Je hebt het onderzoek zorgvuldig moeten lezen om een belangrijk probleem op te merken: tenzij je erg dunne muren hebt, of erg open vrienden, heb je geen idee hoe veel seks andere mensen hebben. Zoals ook door de auteur van het onderzoek opmerkte, kunnen wetenschappers alleen maar schatten wat de gemiddelde frequentie is in onderzoeken waarbij mensen makkelijk kunnen overdreven of liegen. En als je concludeert dat je meer of minder seks hebt dan anderen, bestaan die ‘anderen’  vooral in je hoofd.

Deze denkbeeldige mensen spelen een problematische, centrale rol in ons leven. In de afgelopen jaren, horen we constant weer dat bepaalde fenomenen ‘besmettelijk’ zijn: metaforisch gesproken, kun je door geluk ‘gevangen’ raken, maar ook door ongezonde eetgewoontes, of bepaalde meningen, van de mensen om je heen. Maar door de metafoor worden we afgeleid door het feit dat het in de meeste gevallen niet andere mensen zijn die je beïnvloeden, maar de impressies die je hebt gevormd over hoe een bepaalde vriendengroep is. Het is alsof je er van overtuigd kan zijn dat je een besmettelijke ziekte hebt opgelopen, puur vanwege je eigen overtuiging dat je vrienden het ook al gehad hebben.

Dit inzicht ligt aan de voet van wat bekend staat als ‘de interventie van sociale normen’, een ingenieuze techniek voor het veranderen van gedrag, onderzocht in een onderzoek van de New York Times uitgevoerd door Tina Rosenberg. Klassieke voorbeelden van het succes van het onderzoek zijn te vinden in pogingen van Amerikaanse universiteiten om overmatig drinken te stoppen. Ooit gebruikten universiteiten ‘scare tactics’, waarbij werd gewaarschuwd voor de helse consequenties van drinken. Totdat ze iets interessants ontdekten: of studenten nou veel of weinig dronken, ze overschatten massaal en consistent hoe veel andere studenten dronken.

Dus probeerden de autoriteiten een nieuwe strategie: advertenties die studenten er aan herinneren dat de meeste andere studenten, gematigd dronken. ‘Tweederde van de studenten aan de Northern Illinois Universiteit… drinken vijf of minder glazen wanneer zij uitgaan’. Het resultaat was dat de drankconsumptie langzaamaan daalde. Soortgelijke positieve resultaten zijn geboekt met meldingen die uitleggen dat negen van de tien mensen hun belasting op tijd betalen, en dat de meeste mensen hun hotel handdoek opnieuw gebruiken.

Misschien hebben we een publieke informatie campagne nodig om ons te vertellen hoe veel seks onze vrienden en buren echt hebben. In de tussentijd, dient de sociale norm aanpak als een herinnering om te blijven nadenken over met wie je jezelf precies vergelijkt, en specifiek, of ze echt bestaan. We kunnen ten minste proberen ons te laten beïnvloeden door de echte herde, en niet een die we zelf bedacht hebben waardoor we ons nog slechter voelen ook. Je bent een volwassene; is het niet een beetje alarmerend om te zien hoe veel waarde je waarschijnlijk nog hecht aan je denkbeeldige vrienden?

Dit artikel door Oliver Brukeman verscheen voor het eerst in The Guardian

Woolwich suspects were known to MI5 for 8 years.

Obama to curtail role of drones.

Sally Bercow tweet libelled Lord McAlpine, high court rules.

P&G CEO Bob McDonald steps down as AG Lafley returns.

The Guardian aims for global brand ‘consistency’ with single URL move.

O2′s Ronan Dunne joins GMG board.

Ben Sutherland to head performance at Vizeum UK.

Morgan Stanley

The bank’s head of fixed income, Ken deRegt, is retiring from the firm, according to internal bank memos obtained by Reuters, after the company sustained a more than 40 percent decline in bond trading revenue in the first quarter. Michael Heaney, 49, and Robert Rooney, 46, will head up fixed income, according to two company memos issued on Wednesday to employees.

JPMORGAN CHASE & CO

The financial services company said it has appointed Barry Sommers, under whom the bank expanded its services to wealthy clients, to head its Chase consumer bank business. Sommers replaces Ryan McInerney, who has been named by Visa Inc as its president.

HSBC HOLDINGS

Europe’s biggest bank named Simon Robertson, a former Goldman Sachs banker and chairman of Rolls-Royce, as the new chairman of its remuneration committee to replace John Thornton. Thornton this week said he would step down as head of the remuneration committee and HSBC said on Thursday.

