Weight a moment. | |
| | Oliver Evans on Tuesday, August 17, 2010 11:00 AM | |
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Right before I left for my annual battery charge in the green realm of Ireland news was made by the Solar Impulse performing the first night flight ever by a solar-powered plane.
My thoughts have been flying ever since. At first sight, no similarities between this venture and our own air cargo industry present themselves: We stand on one side, trying to load as much cargo as we can on, say, an A-340. On the other side, there are the owners of the Solar Impulse, building a plane with exactly the wingspan of an A-340 (63,4 meters), but a weight of next to nothing and inventing along the way designs and technologies that go far beyond anything ever tried before. While the planes we utilize seem to gain thrust by the kilo-Newton every year, the Solar Impulse dares to plan its round-the-world-trip in 2013 with four engines, each of which provides exactly the 10 horsepower the Wright brothers had at their disposal in 1903, albeit not powered by jet fuel but by 11628 solar cells. Yet, odd as it may seem, there is one thing we do have in common: The constant striving for efficiency. Set aside the fact that we burn millions of tons of fuel while the Solar Impulse is powered solely by sunshine, passion and donations (all three among the few environmentally friendly propellants known to man) – and you will discover that we are two teams striving for a common goal from different angles: Cargo 2000 and eFreight, among other initiatives of ours, are clearly destined to ultimately reduce the carbon footprint of our industry. We may never see a solar-powered freight plane, but the Solar Impulse has already achieved much and stands as a proud symbol of what is possible, and necessary, in the battle against global warming. Daring engineering ventures like this change minds and perspectives long before they actually become commonly used technologies. They stretch our imagination and help to create that crucial mental slipstream (as happened with the general topic of climate change) which eventually changes more than just airplane technology but our way of thinking and ultimately – our behaviour. So instead of just throwing weight onto that next cargo flight, why don’t you join me and throw your weight behind Solar Impulse: you will find me on Cell 6545, and we could start a little cargo slipstream. Just visit www.solarimpulse.com and select a cell: It is the only cell I know that actually makes the world a better place.
Thanks for tuning in!
Oliver
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| The Art of Being Swiss | |
| | Oliver Evans on Wednesday, July 21, 2010 1:00 PM | |
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As you probably know, Nicolas Hayek, one of the few business leaders in Switzerland who could be described as genuine international celebrities, died some weeks ago aged 82.
He was an astounding figure indeed.
Hailed as the savior of a Swiss watch industry on the brink of extinction, respected as an economic leader of international calibre, admired for the invention of the bestselling Swatch watches and other acts of ingenuity, (among them the Smart car concept, that was at least ten years ahead of its time), and on top of all that celebrated as a true marketing genius (who seldom failed to wear at least four of his own watches simultaneously), he was the very incarnation of Swiss values and a role model for many aspiring business men and women.
Not bad for a man who actually was not a Swiss at all – but born to Lebanese parents in Beirut in 1928.
He will always remind me of a simple but profound truth:
Flags don´t matter. Spirit does.
Thank you for tuning in!
Oliver
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| About team game | |
| | Oliver Evans on Monday, July 12, 2010 5:00 PM | |
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The Jamboree is over, the vuvuzelas have fallen silent, my wife or son were able to regain control of the TV in the evenings. I haven’t just been watching this game that inflames the hearts of countless people worldwide, to enjoy the goals, the crowd scenes or even to find out the result. I have been learning, because my profession, air cargo, is also a team game.
Why do star-studded teams crash out acrimoniously and shamefully (like France) or sputter more or less ignominiously (like England or Italy)? How do teams with fewer known stars throw up new ones and march on towards the final rounds, like Germany? Why do teams tipped to go all the way like Brazil or Argentina shine brightly for a while, then disappear? Why do other favourites like Spain make it all the way without any great panache and via a defeat to little Switzerland on the way? How do teams like Ghana become everyone's favourites through the sheer verve and passion of their play? The questions are endless, most of the commentary you hear on TV eminently forgettable.
