Ben Zander: The Art of Possibilty

Last weekend I had the opportunity to attend a magistral speech by Ben Zander. He is the conduconductor of the Boston Philarmonic Orchestra since its formation. He is a very enthusiastic person.

He gave a great speech about how everyone's life can change just by changing our attitude towards life. (Someone very special to me, told me this many, many times). Actually, the speech was about leadership, possibility, new ways of living.

Some of the "rules" he believes in are...

1.- Give the other person an A
2.- Rule number 7
3.- Enthusiastic passion for life (never take a down spiral)

I would recommend everyone to read his book "The Art of Possibility", although I haven't done it yet, because it talks about this wonderful philosphy of life.

How many more 11s will we suffer?

It seems that we all have to be alert the 11th of each month. This specific date is going to be remembered as the day when terrorist attacks to civilians are more likely to happen.

September 11, 2001: New York

March 11, 2004: Madrid

July 11, 2006: Bombay

Near the 11th, July 7, 2005: London.

This kind of terrorism has the objective to kill or damage civilians. Any of us could be target, they just attack normal civilians. The 11s attacks killed thousands of people.

But there are more common aspects among these attacks:
- Incredibly powerful home-made Bombs
- Usage of common transport vehicles: planes, trains, subway, buses
- Brutal number of death men, women and children ( 2,986 in NYC 9/11; 192 in M 3/11; 52 in L 7/7; 200* in B 7/11)
- Huge number of injured people
- Carried out by irrational, un-hearted, raving, furious, mislead... terrorists' puppets.

I wonder if we will ever be able to stop these kind of tragedies from happening. Will we always have to live thinking that this can happen again?

I think that life is something precious and valuable. In moments like these, I keep asking myself what would I do if I had the power to do something and I do not really get to find a solution. What are they looking for? I think that terrorists' motive is "odium, enmity", their objective is wheter:
- Convert all of us into one of them, or...
- Eliminate us, so nobody will question their ideas.

Under these circumstances, our options are kind of reduced here. We can:
- Surrender and do everything they want us to do. Recognize that whatever it is that they want us to believe, is true. Or...
- Just die!

Neither of these alternatives fits my own personal goals. I am not looking forward to die, any day soon, and I am not willing to let myself be manipulated, be obliged to do things I do not want to do, be ordered to believe in something that I don't...

So, what can we do? Nothing? Well, we can do something. We can continue living our lives as we always did. By doing so, maybe, they will understand that we are not going to accept that no matter how many of us they kill, no matter how much they try to threaten us, no matter how much pressure they put on us... we will never surrender!

In my wildest dreams I really see an ending to this. I dream about a LEADER that, keeping the main ideals of these extremist terrorists, would be able to convey them to live in peace, to abandon the fight, and just be happy, live their lives... a leader that would be able to make them realize that the world is big enough for all of us to live in peace... a leader that would be able to make them understand that killing is not an option, that everybody's life has the same value...

That is what I hope for every terrorist group, Al-Qaida, Basque Fatherland and Liberty (ETA), Al-Jihad, Hamas, Hizballah, Ansar Al-Islam (Kurdish Taliban), IRA, Janjaweed...

Kind of unlikely, isn't it? Maybe if all of us, keep dreaming about it, someday it'll be real.

* Not definitive number

Wimbledon 2006

With all the excitement about the beginning of my MBA, I forgot talking about the great Wimbledon Final. I think the match was incredible! Federed won his fourth Wimbledon in a row and reafirmed his place as number 1 tennis player in the world.

However, against all odds, Federer suffered considerably in his prefered surface. Nadal played wonderfully and fiercefully, and at some point, he made us think that it was possible for him to win (at least, after he won the third set, I was sure he was going to turn around the match and win the final).



The result 6-0, 7-6 (5), 6-7 (2), 6-3, demonstrates several things (in my modest opinion):

• Nadal learns very quickly, the improvement in his play in a quick surface has been astonishing.
• Nadal has a remarkable mental strenght, he doesn't give up.
• Next year Rafa Nadal will be prepared to win both in clay and in grass.
• Federer is, so far, the best tennis player, ever.

I am looking forward for next year Open. For now, Congratulations to both, for being Great Tennis Players!

1st Day of my MBA!!!

Yesterday, July 10, 2006, was the first day of my MBA in NYU Stern. I must recognize that I was pretty nervous, I arrived like one hour before I should have to (which, as all you know me know, it is not very usual in me).

We are 67 students for the summer start, which is a the size of a regular "Block" (Class) in NYU Stern. We are almost 2 women per 3-4 men, which was really surprising to me, as usually the numbers are lower than this in the Top Business Schools.

The day went smoothly. We had a reception, we were introduced to our summer study groups (I like mine very much, we are two Neww Yorkers, one from San Francisco, one from Colombia, one from New Haven and me (Spain). e had the chance to get to know the university and surroundings through a funny game. We met some of our professors, solve some administrative issues and we attended to a leadership conference.

