Import Export

In this Bloutcher:

• Import Export
  
• Announcements

Import Export
If you walk down the nondescript Rue de Lancy in the St. Martin-Canal area of Paris and stop at number 54 you will find yourself in front of a shop owned by one Mr. Bhandari Lalit. There is no sign indicating the nature of its business. However, when you look through the window you are greeted by a random army of bric-a-brac, piles of fabric, purses, statuettes, banners, lamp shades, necklaces, bracelets, wooden boxes, etc. And when you enter the shop you must sidle along the narrow aisles in order not to knock the goods from their shelves. Mr. Lalit sits behind a pile of goods which threaten to topple onto his head. You get the sense that Mr. Lalit manages to barely scrape by. And then an immediate smile crosses his bronze face, his gray mustache bobbing with animated anticipation, as he greets you.

I did not know Mr. Lalit when we stumbled across his shop. My wife and I encountered him by total serendipity as we made one of our daily meanderings through the streets of Paris during our five week stay.

During the one hour we spent in his shop rummaging through his "goods" Mr. Lalit laced our time with an intriguing family narrative. Here is some of what we learned.

In his earlier years, Mr. Lalit held a modest position as a buyer with an import/export firm in India. He came to Paris in 1981 to explore the possibility of starting his own import/export business. Within three months of arriving he brought his wife and two daughters to Paris. They had two more children after moving to Paris, another daughter and a son, twins. Mr. Lalit's business did "okay." He began investing in small properties in Paris. A four flat here and another there. Today he owns several of these types of properties. Mr. Lalit says he is not a rich man, but as he put it: "I'm okay. When the kids finish school I will sell all the goods you see around you and spend my time between here, India and visiting my children. I intend to do something for society in India. Perhaps open a medical clinic. I think it is important to give something to society."

Mr. Lalit's children each attended elite colleges in France and placed in the top tiers. Then, one by one, they pursued their Master's and Doctorates at Columbia, MIT and Georgia Tech. Their son and youngest child is finishing his undergraduate degree at Ensae, a prestigious institute in the fields of statistics, economics and finance. He has already been accepted by Stanford and Harvard for a Master's degree. Each of the children has specialized in fields such as Mathematics and Finance, Mechanical Engineering, Aeronautics and Pure Mathematics. They all wish to stay in the United States because, in Mr. Lalit's words, "that's where the opportunity is." Mr. Lalit says the schools in France are free. In the United States they are expensive but they are the best in world "without question." He indicated that his children want to get a good education, good training and then start businesses of their own. I asked him where they got their desire to start their own business. His smile broadened as he said "they are like their old man."

My encounter with Mr. Lalit triggered many thoughts. I began to wonder how his children might fare regarding their entrepreneurial aspirations and then I began to think how the U.S. was going through such a wrenching time and how that might impact those aspirations.

We may be under the impression that, of course, the United States is the world leader in innovation and therefore the children of Mr. Lalit have made the right choice. But I also wonder whether the U.S. will remain the best choice for them. The truth is that we are not uniformly considered #1 in innovation and we risk falling further behind. There are many studies related to which countries are the world leaders in innovation. Different studies use different criteria. And while the U.S. comes out #1 in a Boston Consulting Group study, it falls further back in most studies. The U.S. is ranked #3 in the Legatum Institute study with Denmark at #1 and Sweden at #2. And according the the well respected INSEAD analysis the U.S. ranks #7 behind Switzerland, Sweden, Singapore, Hong Kong, Finland and Denmark. This trend is troublesome, especially since Thomas Friedman has suggested that innovation is one of the key ingredients of the U.S.'s "magic sauce."

It is also hard not to be swept up in The Great Introspection we are experiencing as a nation regarding our direction. When we look at the enablers of innovation--education, opportunity (perceived and real,) diversity, access to capital, ease of doing business--we find ourselves in roiling waters. Mr. Lalit believes the U.S. has the best universities in the world. Yet, we are faced with a vocal anti-intellectual, anti-science crowd that undermines the core values of education. Our public schools are in disarray and in need of innovation themselves. And just when we need bold, creative thinking and action we are at risk of shrinking from it. The long shadow of 9/11 has morphed into a new kind of xenophobia that threatens a vital source of diversity and ideas. We are who we are as a nation because successive waves of immigrants have contributed cultural richness and intellectual vitality to our nation.

Having said this I must confess we often confuse the enablers of innovation with where it actually comes from. After all, innovation comes from innovators. And innovators come from unsuspected places, such as small shops on nondescript streets in Paris run by the Mr. Lalit's of the world. Our challenge is to link and align the enablers with the suppliers. Let's just say, like Mr. Lalit, we as a nation are in the import export business. We import diverse talent and we export ideas and innovation. And if we are to succeed, we need to welcome the Mr. Lalit's childrens of the world and provide them with the supporting enablers so they, and we, can succeed.

Announcements

• November 16th-19th the Poetics of Aging Conference will take place in San Francisco. The mission of this cutting edge conference is to counter the mainstream understanding of aging as decline and/or disease with a more expansive, humanistic, and creative – that is poetic – vision and approach. I will be speaking on the 19th. Check out the conference and join us! Check out the conference here.
  
• I will be a Story Teller at the BIF7 Innovation Summit September 19-21st. This unique, high energy summit brings together folks who care about innovation--leading organizational leaders, doers, thinkers, writers, artists, consultants, in what Mashable has called "one of the top 7 places to watch great minds in action." Check out BIF7 Innovation Summit here.
  
• Think about treating yourself to the unique splendor and power of an Esalen Institute learning experience. Join me and my co-facilitator Nancy Fernandez Mills at Big Sur for a 5 day program of The Life Change Studio November 13-18. Regardless of where you are in your life this program will help you get in touch with your creative powers and be inspired by the possibilities in your life. Check out the program here. If you have ever wondered if there is a poet in you consider taking my wife Karen's amazing 5 day workshop, Calling Calliope, Finding Your Poetic Voice, at Esalen also from November 13-18. Take a look at Karen's workshop here.
  
• I will be presenting a special program "Living Your Next Phase of Life with Creativity, Vitality and Meaning" at a Fidelity Client Appreciation Event, Providence, RI on October 4th.
  
• I am also working with Rockland Trust, Hanover, MA to create a special retirement workshop to be held on October 19th.
  
• If you or anyone you know would like to hear me talk about my book (co-authored with Kathy Jordan) Becoming a Life Change Artist; 7 Creative Skills to Reinvent Yourself at Any Stage of Life, come to the Andover Bookstore, 89R Main Street, Andover, Massachusetts at 7 pm on October 20th. Spread the word! Check out the bookstore here.
• And finally but not leastly, we are in the process of receiving feedback from our piloteers for our Life Change Artist online training program. This program will initially be designed for coaches and then for organizational leaders and educators. So far we have been hearing "there's nothing like this out there!" If you want to be alerted as to our progress, just drop me a note.
  

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