some charitable acts each year in secret.
13. Keep a notepad next to your bed at night - some of your best thoughts will come during the night.
14. Get a week-at-a-glance planner. Each weekend make our a 3x5 notecard of activities you want to accomplish.
15. You don't need to keep 51% to control your company.
16. Find an aggressive banker and CPA, send them referrals and Christmas presents.
17. Be willing to take major risks, but be aware of risk versus reward. Don't ever even think about taking out Bankruptcy.
18. Have someone else do all your serious negotiating for you.
19. Have the attitude that everything that happens to you in your life is your own personal responsibility; you are never a victim.
20. Remember that you will learn much more from your mistakes and failures than your successes.
21. Trust everyone, but be aware that most people shade the facts and lie part of the time.
22. Live in the nicest, most expensive house you can. It will alter your view of yourself and the way others view you.
23. Remember that with each successful venture there was a time when the entrepreneur wished he was not involved.
24. Expect to be sued - it's normal - have the attitude that it's the person who's suing that has the problem.
25. Never sue unless there is real estate that can be attached.
26. Expect to become wealthy - do a financial statement on yourself each quarter.
27. Realize that money is power and can be used for great good.
28. Being an Entrepreneur means more than buying yourself a job. You need a salary to live, a return on your investment and a monetary reward for your risk.
29. In every entrepreneurial activity you enter make sure it's: 1. Fun and Interesting, 2. You are going to learn something, and 3. You add value.
30. Realize that business is really just a monetary game, and the things that mean the most -your character, your family, your own values, and your beliefs- are unaffected regardless of the outcome.

BUSINESS: Corporate Entrepreneurship (07) - New roles and competencies of managers

I would like to present you now different types of processes concerning entrepreneurship on the three different management levels (operating/front-line, middle/senior, top):

renewal

integration

entrepreneurial

[1]

On the three different management levels, we can observe huge shifts and transformations in the fields of roles and tasks, induced by a new entrepreneurial spirit:

[1]

For each of these three management levels, these shifts and transformations need new competencies, so that the managers can play their new roles:

[1]

[1]

[1]

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Bibliographical references:

[1] The Individualized Corporation: A Fundamentally New Approach to Management
Sumantra Ghoshal, Christopher A. Bartlett, 1999

BUSINESS: workshop with Gordon Simpson, BEA's deputy CTO

Wahou :-)

We had the chance this evening to meet Mr Gordon Simpson, deputy CTO of BEA Systems.



Some articles from Gordon:

Interview: Focus on solutions

Importance of Software Architecture

A call for agile IT

.

We discussed very intensively different themes, as:

the mid-term vision and positioning of IBM Web Sphere, BEA Web Logic and the Microsoft .NET solutions

the current standardization processes (J2EE, Java, etc.) in comparison with other ones, not so successful (CORBA specs)

the future of SUN (HW, Java)

the strategy of BEA concerning Linux

UDDI: hype or market standard?

offline solution and caching

SOA on IBM mainframes

Real out-of-the-box discussions and a real great person ;-) Thx Gordon for this great workshop!

BUSINESS: Corporate Entrepreneurship (06) - By 3M

After having talked about General Electric and Jack Welch in one of my last post, I would like now to mention some interesting thoughts from 3M, another well-known company for its innovation and entrepreneurial processes. It is quite obvious that 3M places also its innovative strengths in the center of the Corporate communication:

About 3M - Inside the Innovation

Innovation at 3M

A century of innovation

Why is Corporate Entrepreneurship important for 3M?

By the 1990s, the entrepreneurial initiative of generations of "ordinary people" in 3M created a portfolio of over 100 core technologies that had been leveraged into 60'000 products managed in 3'900 profit centers clustered under 47 product divisions.

Yet despite its size and the maturity of many its businesses, [this company] continues to grow through individual initiative that allows 3M to generate more than 30 percent of its sales from products introduced within the previous four years.

[1]

Some management rules by 3M:

In 3M, the 15 percent rule allowed anyone to spend up to one-seventh of his or her time pursuing personal "bootleg projects" that might be of potential value for the company.

In 3M a philosophy of "make a little, sell a little" reflected management's belief that the market was usually a better judge of business potential than the management hierarchy.

Managers must retain a respect for ideas coming up from below. They have to ask, "What do you see that I am missing?". And they have to close their eyes for a while, or leave the door open a crack when someone is absolutely insistent that their idea has value. [DeSimone]

[1]

About training and career plan:

Instead of being indoctrinated through training sessions describing how to navigate through the procedures required to obtain formal approval on a project, the new 3M employee is likely to be regaled with stories about how legendary innovators challenged the system to get their ideas funded.

