Us vs Them. Global vs Local. Unification vs Isolation. Which is it? Help thy neighbour or look out for thyself.

The Internet has brought our world together. Like it or not.

Just 5 days after Donald Trump jumped into the Apple-China manufacturing debate Tuesday, calling for Apple CEO Tim Cook to make Apple products in the U.S., the new Chrysler ad starring Clint Eastwood was released for Superbowl. The Chrysler ad echoes the same theme of making things in America and how this is one way the U.S. can hoist itself out its economic doldrums.

“We find a way through tough times. And if we can’t find a way, we’ll make one…Detroit’s showing us it can be done,” Eastwood says, speaking about Detroit’s comeback.

Ironically, Trump and President Obama are more or less on the same page. Obama has been pushing hard for in-sourcing–moving manufacturing and other operations back to the U.S., particularly from places like China.

“We have a huge opportunity to create more high-tech manufacturing jobs in the United States and bring back some of these jobs from overseas, but we’re going to have to seize the moment,” Obama said last week when visiting Intel’s newest chip plant in Chandler, Ariz.

“Let’s stop rewarding business that ship jobs overseas, let’s reward companies that are investing and creating jobs right here in the United States of America,” the President said.

While these are all great suggestions to stimulating the US Economy, where’s the innovation?

Today kids are smarter, have access to so much more in America then even kids from a generation ago.

What is being done for new graduates – our future leaders?

It’s nice to stimulate the economy with some bailouts and manufacturing jobs.

But is this really forward thinking?

Please say that the future of America isn’t hinged upon an assembly line? Mr. President?

Don’t be too upset that you didn’t make the “top 10 list for most searched on the Internet in 2011″. This might actually be a good thing; because it probably means you didn’t create a sex tape, murder anyone, embezzle a trillion dollars on fraud street, cause a celebrity breakup, have a natural disaster named after you and your not a dead terrorist. The only downside to not being on this top 10 list is that you likely didn’t win American Idol either.

It amazes me what addictive gluttons for  information and news on the latest and most popular celebrity, tragedy, death, or violent act we are. Bring on the carnage – just like the Romans did centuries before us. Have we really evolved from our primitive predecessors of the past? In some ways yes. But at the core of our being doubtful. As long we keep buying into what the media feeds us they’re going to keep providing it. And now with the Internet  being this massive media vehicle it’s even easier to spread the word or song – just ask Rebecca Black.

Besides the popular celebrity nonsense, and the devastating tragedy in Japan,  it seems that one piece of technology fought through our love for the negative and captured our attention long enough to let our fingers do the walking on the Internet.

According to Yahoo, the iPhone took top billing as the number search term in 2011. Yes it even beat out Kim Kardashian. I wonder how much of this was sparked by the passing Apple co-founder Steve Jobs.

At any rate I’ll pause my cynical view for now and instead offer thanks to all those who intentionally or unintentionally put some drama in our lives. And at the same time be thankful that it wasn’t me.

Unfortunately, in order to have a heart-warming story somebody has to pay a price. Without the villain there is no hero. Without tragedy there is no triumph. And without all this adversity and uncertainty in the world we would live a boring Pleasantville existence and wouldn’t be able to differentiate one moment from the next.

As the year comes to a close most of us will look back at the past 12 months and reflect on a handful of memories that have stood out because they moved us or touched us in some ways.

Having spent a lot of time in air (141,623 miles to be exact) this past year, I was able to visit some great places around the globe and capture some remarkable moments. The cool thing about traveling  is getting that unique perspective on how people live in different parts of the world. It gives me a greater understanding of how diverse human beings actually are in their thoughts, beliefs and actions. It also helps give me a greater appreciation of what truly is important in life especially right now when I’m trying to finish this post and my 3-year old son is saying, “Daddy pease pay with me”. Gotta go.

If a picture is worth a thousand words then I’d be writing for a really long time. Enjoy!

2011 in Pictures

Happy New Year!

After spending a little more than a hour at Sydney’s Entertainment Centre with the flamboyant billionaire, otherwise known as “the Don”, it’s hard not to appreciate his candid in-your face intensity and dog-eat-dog business practices. At least with him, it’s not the usual blah blah blah tell them what they want to hear, politically correct BS.

