It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

I shared this quote from Theodore Roosevelt which was shared with me recently with by Brendon Burchard.

As he says “Be in The Game”

Check out this quick video about a surprise I got from our friends at Virgin today

You’ll see that Sir Richard Branson is doing a great job through Virgin of showing by example great example of cross branding, ethical web marketing, adding value to customers, surprising, sharing and more.

The video is short but worth a watch and a lot of valuable ideas and models are shown in and through the video.

This included workshops, trainings, webinars, live events, public events, private events, and VIP events in London and around the world.

It’s exciting as we have been working on The Entrepreneurs’ Manifesto as part of The Entrepreneurs’ Revolution for many years and now are becoming allowed to reveal all we’ve been putting in place.

Last year, it wasn’t clear that the week would continue, and we did what we could to ensure it continued and built momentum.

You’ll start to see our trade mark phrases coming up more and more and the seeds we lay appearing in people’s blogs, ideas, and output.

The intention of collaboration and strategic alchemy is to produce optimal outcomes.

As these last few pieces come into form and activation, the promise of 1m/1m – creating one million millionaires and 1b/1b one billion billionaires starts to make more sense to many. It’s amazing to thing that some of these concepts date back hundreds of years and some many thousands.

I’m grateful for the acknowledgement and look forward to helping more people in coming months and years.

High Impact Award Global Entrepreneurship Week

High Impact Award Global Entrepreneurship Week

Thrive the movie is a great example of what’s possible with Foster Gamble showcasing many of the ideas that are discussed in different forms in a high quality medium which is generating millions of views virally.

So what is the “thrive movie” – it’s a movie that questions assumptions and much like the new bestseller http://www.HiddenByOrder.com - the key lesson is Assume Nothing and Confirm Everything.

What I think is most exciting is the speed with which these recent items have gone viral with new models of operation. I won’t spoil the surprises but a lot has been thought through behind the scenes.

You can find the thrive movie at http://on111111.com

I met Mario Schulzke after he became a customer of one of my companies – www.FreshForms.com produced by The Simple Idea.

Mario is a very sharp and great hearted entrepreneur. His own story very inspiring.

I’m very happy and proud to be featured.

Check out the interview here: => http://ideamensch.com/simon-hedley/

The new software has been eagerly awaited and I think represents a real step forward. I wanted to share a few of my thoughts on the launch and installation, and later I’ll show some of the screenshots and feedback.

ios 5 is the name of the software

Compared to Snow Leopard / Lion, the names of the iPad / iPhone software are not as imaginative. However they represent a very clear step forward. The full feature set you can find at the apple website.

apple iphone

The installation process requires you to connect your iphone via the iPhone / USB connector cable. Then in Apple iTunes, having first backed up the iPhone (right click and transfer all purchases, then right click backup), you will be in the right starting position.

iTunes will show that you have a software update available, and then by clicking “update” it will download the upgrade (which may take some time), and then upgrade the software on your Apple iPhone.

You will have to go through several “registration” screens once the upgrade has completed – e.g. enabling location services, reentering your itunes account details, etc..

You may find that the iPhone is working but without your old applications.

If this is the case then do a sync and you should have all your applications back and working.

iMessage is the most interesting feature, with my son in Canada, having an easy way to message, is something we’ve been looking into. This for now seems like an ideal next step, and so far so good.

ios 5

Overall a big success, and I’ll share more insights soon.

apple ios 5

The most clear feature for me, was that the screen seemed sharper and I like the new gui. It’s the simple small things which make a big difference over time. The iPhone also seems to run faster and more smoothly which is a big plus.

ios 4.3 now history..

The Private Equity Fund will focus on Oil, Energy initially, but we already have Media interests and I see that in time it will be comprehensive in outlook. The seed funds are secured as are the first investment objectives.

What was most clear from the visit to Monaco was how much impact a change in environment, can make. We left london c. 3pm, and by 8pm in the evening we’d had a swim and were ready for an amazing seafood dinner down by the port of MonteCarlo in Monaco.

The london weather while good of late, has become grey and started to turn.

Monaco by contrast was a wonderful summer day, with the sea refreshing and attitudes relaxed and focussed on life and business. Despite being “post” season, it retains the right elements to make for a great lifestyle and setting.

Serendipity occurred from the outset, with business contacts being at Terminal 5 before flying out to Geneva, so time was maximised socially and effectively.

A late afternoon coffee, resulted in seeing a friend from Armenia, who helped over 700 couples get married and built stadiums, churches and roads to help his country.

The speed of modern business be it iPad, iPhone, Skype or Blackberry, means that a mandate instructed before departure can be filled on arrival. (This is not the “norm” but that it is possible, without the needs for thousands of localised staff is refreshing and a sign of the new age that is coming.)

As for the Duelling Pianos, Saturday night, after the evening in the American Bar, was a real highlight. Two of the most generous people – one a lawyer from Greece, the other an international artist. They were real piano maestros, and played a formidable duel – piece by piece for several hours. This all took place in the apartment of a well known Greek billionaire, who I can honestly say is a a great warm person and true inspiration.

There is a lot that will be coming up and out over the next few months and years. The weekend a real turning point, and a great immersion into what’s coming.

Today’s announcement was eagerly anticipated for several months.

For all the key updates please review www.Apple.com

What is clear is that the transition is continuing, and the strategic vision of Apple is being rolled out step by step.

The dictation features are bringing to reality the very features that were seen as essential decades ago, the unification of devices (e.g. phone to camera) continues with improved camera aperture/shutter speeds meaning that the devices will be working closer to the core features of a traditional point and shoot.

As we all move more and more to the “cloud” and living a permanently “online” life, the quality of recordings/images continues to be a question to consider, coupled with the need for intelligent scaleable hosting.

The reliance on a monopoly supplier compared to the worlds of “open source” or more personalized PC universe, I still feel represent an area of discussion.

However once you’ve had things working, standing for philosophical points of view may change.

If we look at the worlds of TIVO, Sky+ and others, the future we feel stays strong for apple.

There are many more announcements and considerations which we will be sharing with www.TheFutureBrokers.com

It’s ten years, and having spent my decade in banking, a strange day to live through.

We’d had experiences with other events, that in some way are larger or more personal, but 9/11 remains a turning point.

Whatever the reasons, what matters now is that we build a world that makes it all work.

You may find this interesting:

http://news.nationalpost.com/2011/09/06/infographic-21-awful-truths-about-911/

I also think it’s the wrong question to ask but still one that many of us ask.

Have you been at a meeting, a party or a networking event and asked that?

It’s all too easy to fall into the trap of focusing on people as “jobs”.

For ten years I worked in investment banking and there the answer that I was an Auditor, a Structurer, and Investment Manager to some extent fulfilled the option of putting me into a “pigeon hole”. People like to do this, it helps us catagorise information which is a more and more important trait in the modern Information Age.

I’ll set out more of what I do another time, but just consider and think about how much more you and than just your job.

Being able to get to know people deeply and properly and make a real connection is an invaluable skill.

The joy of Facebook is that we all appear connected, and see more of the connected world that was often invisible.

The challenge is to remember, that there are real people behind the “posts”.