LyrArc Article Gist
The story of how Jurgen Klopp took Liverpool to the Champions League and Premier League titles in 2020. For all the illusion that the titles were a procession Liverpool started out with problematic losses to Dortmund, Seville, Napoli. It was the hard work and rigorous practice, self discipline, and renewal, the always focussing on the next step and how to do better regardless of how things look- this has helped Klopp get the team to where it is in world soccer. Continuous improvement setting your own bar of what it is to be to do the work right. In a small town overlooking Lake Geneva soccer practice takes place every day at 7 am, 11 am, 5 pm, in preseason. No distractions, no commercial obligations. Only the coach, players, and staff. Steudtner, German surfer invited by Klopp helped the team cool down in training by focussing underwater on happier places, taking a lot of the stress off the minds of the players. Hold for 30, 40, 60 seconds. Soon everyone could do it. The aim to cool down each player's mindset. A form of meditation. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
As Huawei's young engineers go through a learning curve, the company faces challenges of giving them additional business experience. Huawei is working to instill western practices and culture in its enginers by expanding overseas, and hiring seasoned engineers in Europe to mentor the younger Chinese engineers. Of the 23 Huawei R&D centers, 13 are located outside China. Huawei adds engineers right out of college- 50,000 employees were added in the last 5 years right out of college. Of the 149,000 employees, half work in R&D. Average age at Huawei is 29 years. In this sense Huawei is unusual for a high tech company compared to western companies. It is a plus for Huawei in the long run, but it means a lot of training is needed. Lars Bondelind, the Swedish head of wireless marketing at Huawei, describes these challenges at the 2012 Barcelona Mobile World Congress. Bondelind says the Chinese engineers he works with have higher knowledge and expertise than newly graduating Swedish engineers, the challenge is training them in western engineering and business practices....

LyrArc Article Gist
An India like surge is feared for Indonesia with the spread of the Delta variant and rising cases. Sudden spikes in Jakarta, central Java, and Bangkalan on the Java coast are straining hospitals. A nation of 270 million Indonesia has only a small vaccination program dependent on Sinovac vaccine from China, and only 5% are vaccinated.

Doctors say whether you are young or old have co-morbidities or not you can catch the coronavirus delta variant. Several members of a household can catch it and the deterioration happens quickly. Doctors in India made similar comments during the surge there in May 2021. Kudus region in central Java is typical. At first cases were declining from a January peak by May. Then cases jumped in June. A third of cases turned up positive for PCR tests.

LyrArc Article Gist
Prime minister Morrison becomes the first leader to meet prime minister Yoshihide Suga of Japan after Mr. Shinzo Abe resigned for health reasons. Mr. Suga was Chief Cabinet Secretary under Abe for 8 years. The 2 countries have agreed to strengthen defense relations by removing legal and administrative barriers for their militaries entering each others country. This improves joint military training and quick support in a crisis. Earlier in November Japan and Australia joined India and U.S. in joint naval exercizes after the 4 foreign ministers met in Tokyo. Small islands in the East China Sea controlled by Japan have seen more frequent patrols by Chinese Coast Guard. China claims these islands. Genron NPO shows almost 90% of Japanese people now have a negative view of China. Australia has acted on concerns of domestic interference by China. India has faced expansion along its Himalayan border with China by units of the Chinese armed forces. India has also developed closer ties with Australia to build its maritime presence in the Indian Ocean region. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Army General Martin Dempsey is expected to become the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in the U.S.. He brings a low key intellectual approach to the job, and was recently appointed chief of staff of the Army. He has worked in key roles in training and transformation of the military, led a combat division in Iraq and supervised the training of Iraqi security forces. Between 2001-2003 he managed the Saudi Arabian National Guard Modernization Program, an internal defence force guarding the Saudi royal family and the holy cities of Mecca and Medina. After the McChrystal appointment and resignation, and the effort by military leaders to get approval of troop buildups by making statements and speeches to affect public opinion, advisors in the Obama administration were looking for someone who would work well in an environment of de-escalation of existing conflicts and lower defense spending.

