At your wake, your life will not be measured by your bank balance

20 minutes chat about creating value, Mongolian Vodka, Lean Startup and more.. Recording courtesy of Bernie Goldbach - @topgold http://huffduffer.com/topgold/55663 Picture courtesy of Philip O'Rourke @piperhawk

A kick up the Aras

Value politics and the Presidency I have a very simple belief system when it comes to business or life in general. The rules of the game are: You create value You distribute value You capture some of that value for yourself If you live a good life, you create more value than you capture For my children, I want a state that provides the infrastructure physical and cultural that allows them to create plenty of value for their community. I know that if they do, they will capture enough value to make the choices they need, and to offer their children all the choices they need. Let’s leave the physical infrastructure to one side – that job is for government. Let’s focus instead on the cultural infrastructure. This is anchored by beliefs that are shared by the vast majority of a nation. The beliefs we sign up to in Ireland include: Equal rights regardless of birth, gender, race, creed or indeed access to dominant political organisations Practical ethics in business and in private life A commitment by citizens that balances personal liberty with the needs of the Nation and State Its not a long list. There may be more but let’s consider the role of the President in regard to this list. I have had a number of discussions on twitter and offline about Sean Gallagher. I don’t know him from a bar of soap, and I have nothing against the man. One business guy suggested to me that every businessman in Ireland would do exactly what it is being suggested SG did in relation to tax. “Ripping the arse out of the tax code is a key skill in Irish business” is exactly how it was put to me. That is not a sustainable model of business ethics, and that will become clear when the cute hoors not paying their fair share of tax go looking for college places for their kids, or visit their mum as she lies in a corridor on a trolley. http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2011/0624/1224299525409.html I don’t want to live in that country. If a President does not sign up to the cultural infrastructure we want for Ireland, how can you expect others to do so. We elect a President to reflect what’s great about our country. Sean Gallagher’s campaign stood for “Hope” and “Positivity”. Its what Ireland is crying out for, and its no surprise that he won a lot of support. It is why Charles Haughey was elected, it is why Bertie Ahern was elected. “Questions are like the knocks of beggarmen, and should not be minded.” ― Flann O'Brien I don’t want to live in that country. I was struck also by the €5k paid by GAA clubs to SG in order to copper fasten grant aid. "He was inside with Fianna Fail and the ministers and (he had) the inside track, he had been (Dr Rory) O'Hanlon's secretary. Once you got him to do it, you were going to get the grant.” According to sources in this article. http://www.independent.ie/national-news/presidential-election/gallagher-charged-gaa-clubs-up-to-euro5000-for-grants-advice-2915300.html That’s the Ireland my Dad grew up in. Access to a small elite – not your ability or your application decided your fate and the fate of your enterprise. I have worked in developing countries where that logic reaches its inevitable end point, where corruption crushes initiative and turns good people into ex-pats. It has a habit of breaking the people who stay and have the capacity to change countries like Ireland – I think of Noel Browne especially when I write this. The human waste of our generations, the ‘40’s, the ‘50’s, the ‘60’s the ‘70’s, my own generation who left in the ‘80’s – is incalculable. In this period, Europe rebuilt itself, America reimagined itself and our best and our brightest built rich lives invested in Nations far from home. Ireland stagnated. I don’t want to live in that country. In business I have found myself in the company of what Flann O’Brien would call sleeveens. I have seen close up the self delusion with regards to their ability; the cuteness built on a presumption that the rest of us are too thick to catch them out; the expectation that even though its wrong, they will get away with it, and there will be a great story to tell about that close brush with moral consequences. Taking these guys down requires a lot of effort and personal sacrifice. On Thursday, all you have to do is vote. A vote for Sean Gallagher is a vote for the Ireland our parents grew up in. I don’t want to live in that country.

Steve Jobs and adoption

Being adopted is a challenge.

Half of those who seek out their birth parents, really wished they had not.

Building a successful relationship with any parent takes decades of trial and error, love and mutual respect.

Its hardly surprising that without that platform, relationships with newly discovered birth parents don't always work out.

I am adopted - my real parents are Betty & Tadhg Hannigan.

My birthparents are very real too - but I have not sought them out.

I respect them and thank them for giving me the life I have.

I don't feel any urge to have a relationship with them beyond that.

It does not feel right.

It seems unlikely we would have the ingredients for a valuable relationship.

I think that's probably how Steve Jobs felt.

http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB10001424052970203499704576620911395191694-lMyQjAxMTAxMDAwOTEwNDkyWj.html?fb_ref=wsj_share_FB&fb_source=home_multiline

A different Perspective on the Celtic Tiger

Anyone with friends in emerging economies will have a very interesting perspective on Ireland today.

We are very lucky and we should remember that when our media over egg our situation.

Ireland is effectively bankrupt. The balance sheet is shot.

This is due to an extreme bubble in property prices and a criminal lack of control of our banking sector.

Ireland is a democracy. We have voted those in government who were responsible out of office.

We are not an open society when it comes to wealth and powerful self serving groups. No one in business responsible for the destruction of our economy has spent a day in prison or faced any other punitive action.

Trade Unions have not faced up to their responsibilities. They are insisting that those in the public sector get theirs - regardless of our country's ability to maintain these conditions.

Our asset classes have not been allowed to clear as they might in a liberal economy like the US.

Just as our country is bankrupt so too are many of our families. There is no chance that many can ever pay down their debt.

This is being ignored, the can is being kicked down the road.

