Just short of a month ago, I was invited to Milan by my good friend Paolo. Paolo was my roommate back when I lived in New York (almost four years ago now). Paolo now works as the personal assistant to Angelo Moratti, who is a friend of Warren Buffet. Moratti had followed Buffett around his recent European tour to introduce him to new people, and the trip ended i Milan.

Paolo had invited me to the Buffett press conference to ask a question. See the full press conference on here: Part 1, part 2, part 3, and part 4. I asked Buffet what he thought of the significance of true equal opportunities for men and women in the workplace, and a couple of innovative ideas for how to achieve it. The part with my question is part 2 — you have to scroll about 10 minutes 15 seconds in.

After the press conference, Paolo had also arranged a small get-together in a hotel suite, where Paolo, me and 10 other people got to speak to Buffet for about three quarters of an hour. He is completely down to earth and extremely fun.

When we asked him what his metric of success is, he responded with a beautiful metaphor: “How many people will hide you”, which is a reference to who would hide the Jews during WWII. If you have people who will hide you, you have achieved something — true friends. He is a great guy, enormous aura and has great empathy. It was a magnificent experience.

Of course, the weekend after the event was as much fun. Paolo, Stefan (my good friend, who joined for the Buffet event), Simon (my cocktail buddy and entrepreneurship thought partner), and I hit the town in Milan. We ended Sunday morning for a Mozzarella bar brunch. Below, all of us in a slightly misty Milan right after Sunday brunch on the way to the airport.

My spring vacation this year went to New York with my friend Christoffer. One of my very good friends Jesper live there, and of course I have to come visit once in a while. Below is the view down Mott St, where his apartment is.

Writing up and down about New York doesn’t make so much sense anymore. Instead, let me highlight four peculiarities beyond the usual dining, clubbing and shopping:

• The best Cuban restaurant ever
  On the corner of Prince and Elizabeth is Cafe Habana — one of the top restaurants in the “everyday” range, that I have ever been to — a very low key, Cuban restaurant with a nice and busy Latin feel to it. It is impossible to book a table, so people wait in line on the street for more than an hour to get to eat there. While waiting for our table, we stood in the bar drinking Mojitos (great Mojitos). The bartender, a great, relaxed guy, with a lot of humour, mixed the one Mojito after another as if he were a machine. After having seen some thirty Mojitos fly by, we started wondering what the few drops of black liquid he put into the Mojitos, when starting mixing. After speculating in East and West, we finally asked: “Cuban nature medicine,” he answered, “it’s makes it taste better — and then you can also say that you’re drinking a healthy Mojito.”
• Roosevelt Island — what a bore
  When I was in New York the last time with Christoffer (last summer), we were eager to try the tram from Manhattan to Roosevelt Island, but never got around to it. This was of course on the to-do list for this trip, and the short ride with the tram was exciting as any picturesque vue of the Manhattan is. But the Island itself was incredibly boring. The Queensboro bridge crosses over the south end, which is rather noisy. There was simply nothing to do, but to grab a Starbucks coffee (yes, Starbucks had found their way to this otherwise godforsaken island) and take a walk around the north tip of it. The tram ride was nice, but don’t waste time on the island itself. Below a picture from Roosevelt Island towards Manhattan, and a glimpse of the tram that takes you back and forth.

  

• Williamsburg and Flushing Avenue
  We took out a day for the allegedly hip Williamsburg neighbourhood, and decided to take the Brooklyn Bridge stroll, and then head north. Let me just be the first to say: Don’t do that. To get to Williamsburg by foot from Soho via Brooklyn bridge involves 10 km and a completely dead walk on Flushing avenue in Brooklyn (I mean completely dead — no places to stop for Coke, ice cream, anything). Arriving at Williamsburg, finally, we find out that it is actually an orthodox Jewish neighbourhood, which by itself is very fascinating. That was one cultural side to New York I had never seen before. Continuing the walk through Williamsburg, we finally ended up in the allegedly hip part, but we were so tired that we didn’t manage to go to any of the cool galleries there. We stopped at the first, cool cafe we could find (there are numerous cool places to eat there — highly recommendable) and walked around a little afterwards to feel the atmosphere. All in all, a cool neighbourhood, that I have to go back to, but next time using the subway which goes directly out of Manhattan and smack down in the middle of the bohème part of Williamsburg.
• The Shampoo store on BWAY
  I had been thoroughly instructed by my big sister to bring back Redken shampoo. Fortunately, Jesper and Mia knew a dedicated shampoo store on Broadway, east side, south of Houston, with all you could ever dream of in shampoo, skin care, and the like products — in normal sizes and super sizes — and at a price that made my sister faint. (I think a quarter to a third of the price in Denmark.) I’ll have to go there again.