LyrArc Article Gist
Chris Molloy, the founding director of the Lighthouse Labs network says the lessons learned in testing for covid, the technology and training developed can now be used to tackle other diseases. It is this network that processed most of the 207 million free PCR tests in the UK. It was created after the public health network had suffered a series of cuts from successive governments and shows the resilience and strength of the British people and scientific community. He sees the opportunity to create another legacy for the Lighthouse testing system. He says having this kind of advanced lab capacity can help tackle public health in the UK where 1 out of 3 adults have some kind of long term condition of ill health. He said this is not Beveridge 1.0 where the establishment delivers for the people. This is Beveridge 2.0 where the people engage in monitoring their own health using smart diagnostics at an early stage in their 30's, 40's and 50's when something can be done to steer away from disease instead of when it is too late and one can only treat it. William Beveridge published the report in 1942 that was the basis for the founding of the welfare state and the NHS. Molloy hopes that governments from now on will have the vision to do this. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
China's central bank reduces its reserve requirement ratio, required money set aside by commercial banks and not used for lending. It lowered by half percentage point to 13% the amount of reserves Chinese banks are required to set aside. As the economy has cooled recently with trade tensions with the U.S., China's growth has slowed to 6%. The move frees up $126 billion for lending. In a speech this week president Xi used the word "struggle" over a dozen times. The State Council has plans to allocate more money for vocational training, to expand railways construction.  Analysts of S&P recently estimated China's economic growth over the next decade at 4.6% on average if the trade dispute gets to a stalemate, if trade dispute worsens it could drop to 3.7%. The trade dispute has dampened the mood at China Development Forum in Beijing, with attendees saying the distrust between the U.S. and China is based on deep concerns about each other. Besides the lending increase planned, the central government is pushing local governments to find projects to create jobs. Local governments fear this would worsen the already high debt burden they carry. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Problems that may be unfixable for the Afghan national army, and for which no increase in foreign trainers could make a difference. About 3% of the army recruits are from the Pushtun south, the main part of the country, where the Taliban are strongest. Officers from the northern areas have to use translators in the Pushtun south, a bad sign. And there is a shortage of officer talent. Gereral Caldwell who is working on training the army, says he was appalled at the emphasis on quantity not quality- the Afghan army has reached 134,000 in numbers. The ratio of instructors to recruits ranges from 1 to 80 to 1 to 466. It will cost $11 billion to maintain compared to an estimated $1 million per American soldier each year. Even if training problems are fixed, having 3% of recruits from the major Pushtun part of the country where the fighting is being done, simply makes the overall problem unfixable. See the group - Defense Department biannual report on Afghanistan, for related insight.

LyrArc Article Gist
Adam Nossiter of the NYT describes the clearly presidential nature of Macron's appearences during the first month in office. First at the Louvre during the night election results showed him winning easily, and later in appearances at the G 7 summit meeting and at Versailles with the Russian president. This is in sharp contrast to the chatty, "little jokes" and other efforts of president Hollande that left people with the impression that he was not decisive and strong. The French presidency from the time of Charles De Gaulle by its very nature compared to the prime minister's position of England, requires a strong presence and decisive personality. Macron shows every intention of fulfilling that role. Observers have traced this to Macron being a research assistant to French philosopher Paul Ricoeur. Macron acquired a training at the end of the 1990's from Ricoeur, which emphasized the need for and virtue of a middle ground- that sees even the events of the French revolution in a different light, with the death of the king Louis XVI in 1793 as unnecessary. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Adjusted for inflation wages for automakers have fallen 19% since 2008 because of tiers new workers making about $17 an hour significantly less than the $32 an hour. UAW seeks an end to tiered hiring.  For GM it is about committing to a long term contract in an industry that is unpredictable and uncertain. GM wants to make substantial investments in the EV industry with president Biden's help even when not making profits from EV's. For the UAW Ms. Janis of Jobs to Move America says labor is a very small part of what it costs to make EV's, batteries are the most. None of the earlier difficulties are likely because much fewer workers are needed making labor cost a much smaller component. Toyota has been slow in its EV start, BYD in China is leading but US carmakers are supported by the US government for EV's. Auto workers want a fair contract . And GM working with partners can still build joint venture factories for batteries in the South just like Tesla where work is not unionized. In the competition in EV's R&D and quality of management will play a bigger role. Fairness for workers will motivate American carmakers, with worker training and quality+value of EV's important for success.   ...