The speaker of the conference was Chris Lowney, a great guy with one of the most rare backgrounds I have never hear of. He is a former Jesuit, who leaved his 7 years in the seminary and enrolled J.P. Morgan. He worked there for seventeen years, serving as Managing Director in New York, Tokyo, Singapore and London. Now he is a consultant for the Catholic Medical Mission Board.

The conference was really different from any other I had attended about leadership, and it was not this awkard evangelization speech that I was waiting for, when he said he had been a Jesuit. Mr. Lowney gave one of us a copy of his book "Heroic Leadership", which I am willing to read and let you know how it is (in my opinion).

Today, we had our first class. It was "Collaboration, Conflict and Negotiation". We had to read before the class the book "Bargaining for Advantage" by G. Richard Shell, which I totally recomend. My professor for this class is going to be Kim Corfman, who is the Vice-Dean of the MBA program in NYU Stern.

The class was great, very dinamic. We started with our own process of self-awareness which is essencial to become an effective negotiator, we made some play roles with our classmates, we analyze some cases... and the 8 hours just went by very quickly.



So, so far, I am really happy with the program. I think that pursuing this MBA is one of the best decisions I have made in my life.

I will let you know, how everything evolves. Actually, tomorrow I will have my first "Statistics and Data Analysis" class, the one that intimidates me the most!


All the pictures where taken from the website of NYU Stern School of Business

Rest in Peace, Mr. Lay

Kenneth Lay, former chairman and CEO of Enron, who was convicted of fraud and conspiracy, died today at his home in Aspen, before sentencing, due to a heart dicease. He was 64 years old. Mr. Lay was facing decades in prison.

I was sure that Mr. Lay, as well as Mr. Skilling, was guilty of fraud and conspiracy. However this does not change the fact that I feel sorry for his death.

Ken Lay (know as Kenny Boy by his closest friends) managed to find his way out from a very poor environment (he was the son of a very poor baptist priest) and found one of the most powerful energetic companies in the world. He was father of five and grandfather of 12.

I hope he rests in peace.

Jayaram

This little angel, Jayaram, is my Indian God-child. He was 1 year old when our lives crossed for the first time and I became his God mother and Sponsor. Now, he is 6 years old. The following are the two pictures I have of him



I wish someday I can go to Anantapur, India, to met him and Ramyasree in person.

I would like to thank publicly Fundacion Vicente Ferrer for their wonderful work in one of the poorest regions in India, and for taking care of these little angels.

Darfur, the genocide is still going on

Not since Rwanda genocide of 1994, has the world seen such a calculated campaing of slaughter, rape, starvation and displacement.

2003

• Open warfare erupted in Darfur when two allied rebel groups (Sudan Liberation Movement/Army SLA, Justice and Equality Movement JEM) attacked military installations (Sudanese Goverment Military Force). The main motive was the inequalities between Sudan's Center and its periphery.
• US tries unsuccessfully to intervene and bring peace after 20 years of civil war in the South of Sudan.
• Rebels took fight to protect their communities against Janjaweed Militias: Goverment-Backed militians, recruited among Arab extensions in Darfur and Chad. Janjaweed receive government support to clear civilians from areas considered disloyal to the Sudanese Goverment. Janjaweed attacks, that infringed 1949 Geneva Convention Agreement, that prohibits attacks to civilians; provoked:

a) Massive Displacement

b) Indiscriminate killings of civilians

c) Looting

d) Mass rape: hallmark of the crimes against hummanity in Darfur.

e) Hunger

f) Genocide: Arabs exterminating original Black African citizens

g) Torture

• There are two main conflicts open in Sudan:

1) Revels (different groups) vs. Government-Alined Forces (North-South Conflict)

2) Goverment-Sponsor Janjaweed vs. Civilians

2004

• June:
• African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS) inception as a cease-fire monitoring body. Its main mission is to be witness of what is happening and testify if there are attacks agains civils.

• October:
• AMIS increases its personnel
• Change of mission: from a contigent of primarily unarmed military observers to a major operation that included: armed force protectors, unarmed civilian police, and support teams.
• AMIS mission:

a) To monitor and observe compliance with the cease fire agreement

b) To assist in confidence

c) To contribute to a secure environment by facilitating humanitarian assistance and returns of internally displaced persons

d) To contribute to overall security

• AMIS personnel lack training, operational capacity and political iniciative

2005

• June:
• Peace Deal signed to end the long war between Goverment and Sudan's People Liberation /Army (SPLM) => North South Conflict. This agreement does not address the issues in Darfur where Genocide continues.

• March:
• African Union decides to accept military planners and budgetary and logistical experts from outside the continent to provide training and improve oprations, and to provide military equipment.
• American Union led a March assesment mission with the participation of: United Nations Department of PeaceKeeping Operations (DPKO), European Union, United States, Canada and other international partners.