Finally, the weather was great and it was great to see Mia and Jesper again — with beer on the balcony, wonderful cup cakes that Mia had found from the Magnolia baker in the Village, and much more. One morning, I even ditched my usual personal shopper (Christoffer), and went out with Mia. She is a great shopping companion, and can’t wait to go out with her again.

Below, Christoffer, Jesper, and I are on the rooftop terrace of Jesper’s apartment building.

A loyal and avid reader since issue 06, it is about time that I make room for a few lines on my blog for Monocle — one of the best magazines in print today.

Founded by Tyler Brûlé, who also started Wallpaper magazine, Monocle is a global affairs magazine comprising niche stories, anecdotes essays, photo montages, and more in affairs, business, culture, and design. It is a cosmopolitan mix-and-match, and its sweet layout and structuring makes it great for reading on the flight, in the bathtub or on the couch.

What continues to amaze me about Monocle is that, although highly globally oriented, Denmark somehow finds its way into each and every issue (at least how I recall it) — the peak was, as some of you may remember (correctly), when Monocle placed Copenhagen as the second most livable city in the world last summer. If nothing else, Denmark at least has a place in the Kita Koga manga series at the back of each issue where Niels Watanabe goes through life as a new James Bond.

If this sounds anything like something you like, pick it up. You won’t look back.

Yesterday was a beautifully sunny day, and I sat on the balcony of my friends Jesper and Mia’s apartment, reading The Adventures of Johnny Bunko by Daniel Pink. What a great read.

Written, or rather drawn in manga, Japanese-style print cartoons (very much like the Kita Koga series in the back of my favourite magazine Monocle), Pink conveys six career/life lessons. It is short and sweet, and the book is fun and enlightening.

While I do not agree fully with all of the points made in the book, I think that they make for a very good perspective. Here is a short bite of what I took note of:
Lesson number one that Johnny Bunko is taught is that there is no plan. I could not agree more. I have a strong preference for not planning (so I keep telling myself), both concerning small things (not packing in due time for vacation), but also in the grander scheme of life (not knowing where I want to end up). “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans” (John Lennon).

What I also feel important about not planning too much for life, is that it is difficult to actually know what will be useful for you later in life. How can you possibly? And we need not go further than to our own house-philosopher here in Denmark, Søren Kierkegaard: “Life is understood backwards, but must be lived forwards (Livet forstås baglæns - men må leves forlæns).”

Building on that, Johnny learns that you can make choices for basically two reasons — instrumental and fundamental. Doing something for instrumental reasons is to do something for another desired and expected outcome, whereas doing something for fundamental reasons is to do it because you are inherently interested in it and not necessarily know what it will lead to.

There are many more goodies to go for in the book. Regardless of how you feel with what you are currently up to (doing your dream job — or — thinking seriously about doing something else) this is a fun and insightful read.

New interpretation of the classic M1. BMW — please serial produce this. More here.

I am on a four hour train ride. It is the trip between where my parents live and where I live. I don’t know how many times I have taken this trip, but these train rides are among the most reflective and emotional moments that I have. These train rides. This state of mind.

I need a good book and a good record. Right now I’m holding Naja Marie Aidt’s Poetry Book (Poesibog) and I’m listening to Azure Ray’s Sleep. This is my opium right now. What is yours?

One or two of you may have heard “Fly or die” fly out of my mouth. I stole it — along with the headline — from Paul Arden, the author of these two books:

   

I read them a couple of years ago after which they ended up as shelf material in my apartment. On a lucky strike, I rediscovered them after a friend of mine returned them after having lent them for a while. I picked them up and read them again. And they are even better the second time around.

They are both easy and quick reads with Paul Arden’s input for how you can approach life. When reading, you may find that many of his ideas are self-evident, but give me, him, and yourself a break. Many of us need a push once in a while, and these books do it, so it’s fun to read. (Paul is a former advertising executive, so he has flair for good copy writing.)

Let me bring up just a few great passages, which are not only well-written, but also touches on important topics. Firstly, about our tendency to neglect to assume responsibility when things go wrong:

If you are involved in something that goes wrong, never blame others. Blame no one but yourself. If you have touched something, accept total responsibility for that piece of work. If you accept responsibility, you are in a position to do something about it. There are no excuses.