Some may think his cynical and non-trusting attitude is a bit over-the-top but he pulls no punches on the realities of what it really takes to be successful in business and life. Besides the usual ‘work hard’, ‘never give up’, ‘take advantage of momentum’ and you have to ‘enjoy what you do’ words of wisdom and complimentary stories to reiterate those fundamental principles he had some less-than mainstream thoughts on what it takes to get what you want out of life and business.

Always Get Even

Trump is a firm believer in making things difficult for those who make things difficult for you. He said you must get even with those who screw you over so that others think twice about doing the same. He talked about  getting sued on a daily basis and referenced the Rosie O’Donnell incident and how not backing down and fighting back of has helped mitigate many potential losses.

Sign a Prenuptial Agreement

With divorce rates over 55% his thoughts are that many relationships and marriages are one of the main reason businesses fail. In fact, many banks won’t lend to businesses where husband and wife are owners or there’s no prenuptial agreement he says. He sarcastically chimed in  about the only time he made money from women was when he bought the Miss Universe pageant. Judging by his track record he’s probably right.

Being Lucky

Trump talked about his financial crisis in the 90′s and how one of his bankers, who was known for being tough on people who couldn’t pay, in fact his banker had bankrupted pretty much everyone who owed him money and couldn’t pay. If it wasn’t for a chance meeting at an event, which Trump didn’t want to go to, and didn’t know his banker, whom he owed over $197 million dollars to and had never met, was going to be there, Trump believes he may not have been able recover and grow to magnate he is today. The next morning they made a deal to restructure debt and the banker gave him a shot. He continued by saying some people are lucky and some people just aren’t. It’s a state of mind first and that you need to chose whether you believe your lucky or not.

Hire Great People but Don’t Trust ‘em

Really? Hire great people and don’t trust them? That’s something you don’t hear everyday but not that surprising knowing where it’s coming from. Trump’s thoughts are that people will take advantage of anything they can if you let them. ‘It’s human nature’. I wonder if his employees and kids know that he doesn’t trust them? Even being the crude skeptic he is,  there must be a  line somewhere. He must trust in some people. I’m sure he believes that there’s at least one person in the world who’s not out to screw him?…On second thought maybe not.

On the Future, Politics and Economics

Trump advised Australia to “screw” China by raising its commodity prices. “You really screw them on the sale of raw materials. They need you badly. You have all the cards.” Part of his rant was a result of his criticism on America’s lack of tough negotiators in business dealings with China.

Then there was his well-known take on global warming and solar power, the latter in which he is not a fan. Citing a story where some ‘environmentally friendly’ people tried to convince him to put ‘those ugly things  on my buildings’ and tried to convince him that he’d see a return on his investment in less than 14 years. In reality, after he did some due diligence it would be over 30 years before he saw any benefit. In true fashion, he concluded his piece on global warming sarcastically by saying he was doubtful that he was damaging the ozone layer  using hair spray to keep he comb-over happy every morning.

Speaking of hair-spray Trump addressed his famous comb-over while spending some time at the Sydney Opera House earlier in the day. “The wind was blowing violently….I said to my (assistant); ‘Get me some hairspray’.”

“And let me tell you..I love this hairspray. Frickin Australian hairspray. It actually works.”

Trump also continued to pitch his prospects of running for US president as an independent after deciding not to contest the Republican candidacy.

“If the economy continues to be bad – and I think it will because we have incompetent people running the country – and if the Republicans pick the wrong candidate, I will very strongly consider running as an independent,” he said.

Whether you love him, hate him or couldn’t care less you have to admit there’s rarely a dull moment when ‘The Don’ is in the house.

Photo Courtesy of Adam Ward.

Why is it that seemingly two people with similar talents can get such drastically different results? One seems to have the Midas touch where everything turns to gold. While the other never seems to get a break and is often found on the losing side of his goals or achievements.  I was reminded of John C. Maxwell’s book called Talent Is Never Enough: Discover the Choices That Will Take You Beyond Your Talent after reading my lawyer’s newsletter. In it John, outlines the following 13 principles that will allow you to separate yourself from the competition:

1. Belief lifts your talent
   
2. Passion energizes your talent
3. Initiative activates your talent
4. Focus directs your talent
5. Preparation positions your talent
6. Practice Sharpens your talent
7. Perseverance Sustains your talent
8. Courage tests your talent
9. Teach-ability expands your talent
10. Character protects your talent
11. Relationships influence your talent
12. Responsibility strengthens your talent
13. Teamwork multiplies your talent

Image courtesy Fred Black

It seems in business, or any topic that involves money, most people’s mentality is that the bigger the number the better. After all doesn’t making $350K a year sound much better than $50K? Or better yet your company making $1B a quarter is much better than making $5M a quarter, right?

