When Laurence Olivier was asked by Dustin Hoffman, why they did what they did as a profession, which was acting, Laurence Olivier came as close as 5 centimeters away from Dustin Hoffman, looked into his eyes and said: “Look at me, look at me, look at me, look at me…” Thus is, I maintain, the biggest reason for anybody to join a social network – vanity.
With the unique opportunity to coordinate two conferences as part of follow-on for the President’s Young African Leaders Initiative–and hours to clock at airports and en route to Dakar, Senegal–I eagerly settled in with the search function at Amazon.com. For a while now, as part of my travel, I love nothing more than to dive into books—generally fiction—set in the place where I’m heading.
When we think about U.S. France relations we are reminded of a special relationship that has endured over the last two centuries, a relationship deeply rooted in shared history and culture, and aligned values and goals on many political, economic, and security issues. What we often tend to overlook is that innovation is the cornerstone of French-American partnership. Innovation, which drives economic growth, job creation and entrepreneurship is a number one priority for both the United States and France, countries ranked among the top three leading innovators in the world by the 2013 Thompson Reuters’ Top 100 Global Innovators listing.
Tomorrow, Friday, October 18, 2013, Meridian International Center will present Chairman and CEO of Moët Hennessy, Christophe Navarre with the Meridian Corporate Leader Award. On receiving this award, Mr. Navarre will join the prestigious group of top corporate leaders who have received this special honor, including The Honorable Carlos M. Gutierrez, 35th Secretary of the U.S. Department of Commerce and Vice Chairman of Albright Stonebridge Group and Joseph Saunders, Executive Chairman of Visa Inc, among others.
As many of you enjoyed backyard barbeques this Labor Day, I found myself on Amtrak headed back to Washington after a weekend at the U.S. Open Tennis Championships in New York City. Four hours on the train provided a lot of time to reflect – not only on the great matches and vibrant atmosphere of the Open, but on just how international the so-called “American Grand Slam” truly is.
