24/04/2013

I’m dedicated to amplify strengths instead of repairing weaknesses.

I’m dedicated to amplify strengths instead of repairing weaknesses. I do it with perseverance/grit, self control, willingness, social intelligence, immense gratitude and optimism.

With my partners I have developed a space that recognizes the importance of differences and team working, conceived to define challenges, choice creation, idea life ability and making happen possibilities.

I do and act with in this principles for companies and organizations, some times for products and brands, but Always always, I do it among friends.

_______________________________

Me dedico a amplificar las fortalezas en lugar de señalar las debilidades. Lo hago con perseverancia, auto control, mucho entusiasmo, con inteligencia social, inmensa gratitud y optimismo.

Junto con mis socios he creado un espacio de trabajo que reconoce las diferencias y la importancia del equipo; éste lugar está concebido para definir retos, crear opciones y dar vida a ideas y hacer crecer las posibilidades.

Lo que hago a veces es para empresas y organizaciones, otras son servicios, productos y marcas, pero siempre siempre es con amigos.

http://www.linkedin.com/in/federicohernandez

12/03/2013

7 Of The Biggest Lies In Graphic Design. Via fastcodesign.com

7 Of The Biggest Lies In Graphic Design

IN CRAIG WARD’S “POPULAR LIES ABOUT GRAPHIC DESIGN,” SOME OF THE MOST FAMOUS PRACTITIONERS AROUND DEBUNK THE GREATEST MISCONCEPTIONS PLAGUING THE PROFESSION.

13 Comments

Even if you don’t know much about graphic design, you can probably throw out a few cocktail-party-worthy truisms: “Comic Sans is just the worst typeface ever.” That statement is irrefutable, right? As unassailable as grass being green, Shakespeare was a genius, and Tina Fey is way funnier than Seth MacFarlane. If you want to come off as a typography dilettante, you might make some seemingly inoffensive remark like, “Well, you can’t go wrong with Helvetica.” And if Craig Ward overheard you, he’d most likely shudder and take a subtle step toward the door. It’s hackneyed statements like these that he tries to dismantle in his pocket-size Popular Lies About Graphic Design.

According to Ward, a New York–based British designer, Comic Sans “is the typographic equivalent of an innocent man on death row.” Sure, it’s ugly, he admits, but there are plenty of other bad handwriting fonts that don’t stir up nearly as much unfair bile and vitriol. And as far as Helvetica goes, it’s hardly the typographic corollary of the perfect black dress, suitable for any occasion. It may be “as ubiquitous a typeface as has ever existed,” but don’t mistake ubiquity for neutrality; Helvetica, in fact, is an “authoritative typeface with a distinct tone of voice.” If you’re looking for vanilla, you’d be well advised to look around for another font.

Don’t feel bad if you’ve adopted some arguments Ward might find specious; even professional designers lean on well-worn rules and generalities to help create guidelines, and others will argue against them. You, like Mies van der Rohe and Dieter Rams, may subscribe to the philosophy of “less is more.” In Popular Lies, Milton Glaser says that maxim is patently false. Ward says that the book is meant to encourage designers to experiment, “examining other possibilities when it may be easier to side with something tried and tested.”

Here are a some of the choice gems, from Ward and some of his famous-designer friends in response to the question: What’s the biggest lie you’ve ever been told about design?

1. LONGER DEADLINES WILL LEAD TO BETTER WORK.

—Craig Ward

My experience may be unique. But for my money, you rarely need more than a few weeks for most still image projects. Obviously, if you’re attempting something more ambitious, or time related, then you may need longer, but, really, three or four rounds of amends over the course of a couple of weeks is usually ample. Much more and you can end up wasting your time chasing unworkable ideas or losing focus, much less and you may feel under too much pressure to deliver and that, in itself can be equally stifling.

2. THERE’S NO BUDGET, BUT IT’S A GREAT OPPORTUNITY.

–Craig Ward

And that would be an opportunity for what exactly?

If you go your entire career without receiving this kind of a proposition, you’re doing either extremely well or extremely badly depending on your mindset. The idea that it’s okay for you to spend days of your time creating work for world-renowned clients who aren’t paying you a decent wage is pretty shameful–yet often unavoidable. Unless you set your stall out very early on and stick to your guns.

3. YOU CAN’T JUDGE A BOOK BY ITS COVER.

—David Carson

If the designer has done their job, you should absolutely be able to do this.