Unlike in liberal economies, bankruptcy is a major stigma in Ireland. A bankrupt in Ireland will remain so for 12 years - compared to 1 year in the UK.

We do not have banking. What is worse is that the banking sector produce statistics to suggest that debt is available to business and families. Its not.

The celtic tiger reinforced the truth that our people are as good as any other.

Irish companies and individuals raised their game - aimed to be outstanding, to be world class.

Our people remain outstanding productive members of society.

Our exports continue to grow at a very aggressive rate.

Our companies and Foreign Direct Investment companies are growing fast, competing effectively with their competitors on a global scale.

On the P&L - Ireland is on a positive trend. Construction and Banking are destroyed as sectors. Most other sectors not dependent on domestic demand are doing well.

So there is a lot to fight for.

What do we do next?

Well - I am not sure to be honest.

I know what outcomes we need to bounce back:

- We need to reduce our public costs.

- We need banking to re-start.

- We need education and health systems that will retain the best and most productive people in this country.

- We need to get unemployed people back into work.

- We need to write down the value of assets, property, bonds and mortgages. We need to do this fast to re-start the economy and investment activity. Failure to do so will recreate the stagnation that Japan created by not being aggressive post their asset bubble.

With no currency revaluation possible, we need to drive down all costs - including salaries. There has been some work done in this respect - but Ireland is still an expensive place to live and work - Iceland has been lucky in this regard. Revaluing their currency made this re-pricing automatic. We need to replicate this outcome.


There is a lot outside of our own control.

How the EU views itself and its responsibility to its citizens is perhaps the most important input into our countries future.

What is obvious to me having visited ex-communist countries like Romania is that humans have an exceptional ability to survive and to prosper.

Talking to people who lived through the '90's in the Balkans reminds me as an Irish person just how much we have going for us.

I am optimistic. This too will pass.

Steve Heighway

At 6 my parents guided me towards supporting Liverpool and specifically this amazing new Irish player: Steve Heighway

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Heighway.
http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/history/past-players/steve-heighwa
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSD_ABo4Qws

He was a fantastic role model and I hope my kids find role models as powerful.

In Messi, I believe they have found just that model - and its about a lot more than soccer.

Messi's personality and lifestyle are in marked contrast to so many of the flashy trashy people in sport today.

I have no doubt that at 63, like Heighway, Messi will be a valuable part of his industry and a good man.

That's all I hope for my two sons.

Tim O'Reilly - Create more value than you capture

Tim O'Reilly should be a lot better known in Ireland.

For those of you who think they know him - take a moment to read a little more about him here - there may be a few surprises.

For Irish people not directly involved in technology - you may never have heard of him.

This is a collection of links for anyone who wants to find out more.

Why am I putting this blog together?



In a perfect world what I would love to see happen is....

- A member of the cabinet preferably Enda Kenny reaching out to ask this global leader for his help and support.

- An Irish media organisation persuading Tim to invest time and energy to lead an event called - why not - Ireland 2.0

- An ongoing role for Tim where he could evangelize, promote and give back to the country of his birth.

I have been lucky enough to see Tim speak.

We have people in common and they confirm that this guy is all he seems to be and more.

He was born in Cork, he is proudly from Kerry.

Gay Byrne for the Aras?

Don't make me laugh.

When you discover the impact this guy has had in his short life, few other Irish leaders stand a shoulder above him.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_O'Reilly

tim.oreilly.com -- Various Thing I've Written: Tim O'Reilly's Archive

http://www.inc.com/magazine/20100501/the-oracle-of-silicon-valley.html

http://oreilly.com/about/

Some Videos worth viewing

http://thestartupfoundry.com/2011/03/09/how-tim-oreilly-bootstrapped-oreilly-media-with-happy-accidents/

Create more value that your capture - Web 2.0 2010 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAau6W--iMo

Velocity 2011 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Kn-RrAg9FI

BBC interview 2007 - http://blip.tv/cubicgardencom-videos/tim-o-reilly-interview-for-bbc-pods-and-blogs-198960

Revisiting O'Donovan Rossa's Grave after the Cloyne Report

Splendid and holy causes are served by men who are themselves splendid and holy.

O'Donovan Rossa was splendid in the proud manhood of him--splendid in the heroic grace of him, splendid in the Gaelic strength and clarity and truth of him.

And all that splendour, and pride, and strength was compatible with a humility and a simplicity of devotion to Ireland, to all that was olden and beautiful and Gaelic in Ireland; the holiness and simplicity of patriotism of a Michael O'Clery or of an Eoghan O'Growney.

The clear true eyes of this man almost alone in his day visioned Ireland as we to-day would surely have her--not free merely but Gaelic as well; not Gaelic merely, but free as well.

We pledge to Ireland our love, and we pledge to Rome rule in Ireland our hate

I hold it a Christian thing, as O'Donovan Rossa held it, to hate evil, to hate untruth, to hate oppression, and hating them, to strive to overthrow them.

Our foes are strong, and wise, and wary; but strong and wise and wary as they are, they cannot undo the miracles of God, Who ripens in the hearts of young men the seeds sown by the young men of a former generation.

Rulers and Defenders of Realms had need to be wary it they would guard against such processes.

Life springs from death, and from the graves of patriot men and women spring live nations.

The defenders of this church have worked well in secret and in the open.

They think that they have pacified Ireland.

They think that they have purchased half of us, and intimidated the other half.

They think that they have foreseen everything.

They think that they have provided against everything; but the fools, the fools, the fools! they have left us our broken and our

dead, and while Ireland holds these graves, Ireland unfree shall never be at peace