The Chameleon in the Room - Five Star Book Reviews

FIVE STAR BOOK REVIEW
The Chameleon in the Room is a must-read for those managing risks!
By William Bastiaan on July 7, 2017 Format: Paperback

The writer looks beyond the obvious, makes comparisons across cultures. He ‘slices’ the concept of risk in fragments and does describe the obvious but, even more important, explains the non-obvious.

It makes you re-think, challenges you to look at things from a different perspective, and provides tips and direction, based on actual events. In short, very practical and a must-read for those engaged in the management of risks.

FIVE STAR BOOK REVIEW POSTED ON AMAZON.COM
Recommended to everyone who wants to deal with business risks successfully!
By Andriy Sichka on November 26, 2015 Format: Paperback

I always had a feeling that knowledge of the theory is only one part. Another, much more difficult one is finding a way to apply it in practice. Reading The Chameleon in the Room resolved majority of my doubts concerned with risk management. Written by a practitioner for practitioners the book shines the light on the areas left by theories in dark, and gives clear guidance for everyday practice. I recommend this book to everyone who wants to deal with business risks successfully!

BarrettWells

Oil Major Executives need to stop dreaming and reinvent their businesses…

Quoted by the Financial Times on Valentine’s day: “Philip Verleger, an energy economist, argues that ‘nightfall is coming’ for big oil companies, threatened on one side by the rise of renewable energy and climate policies that will curb the growth of fossil fuel demand, and on the other by the smaller, nimbler companies that lead the shale oil and gas industry.”

“The companies that are wedded to high-cost projects, like deep water in Brazil, are going to have to take some large write-downs,” he says. “The likelihood that those investments are going to pay off over the next 20 years is extremely low.”

Companies that put their hopes on a strong rebound in oil “aren’t going to make it”, he adds.

In fact anyone who has watched Jeremy Rifkin’s presentation on the Third Industrial Revolution & a Zero Marginal Cost Society (view it here: https://youtu.be/5mQj574Cv_k ) will realise that fossil fuel prices will not recover sufficiently to make current or future oil-major funded and developed large projects viable.

Oil Major Executives should abandon their pipe dreams about the golden days of crude prices returning, as they did before the previous price dip crises; el Dorado will not rise again from the mists of the future.

There is an oil glut because oil is in less demand; a fundamental shift towards renewable sources of energy has taken place and is gathering speed.

Oil Exec’s should take on-board Ms Nadya Zhexembayeva’s advice and reinvent their business models; her short but telling evocation to reinvent can be viewed here: https://youtu.be/f4kySpcdvFg

It is time to acknowledge that Change has Changed and to Embrace the Exponential.

Investing in renewable energy production, storage and distribution infrastructure is the only viable future strategy for the medium and long term.

Redesigning Work, Employment & the Social Contract - a presentation by Heather McGowan

Published on June 4, 2015
Heather McGowan - Academic Entrepreneur and Innovation Strategist

In this 23 minute talk presented in Australia recently, Ms McGowan provides an easy to follow view of the future of work, careers and the skills that will be in demand. It is both amusing and thought provoking. Certainly it is a ‘must see’ video that can be viewed on YouTube via this link: http://youtu.be/zDf-zENKDsQ

BarrettWells

BarrettWells Credit Resources is a trading name of T3P LIMITED
URL: http://www.barrettwells.com

To retain talent the role demands of Finance must change, by David Axson

In the linked video Dave Axson discusses the rôle that Finance Professionals should be allowed to play in businesses in order to retain and attract the talent that they so desperately need.
Dave Axson is author of The Management Mythbuster (John Wiley & Sons 2010) and MD of Accenture.

“What we are dealing with today is an environment where there are many more variables that could potentially impact your business. Twenty to twenty-five years ago you were concerned about your competitors down the street…..” click this link to view this short but interesting talk.

China: Perception versus Reality....

Western business leaders, who are devoid of ideas, continue to rationalise their inability to capitalise on the opportunities that abound despite the so-called crises. I am wary of reading Western slanted commentaries designed to ‘prove’ that China’s relentless march forward is bound to falter, so it was refreshing to read an article titled ‘China’s new Corporate Champions’ written by Joel Backaler, see: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-16206489 for the full text, courtesy of BBC.com.

Here is a brief extract, quote:

The global economic downturn presented these Chinese companies with a unique opportunity to capture market share as global consumers increasingly prioritised value for money. Western multinationals have limited time to adapt their strategies and regain their momentum before these new competitors can further consolidate their presence in key markets.

Chinese companies are perceived by some as opportunistic firms with a "land-grab" mentality that lacks well thought-out long-term strategy. Western executives often cite the large scale investments by Chinese companies in Africa's resources sector as an example of this type of behaviour.

These same executives also argue that Chinese companies' fast growth will likely not be sustainable in the longer term due to their short-sighted business practices. In reality though, there is another side to the story in which Chinese companies have been developing local innovations that are suited for their home country but can also be adapted for overseas markets to boost on-going growth.

End Quote

Western business leaders rationalise their inaction in respect of China and Asia generally by clutching on any piece of bad news and blowing it out of proportion; holding crises meetings to focus on the negatives while ignoring their responsibility to identify and capture the opportunities by changing their business models to acknowledge that they are no longer effective.

The abovementioned article appeared alongside an article titled ‘China: A bigger lender than the World Bank’, which charts China’s advances into the resource rich emerging countries; going where ‘Angels (Western banks and businesses) fear to tread’.

BarrettWells