4. THE COMPUTER IS JUST A TOOL.

—Stefan Sagmeister

It is not. You are the tool.

5. STAY SMALL.

–Willy Wong

“Stay small” was a piece of advice I heard quite often when I began my career. Smaller studios and a small circle of clients–I was told–meant more control and thus (work of a) higher quality. In fact, go solo if you could.

Nowadays, I find that nothing happens in a silo and that everything is connected. If you’ve got sharp kerning skills, good intentions, and the ingenuity to spin gold out of thin air, why not add solid management skills to your belt and be able to kill it at scale? The world seems to need designers more than ever. What’s wrong with being part of a group, playing in a team, forming a league, building a community. Not everyone has the capacity to manage process, budgets, expectations, or personalities, but if you got ‘em, why not go for it? Balls out!

6. “WE DON’T HAVE ANY MONEY.”

—Craig Redman

It’s that whole tiresome act of the client pleading poor and screwing you down to the dollar. Then you find out later they paid a million bucks for some other component of the project.

7. PEOPLE WILL WANT TO BUY YOUR PIN, BADGES, AND T-SHIRT.

–Craig Ward

They probably won’t. Sorry.

Remember that even these so-called lies should be taken with a grain of salt; design is subjective, and you’re entitled to your own bloody opinions. As Ward writes in his introduction, “This is not a book full of facts. Nor is it a book full of advice. It’s a book full of opinions, and confusion between those three is how a lot of these problems begin.” In other words, don’t feel you need to take other people’s espoused opinions as facts.

Buy the book here for $11.

BELINDA LANKS

Belinda Lanks is the deputy editor of Co.Design. Before joining FastCompany.com, she was the managing editor of Metropolis. Her writing has appeared in The … CONTINUED

08/03/2013

7 Of The Biggest Lies In Graphic Design. Via FastCo.

7 Of The Biggest Lies In Graphic Design IN CRAIG WARD’S “POPULAR LIES ABOUT GRAPHIC DESIGN,” SOME OF THE MOST FAMOUS PRACTITIONERS AROUND DEBUNK THE GREATEST MISCONCEPTIONS PLAGUING THE PROFESSION. 8 Comments inShare Even if you don’t know much about graphic design, you can probably throw out a few cocktail-party-worthy truisms: “Comic Sans is just the worst typeface ever.” That statement is irrefutable, right? As unassailable as grass being green, Shakespeare was a genius, and Tina Fey is way funnier than Seth MacFarlane. If you want to come off as a typography dilettante, you might make some seemingly inoffensive remark like, “Well, you can’t go wrong with Helvetica.” And if Craig Ward overheard you, he’d most likely shudder and take a subtle step toward the door. It’s hackneyed statements like these that he tries to dismantle in his pocket-size Popular Lies About Graphic Design. According to Ward, a New York–based British designer, Comic Sans “is the typographic equivalent of an innocent man on death row.” Sure, it’s ugly, he admits, but there are plenty of other bad handwriting fonts that don’t stir up nearly as much unfair bile and vitriol. And as far as Helvetica goes, it’s hardly the typographic corollary of the perfect black dress, suitable for any occasion. It may be “as ubiquitous a typeface as has ever existed,” but don’t mistake ubiquity for neutrality; Helvetica, in fact, is an “authoritative typeface with a distinct tone of voice.” If you’re looking for vanilla, you’d be well advised to look around for another font. Don’t feel bad if you’ve adopted some arguments Ward might find specious; even professional designers lean on well-worn rules and generalities to help create guidelines, and others will argue against them. You, like Mies van der Rohe and Dieter Rams, may subscribe to the philosophy of “less is more.” In Popular Lies, Milton Glaser says that maxim is patently false. Ward says that the book is meant to encourage designers to experiment, “examining other possibilities when it may be easier to side with something tried and tested.” Here are a some of the choice gems, from Ward and some of his famous-designer friends in response to the question: What’s the biggest lie you’ve ever been told about design? 1. LONGER DEADLINES WILL LEAD TO BETTER WORK. –Craig Ward My experience may be unique. But for my money, you rarely need more than a few weeks for most still image projects. Obviously, if you’re attempting something more ambitious, or time related, then you may need longer, but, really, three or four rounds of amends over the course of a couple of weeks is usually ample. Much more and you can end up wasting your time chasing unworkable ideas or losing focus, much less and you may feel under too much pressure to deliver and that, in itself can be equally stifling. 2. THERE’S NO BUDGET, BUT IT’S A GREAT OPPORTUNITY. –Craig Ward And that would be an opportunity for what exactly? If you go your entire career without receiving this kind of a proposition, you’re doing either extremely well or extremely badly depending on your mindset. The idea that it’s okay for you to spend days of your time creating work for world-renowned clients who aren’t paying you a decent wage is pretty shameful–yet often unavoidable. Unless you set your stall out very early on and stick to your guns. 3. YOU CAN’T JUDGE A BOOK BY ITS COVER. –David Carson If the designer has done their job, you should absolutely be able to do this. 4. THE COMPUTER IS JUST A TOOL. –Stefan Sagmeister It is not. You are the tool. 5. STAY SMALL. –Willy Wong “Stay small” was a piece of advice I heard quite often when I began my career. Smaller studios and a small circle of clients–I was told–meant more control and thus (work of a) higher quality. In fact, go solo if you could. Nowadays, I find that nothing happens in a silo and that everything is connected. If you’ve got sharp kerning skills, good intentions, and the ingenuity to spin gold out of thin air, why not add solid management skills to your belt and be able to kill it at scale? The world seems to need designers more than ever. What’s wrong with being part of a group, playing in a team, forming a league, building a community. Not everyone has the capacity to manage process, budgets, expectations, or personalities, but if you got ‘em, why not go for it? Balls out! 6. “WE DON’T HAVE ANY MONEY.” –Craig Redman It’s that whole tiresome act of the client pleading poor and screwing you down to the dollar. Then you find out later they paid a million bucks for some other component of the project. 7. PEOPLE WILL WANT TO BUY YOUR PIN, BADGES, AND T-SHIRT. –Craig Ward They probably won’t. Sorry. Remember that even these so-called lies should be taken with a grain of salt; design is subjective, and you’re entitled to your own bloody opinions. As Ward writes in his introduction, “This is not a book full of facts. Nor is it a book full of advice. It’s a book full of opinions, and confusion between those three is how a lot of these problems begin.” In other words, don’t feel you need to take other people’s espoused opinions as facts. Buy the book here for $11. BELINDA LANKS Belinda Lanks is the deputy editor of Co.Design. Before joining FastCompany.com, she was the managing editor of Metropolis. Her writing has appeared in The … CONTINUED