Secondly, about sharing ideas and how we tend to “sit on” ideas and knowledge instead of sharing. Remember, sharing is caring :-):

Do not covet your ideas. Give away everything you know, and more will come back to you. If you give away everything you have, you are left with nothing. This forces you to look, to be aware, to replenish.

And lastly, about problem solving leadership and taking chances:

If you can’t solve a problem, it’s because you’re playing by the rules.

(…)

But you must show no fear. It must be what you think, not what the client may think or your boss will think. This is your job. Don’t refer back to those in authority, they will play for safety. You’re on your own. Fly or die.

[All bolds in quotes my formatting]

If you have to choose the one over the other, I think the first one (It’s not how good you are, it’s how good you want to be) is by far the best. But I’d pick up both any day.

Paul Arden has also written a new book (new and new — end of last year) — God explained in a taxi ride. Has any of you read it? If so, let me know if it is worth picking up.

I’m listening to soft jazz, while I read Weekendavisen, a weekly, Danish newspaper (the best), which deep dives on domestic and foreign affairs, liberal arts, natural science and more. I nearly skipped one article, Fear only your own fear (Frygt kun din egen frygt) by Louise Windfeld-Høeberg, but I’m glad I didn’t.

Incredibly well-written with the occasional dry humour, Louise tells us the story of a conversation with Fabien, a Rwandan priest, on a long-haul flight from Nairobi to Amsterdam. Louise, sceptical at the beginning of their conversation, ends up unveiling some of herself while shedding some light on two very important topics: embracing life and taking risks. These themes are potentially stating the obvious to most people, but the same people neglect to live by them. And iteration has never hurt anybody.

Embracing life

Life is only as positive as you make it. Although we all have valleys of life, we should embrace the opportunity to make of it what we can. If you feel your morning sucks, then the rest of the day is an uphill battle. And a large part of the effort is changing the mind, rather than wishing the world around you is different. Fabien, from Louise’s flight conversation, comes from Rwanda. Try to search for Rwanda on Google and see what you find (hint: not all positives), but the first thing Fabien says when he describes his home country is much different:

“Rwanda is the most beautiful and fertile country in the world. It is like paradise. Everything can grow there. Everything. Sweet potatoes, corn, yes, all fruits and vegetables — and, not the least, the most delightful bananas,” he says proudly.

I’m not advertising for obliviousness, but I do advertise for a positive mind and an embracing mind towards the world around us and to life.

And Fabien is extremely persistent in this regard, and maybe hinting towards being a little too pervasive. At the end of their flight, Fabien realises that he does not know why Louise is flying back to Denmark:

“What are doing in Denmark?” Fabien asks.

“I’m actually burying my grandmother,” I say

“My condolences.”

“Thank you.”

“How old was she?”

“Almost 90.”

“How fantastic! What an age!”

“I will miss her.”

“You should rather say: ‘Thank you grandmother, for staying with us for so long!’ And be happy for her long life.”

“Hmm.”

Although it may border to being too pervasive, as mentioned, nevertheless it is often this perspective that is needed in the valleys of our lives. And in any case, Fabien’s freshness and naturalness is really compelling.

Taking risks

Part of embracing life is also to take chances. Louise tells Fabien about the school that her children go to — a school that really puts an extra effort into teaching the children to take chances — or risks. To become risk takers.

“The bravest even get an acknowledgement for their efforts. They are called up at the monthly morning gathering in front of hundreds of students, parents, and teachers, awarded a risk taker diploma, and applauded all the way back to their seats.”

We should also do this in our schools and in our society at large. It seems as if risk-taking is actively discouraged in the way we interact with each other. Being cautious of not becoming reckless, we should actively encourage risk-taking and make people believe. One of my favourite quotes these days is from Disney and illustrates this very well:

If you can dream it, you can do it. Always remember that this whole thing was started with a dream and a mouse.

Potentially the word risk is a problem in itself. It sounds negative to begin with. Louise notes this very well in an anecdote that will stay with me for a long time:

“We sit and are quiet together. And then, I remember that in Nyanja, the language that most people talk home in Lusaka and in the Eastern part of Zambia where Fabien was a refugee, is only one, common word for risk and chance - it is mwayi.”

Let taking risks and taking chances be synonymous, equally compelling and actively encouraged.

—ooOoo—

And so, while writing this, my jazz playlist ended. I resorted to one of my favourite bands these days, Munck//Johnson — if you don’t know them, give them a listen

All quotes are from the article and freely translated by me (except the Disney quote).

