Business Today International Conference
"Charting the Course: Navigating the 21st Century Economy"
November 18-20 2012
Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York City




Open Notes:

Dr. Steven Bloom: Senior VP of NASDAQ
Mega Trends
1. A Sluggish US economic recovery. GDP growth at 4% is ideal but it’s currently 2%. Unemployment is too high, but inflation is under control at 2 percent though health care and food are high.
2. US has $16 trillion in debt, the highest in relation to GDP since WW2 in 1945. It took 20 years to return to a normal rate. (The fiscal cliff is coming up with solutions so we don’t have to simultaneously raise taxes and reduce expenditures)
3. Anemic outlook by consumers, leaders and investors.
4. Growing U.S income equality and poverty (1/6 of Americans are considered impoverished)
5. Globalization of world economics
6. Euro zone in crisis (Weak countries are PIGS, Portugal Italy Greece Spain) Germany may be softening.
7. Middle East oil and other economic shock (oil is king in powering economies) The big question is ”Is there an alternative to middle eastern oil?”
8. Rise of China (low labor cost: rural, back office of the world), not just for unskilled labor. However, China may be experiencing its own real estate bubble.
9. Rise of emerging markets generally BRICS (for you South Africans)
10. Power of business innovation and entrepreneurship

Back: Rohan Manchanda, Marcello Schermer, Aazar Ali, Dianna Yau, Kyle Brandon
Front: Daniel Israel, Yohan Atlan, me, and Hannah Kate

Ms. Barbara Byrne: Barclay’s Capital Vice Chairman
Life Lessons
1. Get to know the client, provide quality service, and think what they need.
2. No is just another answer to yes.
3. Be unbelievably optimistic.
4. You cannot celebrate other people's failures
5. You should build for the future
6. Be kind to everyone
7. Set goals, mistakes happen
8. Stakeholders: community to be involved. Citizenship is core to who we are.
9. The investment banking business continues to evolve: Increased regulation is fine as long as the rules are clear "Work and Passion"
10. What makes is stand out is having an opinion and taking a stand. You can be quiet... But say something. When you take a stand, you think about issues.
11. When you are working on something but time flies, that's your passion. You are in the zone. You are energized.

Mr. Michael Novogratz: President of Fortress Investment Group

Mr. Michael Novogratz: President of Fortress Investment Group
Life Comments
1. Spend 5 or 10 percent of your day trying to make the world better, to solve complex, difficult problems.
2. Who talks to their parents daily? If so, cut your parents off... You are supposed to figure out who you are and who you are supposed to be. Give yourself some space
3. Statistically, people will live to 80s or 90s. Chill out. The single best thing to do for oneself is to take a year off between college and work to see the world. 50 percent of growth is overseas. Grow empathy, opportunity. Business opportunity, cultural opportunity. Get off the fast track and travel.
4. Don't chase the new great idea. Stumble around things and figure what you love.
5. Steal mentors, you are not going to do it alone. If you don't ask, they can't say no. Be confident enough and sneak up to them. People love to talk about themselves. Learn and your success will be built on the shoulders of others.
6. Have fun. What makes you feel that joy? If you don't like your job, quit. Having fun and finding joy is your life’s mission.
7. Invest in all sides of yourself. How do we educate and nourish the soul? Find some time to meditate, pray or some sort of spirituality. Read biographies of people.
8. Health: Be wary of your diet and exercise. Educate oneself on exercise.




End Notes.

Un serveur, ma petite amie et moi au restaurant.

Moi: comment ça va?
Becky: ça va, et toi ?
Moi: je vais bien
Becky: C’est un bon restaurant
Moi: Oui, c'est  mon ami Brian Brik qui m'a conseillé de venir ici.
Becky: c'est ton meilleur ami?
Moi: Oui, c'est un bon ami
Becky: comment s'appelle  ce restaurant?
Moi: le restaurant s’apelle “Buono Café”
Moi: Garçon! Garçon !

Hôte: Bonjour, bienvenue au Buono Cafe
Voici notre menu.
Becky & moi : Merci
Becky: Quelle est la spécialité dans votre restaurant ? Sinon auriez-vous un plat du jour ?
Hôte: Nous avons comme plat du jour un hamburger accompagné de patates douces.
Becky: Je déteste les hamburgers, y aurait-il de la salade?
Hôte: Oui, la salade de la "montanga" c'est également notre spécialité.
Becky: Que contient cette salade ?
Hôte: La salade de la montanga contient : des carottes, des champignons, du concombre, des oignons, des petit-pois, et des condiments,
Son assaisonnement : un peu de vinaigre et de l’huile.
Becky: mmmmm, ça m'a l'air très bon.
Hôte: OK, je reviens dans trois minutes.

Becky: Dani, que vas-tu manger?
Daniel: Mon ami David Kaufman, m'a conseillé de commander leur viande, mais je ne suis pas encore sur. Et toi?
Becky: Mon ami, Shirley Abecasis, m'a recommandé de demander la salade capresse, mais je ne sais pas..
Daniel: Shirley est un peu folle! Mais c' est une bonne amie.

Raul Brik: Daniellll, comment ça va? Comment ça se passe à New York?
Daniel: mon pote!!! Je vais bien, très bien, j'étudie beaucoup. Et toi?
Raul Brik: Je vais bien aussi, je travaille aussi beaucoup.
Daniel: Tu as des nouvelles d'Anita, de Kenny et de  Jenny?
Raul Brik: Ils vont bien, Jenny étudie le français, Kenny apprends à jouer de la guitare et Anita travaille à la maison.
Daniel : C’est une bonn famille!
Raul Brik: Et toi Becky?
Becky: ça va bien, les cours sont un peu durs, mais ça va  !
Raul Brik: super! C'était sympa de vous revoir. Je dois encore aller voir ma cousine!
Daniel et Becky: Ok partenaire!

