East Eats West

Snow in Zurich

 Picture: Zurich winter wonderland!

Nothing beats fresh snow in the morning! As I walk to work I am often the first person to leave prints in the fresh snow. Amazing!  

Buying art or shares?

 Picture: The German sculptor Michael Ball in the Rigassi Gallery in Berne. 

With the world stock market dropping by more than 50 percent since its high last year one can wonder if it had not been more sensible to buy a piece of art instead of investing in shares. For all the ones who want to invest in art instead of shares Mr. Rigassi, a gallery owner in Berne (Switzerland) came up with a neat solution. Hand in your Swiss UBS shares and then you can buy a piece of art for the same price plus a 25 percent bonus on the current share price. Sounds too good to be true? Do not think that you are given cheap art in return for cheap UBS shares. Mr. Rigassi for example represents the upraising German sculptor Michael Ball who produces amazingly fragile bronze sculptures. But be aware: the art market is also in for a big rehash and the first cracks have already appeared at autumn auctions in New York and London. Check out their websites here:

http://www.michaelball.de/

http://www.swissart.net/rigassi/

Eat healthy and die younger

  Picture: This Austrian original Kaiserschmarn might be good for you! 

With the holiday season approaching many people worry about gaining weight. And often people promise to start with dieting and excersice after New Year. Udo Pollmer, a well-known German nutrition scientist begs to differ. At a recent presentation he convincingly reasoned that body weight or fat content in humans is mostly determined by body type and stress, not food intake. The more stress, the fatter people get. I am sure you know a thin person who can eat a lot and not gain weight or a fat person who only eats a little and does not shed weight. According to Udo Pollmer this is explained by the fact that a thin person does not use food efficiently and therefore needs more, in contrast to a fat person. In an experiment, thin, normal and fat rats were put on a diet and a treadmill. The thin rats died after two days, the normal rats after a week or longer and the fat rats continued to live. The reason: body fat! Udo Pollmer argues that in general humans should not eat healthy, e.g. lots of fibres. One should eat what one likes, including sausages, beef, burgers and sweets. And sport should be done out of joy, not because of “health benefits”. Udo Pollmer also argued that many thin endurance athletes who eat healthy food actually starve their bodies. Because of this the body then releases opiates that generate the famous runner high.Udo Pollmer wrote several books among them “Wer gesund isst, stirbt früher”: http://www.amazon.de/s/ref=nb_ss_w?__mk_de_DE=%C5M%C5Z%D5%D1&url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=udo+pollmer

Clear vision

 In times of economical turmoil business leaders have to take far-reaching decisions as they restructure companies, fire people and try to position their companies anew. Management literature will assist them with thousands of books that discuss strategy, vision, priorities and business models. But at the end of the day they have to decide on their own. So a clear vision, clarity and decisiveness might help. The Lassalle Institut in Schönbrunn tries to achieve exactly this, far away from the usual management talk or business school. Since 1995 the institute combines Zen with management and leadership and offers retreats for business leaders. The courses help to find managers their centre and their core. The institute believes that only if a manager is centres and has a clear vision can he successfully steer a business.

Check out their program here. http://www.lassalle-institut.org/en/

How to scare away foreigners

Due to relaxed immigration laws with the European Union many foreigners have moved to Switzerland for work. The majority of those much needed immigrants (or expats) are Germans, 188,137 in total. Most of them settled in Zurich and got good jobs. Like the radio DJ from Germany for example who got a job with Radio Energy. But after three months she left in tears as she could not stand the harassment by listeners anymore: she got hate-mails and her car got even vandalized. Why did that happen? More and more Swiss regard the numerous Germans as a nuisance, to say the least. A recent discussion that had the German immigration as a topic drew big crowds. In short, Swiss become more and more critical of Germans even though the Germans have good jobs, do not commit any crimes and are in general well behaved. Talking to various Germans in Zurich I hear the same story again and again: Swiss are hard to meet, are cold towards foreigners and therefore it is very difficult to make friends with Swiss. Fact is that Swiss people in general do not talk to ‘strangers’ (Swiss or foreign): not in bars, not at exhibitions and not even at private parties. I met one German guy who was once told by a Swiss that he, the Swiss, had ‘enough’ friends and does not want to meet new people! A newspaper article recently ranked the top ten things foreigners think is strange about Switzerland:

• How early Swiss get up on Sundays (I am guilty as charged)

• That Swiss parties end at latest at 11.30pm (I recently hosted a party and people left after 12am, yeaaah)!

• That Swiss love spontaneous meetings as long as they can plan for them a few weeks in advance!