Some time ago I started donating blood — if I remember correctly it was yet another one of those extra things you just had to do instead of sitting yourself down and writing your thesis. When I found that my blood type was AB RhD negative, the most seldom type, I felt that I was being especially helpful. Right until, of course, that I also found out, that then less people demand AB RhD negative blood :-). It seems, that the O RhD negative blood type is actually the most helpful, because everyone can receive it — at least according to Wikipedia.

But regardless of your blood type, the people working at the blood bank makes you feel special. Just this morning, I went to donate blood yet again, and, now having been to two different banks (four visits in total, so I don’t have that many data points yet :-)), I must say, every company should be a blood bank. At the very least, they can learn from them:

• Blood banks are good at donor retention
  When enough time has passed so that I’m allowed to donate again, I get an e-mail. If I don’t respond I get a call, and they are flexible, yet persistent, in getting an appointment agreed on the spot. Companies should be good at customer retention as well — it is much cheaper to get a customer to return, than to get a new one.
• Blood banks are good at word of mouth
  They have merchandise, they have stickers, and they have a “feel-good-product” that people love to talk about. The Danish organisation even has a rather popular Facebook group. Companies should make you proud that you’re using their product as well.
• Blood banks are good at understanding donor needs
  They are open early, so you can go there before work. They are also open late, so you can go there after work. You can book time via e-mail, you have easy-access parking — there is no end to the madness of customer friendliness. And the front-line staff and nurses are right up there too: When you lie down with blood running out of you, you for sure don’t want a grumpy nurse, but I nice person to interact with.
• Blood banks realize that if they have no donors, they have no blood bank
  No blood, no bank. No money, no bank (does your bank think this way?). In fact, no customers, no company. Blood banks can lecture on this.

Blood banks do it well, in my experience, and the best companies do too. Every company should be a blood bank.

And you can be a donor :-):

• Wikipedia: Blood donation
• GivBlod (Danish website — click here to find out how to donate blood here in Denmark)

At some point in the beginning of my university studies, I started tracking my time, because I was not entirely sure of where all these hours went. How much time did I spend in school? At work? Watching TV or surfing the Internet? Something completely different? Or absolutely nothing?

I can remember, one of the categories I had for registering my time was helping others. Setting time aside and helping others in one shape or form or another. This became a focus area for me — long after I stopped registering my time (I think I stopped again after three months or so). I wanted to increase my time spent helping others — and I still want to. (So now is the time to provide me with proper feedback on how you think I can do better and improve — all input is highly welcome.)

In the summer of 2007 on a vacation to New York City, my friend Christoffer Husted and I, came up with an idea to hand out a scholarship. After some maturation, we are now live with the Husted Rasmussen & Clauber Ruwald Scholarship — perhaps the not the most inspirational name. But the idea counts much more than the name. And the idea is so much more than a scholarship, but you have to start somewhere, and everything counts.

The journey does not stop here. I want to increase my time spent helping others — and, again, your feedback on how I can do better is very welcome.

I’m experimenting a little with micro-blogging, or tumblelogging as some has called it — check it out on ruwald.tumblr.com. The purpose is not to replace my blog, but to also have a space to share small bites of information, links, pictures, etc. I’m still experimenting, so I don’t know whether I’ll continue to use it. However, it has some very apparent advatages:

• All of my shared items from Google Reader (blog posts I read and want to share) and del.icio.us (my bookmarks) will be consolidated into my tumblog
• My blog posts will also show up in my tumblog
• My blog is kept clean for “normal” posts, as you have known it until now
• Easy access on your mobile (ruwald.tumblr.com/mobile)

See it as a complement to my blog, not as a replacement :-). I am using tumblr to run it so far, but I would like to find out how to include under my own domain. (If you have any input on that, let me know — constraint: No use of subdomains)

In other news today, from the strange and weird fact file, my web site received a small face-lift over the weekend:

• More pictures on the front page (click refresh, and you will receive a random photo from the pool)
• Sandbox (previously I experimented in the dark, but I decided I might as well get your input)
• Slight design revision

Let me know what you think. And if you have/create a tumblelog, please let me know :-)

I did a small photo walk in Paris earlier today — it was a beautiful day, where the sun popped out and shed light on the recently renovated Notre Dame (behind the saxophone player in the photo). It has been way too long since my last visit to Paris (I think four years (!)). That will not happen again.

Below is the stock price development of Bombardier, the company behind the infamous DHC-8 Q400, the past 3 months. The first serious SAS incident with this aircraft type, was on September 9 this year. Can you spot the trend?