Don’t get me wrong, all things being equal I’d take the $350K over the $50K any day. But what ever happened to net value of something? You know, the number that you put in your pocket – after all your expenses and taxes are paid? Isn’t the cost of doing business an important factory anymore in determining the value of company?

So why are we so mesmerized by big numbers?

Is it because the bigger the number the safer we feel because that means the more we can have and the less we fear of running out? Or is it just ego and greed?

How many times have you said to yourself, “If I just had an extra….dollars…all my problems would go away or I could grow my business and expand and….” Just get Dorothy to click her heals and get the Fed to fire up the printing press and voila problem solved right?

No problem solely ever gets fixed with money. Maybe temporarily it can alleviate some pain and discomfort. And having money doesn’t necessarily mean that your poised for bigger and better. Ultimately there has to be some fundamental changes that go with it. Processes need to be adjusted and models need to be changed. Look no further than the Fed to see how true this really is. Their solution for everything is to print more money. And look where has that gotten them?

According to Focus.com Venture Capital firms in Q1 of this year injected close to  7.5 billion into Silicon Valley Tech companies. Some of which are now poised to have some big revenue numbers because they now have the money to grow and expand…and follow the bigger is better philosophy of business.  But who cares that most of them are not profitable. As long as the gross revenue looks strong so the valuation looks good – that’s all that matters, right?

Take Groupon’s IPO filing for example. According to a recent article in Tech Crunch Groupon lost $456 million last year, and another $147 million in Q1 of this year. CEO Andrew Mason even went so far as to warm shareholders stating that “We aggressively invest in growth.” They spend the majority of their money trying to get more subscribers and loose money hand over fist doing it.Yet the word on the street is how unbelievable  their growth has been. They spent over $1.16 billion dollars to make $713 million. What more is there to say. No advanced calculus formulas. It’s simple math. Why is it so hard to see that this business model is not working?

Making it and keeping it are two different things and are worlds apart both in business world and personal economies of many people.

If there is to be a return to economic and financial stability there has to be a fundamental shift in the way we run business. We need to revisit the profitability model, get a better grip on sustainability and understand that  growth comes in many different flavors not just the ‘get bigger at all costs’ kind.

I believe entrepreneurs and small business will be the catalysts for changing  not only the way we do business but also the way live our lives over the next couple of decades. Those smart enough to understand this shift for not only making money but also doing so profitably will be the ones who not only survive but thrive in the years to come.

Hopefully sooner than later traditional big business, governments, federal reserve, lending institutions and those on Wall (Fraud) street,  will realize this as well and jump on board. Until then the question remains, when will they ever get it right?

Graph Courtesy of  Techcrunch.com .

I’m a big fan of DIY and their WordPress Thesis Theme. Over the past year or so they’ve come up with some really great information not only pertaining to blogging but also online business. Recently they posted an article called The Anatomy of a Web Business (The 10 Body Parts)…I agree with most of  their analogies and would like to add few key ingredients…

1.  Brain: Create or Revisit Your Business Plan. Personally, I would even look to the future sooner. What I mean is start forecasting for 30 days, quarterly and yearly. It’s nice to try and predict where you’ll be in 3-5 years but with the rate of change of today’s business your plan is almost guaranteed to be different several years from now. Do you think the board at Groupon would have planned their street value to in the billions in just under 3 years – maybe? Think about having a sound business model, providing good value and great customer service for the shorter term and the long-term will take care of itself.

2.Eyes: Visualize the future, but also see the present. The future is really about your vision. Your why. Your reason for doing the day-to-day mundane things that are necessary not only to thrive but survive. The process is really about the present. With an online business Google analytics a necessary ingredient for measuring metrics to determine the who, what, and how for your website.

3.Ears: Listen to what your clients are saying. I totally agree with one caveat. What people say and what people do are most often contradictory in nature. Measure where your customers put their money instead of their mouth.

