Goran Fors

I would like to thank all of you that have been so very kind to send me Seasons Greetings either by electronic media or by postal service.

This year when I was about to start thinking about sending the usual Christmas cards I was informed that we do not have any cards in the company this year but I could send an electronic Greeting.

For me that created a bit of an emotional conflict as I do believe in the physical card with a beautiful picture on it. It can be a picture of a mountain, a city skyline, the sky or sometimes it can be more related to Santa Claus. In general cards are very beautiful and make you feel happy. The beautiful cards arrives in envelopes with stamps on and just by that you can see from which country the greeting comes, sometimes the stamp is also a special Christmas stamp that has been created by the postal service just for this time of the year. You open the envelope and by then you can see who the kind person is that have sent you this greeting for the season.

As you might have gathered by now I’m a favorite of cards sent by postal service but as I mentioned in the beginning we did not have any this year so I was trying to adjust my mind to send the electronic version but just as I had come to grips with this for me very revolutionary thoughts I heard that we might be able to find some old fashioned cards after all. The cards arrived eventually but a bit late for me to be able to have them in the post in time for the holidays.

My Seasons Greetings have been stuck somewhere in space this year and it is not even cyber space, I will now save the physical cards for next year when I will once again be able to send a card in a envelope with a stamp on.

I believe that I’m quite good at using modern technology as well as social media but I strongly believe in some of the traditional ways of communication as well. We must not forget the joy of getting a real letter in these days of emails, facebook, twitter etc.

The ironic bit of this is that after making a speech about physical cards I will end up wishing you all happy holidays through a community!

Seasons Greetings and a Happy New Year

Hello all BB users and others!

My recent blog was about the extensive use of tools to be online all time, this blog will be along the same topic but from a very serious angle; Blackberry crise!

For the last few days everyone that use a Blackberry have been in great despair on and of. No emails have reached the little device and it has been difficult to send emails. Then all of sudden you get a whole bunch of emails and you think that the problem is over but that was not be trusted! A few hours later the problem is back again!

Personally I have been enormously worried about this behaviour from my little blackberry! And I do depend a lot on a well running flow of emails.

I have now realized that this is global problem, 30-40 million blackberry user have problems right now all over the world. That is about 50% of all blackberry users!
My conclusion of this is of course that the problems with Blackberrys have negative effects on the global business environment!

Maybe it is about time that we realize that Blackberrys are part of the systemically important infrastructures of the world, do the authorities realize that the have to take measures to make the situation stable? Or is this a chance for me as a addicted Blackberry user to realize that I have a chance to take a break from the constant urge to always read emails.....

Dear friends,

Have you noticed how we all have changed during recent years and I do not mean that we have got more grey hair, at least some of us, or that we actually are older. I'm thinking of how we act during meetings. 20 years ago or even 10 years ago we paid attention during meetings. We took a break when it what scheduled and we normally took care of whatever telephone call or other matter during that break.

How about now? If you look around a meeting or conference hall today you can see most attendees busy on their Blackberrys, IPads, lap-tops or other devices.

Is this showing that you are interested or that you contribute to the meeting?
What is more important, is that respect to the person or persons that are talking??!!

I have seen participants that do not let go of the Blackberry for one single moment during a meeting, I have seen the use of IPads being used constantly during meetings. What is also becoming more and more frequent especially in larger meetings is that independent discussions start amongst the delegates resulting in everyone getting disturbed.
Now you will most likely say that I do the same which I have to agree is true. I do act the same way during meetings and I think this is showing how bad it has become. I have advocated for a long time that this is a very bad habit and I very clearly have the view that all these devices should be left alone during meeting, still I act the same way!
It is now my clear view that we should respect the meeting, this would benefit all of us!
The next meeting I attend my Blackberry will stay in my pocket

During breakfast today I read in the morning paper that work career will peak when you get 44 years old. This really worries me! Not because I am concerned about what will happen myself because I passed 44 almost 10 years ago. I do not believe my career was at the top 10 years ago but possible some of you might have a different opinion.

What worries me more is the general views that are put forward and the lack of respect for people with experience and knowledge. At 44 you would have been in worklife for roughly 20 years and you have at least 20 years to go before retirement. During the first 20 years you gain a lot of experience and routine. During the next 20 years you can really put all your experience to work and be very valuable to your company. It is my great hope that younger associates in a company view older colleagues as an asset and not the other way around.

Of course it is of extreme importance that you even after 44 continue to grow with the time and actively follow the development. It really worries me if a general attitude of age discrimination spreads and that we will have situation where those that are below 40 will have the view that everyone above 50 is past his or hers best date and even more worrying if all above 44 will see themselves as on their way to retirement. We need a combination of young and older competences in a company and it is really important that those over 44 really see the how important they are.

Tomorrow is Holy Thursday in large parts of the world including Sweden and it will be celebrated in various degrees depending on where you are. One odd thing in Sweden is that Holy Thursday means half day for most companies and that is of course creating a very special situation for most businesses including the banks. A full day of work has to be completed and all tasks that is normally done in around 8 hours have to be fulfilled in half the time. I must seriously challenge this tradition and ask why we really put ourselves in a situation like this?

It is difficult for the employer who will have problems with making sure that every task is completed, it is strenuous for the staff who will have to work twice as hard during the day. It is a surprise for clients from other parts of the world that naturally have never heard of the strange phenomenon of half days and of course would like to contact the bank in the afternoon as well.

For the staff you can also add the situation how to do if he or she would like to take the day off, is it good to use one whole day of holiday when it is only half a day of working?

To make this Swedish habit even more odd you should know that is viewed as half day but in reality it is only a day shortened with 2,5 hours. This fact is something that is pretty much waived and we all look at it from being half day work instead of a full day. Other strange effects of this half day mess are that we will go for lunch earlier and by that of course disturbing normal habits.

Then add to this that we will repeat this awkward habit several more days during the year!

Can’t we just be like normal countries and get rid of all this half days and maybe introduce another full day holiday or maybe two?

When is was young in the sixties and were at school we actually had school on Saturdays and my father was at work. These Saturdays where not full days and luckily enough it went away and we now take Saturdays for granted as a day off, it is now time to get rid of the half days as well and by that act wisely as country