The bank also said Joachim Faber, another HSBC non-executive director, would take over as chairman of its risk committee, replacing Rona Fairhead.

NATIONAL BANK OF RAS AL-KHAIMAH

Ian Larkin, the proposed new chief executive of the bank, which eas earlier this month named as victims of a massive global bank card fraud, has quit, two sources within the bank said on Thursday.

Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services

The provider of credit ratings and research appointed Sergey Nazarov as the regional general manager for Russia and the commonwealth of independent states (CIS), based in Moscow. Nazarov, who will join S&P on June 3, will be responsible for developing and implementing the growth strategy of the company’s ratings business in the region.

• Today’s Markets: European markets seen flat after sell-off
• Overnight Markets: Nikkei extends Thursday’s 7.3% plunge
• Yesterday’s Markets: US markets volatile and FTSE falls from peaks
• UK: Stats confirm 0.3% UK growth for Q1
• Wealth Management: UK FCA fines JP Morgan £3m
• Pensions: Relief as EU drops pensions from Solvency II
• EU Economy: Brussels claims there is no credit crunch
• UK: BoE fears ultra-low rates could prompt next crisis
• Eurozone: Stuck in recession and no sign of recovery
• USA: Manufacturing slows as overseas demand falls
• Currencies: Yen rises on Kuroda’s announcement
• Energy: UK gas supply within 6 hours of running out in March
• Commodities: Gold heads for best week in a month
• Focus On: The IMF’s ideas for kick-starting the UK economy

I recently had the opportunity to meet two very inspiring women in Australian football, Moya Dodd and Hesterine de Reus. Moya is Vice President of the Asian Football Federation and a partner in the law firm Gilbert & Tobin. Hesterine is the Head Coach of the Westfield Matildas Football Team.

After meeting with them, I asked myself, “Why aren’t these women household names in Australia?” After all, not only have Hesterine and Moya achieved a great deal in their own right but also both have integral roles in Football Australia and in global sport. I am going to assert two reasons here as to why they are not as well known as they should be. Firstly, because they have a great deal of humility, especially considering what they have achieved. Secondly, they are women in what most people would regard as a ‘men’s’ sport.

Moya and Hesterine are excellent examples of outstanding leaders. But, why is it that women hold so few leadership roles in the corporate world? Why do they hold only one or no executive positions in 49 per cent of Fortune 1000 companies? Why are women so under-represented in the C-suite?

As they shared their leadership journeys and philosophies with me, Moya and Hesterine opened my eyes about women in leadership. Here are some of my observations that I think are relevant to the corporate world.

Authenticity
Authenticity goes a lot deeper for these women than simply being genuine and trustworthy.  For them, it is about having their leadership anchored to core values and beliefs. It is about being confident and optimistic in something greater than their own self-interest.

The beautiful game of football is in Hesterine’s and Moya’s blood and they look beyond their role titles in embracing responsibilities of nurturing a future for women in sport and leadership. This in turn fosters the respect of their followers.  The players trust them as leaders.

Insight: In order to be authentic leaders, we must define what is important to us from a values perspective.  We must clarify what we are truly passionate about by looking at what drives us in life – and work from there. This clarity will serve as an anchor point in being authentic leaders.

Emotional Intelligence
“Many people make it to senior positions in this game because of their technical expertise in the sport, but it is the emotional and people side that is critical in leadership”.
- Moya Dodd

As senior figures in football, Moya and Hesterine possess the qualities of referent power that makes their success enduring, which goes beyond the easy logic of rank, economics and financial appeal. For them, it is the complex art of understanding and managing emotions that ignites their ability to mobilise diverse groups of people towards a common agenda.  People want to follow them.

These women have their “self-awareness” buttons constantly switched on. They understand the value of relationship capital and harness networks of like-minded people for the good of the sport.

It seems to me that women leaders in the corporate world often need to strike the balance of appearing strong and effective whilst maintaining their femininity so that they don’t threaten the C-suite “blokes”, especially when establishing new business relationships.

Insight: Keep the emotional radar switched on by constantly being aware of our own emotions, sensitive to others’ emotions and remaining true to our values. By doing this, we are better able to navigate through complex situations, understanding motivations within our teams and taking subsequent actions that promote a healthy environment.

Vision
“When I was seven, I pretended to be a boy so I could make the team.” Hesterine proudly said this to me, smiling from ear to ear, knowing that she now coaches the Australian Matildas Football Team.

