Tuesday 22 December 2015

Christmas 2015


I'm leaving tomorrow for what I hope will be my first real vacation in 2015. My goal is to spend 7 days without working (and even without checking email), starting from midnight tomorrow, December 23rd. I have no idea if I can manage this, but I intend to try. I'll plug in again around December 30th or 31st to deal with some admin, and then take off again until January 4th.

To everyone out there on FB: Thank you for sharing a very challenging year. It panned out pretty much as I expected, and 2016 looks to be as turbulent if not worse. I've lost track of the airline segments flown in 2015, and the hotel nights booked, but it was a record.

In September 2015 we silently marked the 20th anniversary of the consultancy three partners founded in Athens in 1995. Today, I've closed 20 years with Navigator, through some very good times and some very bad ones. I've seen and worked in the Greek boom and bust; the Russian / East Asian crash of 1998-1999 and the dramatic economic resurgence from 2000 onwards; the 1999-2000 dot.com crash; the accession of Cyprus to the EU in 2004; the massive wave of investment into CEE/CIS to 2009; and several other financial cycles, not least of which was the synchronised 2008-2009 crash that we are still going through.

These 20 years have been the greatest learning challenge of my life, and I’m grateful to the clients and partners that have placed their trust in me and enabled me to become who I am. Next year I'll be reflecting some more on this and on some stories from my adventure consulting days.

On a personal note, September 2015 is also noteworthy because I was given a second chance by a very special person and I intend to make the most of it.

I am profoundly grateful for my family, both the clan that lives in Athens as well as those living in Paris.  And I am grateful to my friends who keep the light burning here on FB, at the odd BBQ or bar crawl in Athens, and all over the world whenever we meet.

I wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. ΧΡΟΝΙΑ ΠΟΛΛΑ.


Non semper erit aestas.

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