Global Political Communications Daily
August 31, 2021
Sponsored by Caracal
Sustainable scotch
TOP FIVE
1. How China has overtaken South Pacific islands
2. Young Russians look ahead to German election
3. Trudeau suddenly faces a real challenge
4. Scepticism grows over El Salvador Bitcoin gamble
5. Inside Xi Jinping’s war on the wealthy
ASIA
North Korea appears to have restarted Yongbyon nuclear reactor: WSJ reports inspectors cite evidence of resumed operations at the plutonium-producing plant, which had been shut down since 2018.
Meth, vanilla, and ‘gulags’: How China has overtaken the South Pacific one island at a time: What’s happening in Tonga is a microcosm of China’s expanding global influence and why the United States is losing ground fast.
Politico
Top China diplomat rips Blinken on Afghanistan, virus probe
Bloomberg
+ Wang Yi says Afghan war failed to eliminate terrorism
+ China, US have held series of testy meetings, calls in 2021
China urges nations to ‘actively guide’ Taliban government: The US should work with the international community to help Afghanistan run government functions, Wang Yi says.
Guardian
Minxin Pei on why China will not surpass the United States: China will continue its rapid growth for a time, but it faces big obstacles—not least its aging population and the stifling rule of the current regime
Economist
US Indo-Pacific allies maintain trust in Biden despite Afghanistan exit: Regional partners reject claims that chaotic withdrawal from Kabul has shaken defense ties.
FT
Kamala Harris’s southeast Asia trip reveals limits of US strategy: With little sign of big ideas or ambitious proposals, some analysts say the vice-president’s trip reflects how little the administration is investing in the region.
Vincent Ni
Pentagon holds talks with Chinese military for first time under Biden, official says
Reuters
+ The Chinese AI company SenseTime filed for an IPO in Hong Kong, brushing off concerns over China’s crackdown on tech companies.
China venture capital deals shrink amid regulatory concerns: Foreign investors rethink approach as Beijing cracks down on high tech.
Nikkei
Chinese regulator vows to crack down on private equity funds
Bloomberg
China commentary calls Xi’s crackdown a ‘profound revolution’
Bloomberg
+ ‘This is a return from the capital group to the masses’
+ Criticizes ‘sissy stars’ and ‘worshiping Western culture’
Inside Xi Jinping’s war on the wealthy: Making oligarchs pay their fair share will be popular. But tax reform with Chinese characteristics is not so straightforward.
Richard McGregor
The economy that COVID-19 could not stop: Trade and foreign investment helped Vietnam emerge from extreme poverty. Can they make it rich?
Economist
Singapore has a new richest person with a $19 billion fortune
Bloomberg
Reuters: Japan considers Oct. 17 election as PM ratings hit record lows
Suga looks to replace party's No. 2 as approval hits rock bottom: Nikkei reports Japan prime minister to select new officials by LDP election in September.
The ground under Japan's ruling coalition is starting to shift: High voter turnout in the Yokohama election opens the opposition path to victory.
Tobias Harris
In India, a debate over population control turns explosive: Proposed measures in two states reflect the volatile tensions between Hindus and Muslims over the country’s future.
WP
Calls for a COVID probe plunged Australia into a hacking nightmare: Wave after wave of cyberattacks has shaken the country. Experts say even the wealthiest nations are at risk if they annoy China enough.
Bloomberg
EUROPE
Axios: European Union recommends halting non-essential travel from the US
Young Russians look ahead to German election: Many young Russians are eyeing the upcoming German election with anticipation. Germany is the Kremlin's closest economic partner in the EU. But politically, the relationship is tense.
DW
Race to succeed German Chancellor Angela Merkel is wide open: For a long time, it looked like Armin Laschet would be a shoo-in as Germany’s next chancellor. But now, the Christian Democrats could find themselves on the opposition benches after September 26.
Felix Steiner
Germany: Scholz seeks to topple a CDU reeling as the Merkel era ends: Polling suggests that the ruling party could lose power in September’s election to an SPD-led coalition.
FT
+ Germany’s annual consumer price inflation hit a 13-year high in July, climbing to 3.4% and outpacing wage growth. Higher energy and food prices, which tend to be volatile, contributed to the spike. But the main driver was shortages from supply-chain bottlenecks.
Tesla’s German factory pits politicians against environmentalists: Tesla has run into trouble building its factory near Berlin but also has plenty of political support.
Politico
Porsche to open first factory outside Europe next year: FT reports the German carmaker targets Asian market with a site in Malaysia but rules out China location.
'It's not easy': Slower era dawns for Paris drivers: AFP reports drivers in Paris faced longer trips Monday as a lower speed limit of 30 kilometers per hour came into effect for most of the capital's streets, part of Mayor Anne Hidalgo's pledge to reduce traffic and pollution.
The Super League clubs are planning their next attack on UEFA: A lobby agency is supposed to help the ringleader, Florentino Pérez of Real Madrid, this time. The task: to pull associations, EU politicians, and journalists to the side of the rebels.
Der Spiegel
+ President Biden is nominating Thomas Barrett, the mayor of Milwaukee since 2004, as ambassador to Luxembourg.
Sustainable scotch: Hebridean distillery aims for net-zero whisky: Islay’s 9 distilleries burn 15m liters of oil a year. Now Bruichladdich is leading a radical effort to reduce emissions.