LyrArc Article Gist
This essay by Hein De Haas in the WSJ says there is a need for honest discussion about immigration in the US, about how best to accomodate the need for workers in certain trades and occupations in an organized way. In fact there is no need for the issue to be politicized this much. It needs to be depoliticized now that the needs for these workers are going to be larger not smaller as the US population ages and there is need for workers in healthcare and support for aging, and in other places such as construction, building infrastructure as US rebuilds aging bridges, roads and airports. In the seventies it was ned for agricultural workers and temporary workers moving back and forth across the border. Only in recent times has the border crossings assumed the scale and dimension it now has with 2.5 million border crossings at the peak. By comparison to the needs for workers only 500,000 are given work permits. And the laws have not been changed since the Reagan administration amnesty and legislation. Haas says workforce enforcement is negligible today in recognition of the fact of worker needs even under Republican administrations showing the need for honest discussion and resolution of this problem. The other problems of rebuilding manufacturing, US competitiveness, education and vocational training, are very different and require different solutions so that letting the immigration issue spill over the way it has is bad for America in deciding the future direction of the country and the economy, and renewing hope for the future. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
A management shakeup takes place at Nike with the departure of several executives and the HR chief for inappropriate behaviour. Nike is described as having a boy's club culture in this report which shows some women left Nike to join rivals Puma and Adidas, and others conducted a survey about conditions for women at the company relating to pay inequity, and allegations of inappropriate workplace behaviour. Following the survey Nike CEO Parker conducted his own internal investigation leading to the management shakeup. Nike will now setup mandatory manager training so that it takes the steps to become a women friendly workplace.

Nike has developed an aggressive competitive culture in its competition with Adidas and other brands. This has added to difficulties for women at the company.

LyrArc Article Gist
Mick Clegg worked with Christiano Ronaldo as his athletic trainer during his first spell with Manchester United. At the time Ronaldo was 18-24 years. During that time Ronaldo did not lift heavy weights, instead he used light weights and gradually stepped up the intensity with repetitions or changing the weight lifted.  Ronaldo is on a Mediteranean diet with particular attention to protein for the training he does. Without the diet he would not have the body he has with hardly any fat. He also takes carbohydrates to make sure he keeps up his energy level, and vitamins, minerals.  Mick Clegg points out that people on Mediterranean type diets take afternoon naps and Ronaldo takes a nap in the afternoon. A 40 minute nap in the afternoon after eating helps one to recover from the hard work of the morning, says Clegg. Christiano's mental attitude stands out in Clegg's experience working with him- his determination. He set a goal of working harder than Welshman Ryan Giggs, and was keen on taking the advice of experts and incorporating it into his routine. It is this that makes Ronaldo the player that he is. There is also a sense of calm about Ronaldo in a game where he remains composed till an opportunity comes late in the game as in the game with Villareal. At 36 in his second time with Manchester United Ronaldo is far stronger mentally than when he left Manchester United in 2009, says Clegg. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Three CEO's have come and gone at Boeing in a couple of years. CEO backgrounds in finance did not work, backgrounds in engineering also failed. Boeing is searching for a new CEO and this time what is sought for is a worker centric mentality from the heart and inborn that identifies with what workers go through on the manufacturing factory floor. A picture emerges about the cost of missing quality culture at Boeing, and the cost of a culture of pushing planes as fast off the manufacturing floor as possible. The Guardian reports that Boeing said it would use $4-$4.5 billion due to crisis costs after a Jan 5 accident of a nearly new Max 735 aircraft and other accidents. This includes costs related to regulatory scrutiny and costs related to lower aircraft production and lower deliveries and is almost the entire gross profit of Boeing in 2019 pre pandemic year. What this shows that quality culture is basic to manufacturing and it starts with respect for dignity of workers shown through training, education, wages and benefits and a worker centric culture replacing a culture of managers addressing purely financial aspects of the business. Instead of saying lets take care of the financial aspects of the business, saying lets take care of the process of manufacturing  so that a good process centred on workers on their own motivation taking responsibility on the factory floor that will produce good financial results for the company as a whole.   ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Mandel of BW says the GDP numbers for third quarter 2009 do not reflect intangibles spendign for R&D, product development, design and worker training, all of which are suffering badly. This is because the statistics do not measure this, what we have is an obsolete measure of what is really going on in the economy. What these intangibles do is seriously affect long term growth prospects.

