Houston: The Quest for Inclusion

Current Houston population estimates place the percentages of the different ethnic groups as follows: 41% Hispanics, 28% Whites, 24% African-Americans and 7% Asian-Americans, but the percentages of Hispanics in key positions in local organizations convey a dismal reality. Members and leaders of the Hispanic community, often voice their concern about being underrepresented in the local government and other local organizations. This is an undeniable fact. The question is, why?

In a recent series of articles written by Dr. Richard Murray (U. H.) and published in his blog at http://prof13.abc13.com , he elaborates on the possible reasons. The first and more important he mentions, is the poor participation. Out of 41% Hispanics, only an estimated 12% voted in the last presidential elections. (12 percent of 41 percent, is less than 5% of the total potential votes!) With that level of participation, the only chance a Hispanic leader may have to become Houston Mayor, for example, is to receive a considerable support from other groups. If the Hispanic leadership cannot bring “their natural constituency” to the voting room, a more difficult challenge would be to appeal other voters.

Recently Texas Senator Mario Gallegos and other Hispanic and African-American leaders proposed legislation on non-profit organizations, specifically requesting that they “appoint a board of directors that represent the diversity of its constituents.” Actions of this type address the issue of representation, but still do not solve the one of participation, and furthermore, equate to some form of affirmative action. A representation without participation always raises the question of legitimacy, some of our website readers have pointed out.

The root cause of the poor representation in the local non-profits and local politics resides in the failure of the Hispanic leadership to convince their own constituency to participate, to vote, to volunteer, to pitch in. Breaking the indifference of the Hispanic population is the real challenge.

As with any rule, there are exceptions, of course: Harris County recently elected Adrian Garcia as its County Sheriff, from his previous position as Houston Council Member.

Rodeo 2009: The Quest for Inclusion

Senator Gallegos and Community leaders ask diversity and transparency to the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo.

State Senator Mario Gallegos (D-Harris County) stood with leaders of the African-American and leaders of the Hispanic Community to announce the filing of legislation. They want the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo to become more diverse and more transparent.

The debate is over minority representation at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo at its highest levels of leadership. This year, representatives of the African-American and Latin communities got together to address this issue in a new forum -- the state legislature.

“It is time for the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo to come to the 21st Century- enough with the Good Ole’ Boy System of doing business. We are calling for the Rodeo to reevaluate how they allocate scholarships, appoint members to the highest levels of the Board, and award contracts” said Senator Gallegos.

Senator Gallegos filed legislation to require, in part, non-profits to appoint a board of directors that represents the diversity of its constituents, answer open records requests and make reasonable efforts to increase minority participation in contracts.

Google Plays Hide and Seek

Just because the Internet has broken down geographic barriers, don't assume that Google doesn't care about geography. The company plans to launch software called Latitude, that lets mobile phone users share their location with close contacts. Google hopes it will help people find each other while out and about, and to keep track of loved ones.

"What Google Latitude does is allow you to share that location with friends and family members, and likewise be able to see friends and family members' locations," said Steve Lee, product manager for Google Latitude. For example, a girlfriend could use it to see if her boyfriend has arrived at a restaurant and, if not, how far away he is.

To protect privacy, Google specifically requires people to sign up for the service. People can share their precise location, the city they're in, or nothing at all. "What we found in testing is that the most common scenario is a symmetrical arrangement, where both people are sharing with each other," Lee said. Google hopes its mapping technology will lead to location-based advertising revenue. Google's power is firmly lodged in search and search advertising, but the company is trying to expand to broader online services, too. That includes online documents and various aspects of social networking, which are much more personal services and ones that put Google into more direct competition with rivals such as Microsoft, Facebook, and Yahoo. Like using Google profiles to contact information with select contacts, using Google Latitude tells Google who's who in your social graph.

Recession: Use your Brain, Not Your Wallet

Valentine's Day is coming soon and people are expecting the gifts as usual. However, the economic condition seems even worse this year. Should we cancel the Valentine's gift this year for the recession? It doesn’t matter if the answer is yes or no, your life is still on, so be optimistic about the future. If you are facing your life with a sweet smile everyday even in the hard times, you will be paid back in a whole life. So you can always find a recession-friendly gift idea and celebrate your Valentine's Day.


The objective of the gift
A gift shows your love and care for him or her. It is not just buying something and then giving it away. A right gift is a symbol of love that communicates with the other part. It can be a material one or even just a special kiss. The gift can show how much you know each other.

Multilatinas: Titans Coming North

Despite the current financial crisis, multilatinas are poised for continued expansion in pan-regional Latin markets and internationally.