Guardian
NORTH AMERICA
What diplomats need to know about Canadian elections
Canadian Global Affairs Institute
Trudeau suddenly faces a real challenge: He thought a new election would yield a majority. Now the Conservatives lead.
Michael Taube
Politico sold to German publisher Axel Springer: The company, based in Arlington, VA, helped define the shape of American politics and policy coverage for the digital age. Its sale is the latest move in a trend toward media consolidation.
WP
Inside Politico’s billion-dollar drama: From “son of” to mogul in his own right: Robert Allbritton just became the unlikeliest winner of the new media sweepstakes.
NYT
Politico sale nets fortune for Washington media mogul Allbritton
Bloomberg
The first national cyber director has big plans to toughen US digital defenses: In a wide-ranging interview, Chris Inglis explained how he’s using his new White House office to better synchronize the government’s fight against hackers.
Politico
Biden’s alliance with Big Tech shows a power shift: The combative post-Snowden relationship with the government appears to have mellowed at a meeting last week. Should we be worried about what they might all do together?
Parmy Olson
LATIN AMERICA
'Where are they?': Relatives of Mexico's missing demand answers
AFP
AFP: Mexican classrooms reopen amid COVID third wave
Skepticism grows in El Salvador over pioneering Bitcoin gamble: Country will be first to adopt cryptocurrency as legal tender next month – but economists are sounding warnings over risks.
Guardian
Enjoy the ride + plan accordingly.
-Marc
Curation and commentary by Marc A. Ross | Founder @ Caracal
How to do communications
Ask "TAD" what questions:
Therefore what?
Achieve what?
Demand what?
Ask "WWWW" questions to sort out your audience(s):
Who?
What?
Where?
When?
Execute the STOCK Framework:
Strategy: What are you setting out to win/achieve?
Tactics: What tools will you use to win/achieve?
Organization: Who and what do you need to win/achieve?
Consistency: What is the editorial calendar and cadence?
Know-how: What unique knowledge and insights will you share?
That's it.
Happy communications.
Does a coach or CEO matter?
When it comes to management, the answer is an unequivocal no.
Soccernomics, the beautiful book written by Financial Times Columnist Simon Kuper and University of Michigan Professor Stefan Szymanski, makes the convincing case that "it turns out that coaches and managers simply don't make that much difference."
After studying years of soccer matches, the authors conclude that "the vast bulk of managers appear to have almost no impact on their teams' performance and do not last very long in the job. They seem to add so little value that it is tempting to think they could be replaced by their secretaries, the chairman, or stuffed teddy bears, without changing the club's league position. The importance of managers is vastly overestimated."
How can this be?
As a culture, we laud coaches and CEOs for their superior management skills. Give them deity-worth reverence. Put them on magazines' covers, see them repeatedly interviewed on television, and even some nations elect them to top government jobs.
The Great Man Theory of History happening in real-time.
But what really matters are the players and the employees.
The market makes this clear.
Johan Cruyff, the famous Dutch international soccer player who went on coach FC Barcelona to four straight La Liga titles and a Champions League title, said simply, "If your players are better than your opponent, 90 percent of the time you will win."
Those who can repeatedly perform a specific task with few flaws and consistent enthusiasm are treasured and well-compensated by the market. Often there is a shortage of the best talent, and there is massive competition to secure their services.
You see, soccer teams have perfect market information on thousands of players. It is clear who on the pitch can play and who can't.
Either you can play soccer, or you can't play soccer.
Either you can perform the task at hand, or you can't.
Soccer players more or less get the job they deserve.
However, when it comes to coaching, this is not the case. The market for managers does not work well. Many of the best managers rarely get proper attention, while numerous managers who add no real positive value continue to get promoted to better-paying jobs.
You see this off the pitch as well.
According to a Wall Street Journal analysis of data from MyLogIQ LLC and Institutional Shareholder Services, among S&P 500 CEOs who got raises, the 10% who received the most significant pay increases scored—as a group—in the middle of the pack in terms of total shareholder return.
Similarly, the data showed that 10% of companies posting the best total returns to shareholders paid their CEO in the middle of the pack.
Quoted in the Wall Street Journal, Herman Aguinis, a professor of management at George Washington University School of Business, reinforces this point, "Stars are often underpaid, while average performers are often overpaid."
The disparity between CEO compensation and performance appears to persist over more extended periods as well. Professor Aguinis analyzed the earnings of more than 4,000 CEOs throughout their tenures against several performance metrics. He found virtually no overlap between the top 1% of CEOs in terms of performance and the top 1% of highest earners. Among the top 10% of performers, only a fifth were compensated in the top 10%.
Today, coaches and CEOs are more sun god and head of public relations and less visionary executives on and off the field.
The forte of best-paid coaches and CEOs is often not winning matches or generating more revenue, something frankly they have little control over, but keeping all the various constituencies united behind them. Hence why as a culture, we frequently prize charisma over competence.
Chris Tomlinson, a business columnist for the Houston Chronicle, penned, "There is also no shortage of CEO candidates and little competition for them. Few companies need CEOs with unique skills, and boards tend to buy charisma rather than skills anyway. The general economy and market forces within an industrial sector are far more accurate predictors of a company's performance, regardless of how much the CEO earns."
All of that being said, I do think thought leadership and vision matter immensely, regardless of how it pays.
Thought leadership is different from management, but that's for a separate post.
-Marc
