René Seifert – Entrepreneur & Global Citizen

Back in India, the mental dust has settled after those four days of amazing conversations on Martin Varsavky’s farm for the MenorcaTechTalk. Besides being hyper-inspiring with plenty of take-away value to be put into action, I found it at least as interesting as a sort of „social experiment“.

Bring around 60 fantastic people together on a farm, have almost no structure (apart from the „official“ 4-hour session on Friday afternoon), have bikes and a quad ready for usage, let people hang out on the pool, take them on the sailing boat and see what happens.

Even more so, put people – who would usually stay in chic hotels – and have them share a simple but honest room and then see what happens.

Interestingly, much more than if you met the same people over the same period of time on a conference where you get conversations of the type “I am the XYZ from soandso and we are the number 1 in thisandthat). In Menorca, it was quite different, because people open up in a completely new way on the personal level, which then also transcends to the “professional conversations”, or even more so, makes the distinction between the two obsolete. (By the way, my entire picture-set under Creative Commons-license here on Flickr.)

On another note, the event confirmed my discovery that dressing-down is directly proportional to better results in a team-setting. (Maybe investment bankers should also relax and start coming in shorts and flip-flops to work to prevent them from final extinction …) Martin is in that context clearly “leading by example” himself with our host’s take on the event on his blog.

It certainly helped that this brief formal part allowed every participant who wished to give a maximum 5 minute-talk which had to conclude with a tangible problem. This kind of anchoring allowed the other participants afterwards to start a meaningful conversation about how to solve the problem whereby the communication usually took extremely interesting and unpredicted routes.

Picture courtesy of Rodrigo SEPÚLVEDA SCHULZ

I introduced my latest project “OLPC for the Vatsalya-Orphanage” asking for sharing of experience how to structure charity in general as well as best practises in fundraising, performance-metrics and how to avoid the traps of diluting focus and/or as over-investing. Very concretely, I got three very interesting contacts referred where I started to interact with. (And by the way, two days back, I was able to close the round of funding.)

One of the most mind-blowing presentations came from Isaac Shpantzer who presented a new technology, which allows for the transmission of broadband internet via laser. Yes, laser. The concept: A laser-beam in the blue spectrum (therefore also suitable during daylight) is beamed vertically into the sky and carries the digital information where the 1s and 0s are transformed through some “language” into light.

Because of the earth’s atmosphere, the laser beam begins to scatter. Now: Whoever is located in the line of sight of the upper part of the laser (where it scatters) and has a signaling-device installed e.g. behind his window is able to exchange data. The technology is fully bi-directional and allows for a dedicated bandwidth per household of up to 100 MBit/sec. If only 50 % of this concept became feasible at reasonable economics, I bet that it will fundamentally impact the backend-infrastructure of internet-connectivity.

Besides such food for thought, the food for real was absolutely stunning with an ever changing variety of dishes over the days. (I could still kick myself that I had to leave too early on Sunday and miss the Asado.) But for sure, I got a fair share of this paella:

Thank you very much Martin and Nina, for your kind invitation and putting this event with lasting impressions together. The atmosphere, the networking, the fun and especially the bonding were unparalleled. Thanks also to Matias and Eva for the perfect organization and their ever-sunny-mood for – as a Germany proverb goes – “herding a sack of fleas”.

Your support has been absolutely overwhelming, over the weekend additional donations have led to an overall commitment of EUR 2369 from the total of EUR 2800 we are aiming at. This went way faster than I would have ever dreamt of. Here is the latest list of donors, with the detailed overview here.

