The knowledge, wealth, and development gaps among nations is reducing and the reign of superpowers is shortening. Just look at the history of the Roman, Islamic, Russian and British empires, the newer the power the shorter the reign. In the economic and business worlds the same power cycles apply. Ford, IBM, Nokia and other companies lost their leadership position to newer companies faster than their predecessors

Med Jones

There is an undercurrent of cultural changes in the Middle East region driven by the globalization of media and the Internet. Smart leaders will anticipate these changes and initiate gradual democratic reforms to avoid political instability and economic problems.

Transformation does not happen by learning new information. It happens when you change how you view and react to other people, events and things around you.

It is not possible to have a politics-free organization. The desire for power and control is part of the human nature. Successful business leaders know how to leverage organizational politics by setting performance-oriented instead of resources-oriented political rewards.

A simple lifestyle gives you freedom. An expensive lifestyle enslaves you. Create a simple lifestyle, regardless of how much money you earn. Simple living will remove unnecessary demands on your life and free your mind to make the right choices. Simplicity will reduces your stress and make you happier

China and Africa have strong growing relationship; as China continues to grow, we will see the Chinese offer more infrastructure development to African governments in return for natural resources and farmland to support its vast population. It is a natural and mutually beneficial relationship.

Over the long term, if government revenues continue to be less than the expenditures (deficit), then the economic health of the country worsens because this will result in accumulated debt. An increasing government debt will result in higher interest payments, and less money available for socioeconomic development. To pay for the debt, the government will have to raise taxes, which will reduce the competitive position of the country in the global economy and chase investors away resulting in less economic activities and more job losses. In order to avoid higher unemployment and social instability, the government have to raise more debt to fund spending and welfare support by raising the interest rate which will increase the cost of money, reduce corporate profits and slow economic investments, thus resulting in more job losses and reduced government revenues, despite income tax increases. It is what I call a vicious economic cycle.

Unlike many in the investment community, I classify gold and other high volatility assets as speculative investments, so although I would invest in gold, I would keep its share of the portfolio to minimum and would monitor them closely.

Although the protesters in Egypt and neighboring countries are calling for democratic reforms, in reality they are calling for better economic life. Democracy is only a means to an end. I believe the driving forces behind the Tunisian and Egyptian uprisings are economical. A chronic high unemployment combined with an inflation in food prices is a volatile mix that can lead to major civic outbursts.

American leaders created a system that allowed a free distribution of wealth and power. People leave their economic class and become richer regardless of their ethnic or national background. Therefore, despite having more diverse people in our society than any other nation, we have more stable national politics. If our elites try to limit the openness of the socioeconomic system, the system will be corrected in any number of forms including civic unrest. When Bush's administration invaded Iraq and bailed out Wall Street, the people brought in Obama. When Obama bailed out Wall Street again and considered raising the tax on the people, the system brought the Tea Party into power and the ruling party lost control of the Congress. People expressed their anger via peaceful elections.

Countries that try to spread their ideologies by force, be it religion, socialism, capitalism, democracy or something else, will be overwhelmed by the human and economic cost of conflicts. Those countries will lag behind other countries that are focusing on developing their economies and advancing their interests via global partnerships and trade.

Knowledge networks will transform the global economy. They will change the way we think, learn and work. In the new economy your network should be at the heart of your strategy.

The integrity of states is ruled by the socioeconomic well-being theory. The degree of the stability of any social system is proportional to the degree of its economic growth and vice versa. Stated differently, the risk to national integrity increases proportionally to the country's economic decline.

We over-praise leaders when organizations succeed and over-blame them when organizations fail. Success or failure depends on the environment as much as or even more than the leader. Effective leaders navigate and influence the environment to enable key success factors for their followers

Leadership excellence requires a balanced mix of paradoxes. Leaders need to be visionary yet practical, teachers yet learners, and believers yet open-minded.

Complexity is a sign of intelligence. Simplicity is a sign of wisdom

Innovation in products, services, value chains and business models is the only sustainable growth strategy. New knowledge and business networks will shape the new global economy.

For the desert, a camel is better than a horse. - On Situational Leadership; Stamina vs. Speed

Commodities have shown a high correlation to inflation, especially in high inflation periods. In addition to diversification, the commodities asset class may also protect investment portfolios against an expected inflation or a declining local currency.

Inflation is a force of pressure. If the socioeconomic system of a country is open and democratic, the pressure will dissipate via elections and peaceful change of government. On the other hand, if the system is closed, it might be able to contain the pressure for a while, but the pressure will continue to build up and at a certain point it will exceed the strength of the system causing it to crack. Rulers who learn from history and create a socioeconomic system that is open will achieve stability and continuity. Those who fight against these socioeconomic forces may win some battles in the short term, but they will lose the war.

It is expected from the government officials and the financial sector to selectively report on the good news to avoid investors panic and maintain confidence in the economy. Unfortunately building confidence has been the name of the game since the beginning of the crisis rather than real economic reforms.