Review of Pierre Casse’s open lecture

On 28 January our Campus organized Pierre Casse’s open lecture entitled “Leadership in Prospect – Facts and Trends”. Pierre Casse is not only one of the best leadership professors, but also an outstanding person who has something to say and is a “must” to listen to. No wonder our hall hardly seated received all comers – there was no room to move! Specially for those who was unable to attend the lecture here’s a list of Pierre Casse’s best quotations from our broadcast in Twitter:

«I can teach the business, but I can not teach the passion»

«Are you living your live? Or are you living somebody’s else life?»
«The quality of communication is pitful low, so we have to inject it»
«Communication is the process by which we impact, invent and create each other»
«If you want to be successful today you should keep imagination and exectuion»
«You should be sure that right people know right things at the right time – this is power game»
«When you have too many lies and lack of courage it’s a sick organization»
«Use metaphors when you talk. 1st main issue leaders face within a company is «eye fever». It means not facing reality»
«People want to work with you, not for you»
«Never conclude staff meeting until you discuss 10-15 min something exciting»
«Leadership is taking advantage of ambiguity. We make mistakes and we learn them when we turn them into opportunities»
«If you really want to be successful it’s not enough to move between different boxes. You have to create new boxes» -
«Leadership is about impacting a situation and inventing tomorrow today»
«Leader of today and tomorrow is a fighter»
«If you don’t fight for your dreams nothing is going to happen»
«What is leadership today? – Seeing what other people do not see»

Which of Pierre Casse's words have stuck to your memory? Add citation to comments!

SKOLKOVO Entrepreneurs’ Club meeting on January 31

The Entrepreneur's Club of SKOLKOVO is a regular meeting of students, Alumni, and friends to come and share experiences and issues associated with entrepreneurship. This is a casual and open activity in which we invite guest speakers, discuss on-going projects, make new contacts, and find solutions to our business problems. Each time we try to prepare something very special and make you up-to-date to the latest news of the entrepreneurial world.

On January 31st, 7 – 9 pm, the special guest of SKOLKOVO E-Club will be Noubar Afeyan, Professor of MIT Sloan, world-known entrepreneur and venture capitalist. He will make a short speech about the current trends in industry and will share a bit his outstanding experience on developing businesses in the US.

You have a project idea or a startup that you want to become successful? You want your project being heard by hundreds people? Then don’t miss the chance to get a feedback from one of the most successful entrepreneurs of the present and register for SKOLKOVO E-Club on January 31st. Hurry up! 10 projects only! Register here to become the first one!

Ann Cairns's Lecture on the topic "A World Beyond Cash"

On February 1 SKOLKOVO Campus hosts a lecture of Ms. Ann Cairns, President, International Markets for MasterCard Worldwide. She will hold a personal meeting with students and programmes' participants. As President, International Markets for MasterCard Worldwide, Ann Cairns is responsible for the management of all markets and customer-related activities outside of the United States. As a member of the company's Executive Committee, Ms. Cairns leverages the company's seamless global structure and presence to the benefit of all stakeholders.

Discussion topic: A World Beyond Cash

New Executive MBA Programme Director!

The Moscow School of Management SKOLKOVO is happy to announce new appointments. In January 2012 Valeria Pavlukovskaya joined the SKOLKOVO team by taking the Director of Executive MBA programme position.

On that position Valeria will be responsible for the Executive MBA direction development which comprises the programme’s academic component elaboration, admission and interaction with students, SKOLKOVO EMBA marketing promotion, etc.

Valeria has vast expertise in international business-education. Before SKOLKOVO she was responsible for the Executive MBA Programme at IMD, a top-ranked international degree programme for executives and entrepreneurs with modules in Switzerland, India, China and Silicon Valley (USA). Valeria also holds an MBA degree from IMD. Besides, Valeria has over eight years managerial experience across multiple business spheres and a proven track record of consistently improving business results.

The Moscow School of Management SKOLKOVO administration welcomes Valeria and hopes that her managerial experience and achievements in the world sphere of education will help her to significantly contribute to the further development of the SKOLKOVO Executive MBA programme.

African Lions in the Making - a new SIEMS research

SKOLKOVO Institute for Emerging Market Studies’ (SIEMS) in the latest Emerging Market Brief – “African Lions in the Making” – examines the recent economic resuscitation of Africa and discusses the factors behind the renaissance on the Dark Continent. The study covers 15 of SSA’s economies.    

Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is finally on the move. After experiencing several decades of economic stagnation or outright decline, economic growth has finally returned to the region. In fact, six of the ten fastest growing economies in the last ten years were in SSA.      

The key results of the report are:

• Growth in SSA this year is expected to average 5.5%, and 6% in 2012. The only region currently growing faster is East Asia.
• The debt burden for the region, as measured by the stock of external debt to GDP, decreased from an average of 120% in 1994 to only 21% in 2009.
• From 2004, FDI inflows to Africa reached US$72 billion in 2008, the continent’s highest level of inward FDI since 1970.
• Progress in diversification, however, has not been impressive. The top 5 exports for the largest economies still account for more than 70% of total export earnings.
• The paper finds that despite the recent gains, the continent has a lot of catching up to do. In 2010, the average real per capita income was US$688, or approximately the same level it was in 1980. In 2008, half of Africans lived in poverty, compared to 25% in the rest of the developing world.

The primary sector in both agriculture and minerals still dominates the region’s economy. The commodity boom was one of the major engines of growth this past decade, there was also a fundamental change in the macroeconomic and business environments. Inflation, budget deficits and debt levels, for example, have been reduced and the ease of “doing business” has increased.

 According to the report, substantial challenges remain with the top factors affecting business in most African countries included insufficient access to financing, corruption, followed by inadequate infrastructure.

The paper recommends if the SSA countries are to become true economic lions, they will need to increase substantially their industrial capabilities and also improve their urbanization strategies centered on key cities across SSA.

More detailed information can be found in SKOLKOVO's survey.