Juri Reisner
Martin Wunsch
Rene Seifert
Malte und Tina Krüger
Fabian Seyfried
Dirk Schornstein
Petra Rautenberg and Jürgen Kock
Andreas Hörr
Sascha Mladenovic
Paul Fritze
Simone Bayer
Michael Munz
Alexander and Michaela Erlmeier
Lukasz Gadowski
Nils and Anita Rauterberg
Jan Poerschmann

Thank you very much indeed for this. Stunning I find also that 90 % of these commitments come from social media-communication via blog, Facebook and Twitter. The nature of such concerted action displays three things: That the future of young girls in an orphanage in Bangalore can reach out to a influential number of people without the use of “classic media”, that the same channels empower us to take immediate action and last but not least, we can feel being part of a joint cause.

So here we are with just another EUR 431 missing, in case anybody would like to participate, drop me a mail at rene.seifert (at) gmail.com and I’ll add you to the donors’ list.

I feel indeep deeply touched by your overwhelming support, far beyond what I would have dreamed of. In a fast intermittently connected world the good news propagated to me through Facebook, Twitter (and Mail) when I disembarked the plane 1.5 hours later on Menorca Airport after I had posted the start of the charity project from Madrid. And not even 18 hours later we are almost half way there. From the targeted EUR 2,800 we have already committed EUR 1,370. Here is the list of the generous donors in chronological order:

Juri Reisner
Martin Wunsch
Rene Seifert
Malte und Tina Krüger
Fabian Seyfried
Dirk Schornstein
Petra Rautenberg und Jürgen Kock
Andreas Hörr
Sascha Mladenovic

Here on this Google-Spreadshirt I will keep an realtime and public update about the donations made. Thank you so much for all your support. I will get back to you within 2 to 3 weeks on the operational issues of money transfer and the next steps to follow. Till then, feel free to spread the word, I will also do so today till Sunday on Martin Varsavsky’s and Nina Wiegand’s Menorca Techtalk.

Whilst sitting in my hotel in Amsterdam, it’s time for a little re-cap from the yearly outbreak which my best friends from school and I have been establishing in the last 8 years: Going to my home in Rovinj (Croatia) and just letting go. We have know each other for more than 20 years by now, and it is amazing to see that it doesn’t take more than the blink of an eye to regress into the same sort of collective behaviour we were displaying when we were 16 :-)

Here is the picture set on Flickr we are for the official group picture of MännerMitÄhre with the neat marine-blue uniform.

Apart from having a good time in general, playing tennis and eating well in particular, last Sunday we were out for a nice excursion on the Eastern coast of Istra, the northern Croatian peninsula where I to my own dismay have never been.

View Larger Map

We were heading on the expressway towards Pula, from there up again to Labin, a historic town with a clock tower which offers beautiful view into the surrounding landscape as well as Rabac (see here, with the island Cres in the background)

Rabac could theroretically be beautiful, but it’s not. The favourable setting on a secluded piece of beach is entirely overshadowed by one of the ugliest excesses of socialist architecture geared to attract package tourism. Rabac is a place to stop by for an hour and then quickly continue northwards on the Magistrale road with impressive views of the Kvarner Bay. Here I dug out a video from our last year’s MännerMitÄhre vacation in Croatia, where I was flying-pilot of a chartered Cessna 172 with Juri on board filming:

The true splendor of Istra with its history of the K&K Habsburg-Empire becomes palpable in Lovran, and even more so in it’s bigger sister 8 km north Opatija. Its architecture narrates stories of the times when the Austrian Emperor as well as Sissy came here to do something good for their health – something that plenty of physicians hurried to attribute to the very special climate of the place.True or not, Opatija boasts an amazing seaside perfect for a Sunday afternoon stroll.

Hence, there couldn’t be a better place for MännerMitÄhre for a memorable good time in 2009 and we are already planning for and looking forward to Rovinj 2010.

10.24 AM

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Just attended a colourful evening in the Indian Consulate in Munich where my own India story began. Back in 2003 when I had a dream and a business plan to move to India, it was exactly this Consulate General that provided me with the critical guidance. Information about the country, the regulatory environment, practical advise on company-establishment, apostille for foundation-documents and last but not least the visa. I felt already 6 years back that the consulate provided an outright proactive “service” to help me execute on my plan, far beyond the level of expectation.