07/03/2013

The Lean LaunchPad Goes to High School by steveblank

The Lean LaunchPad Goes to High School

by steveblank

While the Lean LaunchPad class has been adopted by Universities and the National Science Foundation, the question we get is, “Can students in K-12 handle an experiential entrepreneurship class?” Hawken School has now given us an answer.

Hawken is an independent school for grades K-12 in Cleveland, Ohio, committed to the idea that students learn more “by doing than by listening.” Experiential education is threaded in the school’s DNA.

Doris Korda, spent the first 15 years of her career in the high-tech industry and is now the Associate Head of School. Natasha Chornesky, who ran a publishing business, is the Director of Entrepreneurial Studies. They both attended our latest Lean LaunchPad Educators Class. These two posts are what they did when they returned.

Part one is about Hawken School’s experience using the Lean LaunchPad curriculumfor high school seniors, part two is what happened when they used it for 6^th- to 8^th-graders.

——

High School Entrepreneurship: Choosing the Lean LaunchPad over a Mini-MBA Program
Adopting the Lean LaunchPad instead of a “mini MBA program” for Hawken students made good sense pedagogically, (we knew that searching for a viable business modelis the core of entrepreneurship,) though it presented some challenges in perception:

None of the neighboring high schools was using the Lean LaunchPad
Most of these schools have entrepreneurship classes focused on students making crafts and selling them
Other schools curricula were steeped in traditional management and economics texts

Having taught grades 6-12, survived two “tours of duty” as a middle school principal, and designed curriculum for grades 3 and up, it was obvious to me that Steve’s Lean LaunchPad provides an accessible framework for young students to searchsuccessfully. We started with a few hypotheses, and iterated and pivoted to a successful program.

Hypothesis 1:
High school students will come through the door burning with passion to transform an idea into a business.

Reality: My seniors arrived to class with no ideas and no idea that they needed an idea. They thought they were learning about other people’s ideas in case studies and articles. They didn’t think they’d be doingentrepreneurship.

Practice: We created time in class to share ideas. I framed the search for a viable business model as the focus. We determined as a class that we wouldn’t pass judgment on ideas until we dove into the customer development process. I stressed to the students they would be assessed on their ability to move through the Customer Development process, rather than be graded on an idea’s perceived worth. How quickly can you test hypotheses, learn from the tests, iterate?

