Elephant

Continuing my debate about data usage and data abuse, I listened to a fascinating discussion from the BBC about whether Mark Zuckerberg is a good or bad billionaire. You can listen to the podcast if interested, but a few items came up such as the release of customer data to Cambridge Analytica a few years…

The internet isn’t working today. My phone is stuck on a screen saying trying to connect. My laptop has this continuing circle of stuckness. It is seriously annoying. When digital breaks down, it leaves you stranded. That’s OK. It’s cool. Except that, when you depend upon digital, it screws up your day, especially for those…

I was sitting in a board meeting the other day. It was on Zoom. I was engaged, as this was a critical moment in the business’s future, but could not help returning to one attendee and wondering why they were there. There was an Elephant in the Zoom. What was it doing there? What was…

Sometimes you think there’s not much more to say about a subject. Then a friend sends you some links and suddenly you’re falling down another rabbit hole, this one all about banks and climate change. A friend of mine just shared a bunch of documents about banks’ funding of fossil fuel firms. It makes for…

I got a phone call from the Elephant. For those who read my blog regularly, you’ll remember that the elephant stayed with me last year. I guess, as it’s a year later, he was missing me. He moved out as Spring approached, because I couldn’t stand the smell, and his constant demands for curry, crisps…

This is the tenth in a series of blogs about the elephant, which represents the economy, and the bird, which represents the future.   Spring is in the air. The clocks are jumping forward, and vaccines are being given everywhere. We feel we are coming through the end of this dark tunnel of lockdown and I can…

Sitting quietly in my room, I felt someone breathing on my neck. It was him. Y’know. The elephant. The elephant represents the economy and this is the ninth in a series. “Wassup?” I asked. He just looked at me, mournfully. “OK. What is wrong?” I repeated. He had a tear in his eye. “Hey, hey,…

It’s 2021 and the elephant is really smelly. I don’t think he’s washed since 2019, so I finally managed to persuade him not only to stay in the room, but that he needed to wash and shower. [The elephant represents the economy and this is the eighth conversation with him in a series] As we…

I was really surprised how popular the Elephant became last year. In fact, he seems to have a fan following, so much so that one of my friends who runs media in Europe, Rik Coeckelbergs (The Banking Scene), asked if he could interview the elephant. Here’s what happened … Predictions for 2021: Interview with Chris Skinner,…

This is the sixth in a series of blogs about the elephant, which represents the economy, and the bird, which represents the future. The bird was out of its cage, but it stayed in the room. We had talked a lot about the economy and, although the elephant had left the room, I knew it was…