Hesterine has possessed a vision for a magnificent sport from the age of seven and continues to maintain focus on this.  She gained 44 caps for the Netherlands women’s national football team before assuming leadership roles in the sport, and coached the Jordanian women’s national team to win the 2010 Arabia cup. Yes, you read right, the Arab-based female Jordanian football team!

In engaging and Obama-istic tones, Hesterine and Moya went on to describe their vision for women’s football, both in the context of the world stage and for Australia. They speak of elevating women’s football on the world stage and leveraging the sport to drive change in our communities.

Insight: Create a vision that inspires others and speaks to underscoring core values. Look for possibility rather than being hampered by impediments. Speak positively, appeal to emotions and be contagious in transferring your enthusiasm to others.

Resilience
“In 1988, FIFA finally organised a women’s world tournament. Australia was invited, and I was thrilled to be selected. It was an era when we paid our own airfares to represent our state and country, and sewed the coat of arms onto our own tracksuits.”
- Moya Dodd

Yep, the men’s team didn’t have to put up with this but it didn’t bother Moya – nor did she wallow in self-pity. “We suck it up and move on quickly.”, she continued.  Moya accepted the situation, kicked her ball forward and kept on running towards the goal.

In business, we always have to manage short-term distractions such as learning how to sew on our coat of arms, but this should not distract from maintaining focus on pursuing the bigger picture. After all, that is what our people are looking to us to do.

Hesterine’s and Moya’s personal stories of determination, adaptability and resoluteness in a “man’s world”, inspires self-belief in others. They have achieved what they have by being committed, credible and true to their core values.

Insight: Maintain focus on what success looks like in achieving the vision and plot milestones along the journey. Balance the need to meet short-term results and managing distractions with staying on course towards the vision.

Nurturing
“When we are on the field, we are on stage and we deserve to be there. We are performing!”
- Hesterine de Reus

Women football players of today do not face the sort of discrimination that Moya’s and Hesterine’s generation did. Moya and Hesterine have done the hard yards in the decades gone, laying down a foundation for women in football, making it easier for them to participate in the sport.

In making it to very senior positions in football, Hesterine and Moya have not kicked the ladder from under them, as they understand they are role models for future generations of leaders in the sport. They also understand that the current and future generations of players therefore bring a different outlook to the field.

In nurturing her team, Hesterine sets a very clear and confident direction.  The boundaries and operating values are clear. At the same time, she recognises and leverages individual strengths, facilitates participative discussion and has created structures for feedback.

Insight: Relish differences to exceed desired results. Diversity is not just about race, gender, religion or sexuality. It is about the varied and often unorthodox thinking different types of people bring to the table as a result of who they are. Our role as leaders is to provide a crystal clear agenda, maintain focus, and unleash resident skills and strengths that diversity brings to the team.

Hesterine de Reus and Moya Dodd share leadership traits that we can all learn from. Aside from me bringing it up, not once during our conversation did the topic of gender emerge.  What is most inspiring about these leadership role models is that they are authentic to the core of their beings. The clarity in their vision and resilience in its pursuit is sourced from their authenticity. Hesterine and Moya constantly keep in touch with their inner emotions and naturally mobilise others around.

Con Pappas

constantine.pappas@peoplepriority.com

Yahoo agrees to pay in excess of $1bn for Tumblr.

Barbour hires Paul Wilkinson to lead global.

Bank of Montreal

The bank appointed James Vargo senior vice president and business development officer of its commercial banking team in Chicago. Vargo will work with middle market companies, those with at least $20 million annual revenue, the bank said.

M&G INVESTMENTS

The investment manager appointed Andrius Isciukas to its retail fixed-interest team. Andrius most recently served as a global high-yield analyst at HSBC Asset Management.

MILTON GROUP PLC

The UK-based fund manager appointed Jim Davies as non-executive chairman of its Liverpool-based regulated entity, Milton Capital Partners Ltd. Davies most recently served as senior partner of London-based law firm DWF.

BANK OF MONTREAL

U.S. Ambassador to Canada David Jacobson will join Canada’s fourth-largest bank as vice-chairman after he leaves his diplomatic post, BMO said on Tuesday. Jacobson will join the bank in October.

BCS FINANCIAL GROUP

The Russian asset manager named Dipak Rajani as director of International Prime Brokerage Sales and Timur Salikov as a senior oil and gas analyst. Rajani most recently served as head of Prime Brokerage Execution Sales at BNP Paribas, while Timur joins from Morgan Stanley, where he served as co-head of the bank’s CEEMEA oil and gas research team in London.

CAPITAL GROUP PLC

The Los Angeles-based investment manager appointed Vlasta Gregis as business development manager for Italy and Grant Leon as head of sales for its private wealth distribution business. Gregis most recently served at Aviva Investors and Leon at Aberdeen Asset Management.

HIGHLAND CAPITAL MANAGEMENT L.P.

The Dallas-based investment adviser appointed Jun Park as a director of business development, Korea. Park, who most recently served at Woori Financial Principal Investment in Seoul, will be responsible for business development and investor relations support.

T. ROWE PRICE GROUP INC

The investment management company appointed Arif Husain, previously with AllianceBernstein, as the head of international fixed income. Husain, who will start on August 30, will be based in London.

NEWTON

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Pakistan paramilitary soldier survives execution
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16/5/2013 – Il cda di Intel ha eletto all’unanimità Brian Krzanich nuovo chief executive officer. Krzanich, che succede a Paul Otellini, diventerà il sesto ceo nella storia di Intel. Il consiglio di amministrazione ha anche eletto Renée James presidente.

15/5/2013 – Carlo Carollo è stato nominato sales & marketing director della divisione Telefonia Mobile di Samsung Electronics Italia. Nel suo incarico Carlo Carollo continua a riportare direttamente a Carlo Barlocco, senior vice president, head of sales & marketing. Carollo ha iniziato il suo percorso in Samsung nel settembre 2009 in qualità di direttore marketing della divisione Audio-video, per poi approdare alla divisione Telefonia Mobile sempre come marketing director nell’aprile 2011. Prima del suo ingresso in Samsung, ha maturato significative esperienze in Procter&Gamble, dove ha ricoperto vari ruoli di marketing e sales in Italia ed Europa, e in McKinsey&Company, dove ha svolto diversi progetti di consulenza strategica.

10/5/2013 – Gerardo Benuzzi è il nuovo chief operating officer di Italtel. Benuzzi proviene da CIR, di cui è stato direttore generale. In precedenza è stato direttore generale Finance & Advisory di Pirelli & C. Real Estate, dove era entrato nel 1997 assumendo progressivamente incarichi di crescente responsabilità. Benuzzi, che entra nel consiglio di amministrazione di Italtel, risponderà a Stefano Pileri, chief executive officer, e avrà la responsabilità delle aree di finanza, amministrazione e controllo, risorse umane e organizzazione, comunicazione, acquisti e logistica.

As is well known, UK households have one of the highest levels of indebtedness relative to income anywhere in the world. Yet the vast majority of this debt relates to mortgages on property, which actually, when you think about it, is only a form of front end loaded rental, only you get to own the property at the end of it.

According to the ONS, this property debt now stands at £847.9bn, up 3 per cent on 2006/08. This is a mighty big sum, amounting to well over a half of annual GDP, but the curiosity is that rather than worrying the pants off us, most of us don’t seem to care. Only 13.6 per cent of those with property debt thought it to be “a heavy burden”, down from 15.2 per cent in 2006/08. The percentage of people thinking it was “no problem at all” actually rose from 46.8 per cent to 49.5 per cent.
This may have something to do with the fact that interest rates are at rock bottom, with people generally expecting them to remain there. The cost of servicing a large mortgage is therefore not so bad. But actually the figures also suggest that the problem of excessive mortgage debt is a comparatively limited one restricted to a quite small minority of households.

Fewer than two out of every five households had any outstanding debt on their main property at all, while half of those with debt owed less £75,000. Obviously, the highest levels of debt are found in London, but London is also the most prosperous area of the economy, with relatively fast growth.

The big point is that housing wealth far outweighs housing debts. Add in financial assets such as pension savings on top, and household assets are some six to seven times higher than the debt. So in a sense, we are right not to care.

Britain remains an extraordinarily wealthy country, even though, a separate ONS analysis also published today shows Britain slipping from fifth to twelfth place in terms of disposable income per head in the international league table. But even this, we should perhaps not be too concerned about, since it is mainly caused by devaluation.

So we can all stop worrying then? Not so fast. Public debt is rocketing, while the entitlement promise burdens taxpayers with possibly intolerable future liabilities. Without big improvements in competitiveness, these debts will soon become a real, as opposed to an imagined, burden.

Jeremy Warner
This article first appeared on the Telegraph blog 14th May 2013

Yahoo agrees to pay in excess of $1bn for Tumblr.

Barbour hires Paul Wilkinson to lead global.

