Turning a commercial flight into a Disney roller coaster ride

This morning at 6:30am I boarded a flight from Port St Louis to Rodrigues island after an 11 hour flight from Paris to Port Louis. Rodrigues is 600 km away from Mauritius. The flight is approximately 1hr30 minutes.

The airport was vibrating with the chatter, laughter, squeaky voices and enthusiasm of these kids. It was quite a scene to see these kids running around the airport and having fun. It got better, when I boarded the plane. As the plane got ready for take off, so did the kids. It was as if you were on a roller coaster ride in a Disney park.

The yells and shrieks of the kids were completely in synch with the airplane's engine. It almost felt as if the noise by the kids made the plane take off!!! As soon as the plane had reached the cruising altitude the kids stopped.

On landing it was the same thing. The plane had to do some sharp 'turns'. Well, that made the kids' day. It was as if you had reached the summit of the roller coaster and you were about to race down... Just imagine what you would do, now multiply this by 54.... This is what happened on my flight. It was INCREDIBLE!!!!

After a long trip, it was rewarding to travel with these kids... They made me understand the importance of spontaneity and having fun!!!

Active inertia

On 14 July, The Economist published an article on Active interia. In this article Donald Sull, an associate professor at London Business School talks about how managers often get stuck in a rut, so when an entirely new situation arises they revert to old responses. Active inertia, Sull says, is “management’s tendency to respond to the most disruptive changes by accelerating activities that succeeded in the past”.

This article is so right on. We've all seen this happen time and again. The challenge is how to get management out of the rut and make them think out of the box, take risks and innovate. I wish Sull would have offered some solutions.

Youssou N'Dour Africa's ambassador

Youssou N'Dour is indeed one of the best African ambassadors. His crie de coeur for Africa in the form of music and chanson is so powerful that moves you to tears.

Last night I attended one of his absolutely superb concerts. His voice, the power of his messages, his engagement with his compatriots and his people moved me to tears.

The world needs more Youssou N'Dours! The world needs more committed people, more people who believe in integration and progress.

Youssou N'Dour is considered an icon and he is one. Hopefully he'll become a role model for many many more.

May God bless him and give him strength to continue his remarkable advocacy work for his people and his beautiful continent - AFRICA