At 3M and at most other high-performing companies, training and development play a major role in building the different competency profiles required by the newly defined frontline, senior-level and top management roles. But their approach is far from the traditional model built around carefully standardized training programs and a well-trodden career path of ticket-punching. Instead of trying to force employees into the one-dimensional mold of the "organization man", these companies use a portfolio of educational activities and career experiences to leverage very different natural traits and talents.

[1]

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Bibliographical references:

[1] The Individualized Corporation: A Fundamentally New Approach to Management
Sumantra Ghoshal, Christopher A. Bartlett, 1999

PRIVATE: computer geek :-)

Somehow, I have to say that I am a .... computer geek :-) I realized last sunny Sunday one of my technology-dream:

I was sitting in my garten with my laptop and ... a WiFi connection to my server at home and consequently, my DSL connection. I was like a little boy, surfing and chating and sending email, with a view on the swimming-pool. I told you, I'm a computer geek ;-)

What is a "geek"?

Social undesireable who, if not for the computer industry, would often be considered unemployable, but because of the computer industry, they often take home more money than people who work for a living

Deragatory term for a person with limited social skills, and usually strong technical skills. While anybody can become a nerd, geeks are born, not made.

BUSINESS: Corporate Entrepreneurship (05) - By General Electric

As promised, and after some definitions (I hope you have seen that this kind of notion is actually quite...large, complexe but interesting ;-), it's time to look at some concrete examples. Let's begin with General Electric and some thoughts about Corporate Entrepreneurship from Jack Welch.

Concerning Jack Welch and to avoid misunderstanding: Mr. Welch is definitely NOT my leadership model in all fields. On the other hand, it is unquestionable that he was a great leader and that he developped some interesting ideas, not all very ethic to my "European" point of view ;-) His story, linked with the development of GE during the 1981-2001 period, is greatly related in his autobiography - not so many leadership's information but definitely a great book:



About Corporate Entrepreneurship:

Welch wanted GE's operating-level managers to develop their roles around what he defined as ownership, stewardship and entrepreneurship of the company's portfolio of competitive businesses.

The behavior Welch was most trying to create within GE was a sense of entrepreneurial drive and initiative.

Welch also wanted to signal clearly the kind of entrepreneurial behavior he sought by reinforcing it through the reward system. [...] He started acknowledging true corporate entrepreneurs with salary increases in the 10 to 15 percent range, bonuses of 30 percent to 40 percent to many fewer managers, and stock-options that he began distributing to hundreds of effective frontline managers rather than continuing the practice of reserving them for the top echelons. [1]

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Bibliographical references:

[1] The Individualized Corporation: A Fundamentally New Approach to Management
Sumantra Ghoshal, Christopher A. Bartlett, 1999

BUSINESS: Corporate Entrepreneurship (04) - Definitions part III

Hierarchy of terminology in Corporate Entrepreneurship

It can be interesting to classify the different terms used in the field of Corporate Entrepreneurship according to a hierarchical system. The goal of this grading is to identify some characteristics and dimensions of population and groups, characteristics which can define discrete types of entrepreneurial processes. On a high level, entrepreneurship can be divided in two main categories: internal and external processes (with the company as reference). You can find below the complete overview of this hierarchy of terminology:

[1]

For the Internal Corporate Venturing process, we identify specifically four dimensions:

Structural autonomy: defines the type of relationship with the parent (e.g.: integrated, separate profit center).

Degree of relatedness: defines whether the business is quite the same as the parent or a new one (reference = the existing company).

Extent of innovation: defines the degree of innovation (reference = the existing market).

Nature of sponsorship: defines whether the process is formal and induced entrepreneurial process or an informal and autonomous one (in the Burgelman's sense).

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Bibliographical references:

[1] Toward a reconciliation of the definitional issues in the field of Corporate Entrepreneurship
Pramodita Sharma, James J. Chrisman, In: Entrepreneurship theory and practice, 1999

NEWS: we are 25 :-)

Yes, we were 15 and now, we are 25 in the European Union!
What are the new members of the EU?

Estonia

Latvia

Lithuania

Poland

Czech Rep.

Slovakia

Hungary

Slovenia

Malta

Cyprus

Some figures about this "new extended" EU:

453 million inhabitants

Gross Domestic Product: 9'997 billion euros

20 official languages