I am left with my own ruminations and empty beer cans, reflecting on the simple and always-recurring truth that talent and preparation are one thing, and attitude is another. The greatest star, on his own, is, well... alone. And a collection of stars acting on their own is a rabble. A team, a team which performs consistently and unassumingly, with joy and drive, is something else. And so I share with you an inkling of my thoughts about teamwork, air cargo and other topics. But air cargo is a competitive game, so any other genuine insights and learnings from these few exciting weeks I keep to myself, or share with my team...
Thank you for tuning in
Oliver
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| A love like that | |
| | Oliver Evans on Wednesday, July 07, 2010 8:00 PM | |
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The Swiss WorldCargo office in Zurich
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The office looks a little different these days…and behaviour changes everywhere. When business meetings are rescheduled according to the calendar of games, when national colors in every size and shape drown out the visual noise of our cities and when Planet Earth (at least for some of us) takes on the shape of a football, it´s obviously time for the football World Cup, the biggest meeting of megabrands out there.
And I am not talking about the big sponsors here – sponsors merely try to exploit what the true megabrands create in those few, densely packed (emotionally and otherwise) days of summer (or in this case: winter).
I am talking of course about the national football teams.
What makes them megabrands? |
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You cannot answer this if you just look at things like global presence, media spending, stock market value or other criteria normally cited by consultants.
Look instead at all these Portuguese, Koreans or Brazilians living abroad for many years, getting re-united with “their” team in front of TVs and then (if all goes well) parading down the main street of their present home town, cheering for a country thousands of miles away.
Ask why somebody like me, whose roots are in both England and France, and normally considers a passport as a thing of mere convenience, starts passionate support for both flags (a very short-lived passion in this case as everybody knows who follows the World Cup).
Ask (if you are still not convinced, that is), why Argentina receives Maradona and his fallen heros like – heros, and why South Africans in a gesture so grand it still gives me goosebumps simply could not stop singing and dancing, even as their team was losing the final and crucial game.
The answer to all this is simple: these teams, (brands really), are loved.
Loved, because far from comprising a single national culture or ethnic group, they are constellations of stars of every imaginable global background, like the wonderful new German team or the less gloriously departed French or English ones.
Loved because of their mingling of people and cultures.
Loved to an extent that makes marketing managers worldwide first pale with envy, and then spend even more millions on the (mostly futile) attempt to evoke the same feelings for their soda, computer hardware or cars.
So, how do you become a loved brand? What about our own air cargo brands?
I will get back to you on that later, but right now the semifinals are on, sorry…
Thank you for tuning in!
Oliver |
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| Leaving Sarah | |
| | Oliver Evans on Tuesday, June 15, 2010 4:00 PM | |
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Judging from the comments the last entry received, everybody seems to like Sarah. So I shall no longer hold back the photo of the other dog I encountered during that rather busy week of travel around the globe.
I do not expect this fellow to evoke quite the same amount of sympathy charming Sarah did, but, as I said earlier, there is something to be learned from everyone. (Though quite what it is that mad dog teaches us I have not been able to find out just yet…)
Thanks for tuning in!
Oliver |
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| Meet Sarah. | |
| | Oliver Evans on Thursday, June 03, 2010 3:00 PM | |
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Here I was in the secure cargo warehouse of a busy airport somewhere in the US, standing in a hall full of cargo pallets, containers, loose cargo and all the other bits and pieces we continuously load onto our airplanes, thinking: My gosh, this is definitely someone to admire.
For obvious reasons I will neither disclose the airport nor this colleague’s name so let´s just call her Sarah for now, and anyway the important thing about her is not her name but the way she goes about her job.
Frankly, Sarah has one of the most tedious tasks in the business: she is a key player in the new security system that requires almost every piece of air cargo to be checked for drugs, explosives and other unwanted substances before boarding – and I don´t need to tell you that this amounts to a workday which is rather on the monotonous side of boring.
But when you watch Sarah going about her daily routine, you see dedication and passion in person. She is genuinely curious about every single piece of cargo and has a concentration that I find hard to muster for more than half an hour straight. She examines and investigates tirelessly, sometimes making excited, joyful “Look at that!” or “Now, here´s something peculiar!” sounds that you might expect from an archeologist rummaging through some pharaoh´s secret treasure chamber. I was told that Sarah has a failure rate of zero, vivid proof that striving for perfection can actually be fun.
To sum it up: I honestly feel safer since the day I met her and watched her checking our payload so enthusiastically. And my admiration is not the least diminished by the fact that Sarah is actually – a dog.
You see, there is something to be learned from everyone.
Thank you for tuning in!
Oliver
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| Barry Gibson | |
| | Oliver Evans on Thursday, May 27, 2010 1:00 PM | |
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A short while ago, I received an email from a good friend, John Lake of DHL, informing me (and others) that Barry Gibson, one of the pillars of our industry in the UK, has passed away. I have not seen Barry for many years, but we once had a close business relationship as his company's cargo was handled at my company's warehouse facilities at London Heathrow. This is of course a time for reflection, and for sympathy for Barry's family and close friends. But one sentence in the email gave me pleasure. Barry's wife Brenda would like to keep things simple and has asked attendees to wear bright clothing and not funeral attire to reflect Barry's life style. I will not be attending the funeral as I am travelling. But I shall think about the meaning of events in England. We all carry this wonderful industry forward upon our shoulders. We do everything in our power to live our lives (and our professional lives) fully for the time that is allotted to us. And people like Barry help to show the way.
Thank you, John, and thank you, Barry.
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| Continentals of the world: United! | |
| | Oliver Evans on Tuesday, May 18, 2010 7:30 AM | |
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You see, the really odd thing about that upcoming super-merger is, at least to me, all the things that we as an industry are so explicitly silent about:
First: That this is probably one of the last big mergers on a purely continental scale – huge as it may be.
Second: That the next big development, no, make that: the next few will almost certainly be the first truly global, intercontinental consolidations in an industry long restrained by national interests (namely and somewhat amazingly, by national pride, or how else can we explain the endurance displayed by many nations when it comes to financial support for those prestigious little cashburners of theirs).
Third: That the above is hardly astonishing at all, what with India and China clearly willing (and increasingly able) to play their role as the next superpowers. Most strategic industries have already seen their fair share of rising Eastern stars shining more and more brightly against the backdrop of an aging Europe and a more humble USA, so the only remarkable thing about these future Asian-European or Indian-American mergers or acquisitions in the airline market is simply that they take so long to finally happen.
How odd, that there is no lively discussion around this topic going on already, isn’t it? And how risky!
Because, (and here is my point), I believe we as industry leaders have to embrace wholeheartedly what lies ahead and prepare ourselves and our organizations for the challenges (quite a few) and the benefits (countless) of this next stage of globalization for our industry.
And there is indeed a lot of work waiting for us:
Let’s clear once and for all our minds and our corporate cultures of the vain belief that it is only the (insert your country here) way of running things that secures success.
Let’s judge people not by the cover of their passport but by their ability to solve problems and create possibilities.
Let’s, in a word, open up. To the knowledge, the creativity, the experience of other professional cultures from around the world.
As for me, for whom out-Swissing the Swiss has become a personal and professional way of life, I do not say that embracing a new stage of multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, truly intercontinental cooperation is a piece of cake.
But what I do say is: let us get ready for the ride, prepare our own organizations for change, and make the most of the many opportunities that lie ahead.
Thank you for tuning in!
Oliver
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| A simple truth about security | |
| | Oliver Evans on Thursday, May 06, 2010 9:00 AM | |
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On the one hand, there are some few hundred ragtag poor guys trying to blaze a path to paradise by killing any number of their fellow human beings.
On the other hand there is an incredibly sophisticated global network of logistics, operating within an equally refined framework of treaties and common regulations, all designed by conferences and organisations with all kinds of resources, communication channels and technology at their disposal.
So how come the poor guys seem to be so successful in hindering or sometimes even disrupting our business?
Well, it is actually not them, it is us.