LyrArc Article Gist
This essay in the WSJ by Louise Aronson, geriatrician, professor of Medicine at UC San Francisco and author of "Elderhood, Redefining Aging, Transforming Medicine, Reimagining Life," and Teva Brender, UC resident in Internal Medicine, says age should not be a factor  in electing leaders, as over the last century life expectancy has grown by 25 to 35 years. People can be healthy into their eighties and modern medicine provides ways to tackle small physical, auditory or visual impairments. In addition these can be handled with strength training, better nutrition and social support, says Aronson. His point is that there has been an increase in "health span" the years we define as being healthy, a compression of morbidity, the disease at the end of life. As a result people can be productive for many years, early retirement is a bad idea economically and for the people themselves when they feel better working. When there is so much wisdom and experience that they can bring to the job, and when that  wisdom and experience is sorely needed by the nation, that guiding light has immense unreplaceable value. President Franklin Roosevelt was at such a time able to steer the nation in the 1930's through the Great Depression and the 1940's through the Second World War, even though he had disabilities. Aronson says the work of elected leaders is fundamentally cognitive and when the basic physical demands can be met it is possible for leaders to work successfully. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
This report in the NYT focusses on the failure to invest in New York subways, including failures in maintenance. It follows other detailed reports in NYT that looked at years of neglect and mismanagement of the New York subway system with interviews of key officials. This is costing subway users dearly as they face delays, and the poor quality of rides on the system compared to other systems worldwide. This report describes a subway accident with a loose piece of rail on a track on June 27, 2017 that could have been prevented with proper maintenance. This was one of 82000 delays on the system in June 2017 alone, one of the worst months in many years. A NYT examination of MTA records and reports shows the neglect of maintenance was one of the main cause of delays, including problems with turnover, and lack of training for new employees. The system's age (113 years old) and its size complicates problems leaving less room for the errors it is experiencing today. The world's oldest subway system in the most advanced of industrialized countries in the worst possible shape, showing the nation's lack of investment in essential infrastructure. A failure at a more basic level- a failure of the nation's culture to set the right investment priorities. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Whirlpool's investment of $300 million in new and improved manufacturing facilities in the US, includes a new plant in Tennessee, and it comes after considering overseas sites in Mexico. This reflects a shift to investing in manufacturing facilities in the US. One advantage is to keep the employees who have experience and training in lean manufacturing, something that cannot be easily duplicated overseas, according to Whirlpool's head of North American manufacturing, Al Holaday.

LyrArc Article Gist
Preserving muscle mass, function and strength is important as people age, especially after 50 years of age. One solution is resistance training, and nutrition also plays a part- with protein intake supplements helping preserve muscle as one ages. Preserving muscle is as important as preserving bone mass- with medical practitioners describing the condition as sarcopenia, similiar to osteoporosis. Nestle and Danone are developing nutritional products for this.

