“What about Monday? That could be our one day we look at things the same way, and wear funny shoes.”
― Kevin Dalton
Doctors without borders in war zones
We all know that various parts of our world, are in a terrible condition. There are ongoing wars, diseases, natural disasters, famine, severely malnourished children, etc. Doctors without borders have been actively participating to help, at least where help is needed the most. But in Syria, things are getting out of control. Hospitals have been attacked and hospital staff members have been killed, to say the least. On Spiegel Online, there’s an interesting story about Dr. Muhamed, who helped a woman deliver a baby, in a war zone in southern Syria, shortly before his hospital was laid in ruins. Read all about it here.
How to become a master in networking
You’ve probably heard this before; ‘ Everything is about networking.’ Yes, I’ve heard that too. Having a good network may help you land that dream job, great deal, funding, great business partners, etc. But the truth is, many of us have difficulties when it comes to networking. We probably easily panic and shy away, and end up missing out on great opportunities. Learn the ways in which you can become a master networker here
So what’s so bad about the banking culture, which allows financial crimes like insider dealing?
Remember the story about Kweku Adoboli who faced charges of false accounting and fraud and cost Swiss bank UBS almost £1.5 bn? Allow me to refresh your memory.
On BBC, Mr. Adoboli talked about the importance of changing the culture of the banking industry. In his case, he claims that senior bankers placed a huge amount of pressure on him to generate bigger profits by taking greater risks. He also claims the situation hasn’t changed at all and that other young bankers still face that same pressure. But is that a reason to engage in financial criminal activities? Well guess what? Even students working as interns are not exempted from these rules-See Matthew Uberoi’s story. It’s that serious.
Do you think what Mr- Adoboli dis makes him a criminal? Do you think what he did was a crime?
Those are the similar questions he was asked at the interview. And, surprisingly (or not) Mr. Adoboli doesn’t think he is a criminal. In fact, he says that’s only a ‘label.’
Ahem! In law school, i remember studying this area of financial market abuse in depth. In fact my LLM dissertation focused on the effectiveness of the Insider dealing regulations in the UK and EU. And one thing i can recall from my findings was that; the regulation of insider dealing and other market abuse related crimes, is a huge and complex area, with endless debates. Some don’t even think it’s a crime and argue this area should not be regulated at all. (To understand what i mean, you may want to begin here- with what Professor Henry G. Manne had to say . And yes, as you may think, he had both his supporters and opposers)
From Mr. Adoboli’s response, i am not surprised at all that he still doesn’t think what he did was a crime. Like many others, I would guess that what he believed was that – It’s only a harmless white- collar crime. (The term was coined by Edwin Sutherland in 1939). From my research findings and observations, especially from an ethical and legal perspective (which i will discuss another day), financial market abuse related activities are serious crimes.
You can see Kweku Adoboli’s interview in full on BBC here or here
Time to end the 9-to-5 workday?
Many are looking for a career that offers job flexibility these days. Either work from home or show up at your own convenient time, and still get that big fat pay check! Sounds awesome, right? Well, here’s the news- Flexibility, scares some employers! However, that shouldn’t be the case. In fact according to studies, flexibility may have a positive effect on employees’ overall well-being, their productivity and quality of work. Read all about it here
Shoppable runway shows – How successful is the ‘see now-buy now’ sales strategy?
I’ve spent time watching runway shows and obsessing over some beautiful pieces, i felt i couldn’t live without. You know the kind of ‘I want it now’ feeling? The good news is that some brands, including high fashion brands, have thankfully began to make that possible. They now enable customers to shop their collections immediately after they debut on the catwalk.But how successful are they? Read all about it here on the Business of Fashion.
Follow the Yellow brick road to the House of GUCCI!
Gucci is the real talk right now! And we all know who the genius behind it all is- The one and only Alessandro Michele, the new creative director of Gucci. According to Vogue, he is the most influential man in fashion. I absolutely agree! I will never forget his historic catwalk at Westminster Abbey this year in June. It was magical! (You can watch the fashion show here, just to understand my obsession!).
The magical Gucci girl for ‘next season’ SS17 was well presented at the Milan Fashion week recently, and all i could think of is, how Gucciland is fascinating! You can see for yourself the latest fashion show at the Milan fashion week here and the spectacular photos right here. Besides Gucci, Vogue also named a few other high fashion brands who made it to the top ‘Collections of Milan Fashion Week.’