Therefore, it was almost something like “back to the future” when I gratefully accepted the invitation to tonight’s function which was an initiative of the Consul General and Mohammad Rehan to bring together the Indian community in Munich. Community in the broadest sense of the word: Obviously Indians in Munich, but also Germans and other nationals from Munich who are dealing with India in the professional context. Anup Mudgal, the Consul General and host of the evening, expressed his confidence that no matter which results will turn out of the general election on Monday, India was firmly set to maintain its course of economic openness.

Mr. Mudgal put India in its historic context of century-old openness towards other cultures which I feel are indeed a coining tenet of even daily life on the subcontinent. Whenever India was geared to openness and freedom, it succeeded, Mr Mudgal said. India has indeed fostered long-standing relations with Europe, where Germany has been one of the most important trade partners in terms of trade volume and investment. Siemens for instance helped build the first telephone line between Kolkata and Europe.

All in all, a good opportunity to bring together the ties of globalization from the “other end” in Munich, which used to be my own starting point before I “changed the side”. Likewise, I met an Indian entrepreneur tonight who set up his company in Munich. It is touching to witness how in parallel to cherished local cultures, there is indeed more and more emerging something like an inclusive globalized culture in our world.

Milan is the undisputed style capital of Italy, as I could tell last night by going out for the typical Apertivo with Michele Casucci, a former colleague of mine from Lycos Europe and now successful entrepreneur of, among others, Certilogo. Going out to Noon, Aperitivo is a phenomenal invention where I wonder why it hasn’t spread (tipping point and stuff … ;-) all over the world. This is how it works: Basically you pay only for the drinks, like a Negroni for EUR 8, but with it comes the bar covered with all-you-can eat finger-food like cheese, sausages, olives, pizza-slices. Which basically replaces dinner in a very unassuming way. At least equally yummy comes just standing around and spotting the beauty of Italian women who especially in stylish Milan put a lot of emphasis on grooming themselves. Nothing to object about that either …

Today then, I drove down first to Lacchiarella to attend the first communion of my first goddaughter Linda, who has with almost 9 years grown to a gorgeous extremely well-mannered young lady. Lunch which spread almost up to dinner took place in Pavia, a stunning ancient town in Lombardy which is known for one of the oldest universities in Italy.

The day before yesterday, I twittered proudly that my weight for the first time after 4 years had come down to below 90 kg. After today’s eating-orgy in a delicious fish restaurant where there was no end to various antipasti, primo, secondo piatto and cake I feel like I must be again above – 100 kg … ;-)

I couldn’t be luckier for today’s flight LH 454 where I just landed in one of my most favoured cities, San Francisco. Bought myself an Economy Class ticket, used my abundance of miles for an upgrade to Business and checking into the Lounge in Frankfurt, I got a free upgrade to First Class. And yes, the Flugröserl was in the game again :)

Surely, this is not a lucky draw in the lottery, but based on my HON Circle-status, but I appreciate these gestures from Lufthansa a lot. Maybe, therefore, I am a bit biased, but overall flying Lufthansa like crazy in the last 3.5 years between the continents, I feel that it is time to express a thank for the splendid work the airline does.

It doesn’t come by surprise that – based on “good old Germany virtues” – Lufthansa consistently ranks high at safety, reliability and punctuality. But those same virtues culture-wise were not always prone to outstanding service, it’s usually not what Germans are like. Slightly on the brush side of life, the understanding of service falls short in the scale of galaxies what one finds in India, Singapore, Thailand or Japan. There, serving a customer is culturally considered an honour.

Hence, it deserves even more hail that Lufthansa grew above itself to be not only significantly better than average German service, but even on the many instances on the ground, but especially on board, truly exceptional. Gone are the times (which I remember) where a bitchy flight attendant would almost throw the tray with the meal in front of you.