Currency in my class became the ability to quickly test hypotheses, iterate and pivot. It would be several months before my seniors, obsessed with college admissions, embraced this methodology, which felt so foreign at the onset.

Still apprehensive about working on their own businesses, I connected them with local entrepreneurs, but with a twist. Following Steve’s Golden Rule that entrepreneurs were not allowed as guest speakers in class, I went out to the community and located entrepreneurs who needed help with their customer discovery process. I worked with the entrepreneurs to craft a deliverable that was both helpful to them and with which my students would be successful. One of the requirements was that my students had to get out of the building and start talking to customers. Students blogged using Steve’s four prompts, below. The more they were out in the field, the stronger their entrepreneurial mindset grew, which was reflected in their posts.

This is what I thought . . .
This is what I learned . . .
This is what I am doing next . . .
This is what I am keeping in mind . . .

Result: By the end of the first semester, the world opened up, questions and opportunities popped up everywhere, even where kids previously had seen failure or disappointment. Students’ entrepreneurial mindsets had permeated the most unlikely places. “I don’t know what is going on in your class, but these kids have changed. Their entire mindset is different and the way they are showing up in the college admissions process is really different—in a great way,” remarked Director of College Admissions, Andrea Hays.

Hypothesis 2:
Hawken’s entrepreneurship class needed to look and feel familiar to students, parents and others in order to be successful.

Reality: A local school that is held as the pinnacle of entrepreneurship education uses Harvard case studies, so I thought we should, too. We were three-quarters of the way through the year and we hadn’t touched one. We didn’t need them.

The customer discovery and development process provides real experience, and real experience trumps case studies. Plus, kids will tell you that the cases are the same old problems and they’ve already been solved. Reading and discussing problems is never as meaningful as experiencing the problem, which can only be achieved by getting out of the building.

Practice: Throughout the entire first semester, I maintained a routine of weekly take-home quizzes. Quiz questions asked students to use their favorite businesses to flush out business models using the Business Model Canvas. While the students aced these quizzes, they quickly forgot the information.

Initially students craved a syllabus, a checklist and the opportunity to easily memorize and regurgitate facts and concepts, and wanted to be told what to do. By second semester, they outgrew these needs. “We’re biased toward action and the action is always changing,” explains senior Peter Labes, adding, “We’ve learned to prioritize based on urgency, which is a lot different than operating off a teacher’s checklist.”

Iteration: I “flipped the classroom” by switched from assigning chapters to read to assigning Steve’s Udacity videos. Understanding, enthusiasm and retention increased. I abandoned the weekly quizzes and instituted weekly “here’s what I learned for customer discovery” presentations from the students , followed with a class Q&A session. The presentations demonstrated their hypotheses tested, results, customer interactions and iterations. I graded the presentations and I graded the verbal feedback students offered one another.

When the quality of the verbal feedback became such that there was too much great information for kids to just remember, I introduced the use of Steve’s live feedback through Google Docs. At first my seniors giggled and snickered and told me I was nuts to put this tool in their hands. We talked about the value of immediate meaningful feedback. They quit giggling. We’re never going back. The quality of feedback and the quality of the presentations has increased exponentially. “I opened up the Google Doc to review the commentary from my classmates about the slide decks. The variety, complexity and creativity of ideas were impressive. Some people touched on concepts that our four-person group hadn’t even thought to consider. There really is strength in numbers,” writes a senior in her blog.

What’s next: Having completed in-depth customer discovery my students will be the first to tell you that “Being an entrepreneur is a TON of work!” Returning from spring break, the entire class will break up into teams and commence their own search for a viable business model for a passion-driven idea. It’s going to be dirty, messy and lots of time outside the building.

Result: “At the beginning of the year, we were scared to commit ourselves,” explains senior Emily Leizman. “We worked, but not 100%. Now, we’ve worked the customer development process for three companies and we treated them like our own. We’re working at 110% commitment now, so it’s time to do it for ourselves. We’re ready,”

Lessons Learned

The Lean LaunchPad methodology is proven. Go 100% from the start. Don’t phase it in.
Be transparent with your students. Your class is in Startup mode. Embrace failure.
Kids have less to “unlearn” than older students and they are naturally excited by Lean LaunchPad 100% experiential methodology.
Be clear in your mind that the skills acquired through Lean LaunchPad methodology trump content and act accordingly. Act tough, too.
Remind kids that they are being assessed on how quickly they learn from testing their hypotheses and how quickly they iterate and pivot.
Leverage your local entrepreneurship community in meaningful ways, instead of using them as guest speakers.