LyrArc Article Gist
The European Economic Recovery Plan adopted in November 2008 includes money for social cohesion policy spending. This spending is designed to ensure that there is money in the pipeline for spending on infrastructure and transport, training and education. Poland for example was entitled to 67.3 billion euros for 2007 through 2013 and has been able to maintain its spending in these areas with the help from the E.U. Ith has also helped Germany and the U.K.

LyrArc Article Gist
Infratest Dimap polling institute is commissioned by DW.com to find out what Germans think of the refugee policy of chancellor Merkel one year later. In summer 2015 Merkel said on Aug 31, "We can do it." Costs related to the refugees are about $17 billion, do Germans think services are overstretched for education, healthcare housing and other services. On the other side German society is aging and for every 100 unemployed people there are 200 open positions for skilled personnel. But the refugees who are accepted do not have the skills required and have to acquire the skills or given training and education. On this issue DW.com asked the question whether it will strengthen the German economy. About 51% agree and 45% disagree on this question, and about the same number agree and disagree on the question that Germany will be overstretched providing the services for housing, education, healthcare and other services. The higher educated and young are more favorable to accepting refugees, with those over 50 and basic schooling unfavorable. On the AfD side most people are unfavorable, and in the Greens party most are favorable. On terrorist incidents probability, over 58% think this is more likely, 38% disagree. On the question of whether this will make Germany more diverse 56% agree, 40% disagree. Overall the situation appears to be balanced, with a range of views expressed, and the positive and negative sentiment "evenly balanced", says DW.com.  ...

LyrArc Article Gist
France's unemployment rate for youth 15-24 is over 25%. France's president Hollande has a plan to get companies to hire young workers on a permanent contract. The "generation contract" gives small business 4000 euros a year for three years to hire a young person on a permanent contract a the same time committing to keep an employee over 57 years in age. Companies with over 300 employees are required to set targets for hiring younger workers and keeping older workers or face sanctions. The program would cost France $1 billion a year and the government estimate is to generate 500,000 jobs in 5 years. A think tank OFCE sees this as generating about 100,000 jobs, because many companies would have hired anyway. The German approach is focussed on state sponsored apprenticeships and vocational training, which some French companies says is the right direction for France. German youth unemployment is 8.1%, with 2.6 million students at vocational schools, and 1.46 million apprentices. Beginning Jan 2013, Germany will support youth from other eurozone countries with language courses and travel costs to work in these programs in areas of Germany with shortages of workers....

LyrArc Article Gist
Knowing the thinking and mood of the younger generation of engineers programmers and other staff is critical. They are more optimistic and impatient about things so companies have to move quickly to change things to retain talent. The other major change is the number of young women that are joining. Nasscom the software industry association in India says that last year this was 35% and will rise to 45% by 2010. This is amazing rise considering that it started from very low numbers and these young women are more vocal than the men. It means companies have to keep their minds open to gender issues and respond. Giving young people a voice in the affairs of the company, giving them achance to be not lost in the crowd, a shot at challenging assignments for the talented, some kind of inhouse training program in management and in other areas so that they can keep upgrading their education and value to the company, some peers and superiors assigned to mentor new employees, hiring from smaller cities so that those who want to be near family can do so and have higher loyalty than with chasing high level talent in bigger cities and supplementing with good inhouse training , are a list of some of the things being tried by companies. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Hiring talented managers in China is difficult because of the short supply and may become a constraint.Difficulties in finding, training and retaining managers was mentioned by 37% of 324 companies responding, more than issues such as regulation, bureaucracy or piracy.

LyrArc Article Gist
Lenovo had 11% of the smartphone market in China in the second quarter of 2012, trailing Samsung at 19%, according to IDC. Lenovo plans to compete with Samsung in smartphones for emerging markets. Lenovo plans to sell smartphones in India, Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines.