(no subject)

A,

It was a true treat to have french brie in a Japanese garden in paris with a person who appears to understand the nuances of gardening and its relationship to real life. Your kindness was greatly appreciated. 1=20 thought I'd attempt a modest return of the kindness by providing you=my thoughts on our conversation. These thoughts are tailored , less like your bed sheets=, but more like a bath towel. more warm encompassing and hopefully=20 functional.

I thought i might share some of my past experiences with so=e of the worlds most interesting thinkers that at I, at least, have found to be beneficial. - before doing that however-, I was serious in scatting that I owe a signifigant debt to Edmonde, his principles that he so generously=20 shared with me 30 years ago has acted as a compass for my business life. Aesthetics are a core factor and i try to keep them in mind=as I craft solutions to financial problems . Each problem has a myriad of solutions but few are truly beautiful. His ideas of the role of a " banker " was glorious. social respons=bity from both the top down and the bottom up. -

Banking businesses have become similar to systems that can only =20 be compared to biology. or garden ecology. The entitites ea=h have what on first blush appear to have many independent , flowers, or systems, that require energy balance and an overall=20 health. Unlike the thinking of the past ,that was sculpted by the language of the industrial revolution . People and orgaanizations were described in machine like terms, In essence push the button here and something we already expect or know to happen , will=20 occur. In math , we say the outcomes were determined, As systems become more complex, this no longer happens. We fertilize the tree as it looked unhealthy, but then it grew so large and thick that the moss underneath had no light and killed the plants. In biological tersm, to paraphrase your words -all successful systems need to have the same DNA, HOWEVER, each bush must first grow on its own, . Our heart pumps blood , the liver cleans it, they dont share the same=A0 responsibilities but they must be independent while at the same time=20 working for the benefiit of the system, Asking finance people to become philanthropists and philanthropists financia= enginneers , is usually if evolution is a guide, a sub optimal soluiton ., It works in small businesses, or a singel flower=20 pot but as the many divisions get larger and more autonomous, speciailizaation, ( again biological system). is the way millions of years of trial and error have proven most effective.

If you were once again to focus on being the banker to the=20 world leaders, giving them what they themselves require, help, guidance , expertise, it is my experience that they are always more agreeable to then helping their own people. Entrepeneurs do not exist in Africa, we disagree, I believe they are merely agents of large foreign companies, it is almost impossible to find a new disruptive technology that has come out of the enitre continent. =AO ( I as you might already know have had the privledge to sit on the=20 Trilateral commission for years when the Rockefeller focus and dream was for Latin America t= develop on its own, . ) Davids idealism was strong but inversely proportional to the results. It took new , young thinking from the outside to bring Columbia and Brazil to their=20 potentials. I would sugggest that the unique scope of your reach, and the worlds most exclusive financail brand , can go a long way to making posiitive change, in many places, but I believe keeping in mind that hope should guide a strategy , not dictate it.

As you are a senstive soul you realize I , like you, spe=k my mind, directly . Edmonds caution to me re his own family and what he believed to be its future complications have proven prescient. When=l am next in europe , if you think you might find it interesting and fun I am more than happy to spend more time to talk gardening ,shooting biology, =( ill stay away from tech ). I remain, the idealistic gard=ner,