In the next post, 6-8^th graders use the Lean LaunchPad at Hawken School.

steveblank | febrero 28, 2013 en 6:00 am | Categorías: Lean LaunchPad, Teaching | URL:http://wp.me/prGQZ-3ut

07/03/2013

Failure and Redemption by steveblank

Failure and Redemption

by steveblank

“What’s gone and what’s past help
Should be past grief.”

William Shakespeare – The Winter’s Tale

We give abundant advice to founders about how to make startups succeed yet we offer few models about dealing with failure.

So here’s mine.
——–

In my experience, living through failure has 6 stages:

Stage 1: Shock and Surprise
Stage 2: Denial
Stage 3: Anger and Blame
Stage 4: Depression
Stage 5: Acceptance
Stage 6: Insight and Change

While I had been part of a few failed startups, none of them had fallen squarely on my shoulders until Rocket Science Games where my business card said CEO. It was there that I lived through all 6 stages and came out the other side a changed man.

Failure

Stage 1: Shock and Surprise
We raised $35 million and after 18 months made the cover of Wired magazine. The press called Rocket Science one of the hottest companies in Silicon Valley and predicted that our games would be great because the storyboards and trailers were spectacular. 90 days later, I found out our games are terrible, no one is buying them, our best engineers started leaving, and with 120 people and a huge burn rate, we’re running out of money and about to crash. This can’t be happening to me.

Stage 2: Deny any of it was your fault
In my mind, I had done everything the investors asked me to do. I raised a ton of money and got a ton of press. We hired everyone according to our plan. It was everyone else who screwed up. I did everything right.

Stage 3: Get angry and blame everyone else
This was the fault of my cofounder since he was in charge of game development, it was the engineers who bailed on me, it was the sales and marketing people who didn’t tell me how bad the games were, it was the VC’s who refused to put any more money in the company, it was Sega’s fault for making a bad gaming platform…

State 4: Get depressed
When the inevitability and magnitude of the failure sunk in, I slept in a lot. There were days I’d get up late and go to bed again at 5 pm. I lost interest in anything associated with my past industry. (To this day I still can’t play a video game.)

Redemption

Step 5: Gradually accept your role in the failure
A few weeks after leaving, I began to think about what I should have done, could have done and pondered why I didn’t do it. (I didn’t listen, I didn’t act, I didn’t own my role as CEO, I wasn’t prepared to do what was right or leave.) This was hard and didn’t happen overnight. My wife was a great partner here. I often reverted to Stages 2 and 3, but over time I took ownership of my primary role in the debacle.

Stage 6: Gain insight and change your behavior
This was the hardest part. While I stopped blaming others, understanding what I couldchange in my behavior took long months. It would have been much easier to just move on, but I was looking for the lessons that would make my next startup successful. I looked at the patterns of behavior, not just at my last company but also across my entire career. I learned how to dial back the hubris, get other smart people to work with me – rather than just for me, listen better, and act and do what was right – regardless of what others thought I should do.

Epilogue
For my next startup I parked the behaviors that drove Rocket Science off the cliff. We established a team of founders who worked collaboratively. When my co-founders and I got the company scalable and repeatable, we hired an operating executive as the CEO and returned a billion dollars to each of our two lead investors.

Now when I listen to entrepreneurs who’ve cratered a company, I listen for their stories of failure and redemption.

Lessons Learned

Six stages of failure and redemption
Don’t get stuck in Stages 2, 3 or 4 – move forward
Don’t skip acceptance of your role
Get to insight so you can change your behavior—then commit to the challenge of doing it differently the next time

steveblank | febrero 26, 2013 en 6:00 am | Categorías: Family/Career/Culture, Science and Industrial Policy | URL: http://wp.me/prGQZ-3u8

