Cultural and geographical differences. Same old story.

In my career I have worked on several continents. While contracted to GM I was sent to work in Germany on a global project.
One of my jobs was to liaise between the German and American teams.
People have relationships. The German and American side conducted them through email, telephone, video conferences, and some physically flew between locations.
On more than one occasion the Engineers stopped communicating. I would hear stories of how one side thought the other irrelevant, and had stopped answering emails etc.
As you can imagine this was a problem.
I am writing a book for charity. I have skype, email, telephone. It is being written, illustrated and uploaded in 3 different countries.
Deja vu. History appears to be repeating itself!
Different people, different viewpoints. A lot of stop and starts.
In fairness, I have not always got on with people when I have worked in the same office!
This reminds of the GM experience. The car was eventually built. It never sold.

I think this book will eventually be published. I do not know when. Unlike my team members I do believe it will sell. I certainly hope so, as all the royalty payments will go to charity. Rokpa, the charity in question, do a lot of good work globally. A recent initiative being a guest house in Nepal. They run an orphanage, this guest house supplies employment and income for some of the ex street kids.

Good communication is very important. I must make an effort to communicate my thoughts in a manner understood by others. Easier said than done.

BUY THE BOOK WHEN(EVER) IT COMES OUT. FEEDBACK (GENERALLY) HAS BEEN VERY POSITIVE.
The title: Innocence lost in the ice cream forest

This is a Top Gear presentation for a VW advert. Everyone is doing their best. Things aren't moving forward though. A little mirror on life!

ICAM to work with John Moores University. DRB-Hicom are education friendly.

DRB-Hicom Group Lotus new owners officially signed a franchise agreement between their college ICAM and Liverpool UK based University John Moores.
Great.
The group takes education seriously. The college is private not state owned. It will soon have University status.
This is taken from the STAR newspaper.

Meanwhile DRB-Hicom, through International College of Automotive (ICAM), yesterday signed an international collaborative agreement with Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) to conduct a 2+1 twinning programme for a Bachelor of Engineering (Hons) degree in Manufacturing Systems Engineering on a franchise basis.

Under the programme, students will complete their initial two years at ICAM before progressing to LJMU in Britain for their final year.

Mohd Khamil said the collaboration was part of a well-planned roadmap that the group had developed to expedite the process of upgrading ICAM to university status.

Pictured (from left):  DRB-Hicom Bhd Group Chief Operating Officer, Datuk Lukman Ibrahim, DRB-Hicom MD Datuk Seri Mohd Khamil, with LJMU Pro Vice-Chancellor Michele Ibbs at a ceremony commemorating the signing of a collaborative agreement between DRB-Hicom's International College of Automotive (ICAM) and LJMU. Picture taken from John Moores webpage.http://www.ljmu.ac.uk

Wonderful.
Obviously, I have been in contact with the powers that be. As a private college it can do a lot more from a global perspective than a state owned college.
Education is referred to as the Golden key in many DRB-Hicom press releases.
I hope they see all the synergies, and exploit them.
Time will tell.
Here is my TV interview. My focus is now Johor, but it is still relevant.

Football leads motorsport follows. Buy my book!

I have been chasing up my book graphic guy. I hope to have the book uploaded in the next week or two.

The book will be available free to download on Amazon select or you can buy it. The physical book will be available on createspace.

All royalty payments for the book will go directly to charity.

Brian Barwick asks 'Why hasn't anyone done this before?' EXACTLY! Click to view video.

Ten Years ago this concept was truly innovative.
Now it should be gaining mainstream acceptance.
Lets see this initiative in Motorsport!

Tengku Mahaleel new Proton/Group Lotus Chairman. Good. (I hope!)

TODAY 10 Feb 12 the MD of DRB-Hicom denies this report.
Click here for the Sun Daily report.

"It was never suggested. I don't know where the name (Tengku Mahaleel) came from. It was never from DRB-Hicom," Mohd Khamil told reporters after the signing ceremony between International College of Automotive (ICAM) and Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) here.


Tengku Mahaleel is the new Chairman of Proton. By default that includes Group Lotus.

Here is a picture of me sharing the stage with him at the ASLI Auto conference.

Publicly, he said that many entrepreneurs would be very interested in my proposal.

Maybe, he can now endorse me, and the proposal with DRB-Hicom. My proposal dovetails with the Motorsport profile both Proton and Lotus have promoted in recent years.

I'm sick to death of hearing what Group Lotus can't do. Maybe this will now change.

The last sentence wasn't aimed at the present Group CEO. He hasn't been proactive in supporting this initiative. However, I feel that some people are more interested in themselves and their inner circle of friends than doing the right thing.

MUM is the right thing. I know I'm biased!

PROTON MANAGEMENT SHUFFLE. LOTUS FUTURE MANAGEMENT TOO?

UPDATE:
In today's (31Jan'12) STAR newspaper.
New management team for Proton likely following takeover
It seems DRB-Hicom want their own people running Proton. Group Lotus is under review.

News reports quoting sources said DRB-Hicom was keen to reshuffle Proton's management in the next two to three weeks.

Without wishing to sound arrogant.
The GOLDEN KEY TO UNLOCKING VALUE IN GROUP LOTUS IS LAID OUT BELOW.

Please look at my webpage. http://motorsportuniversitymalaysia.com

Today,(30 Jan '12) I read that Dany Bahar is looking for Investors to buy Group Lotus with him.
Good Luck.
I have contacted the last three Group Lotus CEO's regarding my proposal.
One of them was very arrogant and rude, two were polite.
None of them have shown any interest in my proposal.

I hope the person/corporate entity that finally decides to move Group Lotus forward is persuaded by my educational argument.

I presented a paper at the last (2010) ASLI Automotive conference. I shared the stage with some of the Leaders of the Malaysian Auto and Motorsport industry.

Malaysians seem to interested in this. If you go back to one of my earlier blogs May 2010

Motor Sports: National Youth Skills Institute For Motor Sports In The Offing
SERDANG, April 5 (Bernama) — The Youth and Sports Ministry is mulling setting up a National Youth Skills Institute which will focus solely on motor sports, said its minister Datuk Ahmad Shabery Cheek.
He said the institute would offer courses related to the engineering and technical aspects of motor sports with the cooperation of the Sepang International Circuit (SIC).

I actually shared the stage with the Sepang Chairman. He never showed any interest in my proposal. Maybe, he likes the proposal but isn't to keen on me!

Anyway, I fully intend to contact the next Group Lotus boss, whoever he or she may be... I'm available.
In the meantime, I'll carry on annoying the guy below!

Dr.Mahathir was kind enough to allow the official ASLI media person snap us shaking hands. Dr. M was the keynote speaker.

Below is a visual from my webpage. Showing how the proposal would work.

PLEASE CLICK ON THE YOUTUBE PRESENTATION BELOW.
THIS IS THE CAMPUS IN JOHOR I WOULD LIKE TO PARTNER WITH!
ADD THE USA CAMPUS. GO TO MY WEBPAGE. THE UK CAMPUS. MAYBE OTHERS AS TIME GOES BY...

I HAVE A PLAN. HIRE ME! John Mansfield

YES I HAVE A PLAN.
PROTON AND GROUP LOTUS HAVE TOP NOTCH MOTORSPORT ARMS.
WHY NOT USE THEM?
IF THE NEW OWNERS WANT SOMEONE WITH A PLAN HIRE ME!!
Please look at this video.

WHY HASN'T ANYONE DONE THIS BEFORE?

FA Chief Executive 2005 - 2008 Brian Barwick

Here is a portion of a STAR newspaper report on 17 Jan 2012.

The International College of Automotive (ICAM) established by DRB-Hicom can provide one of the best synergies and perhaps be the golden key to Proton's core competence to unlock the future for Proton, he said.

"ICAM, the only local centre of education that offers automotive courses covering both upstream as well as downstream of the total automotive value chain, also prides itself with a unique holistic teaching approach enlisting teaching personnel who are also industry professionals," he said.

Talk to these people about the academic campus down the road from the FIA approved circuit.



This isn't just a Noble idea. It makes financial sense. I cannot believe investors are not lining up for this! Check out my webpage.

A little publicity for the Children's book. Nook may be spun off.

YES IT IS TRUE. ALL ROYALTY PAYMENTS FROM THE UPCOMING CHILDREN'S BOOK WILL GO DIRECTLY TO CHARITY... YES... DIRECTLY TO CHARITY.

INNOCENCE LOST IN THE ICE CREAM FOREST. Buy it with a clear conscience.

The book has been finished from a story and illustration perspective. Now Tilo my unpaid graphic expert will configure the book in epub for upload.

Today, I see NOOK the eReader arm of Barnes and Noble may be spun off. eBook sales have risen dramatically in the last year. The stock of Barnes and Noble has dropped.

INNOCENCE will be available on all major eReader sites and devices. The printed book will be on Amazon plus available in bookshops.



From an educational perspective, eBooks are great. No great big expensive pile of books to lug around. Download the books and then carry a reader or laptop.
Obviously, educational lectures and materials can also be downloaded.

My concept of twinning physical campuses and virtual learning makes more and more sense with each passing day.