Bank of Montreal

The bank appointed James Vargo senior vice president and business development officer of its commercial banking team in Chicago. Vargo will work with middle market companies, those with at least $20 million annual revenue, the bank said.

M&G INVESTMENTS

The investment manager appointed Andrius Isciukas to its retail fixed-interest team. Andrius most recently served as a global high-yield analyst at HSBC Asset Management.

MILTON GROUP PLC

The UK-based fund manager appointed Jim Davies as non-executive chairman of its Liverpool-based regulated entity, Milton Capital Partners Ltd. Davies most recently served as senior partner of London-based law firm DWF.

BANK OF MONTREAL

U.S. Ambassador to Canada David Jacobson will join Canada’s fourth-largest bank as vice-chairman after he leaves his diplomatic post, BMO said on Tuesday. Jacobson will join the bank in October.

BCS FINANCIAL GROUP

The Russian asset manager named Dipak Rajani as director of International Prime Brokerage Sales and Timur Salikov as a senior oil and gas analyst. Rajani most recently served as head of Prime Brokerage Execution Sales at BNP Paribas, while Timur joins from Morgan Stanley, where he served as co-head of the bank’s CEEMEA oil and gas research team in London.

CAPITAL GROUP PLC

The Los Angeles-based investment manager appointed Vlasta Gregis as business development manager for Italy and Grant Leon as head of sales for its private wealth distribution business. Gregis most recently served at Aviva Investors and Leon at Aberdeen Asset Management.

HIGHLAND CAPITAL MANAGEMENT L.P.

The Dallas-based investment adviser appointed Jun Park as a director of business development, Korea. Park, who most recently served at Woori Financial Principal Investment in Seoul, will be responsible for business development and investor relations support.

T. ROWE PRICE GROUP INC

The investment management company appointed Arif Husain, previously with AllianceBernstein, as the head of international fixed income. Husain, who will start on August 30, will be based in London.

NEWTON

Phishing gang jailed for plundering woman’s £1 million life savings (Techworld.com)

Pakistan paramilitary soldier survives execution
From Around the Web

Capturing attractive dividend income flows (Henderson)

Is now a good time to invest in the eurozone? (MSN UK)

Chinese Suspected in Hacking Infrastructure: Real cyberwar… (Hacksurfer)
[?]
 

You had to read the reports carefully to notice an important caveat: unless you’ve got very thin walls, or very candid friends, or a periscope and a lot of time on your hands, you don’t have a clue how much sex other people are having. As the study’s author acknowledged, researchers can only estimate the average frequency of sex in any given group using surveys in which people might exaggerate or lie. And when you conclude that you’re having more or less sex than others, those “others” exist, first and foremost, in your head.

These fantasy people play a troublingly central role in our lives. In recent years, we’ve heard again and again that certain phenomena are “contagious”: metaphorically speaking, you can “catch” happiness, or unhealthy eating habits, or certain kinds of opinions, from those around you. But the contagion metaphor distracts from the fact that in many cases it’s not other people who infect you but the impression you’ve formed of what your peer group’s like. It’s as if you could catch something literally contagious – ebola, say – merely by convincing yourself your friends already had it.

This insight lies at the heart of what’s known as “social norms intervention”, an ingenious technique for changing behaviour examined in March in a New York Times essay by Tina Rosenberg. The classic examples of its success concern efforts by US universities to tackle binge drinking. Once upon a time, colleges used scare tactics, warning of the hellish consequences of overindulgence. Then they discovered something curious: whether students drank a lot or not, they reliably overestimated – a lot – how much other students consumed.

So the authorities tried a new strategy: ads reminding students that most of their peers, most of the time, drank moderately. “Two-thirds of Northern Illinois University students… drink five or fewer drinks when they ‘party’,” read one (yes, with fusty quote-marks around “party”). Heavy drinking rates began to fall steadily. Similarly positive results have been obtained with notices explaining that nine out of 10 people pay their taxes on time, or most people reuse their hotel towels.

Perhaps we need a public information campaign to tell us how much sex our friends and neighbours are actually having. In the meantime, the social norms approach serves as a reminder to keep questioning exactly who you’re comparing yourself with – and, specifically, whether or not they’re real. It’s a pop-psychology platitude that you should set your own rules, break free from the herd, and so on. But if that’s too tall an order, at least we might try to be influenced by the real herd, not one we’ve invented that makes us feel worse. You’re a grown-up; isn’t it a bit alarming to realise how much importance you might still be attaching to your imaginary friends?

This article by Oliver Burkeman first appeared in Saturday’s Guardian