04/03/2013

OPPENHEIMER: México está de moda, salvo en México. Vía: ELNUEVOHERALD.com

Publicado el sábado, 03.02.13 EL INFORME OPPENHEIMER OPPENHEIMER: México está de moda, salvo en México “OPPENHEIMER PRESENTA” No se pierdan el programa “Oppenheimer Presenta”, todos los domingos a las 9 p.m. en CNN en Español. ANDRÉS OPPENHEIMER AOPPENHEIMER@ELNUEVOHERALD.COM CIUDAD DE MEXICO – Durante una visita a México la semana pasada, me sorprendió la sonrisa escéptica con que muchos mexicanos reaccionan ante los artículos que están saliendo en la prensa internacional vaticinando que México será la próxima estrella de la economía global, y que ya ha llegado “el momento de México”. Durante las últimas semanas han salido una serie de artículos en algunos de los principales medios internacionales anunciando que México eclipsará a Brasil, y tal vez a India y China, como la nueva potencia del mundo emergente. La semana pasada, la prestigiosa revista Foreign Affairs publicó un articulo de portada bajo el título de “México Triunfa”. Poco antes, el 26 de enero, el New York Times había publicado un artículo de opinión titulado: “México: la nueva China”. El Financial Times de Gran Bretaña, publicó un extenso artículo en enero titulado: “México: el Tigre Azteca”. A fines del año pasado, la revista británica The Economist había publicado un artículo titulado “El ascenso de México”, y yo había hecho mi humilde contribución a este coro de optimismo con una columna del Miami Herald titulada: “México con viento a favor”. Hasta hace pocos meses, casi todos los medios internacionales habían estado publicando titulares escalofriantes sobre la violencia en México, y sobre los 60,000 muertos en la guerra contra las drogas de los últimos seis años. ¿Cómo se explica este súbito cambio en la imagen de México? Quizás México sea el nuevo niño mimado de la prensa internacional no tanto por mérito propio, sino porque Brasil, China e India están creciendo más lentamente. La economía mexicana creció 4 por ciento el año pasado, mientras que la de Brasil creció el 1 por ciento. Además, los periodistas muchas veces somos como pájaros sentados sobre un cable telefónico: una vez que uno levanta vuelo, todos levantan vuelo. En mi visita a México, encontré un escepticismo generalizado sobre el enamoramiento de la prensa internacional por México. “Después de tantos años de un crecimiento económico mediocre, sigue habiendo un sentimiento de frustración”, me dijo el encuestador Ulises Beltrán, director de la encuestadora BCG. Según la última encuesta de Beltrán, sólo el 46 por ciento de los mexicanos cree que los próximos cinco años serán mejores, comparado con el 56 por ciento a principios del 2006. La confianza de la gente ha crecido un poco desde que el presidente Enrique Peña Nieto asumió la presidencia en diciembre, pero el 66 por ciento dice que la situación económica de México es “regular” o “mala”. Durante un panel en el que participé en Ciudad de México la semana pasada, cuando le pregunté a un público de alrededor de 500 personas si eran optimistas con respecto al futuro de México, sólo la mitad de la gente levantó la mano. Y casi todos los analistas políticos reaccionan con una mezcla de cautela y humor a los pronósticos optimistas del extranjero. Comentando sobre el titular del “México: Tigre Azteca” del Financial Times, el columnista Sergio Sarmiento, del diario Reforma, escribió que “en el campo de la metáfora, no podemos olvidar que el tigre es un animal que no existe en nuestro país. Quizás por ello nunca podremos ser un tigre azteca”. Mi opinión: México no es una “nueva China” ni un “Tigre” de la economía mundial, al menos todavía no. Pero no hay duda de que hay una constelación de factores positivos que actúan a su favor, como no hemos visto en décadas. La recuperación económica de Estados Unidos ayudará a las exportaciones de México; la probable reforma inmigratoria estadounidense legalizara a millones de mexicanos que conseguirán empleos mejor pagos y enviarán miles de millones de dólares adicionales a sus familiares en México, y el alza de los salarios en China ya está haciendo que cada vez más empresas multinacionales se muden de China a México. Igualmente importante, un pacto político firmado el 2 de diciembre entre los tres principales partidos políticos de México podría materializar las muy postergadas reformas educativa, energética y de telecomunicaciones que tanto necesita el país. La aprobación, la semana pasada, de una enmienda constitucional que permitiría la evaluación de los maestros, junto con el muy publicitado arresto de la todopoderosa líder del sindicato de maestros Elba Esther Gordillo, podrían indicar que Peña Nieto está seriamente decidido a impulsar estas reformas. Pero para que “El ascenso de México” se convierta en realidad, los mexicanos tendrán que empezar a creerlo ellos mismos. Hasta hora, Peña Nieto ha hecho un buen trabajo de convencer a los extranjeros de que México está en ascenso, pero ahora tendrá que hacer lo mismo en casa, para que la autoestima de los mexicanos crezca, tal como ha ocurrido en Perú y Colombia en los últimos años. Si los mexicanos no están convencidos, “el momento de México” no durará demasiado. Read more here: http://www.elnuevoherald.com/2013/03/02/1421122_p2/mexico-esta-de-moda-salvo-…

