Schneider Electric Quotes

I've said this before: a lot of people think they're artists because they feel things deeply. You know, we're in a culture now and a time where people think they talk about their truth...'If I feel something so deeply, it must be true!' You know, 'I know that I was raped by a big-footed six and had to give up the...the big-foot baby two aliens to go back to Zontar!', you know? People believe this sh*t! I talked about this crazy woman who I knew years ago who thinks she had a near-death experience and now could control electricity and talk to God and angels and stuff..and every poster she puts up that I see gets more elaborate and insane! You know...pretty soon, she's gonna be, you know, f***ing, who knows...ISIS! [...] it's like, these are the kinds of people...they're not only in the arts, they're everywhere, and years ago, when [politicians] would talk about the 'wisdom of the masses', the common people...the Internet has proved that's utterly ridiculous.

The Country Ambassador versus the Country Manager Some companies experiment with an interesting profile: a country chairperson who is a weak overlay over the business and largely plays an ambassadorial role. However, statesmanship and ambassadors are best left to the realm of diplomacy. These roles are a legacy of an era that no longer exists. GE tried the model over the past decade with limited success and finally abandoned it. A ceremonial role, with no accountability for the business and the responsibility only for engaging government, industry associations, and other CEOs, is usually not effective. Everyone—employees, customers, business partners, government officials—will quickly see this role for what it is and dismiss the person as lightweight. This does disservice to the incumbent and the role. The ambassadorial country manager who smells opportunity, but is powerless to act, can become intensely frustrated. Increasingly, the connections among strategy and execution, business, reputation, and regulation are tightening, so an artificial separation of these functions is suboptimal. Bringing accountability for these together in a single leader is vital for growing competent and well-rounded business leaders, who are capable of even being the CEO someday. If the business does require wise counsel, access, and influence and a senior public face, a strong advisory board headed by an iconic leader who serves as a nonexecutive chairperson may be a more prudent approach. We followed this model at Microsoft India with considerable success; the approach is gaining popularity at companies like Coca-Cola, Schneider Electric, and JCB.

Co-ops tend to take hold when the order of things is in flux, when people have to figure out how to do what no one will do for them. Farmers had to get their own electricity when investors wouldn’t bring it; small hardware stores organized co-ops to compete with big boxes before buying local was in fashion. Before employers and governments offered insurance, people set it up for themselves. Co-ops have served as test runs for the social contracts that may later be taken for granted, and they’re doing so again.