Because – more than any potential threat to air traffic – the very real heaps of new security regulation and legislation plus the mega-heaps of interpretations of the above plus the resulting jungle of exceptions and misunderstandings are about as effective in slowing down our industry as any Al Qaeda commander could ever hope to be.
If we do take pride in our ability to reduce time and space to a mere supporting act in the great play of moving goods around the globe, well, then let us get our act together and really simplify and unify the “rules of engagement” for this play, worldwide.
Governments should not shun the hard task of liaising with each other and hammering out a unified, practical regulatory framework, instead of dumping their own local contribution to the above-mentioned heaps. And we business leaders must become a lot more effective at conveying our needs (and the needs of our customers) to those same governments.
Not only because this will actually take security to the next level, but also because I rather not live in fear of the next horror to be visited on mankind.
Thank you for tuning in!
Oliver
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| When LIN GOA LAX CLA RID TYE | |
| | Oliver Evans on Wednesday, April 28, 2010 9:30 AM | |
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Do you remember the enthusiastic New York Times article at the end of January, conveying how globalization would still be a lame duck without the speed and precision of air cargo? And the positive turn recently taken in the discussion regarding night flight regulations in Germany?
No?
Me neither. Actually none of the above happened (or anything in that general direction).
It is obvious: we as an industry are not very good at making our point, neither with the press, nor with politicians, or with our own airline CEOs, let alone the public.
But why is our voice not heard?
Well, just listen to it: we say (for instance) that “IATA is liaising with TIACA, FIATA and the WCO to ensure that the CCSP imposed upon our industry by the US government can be implemented smoothly. Furthermore by means of C2K we are exchanging shipment quality data so that our FWB, RCS, DEP (which is FAP) and RCS are fully transparent.
Jargon is all well and good and shorthand makes for streamlined communication. But we have developed a fully grown forest of acronyms, 3-letter codes and abbreviations – all the while wondering why the heck it is so difficult to convey essential explanations of issues within our own industry, let alone to outsiders.
The truth is, the more we try to explain, the less intelligible we are. And airline CEOs, politicians and journalists don’t have too much time or patience to listen to us.
Are you still wondering, why we remain the hidden, forgotten engine of world trade?
Yet, there is hope.
Finally some cargo executives are getting their voices heard (and their messages understood). Finally we managed to get this topic onto the agenda of IATA at our last global meeting in Vancouver in March. Finally we discover that we have a greater wealth of different communication channels to choose from today than we have ever had.
And just maybe, we are about to realise how often we actually sound (and especially write) more like Martians with a severe hiccup.
Did I make myself clear?
TKS for TNGN in
Oliver
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| What to learn from volcanoes | |
| | Oliver Evans on Wednesday, April 21, 2010 9:00 AM | |
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Just as I am about to write a blog bemoaning our industry’s inability to communicate its value and contribution to the global economy, Iceland goes, so to speak, BOOM.
Well, obviously and luckily, only a very tiny proportion of it, and not so much Boom! rather something like Swoosh!; anyway, 24 hours later, “ash” is written all over the European airspace which is by then well and truly shut down.
The next big thing that happens (cargo-wise) is that BMW shuts down a plant in Germany due to the lack of vital electronic components due for delivery by, lo and behold! air cargo.
So, in a very, very perverse way, this Icelandic volcano sees to it that air cargo (or, as in this case, the lack thereof) is all of a sudden recognised by the widest possible public as a key factor in a globalised world – something we mortals definitely failed to achieve during the last…., well, ever.
That certainly is not much of a consolation to hundreds of thousands of helpless passengers, stranded in airports all over the continent.
But nevertheless here is a lesson for us all:
Let´s be more, well, volcanic when it comes to spreading the word about air cargo! Because that is what needs to be done anyway – and I am absolutely sure, we can do so with none of the grim side effects that were visited upon the world by some hothead on a remote island in the North Atlantic
Thank you for tuning in!
Oliver
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| Quality smiles | |
| | Oliver Evans on Monday, March 29, 2010 9:00 AM | |
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There sure is a positive and impressing obsession within our profession regarding quality. That is why IATA, and the industry in general, have long ago adopted Cargo 2000 as THE quality monitoring system for the industry. And quite a success-story it has become: new members are joining constantly, the total volume of shipments monitored is increasing, measured standards are rising.
So how come nobody on the customer side seems to take notice of these very real improvements? At least, that is what our annually customer satisfaction study indicates. There is no praise to be found there regarding all the operational improvements made in the last years.
Well, if operational performance was everything, if numbers could capture every aspect (ah, numbers again: it seems that this is becoming a main theme of this blog), then yes, this should be a major source of irritation.
But, when you look behind these numbers, when you talk to clients and colleagues, you will quickly realise that our customers define quality not like we tend to do, that it is obviously something that goes far, far beyond some few operational milestones.
In fact, quality is the result of the entire customer experience. Beyond doing our job as close to perfection as possible (which in the eyes of our clients is sort of a given), quality is evidently the smile that transports over a telephone line throughout a conversation. It is the unexpected, earnest helpfulness, with which a complaint is met. It is the extra seconds invested in a little joke or a personal remark, the heartfelt apology, when things went wrong, in short: it is the human factor.
Do not get me wrong: Cargo 2000 is a useful, transparent exchange place for operational performance data. But if you want to know if you are delivering quality, just look into your customer’s eyes. If they are smiling, you have got it.
Or, as someone once said: Not all that can be counted, counts. And not all that counts can be counted.
Thank you for tuning in
Oliver
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| Commodify this! | |
| | Oliver Evans on Wednesday, March 17, 2010 8:30 AM | |
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The talk of the town at last week’s IATA Conference in Vancouver was the theme of commoditisation. The spectre of commoditisation stalks every industry: all companies fear that their product or service will become indistinguishable from the competitor’s offer. Which leaves the door open for Price to become king. So what, exactly, is the commodity that we are selling in our beloved airfreight industry? Is it capacity? And what is capacity, if not a volume of air, that is, NOTHING. Are we magicians, who convince countless customers to buy nothing for good money?
Are you kidding me?
Airfreight as we all know is the most costly, advanced and sophisticated form of mass transport for goods on the planet. We are dealing on a daily basis with an endless stream of shipments ranging from racing horses to electronics. Besides the complexity of fitting all of these very diverse shipments together and making optimal usage of the capacity on board our aircraft, our customers rightfully demand quality control and information at every stage of the journey.
Commoditisation? Give me a break.
Far from accepting bland, interchangeable services, our customers are making ever increasing demands for speed, security and reliability. An industry which transports some 2% of the volume of global trade is entrusted with over 30% of the value of goods transported, because these are precisely the most valuable, sensitive, urgent shipments: those which will bring entire factories to a standstill if they are not delivered on time. And how does the industry react? Instead of making proper usage of all the sophisticated electronic booking and tracking tools which are available, the shipper calls (!) 4 or 5 favourite forwarders for a single shipment to shop around for a rate. The forwarders in turn call (!) 4 or 5 favourite airlines to do the same, and all fall into the commodity trap. The future beckons, but history drags us back at every step.
Enlightened shippers, forwarders and airlines are moving ahead and truly discussing and implementing efficiency and reliability right across the supply chain, involving not only the flow of goods but also the flow of information. A perfect fit to customer needs, and a constant search to improve further, are the key success factors.
Talk of (and fear of) commoditisation only diminishes the value of of the service we provide and leads to irrational, inefficient behaviour. Let us take pride in the fact that we are entrusted with such mind-boggling values of goods transported worldwide; take pride in our achievements to date; and put all of our energy into further improvement and proper use of all the technology at our fingertips.
Thank you for tuning in
Oliver
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| Confessions of a climate sinner | |
| | Oliver Evans on Wednesday, February 24, 2010 2:00 PM | |
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Dear All
As an air cargo executive, should I not start by stating the known facts and research concerning our industry: that airlines are responsible for a mere 2% of total carbon dioxide emissions? That the wheels of globalisation are greased by the ability to transport cargo by air for just-in-time production or consumption? That the livelihood of entire communities in the third world is dependent upon their ability to ship their produce by air to markets in Europe or America?