15/01/2013

Sueño de una tarde dominical en la Alameda Central

Foto: Francisco A. Hernández Cadena frente al famoso mural

Sueño de una tarde dominical en la Alameda Central, así fue como Diego Rivera tituló el mural que en 1949 se ubicó en el lobby del hotel Del Prado que estaba en la avenida Juárez y que se tuvo que demoler por el temblor de 1985.

Anécdota: En el primer segmento del mural (de izquierda a derecha) se encuentra retratado Benito Juárez García, inmediatamente debajo de él hay un señor canoso de bigote y perilla también canosos, este es Ignacio Ramírez El Nigromante *, el mismísimo que en 1836 joven estudiante declaró “Dios no existe”, en el mural Don Nacho (ya entrados en confianza) sostiene un libro abierto con las páginas en blanco, sin embargo, originalmente el pintor tenía asentada la frase en libro, naturalmente “la vela perpetua” encabezada por el Arzobispo Primado de México don Luis María Martínez (amigo personal del presidente Alemán) protestaron enérgicamente y en medio de gran escándalo social Diego Rivera (acusado de ateo comunista) quitó la frase del mural.

Foto: Especial

FRAGMENTO DE SUEÑO DE UNA TARDE DOMINICAL EN LA ALAMEDA CENTRAL, QUE DIEGO RIVERA PINTÓ EN 1948. VIA MILENIO

Las almas recobraron la paz y gracias al arrepentimiento del pintor el mural se pudo salvar de la destrucción causada por el temblor.

El que esto escribe vivió con interés los acontecimientos, habiéndome constado el antes y después lo acontecido al mural. A la fecha el mural se encuentra en el Museo Mural Diego Rivera que está ubicado en calle Doctor Mora (costado sur de la alameda central).

Lo que prácticamente ya no se menciona es el trabajo heroico de los rescatistas del mural que arriesgaron sus vidas durante los trabajos de recuperación del mural, pues aunque el hotel no se había caído se dice que bastaba un soplo para que rodara vilmente.

Besos

PD El Arzobispo mencionado fue el que te conté “in situ” me confirmó siendo mi padrino el tío Melchor.

If Facebook’s vast membership is purely Mark Zuckerberg’s contribution to the company’s success, the business prosperity is largely the contribution of Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s COO.

Traditionally, young technology companies followed a different model of management. Even though young founders stayed on and helped the companies grow, they often preferred to bring in an established and experienced executive to run the company. They understood that those executives had the necessary skills to provide appropriate leadership, to address Wall Street audiences, and to bring operational execution and order to the startup mentality. That was the case with companies such as Google, LinkedIn, and eBay, which recruited Eric Schmidt, Jeff Weiner, and Meg Whitman to take the helm as CEO. But it seems like the partnership model is changing, and Facebook is at the helm of that change.

As Henry Blodget wrote in an article for New York magazine, the Zuckerberg-Sandberg partnership “has now become a new model for tech company-building. Instead of replacing the quirky founder with a professional CEO, companies now try to ‘go get a Sheryl.’” Jeffrey Bussgang, general partner at the venture capital firm Flybridge Capital Partners, says: “The new model is there is enough pride and recognition of the COO role when you have a young technical CEO beside you. People used to look down on that, and now it’s a badge of honor. I think boards are just being smarter about the positive cultural impact that keeping the founder in place over the long haul can have. The founder represents the soul of the company.”

Facebook’s model of two worlds–product development and operational excellence–integrated together and led by two people who complement each other offers an outstanding example of a company that is succeeding through strategic partnership. I call this partnership model “The Visionary and The Builder.” The Visionary is the partner who is a “dream architect”–he has a clear understanding of the company’s purpose and shapes its long-term strategic outlook based on that purpose; he leads the company through inspiration and blue-sky vision. The Builder is the partner who is a “value architect”–she leads the functions that support the mission of The Visionary and ensures that this mission is executed operationally. This is not to say that the two don’t ever overlap, or that the two partners don’t share a common vision, interests, or skills. But for this model to work successfully, as it has for Facebook, the two partners each need to have distinguished skill sets that the other doesn’t possess. In the case of Facebook, Zuckerberg focuses on product development and the platform’s global expansion, because that is what he is great at, and Sandberg brings operational skills that ensure stability and discipline within the company as it executes on Zuck’s vision.

