My new promo video for charity book. Group Lotus suspend 3 Managers.

Whilst waiting for things to come together on the Motorsport University project, I have made a short video.
This video promotes the book 'Innocence lost in the ice cream forest'

I hope you enjoy it. It's a webcam video I made at home. No professional
studio, no script. Just truthful and to the point.
BUY THE BOOK!
I am due to speak on radio on Thursday 12 July. You can get the broadcast in America.
I hope it helps sales.

This morning (Friday 29 June 2012) I see that Group Lotus have suspended 3 more Senior Managers from Group Lotus.
http://www.edp24.co.uk/business/three_group_lotus_managers_are_suspended_1_1425520

The suspended managers are believed to be part of the legal, human resources and finance teams at the Hethel-based car maker.

The decision is thought to have been made by DRB Hicom’s board in Malaysia and not by the firm’s new chief operating officer Aslam Farikullah, who took over the day to day running of the company following the departure of Mr Bahar.

It seems Lotus is in the eye of a storm. Sad to say, nothing new there!

DRB-Hicom assemble cars for several OEM's. Here is a picture I copied from Paul Tan. Here you can see the Hicom MD (middle) Dato Kamil at the release of an Audi model in KL Malaysia.

With him are Alex Yoong and Dr Mahathirs son, Dato Mukhriz.

http://paultan.org/2012/06/29/audi-q3-launched-2-0-tfsi-170-hp-rm258k/

Alex works for Caterham as a talent spotter/trainer. He also works for ESPN as an F1 pundit and still drives competitively. I attended 2009 ASLI Automotive conference with him. He is a big personality in Malaysia. I have never been photographed so much in life!
I used to have a commendation from Alex supporting my MUM project on my webpage. He asked me to remove it. Obviously, a misunderstanding.

Friends

Friends.

Here are some of my friends in KL. Hanis, the lady in the front on a wheelchair and Sofie the girl behind her run a small hostel in KL. The tall blonde far left is Tilo, he is a partner in the hostel, and helped with Innocence lost in the ice cream forest. The girl in front of him is his new wife Curtney. Siti, front beside Hanis is the working help. A lovely hard working girl.
These are the people I choose to visit when I stay in KL.
I enjoy their company.
Yesterday, I got an email from Ginny in Detroit. Ginny and Herbie are the people I stay with when I'm in Detroit. Sadly, Molly their dog died yesterday, and more importantly Herbie spent the night in A&E. Happily he is now home recovering from a severe bladder infection.
Herbie and Ginny made sure I had a roof over my head when I needed one.
Lovely people.
I have good friends. I am lucky. I wish them well.

"There is nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come" - Victor Hugo

  The motto I use on all my emails:

 "There is nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come" - Victor Hugo

This rings ring true.


Powerful and positive.

The book Innocence lost in the ice cream forest has been well received. ROKPA will be featuring it on their webpage.

I will be on a horoscope radio show promoting it soon. Quite looking forward to that! The Astral Baglady is a friend of mine. She lives in Royal Oak Michigan and co hosts a show on Thursday. She's a bit wacky, but nice.

All royalty payments from the book go directly to charity

To read the story behind the story:

http://www.samasama.de/innocence-lost-in-the-ice-cream-forest/

Charity book.The paperback version of Innocence lost in the ice cream forest hits German streets! MUM its not just about the money, I want the project to succeed.

The Author, Illustrator and book in Borna Town Square, Germany.

This weekend I visited Claus Werner. Claus is the illustrator of Innocence lost in the ice cream forest.We had our picture taken in Borna.
The book is now available in paperback on Amazon and Createspace.
ALL ROYALTY PAYMENTS GO DIRECTLY TO CHARITY
For the story behind the story go to:
http://www.samasama.de/innocence-lost-in-the-ice-cream-forest/

I have been invited to go on a radio show. The channel is available in America. 11pm-1am GMT Thursday.
I will promote the book.

I wrote to the top brass at Proton last week. If they are looking for someone with a plan, I would be happy to take a leadership role.
As yet NO REPLY.

I worked in Malaysia for Lotus. Socially, I have not kept in touch. We are not personal friends. One or two are probably the opposite. Lots of corporate self interest.
This is not about going back to Malaysia and working with my mates.
It is about unfinished business. Corporate business. Nothing more.
When I look at MUM I see potential. It is my aim to realise that potential. When I am satisfied it is on track and going forward, I will happily walk away.

I don't require Western CEO wages. A generous package would obviously be fair and much appreciated.

At the end of the day, I have been promoting this project at my own personal expense for years, so obviously it is not just about the money.

Dany Bahar dismissed. Bad for Dany. Good for MUM?

I have just read a report in the Norfolk paper:
http://www.edp24.co.uk/business/lotus_boss_dany_bahar_dismissed_1_1404053

Group Lotus confirmed this evening that chief executive Dany Bahar has been dismissed with immediate effect.

 All change.

I sent my proposal to Dany. He passed it on to his underlings. Nothing.

I assume DRB-Hicom will now review how to move Group Lotus and Proton forward.

This week I have asked Dr. Mahathir to ask his management team to look at the proposal. Dr. Mahathir is the adviser to Proton and Petronas.

He is very influential. I offered to take a lead position if required.

Let's see what happens.

Dany is a millionaire. I'm sure he will be OK.

I'm more interested in getting my MUM proposal off the ground.

Group Lotus need a miracle...Thursday is Proton Day.

I read an article today:
http://www.thesundaily.my/news/397054

No Lotus for Sarah

Posted on 4 June 2012 - 05:37am

COMMENT
by Tony Pereira

The accounts of Lotus Group International on March 31, 2011 show an accumulated loss of £94 million. The loss for the year that ended March 2011 widened from £8.7 million in 2010 to £21.3 million in 2011...

Considering that the group has been making losses consistently, it is difficult to make sense of these figures. More importantly, it is difficult to understand what could be Proton's plan to address these ongoing losses. If successive previous parent companies could not turn the company around, how are the new owners going to do so?

A well written article. Tony suggests a miracle is needed.

Thursday apparently is Proton Day (Today is Monday). Dr Mahathir, the Proton advisor is going to Shah Alam (Proton HQ)  to speak to the different Proton management groups.

I would very much like Tengku Djan Mahaleel, head of Proton Motorsport Engineering to voice his support for an  initiative using Motorsport and education as a way of leveraging Proton/Lotus and maybe Petronas in a joint educational enterprise. DRB-Hicom already have a University.

Proton, Lotus and Petronas spend money on Motorsport. They use it raise their profile.

I haven't seen any Petronas petrol stations in the UK and it's a rare day I see a Proton or a Lotus.

Do Petronas have shares in Mercedes? No.

The Motorsport educational initiative makes sense. As  a private enterprise it can be profitable.

Globally accessible education. Quality approved. Resources used wisely.

What's not to like?


DRB-Hicom has a core Educational business. Proton and Lotus are premium Technology suppliers.


See any synergy there?


Incidentally two Auto executives describe their company business thus:


 Alan Mulally
Ford Motor Company CEO 


 Ford is a technology company, not an automaker.

Read more: http://www.motortrend.com/features/consumer/1202_the_2012_power_list/viewall.html#ixzz1wqjf3UZo

Dieter Zetsche
Daimler AG Chairman 
Mercedes is a technology company? Zetsche was keynote speaker at the Consumer Electronics Show for the first time this year, also marking Mercedes' first appearance there. Zetsche follows in the footsteps of Audi's Rupert Stadler and Ford's Alan Mulally.

Read more: http://www.motortrend.com/features/consumer/1202_the_2012_power_list/viewall.html#ixzz1wqkmQ8Hs