• End 2005:
• Situation in Darfur continues to deteriorate
• AMIS need to be able to provide a more aggresive response to the persistent violence against civilians in Darfur and must be equipped and supported to do so.

2006

• First Quarter:
• Sudanes Goverment obstacles AMIS mission
• Western Sudanese region of Darfur: acknowledged to be a humanitarian and human rights tragedy of first order.

a) 3.5 Million People in hunger

b) 2.5 Million People displaced due to violence

c) Nearly 400,000 died so far. As many as 5,000 civilians die every month.

• International Community is failing to protect civilians or to influence Sudanese government to do so.
• Sudanese Goverment continues to flout international laws with impunity.
• Janjaweed attacks to villages continue and difficult international aid.
• Even though they have been moved to refugee camps, Darfunians have to continue to collect wood and working the fields. These activities are done outside the camps (whose location is perfectly known by Janjaweed). So, daily, women and children have to put themselves at risk of rape, beatiness or death as soon as they are outside the camps, towns and villages.
• A campaing of what United Nations describes as Ethnic Cleansing by Arab militias against Non-Arabs villagers is still creating a climate of terror in Darfur. It threatens to become consolidated, as civilians remain confined in camps exposed to violence and human rights abuse that prevent them from returning their homes and claiming back their land.

• May:
• Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA) signed by: Sudanese Government and Insurgents SLA led by Minni Arkou Minawi (SLA/MM).
• Two of the three revel delegations (SLA/AW (led by Abdel Wahid), and JEM) do not accept it and refuse to sign. Their arguments are:

a) They want more SLA participation in the implementation of the security arrangements

b) They are dissatisfied with provisions for political representations

c) They are dissatisfied with victim's compensation

d) DPA does not solve the conflicts root causes: the structural inequities between Sudan's center and its periphery that led to revelion in 2003.

• June:
• President Bush acknowledged that genocide is occurring in Sudan and must be stopped. The bipartisan Darfur Accountability Act, which would impose sanctions against perpetrators of genocide in Darfur, has passed the Senate and now waits for House approval. US citizens who want to help should write letters to their representatives in Congress, and urge passage of this bill.
• UN’s failure to take meaningful action to end genocide in Darfur. Following the Sudanese government’s outright rejection of an international force in Darfur, the UN continues to compromise the lives of civilians by allowing Khartoum to stall indefinitely on the question of peacekeeping.

• July:
• Problems persist in Sudan’s West Darfur where the security and basic needs of children continues to be threatened by the conflict.

I ask you to....

Open your Eyes and Make a Difference

Act now, because tomorrow it will be too late

We have different ways to help Darfur people:

• Write our governments to put this issue into their priority agendas
• Write a letter to your local newspaper editor
• Write an article about Darfur in your blog
• Raise funds and contribute with the humanitarian organizations working in Darfur
• Raise awareness

Interesting Links:
www.savedarfur.org
http://www.millionvoicesfordarfur.org/
http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?id=4027&l=1
http://www.darfurgenocide.org/
http://www.genocideintervention.net/index.php
http://www.unicef.org/spanish/infobycountry/sudan_darfuroverview.html
http://www.changemakers.net/journal/300506/framework.cfm

Zapatero announces the dialogue with ETA

Unfortunately, against all my wishes, against terrorism's victims will, last Thursday, 29th June 2006, Mr. Rodriguez Zapatero has formally announced that his government is going to dialogue with ETA.


I will publish his is his speech, the speech that let me speechless, as soon as I can.

I am so sad, discouraged, depressed, hopeless about this, that I don't even find the words to express how I feel about this.

Lets hope for the best, and see what happens.

Go Nadal!

I have been wanting to talk about Rafa Nadal for a long time. Now, that he has won Agassi in Wimbledon, I cannot let it go.

I've played tennis since I was 4 until I was 19, when I was diagnosed with a discal hernia and recommended to give up tennis competition. Since then, I did not follow tennis enough. However, last year when this young man won Roland Garros, I remembered why I liked tennis so much.

This year, he did it again. He won Roland Garros, beating number one Roger Federer:

Nadal has won a record 60 consecutive matches on clay. Nadal's mental toughness, drive to improve, calm and constancy are amazing. Rafa Nadal is not only a great tennis player, perfectly aware of his strenghts and weaknesses, but also a very mature 20-year old boy. Besides, he looks like my small brother. They seem to be brothers! Same face, same gestures.

The important issue now is that he just beated the great Andre Agassi on grass. Rafael Nadal talks a lot about how he hopes to contend for a Wimbledon title in three or four years, once he gets used to the odd bounces and tricky footing that come with playing on grass.

Could it happen much faster than he -- or anyone else -- thought?
I hope so!

The only two Spanish tennis players who were able to win Wimbledon were Manuel Santana, 40 years ago, and Conchita Martinez in 1994. Rafael Nadal will be the next one.

Go Rafa, Go!