I prefer to start with facts concerning myself:
It is under my leadership, that hundreds of thousands of tons of freight (at least some of which could reach market in good condition by other, less energy intensive, means of transport) are travelling by air, that is, through the beautiful fragile bubble of gas we call the atmosphere.
It happens on my watch that millions of shipments are distributed along supply chains that more often than not are far from a theoretical ideal model of efficiency (handling at multiple points, re-packaging, trucks returning empty from a delivery round
I am – to sum it all up – part of the problem.
My professional life, the work I love and do to the very best of my abilities, knowledge and moral standards contributes each and every day significantly to one of the most challenging crises mankind has ever faced. A crisis which endangers along with the future of billions of others, the future of my children and descendants.
I still believe that I am part of the problem.
You may think I am coming down too hard on myself (and our industry). I am convinced of the benefits of globalisation, or better said, of the inevitability of further globalisation. Billions are reaching out for living standards that were unheard of in the past, and billions in China or India and elsewhere will follow. Progress in science, medicine and technology will throw up unimaginable solutions to the challenges we face: yes, even to the environmental damage so obviously spreading around us today. In short, I marvel at the world today, as my ancestors did thousands of years ago. And I marvel at the collective intelligence and experience of our industry, at how shippers, forwarders and us suppliers handle the extraordinary complexities of our business. But progress will only happen if we all face the plain and ugly truth of environmental decay, and acknowledge our role in it.
So, what is next? Starting every workday in a hair shirt? Carrying a guilt-laden face through meetings and receptions? Quitting the job?
Here is what is next: I will accept the “plain and ugly truth” and make it an ever present foundation for my rules of engagement. This will not reverse climate change (at least not in the short run). But it may just help me to stay clear of all the simple answers of our business, be it “We cannot afford it”, “Let us wait to see who moves first” or “We will put that on the agenda”–
and I will take it from there.
Thank you for tuning in
Oliver
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| Blogistics exclusive: The definitive forecast for 2010! | |
| | Oliver Evans on Thursday, February 11, 2010 9:00 AM | |
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Dear All
It´s February and Switzerland is foggy (as always at this time of year) which provides an appropriate backdrop as my team and I are busy peering through the haze of information around us trying to assign hard-looking numbers to our forecasts. The futility of creating a snapshot is highlighted by a budget which we devised and set back in August of last year and now looks very different from any forecast we might make today.
Despite this challenge, people outside our industry will say we have an easy task: it is a truism that air cargo is recognised as one of the best early indicators of economic development. Today also, the recent surge in business is avidly interpreted as a sign of better days ahead in industries where demand is still caught in the doldrums. When people in, say, the textile industry are looking for reliable data to prepare plans for their own future, they look to our recent results and projections for expected air cargo traffic.
The funny thing about it is that those air cargo forecasts of ours are basically derived from the forecasts of, for example (well, I think you already guessed it), the textile industry and other users of airfreight.
While this is a classic case of “the chicken or the egg”, there is a real problem here:
Numbers.
Everybody likes them. The higher up the tree an executive climbs, the louder he shouts and demands them. Everybody uses them. And everybody relies on them far too much. Don’t get me wrong: I like numbers, too – when they are related to the past or the present. But there is a peculiar thing about numbers when they refer to the future: They do not actually exist – in the sense that they do not represent any real things or events.
“Hold it! Don’t exist?” I hear you say, and rightly so, because there are (as I well know) lots of forecasts with loads of numbers in them. But what we forget all too easily is that those numbers are nothing more than the enticingly pseudo-factual expression of what analysts believe could happen – and thus the certainty they offer (as we all well know) is phony at best.
The future is coming, and it is nice to know what it will look like. Every day, we have to make our decisions and chart the course of our business. But based on what exactly?
