Prior to serving as President, José Maria was Minister of Foreign Trade and Minister of Agriculture however, it was during his presidency that he showed his unique leadership skills through implementing invaluable changes that opened opportunities for further development, revolutionizing his country’s economy and transforming Costa Rica into the environmentally conscientious country it is today.

With his remarkable background in global economics as well as environmental protection, José Maria Figueres had the objective of leading his country into the new world with his governmental program based on moving the country towards Sustainable Development.

President Figueres joined the World Economic Forum as Managing Director, and became the first CEO of the World Economic Forum in 2003, where he strengthened global corporate ties to social and governmental sectors by identifying common long-term interests.

He helped create and lead the United Nations Information and Communication Technologies Task Force and is the founder of the Fundación Costa Rica para el Desarrollo Sostenible in Costa Rica.

Currently José María Figueres is the CEO of the Grupo Felipe IV in Madrid, and in this capacity he continues his commitment to development and technology and participates in a number of projects and endeavors in the international arena. This organization supports and collaborates with institutions working in the fields of development, dialogue, and democracy around the world.

The problem for many organisations is that they are constantly changing direction and so their employees get change fatigue.”Oh, not another new initiative” is the cry we hear in many organisations hence the resistance that comes from the news that yet another one is about to start. So I recommend that organisations focus on their long term strategy for winning rather than their strategy for change’

For example, I was speaking at a large Customer Service Management conference. Senior executives from Disney, Southwest Airlines and Ritz-Carlton gave presentations and the audience were clearly enthralled with how these organisations operate. I am sure many of the delegates went back to their organisations with the intention to adopt some of these best practices. Yet this is dangerous.
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The key to this is a concept that I call ‘loose/tight’. Most organisations exercise a very tight control over what employees should do but a very loose control over why they should do it. In other words they have strict procedures and regulations that employees must abide by even when these do not make sense for the customer.

I believe that organisations should reverse this and be very tight in communicating to employees who the target customers are, what they value, what the brand promise is and the kind of experience that they wish customers to have but then to be somewhat looser about how to deliver this so that employees can use their judgement.

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Shaun Smith runs his own customer experience consultancy, shaunsmith+co, which is firmly routed in the ‘keep it simple’ ethos. He has developed some of the latest thinking and practice around this subject, focusing in particular on how organizations can achieve brand differentiations and long-term customer loyalty through the customer experience.

Shaun was world-wide Sales, Service and Marketing Training Manager for British Airways’ highly acclaimed ‘Putting People First’ service and culture change programme. During this time he launched a British Airways subsidiary company offering training services to the travel trade.

He has consulted leading international companies developing strategies for their change to a customer focus culture, building the internal capability to sustain and manage the change.

Shaun is an inspirational speaker, he doesn’t talk paradigms, complex methodologies or seven magic bullets; instead his approach is refreshingly straightforward, always pragmatic and at times, controversial.

There is no Asian management style. We find great differences even between Japanese companies. I think it is fair to say that as individualism and freedom of choice conquer also this part of the world, leaders will have to become less of traditional bosses – power with rather than power over. As the companies mature and move further up the value chain, many of them will also have to become global not only in output terms, but also when it come to input and throughput. This will require a somewhat different organizational and managerial approach.

4. You have updated Funky Business and remastered it for the new business reality. What are the main things that have been changed since the book was published?

We have given the book a 60 degree wash to make it more independent of space and time. We also include an entirely new chapter with some of the most important developments over the last 8-10 years.

5. Based on the fact that Funky Business has been updated can a manager still use and learn from the old book or from Karaoke Capitalism or can we say that time has been changed?

Some truths are eternal. I still believe strongly in 99.9% of the stuff that we have written about in the books. If anything, we probably underestimated the power of the forces of change. Our books provide people with questions and a way of looking at the world – structuring mechanisms and principles – that makes them less likely to become irrelevant than books that try to sell you answers in the form of 10 bankable propositions.

end of the interview with Jonas Ridderstrale

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Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. There are many great European management thinkers – from Charles Handy to Fons Trompenhaars. I think I’ve been successful, because the ideas that I present are solid enough to stand the test of time, but also because my books and gigs provide people not only with intellectual content. In all probability, that stuff is necessary but not sufficient if you want to make it in my industry. I also give people hope, confidence and optimism. Boosting the psychological capital of people is at least as important as adding to their intellectual capital.

