Insights & Musings
How to Succeed in Business Without Selling Your Soul
Mt. Bonnell Media never stops.No, really, the guys there are hard at it 24/7. It’s not just the production pipeline for all the media enterprises here at Mt. Bonnell; it’s also our thought incubator.
On Encountering an Emperor and a King in Rural England
About one hour from London there is a place called Farnborough. It is pretty nondescript. I have been there often, but not for the pleasures of this small town, having exhausted those after a brief walk through its center. No, for me the attraction is on a hill overlooking it. Sitting like some medieval gargoyle, all but hidden from view, there is a monastery. Such places often have interesting histories, this one has a story all its own, and it starts at the Battle of Waterloo.Napoleon may have gone into exile after that final defeat, but this was not to be the end of what is still known as the Bonapartist Dynasty. It resurfaced in what was to become the Second Empire. But, like the “First Empire”, this was to be destroyed by a Prussian, only this time not by Blücher but by Bismark.
Mt. Bonnell @ South By South West 2019 – Part 2
Okay, so SXSW 2019 is over.I’m still thinking over all the talks I heard; conversations I had; the people I met; in fact, I’m still living off the whole experience.
Mt. Bonnell @ South By South West 2019 – Part 1
South-by-South West, or ‘South By’, or just SXSW, is now one of the world’s biggest festivals.SXSW is dedicated to helping creative people achieve their goals. Founded in 1987 in Austin, Texas, SXSW is best known for its Conference and Festival that bring together the interactive, gaming, film, and music industries from around the world.
The New Maltese Falcon: On the Trail of Dr. Werner & Partner
I flew to Malta this week.I was on the trail of the latest phenomenon to hit the currency markets: crypto-currency.To that end I had arranged a meeting with Dr. Werner & Partner. This is a law firm based at Sliema with 30 plus employees. As one would expect it has all the trappings of the eminently respectable - if often dull - world of corporate law.One might not suspect, however, that Dr. Werner & Partner is at the center of global crypto-currency. Saying that you could be forgiven for not realizing that Malta is at the cutting edge in development in the world of crypto
Remember the Alamo!
Texas was born on Sunday 6 March 1836.On that day, at 5 am, after what had been a bloody 13-day siege, Mexican General Santa Anna ordered his 1800 troops to once more attack with all the force and numbers they could muster the battered, but still standing, walls of the Alamo, a former mission that now had become a fortress. Its 189 Texan defenders fought to the bitter end against impossible odds. When, however, the dust finally settled after the 90-minute battle, all Alamo defenders lay dead.It was not the end though.
Dublin’s SXSW Blast Off!
Dublin is a great city to visit.No doubt about it: the history, the culture, the food and drink, this is a city that assaults all your senses and all at once.
German - American
I’m just about to go to the US Embassy in Dublin. It’s a grand affair and I’m looking forward to it. It’s about the continuing story of the Irish and America - more a love affair than story.America, today’s America, was built on European immigration. Some of that immigration has been celebrated, nowhere more so than with the story of Irish emigration there. Today there are now nearly 35 million Americans who report having Irish heritage. That’s around seven times the population of Ireland today. Everyone has heard of Ireland’s contribution but did you know it is not the largest immigrant group in the Unites States.
Taxes R US
Taxes are the enemy. Right? It’s not what you make in business but what you keep. I think you’ll agree with that.So some interesting research has just come to light about taxes in the United States.
I’m a Quitter
As the saying goes: “Don’t be a quitter…”You know the rest. Quitters don’t win, etc..Sometimes you have to quit though.
Making Movies
I’ve been filming in London for a few days - both on location on the streets and restaurants of Fitzrovia and then in a television studio in Westminster.I like filming. It’s not just fun doing it but it is also clearly a collaborative arrangement. I like that.
I’m Looking You Right in the Eye
Call me old- fashioned but I like to do business face-to-face, one-to-one, with a real live person – and when I say one-to-one that means a preference away from a computer screen.Today’s technology has changed the way we do just about everything in business. I get that. I know also that that change includes how we interact with our fellow human beings – be they customers, clients or even rivals.
Cowboy Songs in the Key of Life
Take the Interstate 35 and head north out of Austin.Best do it early in the morning. Just drive; just keep driving …About five hours later you’ll hit Grayson County. Make for Lake Ray Roberts; then you’ll find it by the shore. It’s not much of a place when you get there. It never really was.
Fertile
The thing that surprises many when they leave Austin airport is how green the land is all around.Europeans think that Texas is a desert. Something propagated endlessly by Western films - ghost towns with the tumbleweed drifting across a forlorn town square is the image most conjured up on celluloid.
Small Towns, Big Country
Texas is is the second largest state in the Union - Alaska is bigger but with a population of just over 700,000. Texas has over 28 million people within its borders and that number, like the Lone Star economy, is growing fast. Take Austin, for example, they tell me that 150 people a day are moving there from other parts of the States.
It’s called America
Name me another place on the planet that is so business-friendly, or as rich. Or a place that values those who try and fail, and try again, try harder, and then succeed. You see the men and women who built what became known as the United States, they too came from the Old World with a dream.