As Latin American economies grew up to 2008, companies in the region have been expanding their businesses from their home countries into other Latin American countries. Now, these companies, so-called "multilatinas," are competing with other multinational companies as never before by expanding outside Latin America into other emerging markets, as well as First World countries. A multilatina is a multinational company based in a Latin American country that has become an economic titan in its home country, dominated its domestic market and sought additional markets in additional countries to facilitate its growth.

Multilatinas are now being managed and led by a new generation of better-trained and educated executives. They are now as prepared as their counterparts in North America, Europe or Asia to lead their companies and their growth. Banco Itau, Grupo Bimbo, FEMSA, Vale, Tenaris and many others are clear examples of multilatinas with world-class management teams.

They have expanded from their home countries to other countries in Latin America, and, significantly, to international markets outside Latin America. Multilatinas, which in the past may have restricted their growth to only neighboring countries, have also expanded throughout all of Latin America and into North America, Europe and emerging markets worldwide.

For example, the leading Mexican baking company Grupo Bimbo has been so successful in dominating the Mexican marketplace that no major competitor has survived. A company like this, very efficient and capable, can continue to grow only by going to other countries. They went to Central and South America and have become a major or dominant force in every country they've entered. Today, they have approximately 40 percent of the marketplace in Brazil. They entered the United States market and acquired Entenmann’s and Thomas's. They also sold their “nostalgia brands” to Americans of Hispanic heritage. Recently, they also entered the China and Czech Republic markets as well. They are truly multinational company.

China's domestic market is becoming more attractive to certain kinds of multilatinas, as is India’s, given the growth of their middle class markets. Multilatinas are also expanding into Europe, as demonstrated by the merger of the Brazilian beer and beverage company Ambev with the Belgian beer company Interbrew. The merged company, InBev, recently acquired Anheuser Busch in the United States, to form Anheuser-Busch InBev, the largest beer company in the world. Other examples of expansions by multilatinas are the acquisition of US and Canadian companies by Grupo Comex, a Mexican paint manufacture, and its rapid expansion in China; the acquisition of Canada’s second largest mining company by the Brazilian mining company, Vale, now the largest iron-ore producer in the world, and its acquisitions of other assets in countries as varied as South Africa and Australia.

Net Geners vs. Old-School Management

The Net Geners (a.k.a. Generation Y) are fighting a war with old-school management and the balance of power is slowly changing. Some say that the Net Geners are highly motivated, multi-tasking, versatile workers and highly collaborative humans. For the old-school managers, they are simply lazy narcissists exposing their intimate life in Facebook, wasting their time and company resources in instant messaging, twitters, and other banalities. We are describing the war being fought between those born in the 1980s and 90s, vs. the others, more seasoned managers and employees, pre-1980s.

But this war is far from being contained between the walls of offices and cubicles. It transcends the corporate terrain, and is becoming part of the informal corporate academia as well as the consultancy swarms, always looking for a new field of flowers.

The Net Geners have grown with networked computers and are being challenged to take their new role at company headquarters, with the same enthusiasm they have killed virtual enemies on the PC screen. They have been encouraged to challenge received wisdom, to find their own solutions to problems and to treat work as a route to personal fulfillment rather than merely a way of putting food on the table. Not all of this makes them easy to manage. Bosses complain that after a childhood of being pampered and praised, Net Geners demand far more frequent feedback and an exact set of requirements for the project under development.

For the older managers, the current recession gives them a relief. Once again, the management fads that always spring up in years of plenty are transitioning to the more “brutal” command-and-control methods. Having grown up in good times, Net Geners have been under the illusion that the world owed them a living. But hopping between jobs to find one that meets your inner spiritual needs is not so easy: there are no jobs to hop to.

Net Geners will certainly have to change some of their expectations and take the world as it is, not as they would like it to be. The old-school managers should also be prepared to make concessions. The economy will eventually recover and the Net Geners will be the only resources available to tap.

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Note from Business Week: Author Don Tapscott coined the term Net Generation a decade ago in his best-selling Growing Up Digital: The Rise of the Net Generation (1998). Even then he was inspired by his kids: In 1993, seven-year-old Alex was already e-mailing Santa Claus. At that time the Web was "a place for outsiders, geeks, radicals or visionaries," Tapscott writes. Net Geners—those born between 1977 and 1997—had little say, as baby boomers and Gen Xers ruled. But fast-forward to now, and Net Geners—81.1 million strong, or 27% of the U.S. population—are starting to put a stamp on education, work, family life, and politics.

A Gift Guide for a Clueless Guide

Want to score major points this holiday? Get your wife the gift she really wants.
Here's how:

Like it or not, men win the prize when it comes clueless, insensitive gifts. Who hasn't heard a holiday horror story along the lines of "He got me a gym membership because I'm always asking if I look fat!"? No one wants to be that guy, but we'll admit it — picking out the perfect present isn't easy. Allow us to guide you along the path to gift enlightenment.