4. Nose: Sniff out Competition. Yes, it’s a must to know who’s in the game your playing.

5. Mouth: Be smart about your marketing and don’t be afraid to revise your plan. Agree totally. You need a strategy to find out where your time is best served. The biggest challenge you’ll find is trying measure certain marketing strategies. Online communication and social media tools have changed the playing field so you’re not wondering if that billboard on the freeway is actually working or theoretically throwing random impressions out there in hope that a potential client will jump on board and buy something. It’s a little more refined but still can be difficult to get an accurate read. I still believe the best marketing strategy, although very difficult to measure, is to let others do it for you by Word of Mouth, whether online or off.

6. Heart: Get that emotional connection. The human race makes decisions on two things – pain or pleasure. They are, of course driven by emotion. Why does the Hollywood formula still work today? Same story just different characters. Mix up your characters, tell stories that people can relate to and you’ll have that magic bond. Show them that you care.

7.Arms: Reach Out to Your Audience. There’s a lot of truth to reaping what you sow and getting what you give. When you provide information or knowledge you’re doing those things. There’s great value in trying to educate people or give them a skill that would otherwise be unattainable. The perception is that when you help others, it shows that you care. The challenge then becomes turning them into paying customers.

8. Legs: Create solid products and services to stand on. This should be a no-brainer. If you don’t believe in something or have 100% confidence that your products and services are worthy then why would you sell them?

9. Skin: Make sure your business has brand identity. Branding can take on many forms. Don’t just think of logos and mission statements. It can be as simple as doing good work, having quality products or providing your customers with exceptional customer service.  Decide what you want to be known for. Then make it clear to your market and you’ll be memorable.

10. Spine: Sync together all the parts. There’s nothing like a fine tuned company working in harmony trying to achieve a common goal for the greater good.

“Marketing high-tech products is pretty much all about persuading people and organizations that the disruption to their lives is worth the benefit they will ultimately derive from the product”. This quote was in a great article from the Ottawa Business Journal that I recently read. Great marketers know that we are motivated by two things, pain or pleasure with the former being the more captivating leader.

Yet it continues to amaze me, how many  business owners looking for new customers, partners or capital fail to realize the importance of a great presentation. So what constitutes a great presentation? Read the article below by David Lynch.

What do an iPad and a chicken rotisserie have in common?

The “pitchman” is a somewhat dying profession with a dubious reputation. You can still occasionally see them at fairs, markets, large stores and, most ubiquitously, on late-night infomercials, selling everything from timeshares to spray-on hair.

The closest we come to using them in high tech is at trade shows as a means of getting people to the booth.  But believe it or not, there are many similarities between the challenges pitchmen have faced and solved, and the challenges that face high-tech marketers every day.

is the guy who pitches the Showtime Rotisserie, a versatile counter-top rotisserie that cooks chicken (and just about everything else).

Total sales of the Showtime Rotisserie exceeded $1 billion in the first three years following its introduction in 1998, and it’s still selling strongly today.

Yet when Mr. Popeil introduced the first home rotisserie, he faced exactly the same challenges high-tech marketers do today when introducing new technology to the marketplace.

The rotisserie was (and for many people still is), an innovation, representing a completely different way of cooking at home. And like a lot of innovations it was disruptive, requiring consumers to rethink the way they go about their business in the kitchen.

Sound familiar?

Marketing high-tech products is pretty much all about persuading people and organizations that the disruption to their lives is worth the benefit they will ultimately derive from the product.

So how did Mr. Popeil do it with the Showtime?

TV pitchmen understand it’s all about messaging. But more importantly, they live and die by the presentation of their products and have figured out the most effective formula:

- Explain the invention to customers not once or twice, but three or four times – each time with a different twist;

- Show them it really works;

- Make them see how it could fit in their routine and how much better it is than the current alternative;

- Sell them on how easy it is to use.

A shining example of some of these pitchman principles applied in high tech is the Apple iPad, and you only have to look at the growth it’s experiencing as proof.

Let’s face it, it’s a pretty basic device: web browser, music player, e-mail and image viewer. It has a cool and well-designed package, but in terms of functionality it’s not much more than a smartphone without the phone!

But it’s a masterpiece of usability. The innovation around the iPad is almost exclusively focused on improving the overall user experience. Its unique lightweight and usable size is just the start.