2. In world’s economy Europe’s role as a producer is diminishing nowadays and production is moving to Asia. Based on your experiences how could Europe compete? Is there a challenge we are facing with the management skills in Europe or it is just a new era when China, India are getting bigger roles?
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Dr. Jonas Ridderstråle is at the forefront of the new generation of European-based business gurus. He cuts through the madness and hyperbole surrounding the global economy and his appeal is truly global. Jonas has attained tremendous media coverage throughout the world. In March 2004, he appeared on CNN’s program “Global Office” for a long interview on the ideas behind his books. Dr. Ridderstråle has also been featured in Fortune, Fast Company, Time Magazine, Financial Times, Stern, Paris Match, and many other publications worldwide. The 2005 Thinkers 50, the bi-annual global ranking of management thinkers, ranked him (and his colleague Nordström) at number nine internationally and as the leading European business guru.

Jonas’ uncompromising, imaginative and decidedly fresh take on contemporary business life makes him one of the world’s most sought after and appreciated speakers. Forget dry theories, Jonas’ ideas work. He makes things happen. Dr. Ridderstråle practices what he so persuasively preaches. He acts as an advisor and consultant to a number of multinational corporations.
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9. Your work is also renown within the circles of personal development - how can an ordinary person live the life of his or her dreams? Are you living the life of your dreams?
Yes, I am living the life of my dreams; I have the love and support of my wife and our two daughters. I am a professional speaker, consultant and author by choice; I enjoy both the people and the various projects I accept. I love to travel and learn about other cultures and ways of doing business, and I particularly enjoy helping my clients by providing them with low cost high impact strategies that greatly increase their profits and overall business success. I take a tremendous pride in each success story. To me, a key element of living the life of my dreams involves personal freedom. I equate that to being able to choose how I invest my time, energy and money and the people I choose to invest it with. By this measure I am truly living a dream life! I believe that everyone can enjoy living the life of their dreams and that it starts with defining what success means to you. Consider a highly skilled and well equipped archer. One would expect this archer to be able to hit the target easily, however imagine if they were bind-folded and spun around many times, and only had one arrow and no assistance from anyone. The odds of them hitting that target have just greatly been reduced. The point behind this bow and arrow example is that “you can’t hit a target you can’t see”. This is true in life. How likely are you to be able to live the life of your dreams if you first can’t identify what that looks like? Once you see it, you can do it. Once you have set your goals, invest some time in planning your future instead of just letting life pass you by. Then read about other people who have also been successful in a similar way and learn how they did it. Consider connecting with a successful person who can guide and mentor you through your journey. Don’t be afraid to be bold and take some risks. Lastly, remember to enjoy each day both the victories and the failures, they are equally part of life’s journey.
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6. What are some of the main reasons that some sales people are successful and others are not?
Contemporary wisdom suggests that the key to successful selling lies within the sales person’s skills, knowledge and selling techniques. Although I agree that these issues are all important, I believe that the single biggest contributor to selling success is the person’s attitude. Their attitude entails many elements, such as their attitudes: towards themselves in the role of professional selling, their attitude as it relates towards the selling process; their attitude towards the company they represent, the products and services they offer their attitudes toward their customers, and their team-mates. These attitudes will ultimately determine their level of selling success.
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1. Having shared your inspirational messages with over one million people in 43 countries, what have you discovered is a common trend throughout the world of HR?
I would categorize this common trend as a “missed-opportunity”; my experience is that too many organizations view HR as a cost centre. For over 20 years I have been an avocate of the notion that HR needs to be seen and held accountable as a Profit Centre. We should stop spending money on HR activities and start to invest instead. When we think in terms of investments we expect certain returns from these investments. HR is no different, each investment needs to be analysed to consider the business case rational prior to making the investment and then measured to determine the actual contribution made to the bottom-line. As a consultant and speaker, one of my greatest sources of professional pride is my track-record in helping companies reframe their perspective on HR creating specific strategies to maximize their returns on all HR investments will result in reduced time and cost of hiring, increase levels of productivity, reduce employee turnover, enhance customer satisfaction, improve sales, and increase profits.

2. What are the biggest challenges to hiring and retaining people in a tight labour market?
The biggest challenge is to be able to differentiate your organization among other employers whom you are competing with for labour. The single best strategy is to be seen as the employer of choice in both your industry as well as your community. Consider how much emphasis and effort you invest in your marketing and branding to gain new business and keep your existing clients happy. During a tight labour market you need to invest this same amount of energy and creativity in your “People Branding”. When a company is recognized as being an employer of choice several things happen: one, your good employees value working with you and thus don’t want to leave, and your reputation attracts other great candidates to seek employment with you despite any recruiting efforts.
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