"...keeping you great"
HEADLINES:
You're Invited -- Microsoft WPC Leadership Summit July 12 or 13, Washington DC. Taking over an entire city, this is the major corporate event Microsoft hosts each year for their Worldwide Partners. This year they've partnered with Gazelles to host 2 one-day leadership events featuring several top name speakers. Those receiving my insights are invited to participate -- more info below.
Go East Instead of North -- my main message in interviews and to the over 800 Mexican business leaders I addressed in Monterrey and Mexico City this week was to go East! Because of security concerns, many of the prominent Mexican families are moving to Austin, San Antonio, Houston, etc. However, given the cultural similarities, I encouraged these families to make a move to Spain instead, placing them seven time zones closer to where the economic action is this century -- India, China, Indonesia, etc. At least one family member should make the move, establishing a beachhead for their business on the eastern side of the planet.
Mexico's Hero -- Marco Gloria, founder of Great Food And Beverage, is a true Mexican business hero. He's one of the few mid-market firms in Mexico that is doing business in India, operating a juice factory just outside of New Delhi. According to Marco and the Mexican Chamber of Commerce, only 15 Mexican firms (out of 4.8 million) are operating in India. I was excited to bring him on stage with me and highlight his efforts to lead Mexico east.
Reform and El Norte Publications -- while the rest of print media around the world is suffering, a chain of newspapers in Mexico are thriving. The key, according to the brother-in-law of the owner? Their leadership team formally meets three times daily, like JP Morgan, and 480 citizens sit on various editorial boards, helping to crowdsource story ideas and drive the editorial direction of the newspapers. The rest of the industry has questioned the wisdom of turning over editorial control to the citizens, but it's worked so far for companies like Facebook, Wikipedia, and Amazon! I would say this owner gets it and the rest of the industry doesn't. Daily huddles and tapping into the wisdom of the crowd -- two keys to success this century.
Venture Capital Explosion -- several wealthy Mexican families hired famous Harvard Prof Josh Lerner to study the potential for venture capital in Mexico. His conclusion? It's the next hotbed! As such, money is starting to pour in. Combined with a change in law last year allowing the large Mexican pension funds to invest in venture capital funds, an initial $350 million has been raised with much more to come. Here's a link to the conference hosted in April launching VC in Mexico. Stay tuned.
Demographics Drive Economics -- Mexico has one of the youngest populations in the world, with over 40% of its 120 million people under the age of 20 and a median age of 26 (vs. 37 for the U.S). This is the demographic elephant that is moving through Mexico's economic snake -- the equivalent of the U.S. baby boom of last century.
2012 Is the Key -- Pedro Ferriz de Con, one of Mexico's top political and economic commentators, keynoted after me in Mexico City yesterday. The current Mexican president has remained tough, vowing to pursue the drug cartels even in the face of one of his best friends being murdered. The concern is 2012, when Mexico elects its next president. Ferriz de Con was blunt in stating that whichever party gets elected, if the citizens don't elect a president willing to continue the fight, Mexico will be lost. It was a serious presentation about a serious topic.
40% Wrong -- for over a year (and with my Mexican audiences this week) I've been sharing what I consider the single largest business opportunity in history -- the 1 billion additional consumers moving into the middle class this coming decade. Well, I was only off by 40%! According to the Brookings Institute, the middle class will expand from 1.8 billion to 3.2 billion between 2009 and 2020 -- a 1.4 billion or 77% increase. This is the global demographic elephant moving through the economic snake that will raise all boats this coming decade. It's why I'm so bullish. Demographics drive economics.
Also Wrong -- and I knew better, I was just in a rush and misspoke. In my last insight I mentioned that the term "itis" represented an infection. Not quite. It means "inflammation." Noted Jason Canapp, Chief Operating Officer, Orthopedic & Sports Medicine Group, "In some ways, inflammation is worse in terms of the body's ability to heal itself and the long-term deleterious effects." What was correct is that inflammations stop the flow of electrons and high dose Vitamin C IVs help restore the flow (as do magnets -- which is why they work, drawing electrons to the site of the inflammation -- it's not so voodoo afterall).
Microsoft WPC Leadership Summit -- choose either July 12 or July 13 plus receive a pass to the Expo Hall for the entire week where you can see the latest technology products. Each day features three learning tracks. I'm heading up one track featuring Liz Wiseman (best leadership book I've read in the past ten years); David Meerman Scott (New Rules of Marketing and PR), and Guy Parsons (Lean). The other two tracks are focused on Sales and Marketing. Here's a link to the details. Cost is $595 per executive and is open to your entire executive team -- an opportunity to provide your team with some outstanding executive education. Here's the registration link.