By using solid-state disks instead of active ones, Apple ensured it’s fast and ready to go at the flick of a switch, and reduced overall power requirements. Power consumption is reduced further through optimization features built into the software, extending battery life.

The iPad is also designed to be so intuitive that no manual is necessary. It links automatically to the Internet (no more searching for Wi-Fi hotspots), and connecting to mail systems is a breeze.

And then there is the App Store. Everything is self-contained; simply browse the store, find something you like, click and start running it. If there is a charge, it defaults to your credit card.

Finally, as good as Mr. Popeil is at pitching a product, one of the main reasons he is so successful is because his products are designed to be marketable.

For example, after the launch of the Showtime Rotisserie, its makers went back and spent hundreds of thousands of dollars refitting the speed of rotation from the initial four rotations a minute to six because they discovered the extra rotations gave a more even golden-brown finish to the chicken. It didn’t change the taste of the chicken, but made it more appetizing while it was cooking, and made it easier to present with impact.

Compare that to how most high-tech product development is done, where marketing requirements come a distant second or third in prioritization. And compare this to the iPad, where the product was designed specifically to emphasize the key values of speed, portability, connectivity and graphical prowess.

Everything about this product is focused on usability. And everything about how it’s presented, marketed and supported is focused the same way. And the market is responding.

Apple is reaping the growth benefits of this “pitchman approach” and, with a bit of thought and a strong focus, every high-tech company can do the same.

David Lynch is the founder of The Fios Group and former vice-president of marketing at Embotics Corp.

Photo courtesy of public-commoncraft.

There was once a businessman who was sitting by the beach in a small Brazilian village.
As he sat, he saw a Brazilian fisherman rowing a small boat towards the shore having caught quite few big fish.
The businessman was impressed and asked the fisherman, “How long does it take you to catch so many fish?”
The fisherman replied, “Oh, just a short while.”
“Then why don’t you stay longer at sea and catch even more?” The businessman was astonished.
“This is enough to feed my whole family,” the fisherman said.
The businessman then asked, “So, what do you do for the rest of the day?”
The fisherman replied, “Well, I usually wake up early in the morning, go out to sea and catch a few fish, then go back and play with my kids. In the afternoon, I take a nap with my wife, and evening comes, I join my buddies in the village for a drink — we play guitar, sing and dance throughout the night.”

The businessman offered a suggestion to the fisherman.
“I am a PhD in business management. I could help you to become a more successful person. From now on, you should spend more time at sea and try to catch as many fish as possible. When you have saved enough money, you could buy a bigger boat and catch even more fish. Soon you will be able to afford to buy more boats, set up your own company, your own production plant for canned food and distribution network. By then, you will have moved out of this village and to Sao Paulo, where you can set up HQ to manage your other branches.”

The fisherman continues, “And after that?”
The businessman laughs heartily, “After that, you can live like a king in your own house, and when the time is right, you can go public and float your shares in the Stock Exchange, and you will be rich.”
The fisherman asks, “And after that?”
The businessman says, “After that, you can finally retire, you can move to a house by the fishing village, wake up early in the morning, catch a few fish, then return home to play with kids, have a nice afternoon nap with your wife, and when evening comes, you can join your buddies for a drink, play the guitar, sing and dance throughout the night!”
The fisherman was puzzled, “Isn’t that what I am doing now?”

So the question is what are you working for?

Photo courtesy fotografar

Story adopted from wishboxproject.com

After watching the first few minutes of the disgraceful video about ‘Black Friday’ on Youtube last week coupled with an email from Nick Tart, the young co-author of What it Takes to Make More Money than Your Parents, describing the biggest complaint his readers had which was that his book didn’t give enough ‘how-to’ advice, I decided I’ve finally had enough.

Unofficially I have counted 519,730* ‘how-to’ books on solving the mystery of life, making money and everything in between; well something like that anyway. I think I lost count after a couple of hundred. From how to seek eternal bliss to how to build a rocket ship seemingly everything imaginable has been done  and now passed on in the form of  how I (or they) did it and how you too can do it like me (or them). Well guess what; you can’t and more importantly why would you want to?

When ‘How-To’ doesn’t Work and Why

I know, I know – I have no right to tell you what you can and can’t do or even what you are capable of doing. But hear me out for a second.