The Visionary-Builder model is the most common model of partnership. Throughout history, we’ve seen multiple examples of partnerships that went from two entrepreneurs and a dream to multimillion dollar empires: Hewlett and Packard, Sears and Roebuck, McGraw and Hill. The list goes on. But there are also instances of similar partnerships with three or more partners contributing their wisdom, and/or their expertise, and/or their finances to a venture. CollegeHumor, Warner Bros., and Johnson & Johnson are among them.

Warner Bros. was created by the four sons of Polish-born Jewish immigrants: Sam, Albert, Harry, and Jack Warner. After getting their start in the early 1900s working in film distribution (they ran a traveling movie business), they founded their own movie house and began producing their own movies. Sam came up with the idea of producing a feature-length talkie and got hold of the technology that allowed the brothers to create one. Everyone else thought it was crazy, it wouldn’t work. The Jazz Singer, released in 1927, was a big hit and grossed about $3 million. That revolutionized the industry and put Warner Bros. on the map.

Steve Jobs once said: “My model of business is the Beatles. They were four guys who kept each other’s kind of negative tendencies in check. That’s how I see business: great things in business are never done by one person; they’re done by a team of people.” The two Steves (Jobs and Wozniak) were the type of partners who complemented each other very well when they started Apple. Wozniak remembers that he would labor on his innovations while also working at Hewlett-Packard, and Jobs “would always find a way to turn them into money.” Even though the two of them were different, they were also similar in a lot of ways. Wozniak says: “We both grew up in the counter-culture days, we both admired people who thought differently about things. We were very much alike in that time frame.” When Wozniak unveiled his first creation–a personal computer–to his friend, Steve Jobs, he intended to give his innovation away for free. But Jobs saw the future; he shared the dream of making the world a better place through user-friendly technology, and he convinced his friend that they should start their own company, Apple Computer.

True collaboration is a powerful thing. People naturally are drawn to co-create. They want to share their ideas with like-minded people; they look for different angles and various experiences to not only help shape their ideas and make them better, but to make those ideas a reality. Alvah Curtis Roebuck, who responded to an ad for technical help placed by Richard Warren Sears, contributed his technical skills to the vision of a marketing genius–their collaboration and friendship in the late 19th century gave birth to Sears Roebuck and Company. But unlike Roebuck and Sears, who didn’t know one another, people often find partners in their own close circle of friends and family. Trust is one of the key components in a successful partnership and is usually developed over years.

Walt Disney, whose remarkable imagination created the world of Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and many more beloved cartoon characters, relied heavily on his brother, Roy O. Disney, in building his empire. Walt gave his older brother a lot of credit for building an entertainment business out of his fantasies. It was Roy who lent his brother $250 on top of Walt’s $40 investment to start their partnership and open a cartoon studio. Their uncle lent them an additional $500. In the early days, Walt drew his cartoon characters, and Roy worked the cameras and kept the finances in check. Together they built an amazing empire and brightened the world for millions of kids. When Walt Disney passed away, his brother took the helm of the company. But Roy didn’t try to fill the creative shoes of his sibling, stating that Walt had built a great organization and that he would keep Walt’s spirit alive. Roy did not change the direction of the company, continuing the legacy of his younger brother. While Walt had a dream, Roy had the knowledge and capabilities to help his brother make his dream a reality. Roy was eight years older, had experience working in a bank, and also knew that his brother was prone to neglect his business affairs, focusing too much on the artistic side. A brilliant businessman, Roy stayed in the shadows and provided strong support to Walt as he created fascinating stories that captured the imagination of children around the world.

Shared values, common interests, and strong leadership collaboration put organizations like HP, Disney, and Facebook on the path to success. The long list of other examples includes Larry Page and Sergey Brin of Google, Bill Gates and Paul Allen of Microsoft, Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield of Ben and Jerry’s, Bill Bowerman and Phil Knight of Nike, and the list goes on. These brands, recognizable across the planet, started with simple partnerships and grew into empires.

Follow Fast Company’s leadership coverage in the daily and weekly Co.Lead and Fast Company newsletters.

[Image: Flickr user Steve Snodgrass]

Federico Hernández Ruiz