Fact is, without the help of expats from Germany, England, USA, India, Israel or wherever they may come from, Swiss hospitals would be understaffed, there would not be enough bus and tram drivers and banks would lack qualified personnel.

Here you can read the news article in German: http://www.nzz.ch/nachrichten/panorama/jetzt_gehen_sie_wieder_1.575912.html

Tailor-made shoes for a better health

Picture: Béla Bálint, proud maker of handmade shoes to measure. 

Man is not made to walk on concrete. But we city people have to. This leads to deformations of feet and joints. With inappropriate and cheap shoes on your feet it makes things worse, joints get worn out too fast and bad posture results.  At latest by the age of sixty, 80 percent of all people have deformed feet that lead to back problems. So what to do? The answers are traditionally tailor-made shoes by an ancient shoe-maker from Vienna, Bálint. The Bálint family originally hails from Siebenbürgen (Transylvania). They have a shop in Zurich which is currently run by their son Béla Bálint. He is a somewhat trained podiatrist and makes tailor-made shoes that are not only stunningly beautiful but good for your feet. And should you now think that tailor-made shoes cannot be a bargain, think again: if you buy an ill-fitting suit your health will not get damaged. In contrast, you spend more than twelve hours a day with your shoes on and an ill fitting one  will ruin your feet and eventually your health. Visit their website here: http://www.balint.at/

Chic fédéral

Picture: We smile even in short-sleeve shirts!

I recently met a German count who has lived in Switzerland for years. He told me stories from his earlier days in Switzerland when he went to a clothes shop and wanted to buy knee-length socks. The Swiss salesperson in the shop was surprised by his request and asked him if he felt cold and is that the reason he wanted knee-length socks! The count was surprised by this question as knee-length socks are a question of style and tradition to him. A gentleman has to wear knee-length socks as showing skin is a no-no. In fact, the German count discovered that day the ‘chic fédéral’. The chic fédéral is a Swiss expression for the dominant dress code for Swiss politicians and business leaders. It consists of short socks, ties with bold prints and short-sleeves in summer. While England, Germany, Austria, France and Italy have a tradition of style, Switzerland has none (just go to Milan and you will see the difference). This makes it hard for tailors and shoe-makers to convince the Swiss to wear tailor-made clothes. But there is one hope: in times of economical downturns business people tend to dress more conservatively and maybe they will ditch their short-sleeved shirts and short socks!

Sculpting space

In recent years I have become more and more interested in sculptures because they create and sculpt a room, not merely ‘decorating’ it as sculptures occupy three dimensions. They add an extra dimension to a room and make empty air tangible. Sculptures also change with the angle of view and therefore can surprise one with new perspectives. Nevertheless, they are inert, fixed and static. But they can be brought alive.

Currently the Museum Rietberg in Zurich hosts antique Indian sculptures of Shiva Nataraja, the dancing god. As a major god Shiva not only creates space, he creates the world when dancing. In the sculptures depicting him dancing is frozen. But now the acclaimed and very famous Indian dancer Malavika Sarukkai tried to combine dancing with sculpting as she translated the sculptures of Shiva into her own choreography. Through her Shiva comes alive and so does the bronze sculptures exhibited. In a five part performance she evoked the five cosmic actions of Shiva: creation, sustenance, veiling, dissolution and benediction. In her traditional dance of the highest perfection she echoed the classical postures of the bronze sculptures in the museum and the marriage of dance and sculptures created a room of enchantment and divine bliss.

Selling is communication

Picture: If you smile and talk to me, I buy your car!

I recently went to a client-event of a medium sized Swiss bank. There were about 150 invited guests and at least 20 staff from the bank. And there it was again, a Swiss phenomenon: during the cocktail not a single sales person who talked to me nor was there any mingling of the guests. Not that I complain, I met some interesting people nevertheless. As I wrote before the Swiss are bad at small talk and prefer to stand around instead of talking to people (not only potential clients). So why bother doing such an expensive event if you do not want to talk to potential clients? One thing is for sure: without shaking-hands, saying hello and talking, there are no sales. I know a consultant who works with private bankers and he experienced the same phenomena: the Swiss bankers are reluctant to meet new people. They prefer to wait behind their desks for new clients. Well, this is good for those who do talk to people (aka me). And yes, it is a Swiss ‘problem’ as I took a German colleague and she had no problem talking to guests at the reception. A friend of mine is aware of this problem and he offers coaching for ‘shy’ sales-guys. Maybe he will unlock the sales-potential of Swiss bankers!

PS: It can be argued that Switzerland is a prime banking hub but not because of the world-class sales-skills of its bankers!