Marketers have used the ‘how-to’ hook for centuries with great success to lure the hungry consumers in search for the ‘secret sauce’. Unfortunately most of those people who embodied that new found ‘how to’ knowledge didn’t have a fraction of the success the marketers did.

The two main problems I have with ‘how-to’ is it’s based on the past and it tries to be applied to everything.

The first problem limits forward thinking, evolution and adaptation. How can anything new get created if we’re constantly looking to the results of the past to base our decisions for the present and the future? Worse yet, how can any problem get solved with the same kind of thinking that created the problem in the first place? Research today, for the most part, seems to be still inside the box – trying to come up with a better mouse trap instead of trying new and innovative ways to eliminate the mouse (my apologies to the Mickey lovers for using the mouse yet again as the prototype – but couldn’t think of a better one at the time and I don’t like editing at 1am in the morning).  I believe this is why billions of dollars in research and development are wasted every year in healthcare, education and financial sectors.

The second problem, taking ‘how-to’ as the end all be all to everything hypnotizes us into believing, literally, that all future events, no matter who, what, when, where, why, will carry the same results as it did in the past if carried out in the same fashion. I just can’t imagine Shaquille O’Neill winning the Breeder’s Cup after reading a book on how to ride a horse by last year’s winning jockey.

Sounds ridiculous doesn’t it?

Yet so many people set their expectations this way and wonder why things didn’t turn out the way they thought it would. Things that are subjective or self-measured like ‘how to be happy’, or, ‘how to be successful in business’ or even ‘how to make a million bucks selling the same widgets I did last year’, are extremely difficult to model from someone else’s achievements.

Success and achievement don’t come in the form of ‘how to’ it comes in the form of ‘how-do’. Knowledge and understanding is useless without application to it. That part is up to you.

To be continued…

Photo: Christopher Chan

THE SUCCESS OF OUR WORK IS MEASURE BY A SINGLE QUESTION: ARE PEOPLE BETTER OFF NOW THAN WHEN WE STARTED?

-PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON

With President Clinton coming to deliver a talk in my hometown later this week, I am extremely honored to have the opportunity to finally meet and speak with the gifted 42nd President of the United States. One of the reasons I am a huge supporter of President Clinton and his  philanthropic endeavors is because of  his commitment to action and getting results. Here is just a short-list of some of the outstanding work he and his  foundation have been a part of:

• Though Clinton Global Initiative commitments 9 Million people have been provided with new jobs and income-generating opportunities
• The Clinton Giustra Sustainable Growth Initiative has provided resources for 4,000 cataract surgeries to previously underserved communities in Peru
• Through Clinton Hunter Development Initiative community reforesting projects 1.9 million trees have been planted in Malawi
• The Alliance for a Healthier Generation has empowered 2.3 million kids to eat better and live healthier lives
• Through the Clinton Economic Opportunity Initiative’s Entrepreneurship Program 72,500 hours of pro bono consulting services worth more than $15 million have been provided to support entrepreneurs
• The Clinton Climate Initiative is implementing 35 building retrofit projects in 14 cities that will prevent the release of 75,000 tons of CO2 into the atmosphere each ear
• 2.6 million people are benefiting from HIV/AIDS drugs purchased at reduced prices under the Clinton Health Access Initiative’s agreements
• The Clinton Presidential Center has been an anchor for economic revitalization, helping to bring $2 Billion in economic development

The Clinton Foundation has earned the highest possible  rating from Charity Navigator, an independent evaluator of nonprofit organizations. This means you can support their work with confidence, knowing that 94 percent of every dollar donated goes directly to advancing Clinton Foundation programs that are improving lives and addressing pressing global challenges that affect us all.

Why I Give…

This short two minute video as President Clinton explains why he continues to contribute to the betterment of the planet and improving the quality of life for all those that inhabit it.

Two ways you can take part:

1. What Would You Ask The President?

If you had an opportunity to ask President Clinton something what would it be? Post your comments through Facebook below.

2. How I’m Contributing and How You Can To

My goal is to raise $1000 by Friday, October 29th to support his foundation  initiatives. To be a part of the community please click the ChipIn button at the top right hand column of the page.

For those who have make contributions either in the form of questions or donations I will be holding a draw for an autographed copy of The Clinton Tapes; Wrestling History with the President by Taylor Branch.

Post all comments below and share with others…

(Photo: United Nations)