I wonder what this will look like tomorrow morning when the stock exchange in Toronto opens. And I also wonder how other airlines will behave following SAS’s complete abandonment of the Dash 8. A move, which–by the way–in my mind was the only plausible course of action to maintain/restore long-term customer confidence and thus SAS itself.

I know I have kept you out of the loop for some time now. The good thing about that is that it is because I have had a wonderful fall so far, too busy doing all kinds of things. So here is what has happened:

Uncle Bear x 2! On October 3, my big sister gave birth to a tiny little girl (7 weeks ahead of time) called Caroline. I have been to see her at the hospital, where she needs to stay there until she can take all of the day’s meals with my sister.

I also went to visit my little sister in London (she has moved there, in case you forgot). Along with seeing her, partying, playing tourists, I also visited the TownhouseDK, a small part of the London Design Festival. TownhouseDK is a Townhouse entirely decorated with Danish design. Pretty cool. Below a picture of my sister in front of where she works (view more photos from London trip).

I also visited my friend Morten in Lausanne, which is starting to become some kind of semi-annual tradition. I really like the area around Lake Geneva, I must say. I was lucky to be there at the same time as Lausanne-Ouchy had a “city-party” with all kinds of events, which filled the streets with people. Below a picture from somewhere between Lutry and Lausanne (maybe Pully, I can’t remember), with Lake Geneva and the Alps faintly visible in the background.

That was some of what I experienced so far this Fall. I’ll return as soon as I can with some points on a couple of interesting books I’ve read and some great new music I’ve discovered. Meanwhile, I find myself spending more and more time on Facebook — if you are not already signed up, I can highly recommend it as a great way of staying in touch with people you know, care about and love :-)

Charlotte, my wonderful little sister, has moved to London. While I miss her incredibly, I know she is having the time of her life, of which she will, from time to time, update us on with her blog.

On the upside is of course the excuse I now have to visit London more frequently. If you are also planning on going there, remember the London Design Festival (September 15-25), which my sister says is going to be a super cool event.

On September 3, Tina Dickow (English site) will release her much anticipated (at least by me) new album: Count to Ten. And judging from what is out there already, it is going to be so good I can’t even imagine.

Tina will only perform three times in Denmark this fall according to the current plan — luckily I got my tickets for the Aarhus concert. I saw her in Ideal Bar some time back — she is just amazing live.

Check out her MySpace page — so far Tina has put up two songs — On The Run and You Know Better. The latter is right in the sweet spot for me. This is beautiful music Tina — thank you so much.

This fall, what will probably be one of the top five books on presentation design and technique you’d want in your bookshelf will be published.

Garr Reynolds (check out his website — gold waiting to be dug there!), one of my absolute favourite bloggers, is in the middle of writing the book, which will help us all make better presentations and hopefully free ourselves from the inside-the-box-thinking that far too often occurs when presentations are conceived.

I’ll try to keep you posted on when the book is out. If you have any good references for books on presentation design, give a shout.

Tonight is the last night we have on Manhattan. Yesterday late afternoon there were thunderstorms over the city, which cleared the sky and made it look bright and blue this morning, which made the city even more beautiful than it normally is. It also lowered the temperature a couple of degrees, which made it a lot easier to walk outside.

We’re just about to head out to dinner, but I just wanted to post a quick picture before that. The star photographer behind the camera is Christoffer.

The photo taken from inside the atrium of a shopping centre at Columbus Circle, which is at the Southwest corner of Central Park (map), overlooking the circle itself, a statue of Christopher Columbus, and Central Park South (the street in the picture).

Christoffer and I are now back in New York City after our small road trip to upstate New York, Bear Mountain, West Point, Hartford, Providence, Boston and the Hamptons. We drove a nice Ford Mustang convertible, which Christoffer makes look good in the photograph below.

It is so incredibly warm here, it is hard to believe, but I guess that’s what you get from visiting the city in July.

I have made a Google album with some of the photos from the trip, that we’ve shot so far; you can find it here. I have also bought a camcorder, so once I return to Denmark and upload the movies to my Mac you’ll get some of those also.

On Sunday, Christoffer and I started our vacation with a trip to the U.S. Right now I am sitting in our apartment with the most magnificent view over Manhattan. We are reliving old times — big time.

On our way here, we had a stopover on Iceland. We decided to extend the stay so we had the time to make it to the Blue Lagoon about 20 minutes from the airport.

The water has a special pale blue colour, perhaps due to sulfur (I’ll try to look into that later), and is so warm you can’t believe it.

We arrived in New York City on Sunday evening. I’ll get back to you later with more pictures.