Here are some suggestions: Facebook. The underwear market. The general mood in the business class lounge. A chatty taxi driver in Singapore. The number and size of fashion ads in Vogue. My daughter’s anecdotes when she calls from Japan. The Twitter channel of Air Cargo News. The gossip in a Swiss supermarket. The jokes made by our station managers worldwide. The insights of my staff. And, above all: forecasts.
My point is: numbers (and forecasts) are important. But they are just part of the game. I believe that, as a decision maker, I should be open to every possible input offered to me by my colleagues, my travels, my family and friends, the Web, the media, the random experience – in short, life itself.
Why? Because the human mind has an absolutely unique (and for the most part unconscious) ability to correlate what is not obviously related, to bring together what appears to be unconnected, to associate what seemingly has no association.
Mix in experience, add a little pinch of scepticism and the result is something as valuable as it is elusive: professional instinct. And all I need to do is give this instinct the broadest possible range of free play at the back of my mind while I am busy reading forecasts – and then discuss with the other free thinkers in my business intelligence team.
I admit that is not your average business school or consultant’s advice, but it has actually worked quite well for me so far. Do you want some proof?
Here we go: The Blogistics exclusive Definitive Forecast for 2010!
“Those who feed on many sources rather than just the obvious ones, those who let their professional instincts rather than pure reason connect the dots, those who dare to trust the outcome, whatever the hype of the day – will probably get it wrong. But not as often as those who don’t.”
Anyway, that’s just a gut feeling of mine …
Thank you for tuning in
Oliver
And what do you personally rely on when it comes to the future? Looking forward to your sources ;-)
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| Introducing: Swiss Jazz | |
| | Oliver Evans on Monday, February 08, 2010 9:00 AM | |
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Dear All,
Do you like jazz? Well, I do. So last summer, like almost every year since the late 90s, I had the immense pleasure of witnessing some of the greatest jazz musicians of our time at the legendary Montreux Jazz Festival. This time, be it crisis or coincidence, all that jazz, that non-stop stream of concerts, matinees and late night sessions sparked an idea that I am eager to share with all of you – finally –: Blogistics, the all-new air cargo blog of Swiss WorldCargo. And the first blog (as far as I know) that is modelled after a really good jam session.
It sounds a little off-beat to start a cargo blog rambling about jazz, of all things? Especially at times of economic turmoil, like these? I hear you. Yet – I am convinced there is much more to be learned by our industry than meets the ear from this most spontaneous and inventive way of playing music.
First and foremost: Jazz masters the unpredictable – is it whim, or is it instinct, which leads the musicians along every new direction following a changing chord, a different phrase or a drifting rhythm, as naturally as a river flowing over a bed of pebbles. Jazz is never afraid of change – instead it thrives on it. Now do you start to see why this seems so appealing to me in these times?
Second: Jazz is nothing without teamwork. Of course, we are all trained for and committed to teamwork. We used to think of teamwork as something limited to activities within our own companies, something developed with immediate colleagues. We have been learning in recent years to also take ownership for what happens outside our own employer's sphere. Teamwork spans supply chains involving many partners, and indeed spans our whole industry. In jazz it is almost more fun to exchange ideas and to try out new tunes and rhythms with musicians from other bands, styles, continents. Again, a good idea in times when obviously nobody has even half the answers…
Third: Jazz is about sharing. The sax will invent a theme and the guitar will take it from there, adding its own ideas, until the trombone… you get the idea. Blogistics will work the same way: sometimes I will lay down a phrase and you will be welcome to play with it, contradict it, change it, develop it. At other times I will catch a phrase from your comments and go for it. And that leads me to:
Fourth: Jazz is fun. Fun, obviously, to listen. But even more fun to participate in. And that´s what Blogistics is all about: the fun of joining thoughts and styles and ideas. Join me from time to time on this little stage with your comments, thoughts, and (most welcome!) your criticism. I am sure, we will all be amazed by the journeys of discovery we will make together.
Thank you for tuning in
Oliver
PS: And here´s the first theme, which will appear here shortly:
What is your forecast for 2010? What is more appropriate for a jam session than the unpredictable future! I look forward to jamming with you.
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