Admittedly, passengers in Business and First Class pay more to get better service. But my point is that you can’t buy friendliness, attention and charm when it’s not in a company’s DNA, when you have the wrong people or you have the right people and over time in a  bad organisation they degrade to jerks. In my perception, Lufthansa has worked hard to change its DNA. In some instances I spoke to flight attendants off the records where they told me about their training in general and the briefings before every flight in particular. The purser would remind the cabin crew that it’s them who will make a difference in choosing Lufthansa over a competitor and make a lasting impact on the experience. So there seems to be a system of deliberate effort behind, and to me it seems that the system is bearing fruit.

There are many aspects of outstanding service, but it come most in the shade of getting something which you did not expect: Like today I chose for my meal a French wine, the flight attendant asked me if I was sure not to go for the Chilenean one. I stayed with my choice, but he came back to me smiling after two minutes with a sip with the one from Chile just to give me a try.

I don’t intend to celebrate my middle-age-wine-decadency with such an example; it’s just illustrating how small unexpected gestures can make a difference in delighting a customer. Today and in the last months and years I have seen a couple of these instances where Lufthansa’s staff has gone, or rather, flown that extra mile for me. Thanks.

10.37 PM

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Posted to English, Europe, Germany, Globalization, Innovation, Language Selection, Travel

Web 2.0 macht vor keiner Nische halt. Jetzt wird auch die Hochkultur davon überrollt bzw. davon aufgerollt, und zwar mit einer neuen Plattform Kulturempfehlungen.de

Wie der Name schon suggeriert, dreht sich alles um Kultur, und zwar in der ganzen Spannweite von Musik, Literatur und Film. Wie ich auch gut unterrichteten Kreisen erfahren habe, wird demnächst auch Kunst, Design, Architektur und Bühne hinzukommen.

Eine erste Vorauswahl wird von der Redaktion getroffen, dann macht die Community weiter und kann CDs, Bücher und Filme bewerten und empfehlen.

After all my successful years of abstinence, I got drawn in this time. Into the weird proceedings of carnival in Germany. Unfortunately, my friend Arnd exploited a weakness of mine which was asking me if I wanted to join him and some friends to the unique, unparalleled und world-famous carnival in Cologne. It took me around 10 seconds to accept. And there we were for “Altweiberfastnacht“, the brave sailors after an exhausting trip on the seven seas ready to go on land (pictures here).

The unbelievable thing is that over the last 5 days of the carnival season, the city is basically  in a state of emergency. Nobody works, don’t even try to call someone up for business and everybody in the street is in one form of disguise or the other.

I don’t intend to bore the death out of you by intellectualizing the sheer fun. But I found the social dynamics of something like carnival extremely insightful. Also I realized that quite a few “cultures” (in a simplified usage of the term) have something which carries some similar properties. For instance, Oktoberfest in Munich, Holi in India or Springbreak in the U.S. Or yesterday, I went to another carnival-event, “Fasching” as it is called in Bavaria, thanks to an invitation of the “Münchner Sozietät”, slightly changed my dress and went as both Barack and Hussein ;-) – pictures here

What I mean that for some pre-defined period of time, the usual collective rules seem to collapse. Those underlying values of proper behaviour which we deem essential for the very functioning of our social fabric. Just gone, right through the chimney. People drink in a way where they make sure everyone realize, personal distance among strangers disappear and the approachability between genders raise exponentially.

It was interesting to watch in Cologne’s pub how apparently new acquaintances were polishing each other’s tonsils in a matter of minutes – thereby seemingly reinforcing the communal cohesion for the rest of the year ;-) Moreover during carnival, the very nature of being in a costume creates an alter ego which allows for acting in a parallel self which can’t be held accountable for these unintentional occurrences.

Ultimately, hey, when everyone is doing it, nobody can be blamed. Hence, the state of emergency becomes just a normality. Essential, however, is the common notion of this “pre-defined period of time” where everyone can go berserk before knowing exactly where the point is when it’s time for the reboot.