Hôte: Avez vous fait votre  choix, Madame?
Becky: Je vais prendre de la soupe à l’oignon.
Hôte: Monsieur?
Daniel: Je prendrai du paté de champagne
Hôte: désirez-vous boire quelque chose ?
Becky: un citron pressé
Daniel: pour moi, un jus d’orange. s'il vous plaît
Hôte: et pour la plat principal Madame?
Becky: je veux prendre la salade de la montagna
Daniel: Je vais prendre du boeuf bourguignon.
Hôte: Bon! Je reviens dans quelques minutes.
Daniel et Becky: Merci!

Daniel: C’est un bon plat
Becky: Il est délicieux !
Hôte: cela vous plaît?
Becky: oui, oui c'est parfait..
Daniel: j'aimerais commander  une bouteille de vin?
Hôte: quel vin?
Daniel: un vin français bien sur..
Hôte: pas de problème, je vous apporte notre carte.

Dans Le Noir, a blind restaurant experience...

The other day I went to a restaurant in NYC called Dans Le Noir. Its a place in where there aren't any lights at all. So, you make your reservation online a couple days ahead. Then, you go to the
place and once you arrive they show you the menu and give you a key for a locker in which you have to put everything that's may produce light (watch, cell phones, etc). Becky and I chose our plates, then we sit next to a curtain waiting for our waiter. A few minutes later a blind woman came out stretching out her arm asking "Where are my next costumers?", Becky said " Here we are". Maria, the waiter, told us "You don't have to be weary... welcome to my world".

We enter to a small tunnel and the light gets dimmer and immer with each step until it disappears completely. I enter and my other 4 senses activate. I started to hear the voices of people from other tables, the sound of cubists and people laughing. Also, I felt the temperature much more, colder. We
Sat in a row with other couples entering the restaurant. Somehow Maria remembered the name of each of us and she led each one in the right and correct seating place.

Well, Becky and I were seating in front of each other, at the end of the table with other couples and
we started to talk about the environment. In a second, Maria was very close to our table asking for beverages. A few minutes later she came with a cart serving beverages to each of us. I knew it was a cart because I touch it. I didn't know how to drink, and I didn't even know if it was the beverage I ordered because my mind used to see the color and the recognize the beverage.

We spoke with the guys next to us and the only way you can identify them is by their voice. You don't know their appearance and in this city the guy could sound as a woman, but its a man...you know.
In this case he wasn't.

The dinner continued, the conversation with my girlfriend was very good and deep. When the first plate came I just didn't have any idea how to start to eat. Sincerely, the knife wasn't useful, only the fork and the left hand I used. I didn't have idea what I was eating; I tried to identify the flavors. The experience inside the place was simply amazing. Maria moved from one side to the other side of the table in a second, she was there for you. It was the first restaurant I went to where they called me by my name and the first one I was truly having dinner with Becky without thinking in my phone and emails. I was really with her eating and hearing her voice. You don't even know what time is it, but you don't have to care about the time because you are with the person you want to be with. That dinner was a discovery path.

When we were done with the food we decided to stay and have some wine at the bar just outside the dark room. Its just that your not in love with someone because of the way she looks, you use the other senses. Then, we went out of the dark room with Marias help and we talked with other waiters. One of them named Collin. He told us a little bit about his life, how he lost his sight, and what he was working on before working in the restaurant. Collin told us that sometimes as a pedestrian before crossing a street he stands next to the traffic light listening waiting for the beep that tells him to cross. Well, a person comes to help him cross and the person helps him, whether he needs the help or not because its the same path he does everyday he lets other people help him so they can feel that they did a good thing. Collin also likes the fact people go to the restaurant and a that a blind person helps them, so we feel what he lives everyday. Instead of him "needing" our help, its us that need his inside Dans le Noir. Collin is very happy in his life and has developed other skills that someone else might not have.

For me its admirable to see people like Maria and Collin continuing and having fun with their lives. If you step in NYC and you are with someone speacial for you, you mother, father, a close friend, your girlfriend, or a friend you haven't seen for a while I'd recommend you to go to Dans le Noir 
Restaurant.

The scientist and his son

This is a story I heard a few years ago. It’s an excellent story and I think everyone can learn from it. I say this because years later I’m still learning from it.

In the basement of a humble home, a father worked on his new invention, he was a scientist. He was working relentlessly one day, when his youngest son came in to his laboratory with the hopes of helping his father with the new invention. His work was too complicated for the small child, and he didn’t want to be distracted and so he said to they boy “Come back tomorrow and we’ll see” thinking the boy would forget and allow him to work. Yet, they boy did not forget, and he came back the next day asking his father if he could help. The father was upset he was being distracted from his work, and he wanted to find something he could entertain the boy with. He tore off a page from a magazine that had a picture of the world; then he ripped it into hundreds of pieces, and handed them to his son along with some tape, “Now put it back together”. Only a few minutes later, the child came back with a perfect taped up picture of the world, and he handed it back to his father. His father was in awe, how could a small boy who doesn’t even know what the world looks like put together this picture in such a small amount of time? “Son, how did you do this?” he asked, and the boy answered, “Well, I turned all the pieces around and I saw it looked like the picture of a person, and I pieced back the person and when I turned it around I had the picture of the world”. The small boy knew what a person looked like, so by fixing the person first he was then able to fix the world.

We can reflect upon the message of this story, that in order to have a better world we must first become better people.

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