Expanding the Legacy
Carrying the Hopes of a Country and a Union
Whilst president of the European Council, Donald Tusk frequently caused a stir with comments that lacked in finesse or diplomacy. After the 2016 Brexit vote that sealed the UK’s departure from the European Union, the former, and likely future, prime minister of Poland speculated that supporters of the plan were...
Seldom Down, Never Out
Echoes of the Franco Era still haunt Spain in subtle and often divisive ways. Now, a vibrant democracy, the country has taken decades to shed its past and rid society of the last vestiges and symbols of authoritarianism. A watershed moment was reached when Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez ordered the...
The Taciturn German to Watch
Germany and the Germans struggle to get comfortable donning the mantle of leadership circumstance has thrust upon the country. The nation and its leaders are visibly shocked by the rapid demise of the old world order and the unfolding ‘Zeitenwende’: the epochal tectonic shift that began with a global geopolitical rebasing and reached a disconcerting apex with Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.
Common Sense Rules Supreme at Berkshire Hathaway
Admittedly, public speaking did not come easy to Mr Buffett – aka the Oracle of Omaha. He repeatedly confessed to ‘great trepidation’ when it came to addressing gatherings during his time at college. Taking a Dale Carnegie course changed that for the better. In fact, Mr Buffett’s diploma from the author of How to Win Friends and Influence People is the only plaque displayed at the Omaha office from where he rules the Berkshire Hathaway business empire.
An Outsider on the Inside
When the going gets tough, Christine Lagarde has often been called upon to broker a deal or find the solution to a conundrum that baffles lesser minds. In a word: she gets going and likens that to being suspended from a ‘glass cliff’ – as opposed to bumping against a glass ceiling – a phenomenon whereby a complex and hazardous job is handed to a woman, making her success improbable, and affording men a measure of plausible deniability.
Pragmatic, Experienced, and Slightly Awkward
Credited with reviving the politically moribund SPD (Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands), and boasting a CV brimming with public administration experience, Olaf Scholz was, until quite recently, considered somewhat of an oddball by the social democrat rank and file for his robot-like body language and speech. It earned him the nickname ‘scholz-o-mat’....
Lessons on Longevity from Iron Mum
Almost two months to the day after the September 26 federal election Germany, a three-party coalition was unveiled, tasked with ushering in the post-Merkel era with social democrat Olaf Scholz (63) at the helm as chancellor. With the SPD (Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands) at its core, the coalition rests on a...
WTO DG Meeting High Expectations
She a master of detail yet sustains a grand vision of securing a multilateral approach to cross-border issues that affect nearly all. An enviable political astuteness and the ability to come up with fresh solutions to tired problems have propelled Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala to ever greater heights, shattering countless glass ceilings...
The Debut of a Hawkish Dove
He spoke only three times publicly in his new job, and three times the markets tanked. More disconcertingly, he also flip-flopped during two key speeches on Capitol Hill, seamlessly moving from monetary hawk to dove within the space of a few days. The new chairman of the US Federal Reserve,...
On Savages, Revolutionaries, and Idiots
Driven by nostalgia for times that never were, victimised by foes that never existed, and waiting for an enlightened leader who never arrives: most political thinkers of Latin America have perfected the art of the blame game. The continent’s permanent state of underdevelopment is everyone’s fault – from ignorant colonial powers to arrogant Yankees and heartless capitalists.
