Traveling Geeks

My Friend Ish

So What Did We Accomplish?

Hope

I didn?t know how I would be affected by a trip to Israel. I thought that maybe it might be some famous temple, some cultural experience, or maybe meeting one of Israel?s leaders or technologists that would have touched me.

I wasn?t prepared for what did: a pair of piercing black eyes that belong to “Michael,” a boy a little younger than my own son, Patrick, who is 14. I was asked not to share names or photos by the people who introduced us. See, Michael?s eyes told me they had witnessed things that young eyes shouldn?t witness.

He was one of a group of students from Darfur who were studying at the Rogozin School in Tel Aviv. Here’s an article (PDF, sorry) that talks about the school and its Darfur refugees. A remarkable school where kids from 29 different countries study together.

Michael told me about his studies, introduced me to his classmate sitting next to him. I asked him if he knew how to use a computer. I knew my few moments with Michael were ticking away, our tour guides had other things for us to see and I wanted to be able to hear more about his dreams. His future. He answered that he did, and knew how to use email and the Web.

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Good recap site for our trip to Israel

The Traveling Geeks group blog helps remind me that these folks are really good writers and photographers, check out the slideshow.

Traveling Geeks in Action

TravelingGeek bloggers in action just outside Haifa Israel this week. Sarah Lacy, Cathy Brooks, Deb Shultz, Robert Scoble, Renee Blodgett, Craig Newmark, Susan Mernit and Jeff Saperstein.

Good Vision has Great Vision

Yesterday, we hung out at Good Vision’s headquarters near Tel Aviv.

Hung out is more appropriate for this site visit since they brought in falafel pita bread wraps, an entirely different culinary experience than a falafel in the states, even New York.

Good Vision was the first Israeli consulting company to specialize in planning and managing corporate social responsibility proccesses in firms and governmental agencies. The organization is the child of Stanford graduate Ivri Verbin, who worked with Peres for six years as an economic advisor before launching Good Vision in 2002.

“I wanted to promote more ethical behavior in organizations,” says Verbin. Good Vision originates a diverse variety of projects, as the company?s extensive knowledge enables them to generate innovative navigation of funds.

The spirit of Good Vision is based on the belief that creating the precise collaboration between philanthropists and the community brings the best contribution to society as a whole.

Transition for people and communities is witnessed at three levels: the strategic level, the activity level and the level of media impact. They also do ethical programs within organizations and corporate governance, providing workshops for both management and the board of directors.

“We?ve been so focused on political issues that corporate social responsibility is fairly new in Israel. “Today, we are practicing and advocating for this philosophy in a number of international networks,” sats Verbin.

We also met with close to a ten teenager who have gone through Good Vision programs. In addition to sharing falafel with us, they shared their stories and their dreams, as well as the impact that Good Vision has had on them. It has helped them with management skills as well as self-esteem issues.

Two girls in army uniforms presented contageous smiles. One of them spoke of equality in the army and how the rules have changed in her generation.

She remarks, “before, women were treated differently. Today, if we sign up for military service, we have to do our five weeks a year until we’re 45 — just like the men. Even if we have small children.” She beamed when she said this, but I couldn’t honestly tell whether she was beaming because of the fact that they now have the same equality or she was an eternal optimist. She had one of those faces.

She was also so much fun to shoot. Women seem to be completely comfortable in front of the camera here. They know how to pose and more importantly, love it.

I wonder how this generation of women who sign up for the army will feel 50 and 60 years from now, after spending five weeks a year away from their small children and what the impact will be — positively and negatively, on the family.

In a few months, they will be launching Global Demos in Zurich. Says Verbin, “we are teaching young underprivileged children about science.” The “Science Van” is essentially science and environment projects on wheels.

They travel to a couple of areas per day, largely small towns that don’t have access to this level of expertise and training. Here, they have an open forum to not only teach kids about science, but to inspire and empower them into believing that they too could be a scientist one day. It?s a combination of education and self esteem building.

Other initiatives include cross pollination of ideas. “Because of globalization, we probably have more in common with each other than we do with our grandparents,” Verbin adds. Koldor organizes people to exchange mutual ideas across cultures.

He also talks about another web based organization that they are now involved in called Kavor.

Kavor educates children about a surgical or medical procedure before they go to the hospital. This non-profit prepares people in advance (nurses and doctors), and kids at home, where they feel safe. A ten year old is able to learn about procedures in advance so he is less afraid and more prepared when he gets to the hospital.

Verbin’s vision is a great one, something that Israel can really benefit from as such a young country in ways others will have to stretch themselves to “catch up.”

Us with their group below:

Tel Aviv and Jerusalem

Check Point’s Gil Shwed Believes in Israel

Our group met with Check Point’s CEO and founder Gil Schwed today in Tel Aviv suburb Ramat Gan, the same stretch of land where the Barkats’ grandfather, a bus driver once grew tomatoes. According to Rosenthal’s research, he is nicknamed “Gil Gates” after successfully growing Check Point into a $20 billion stock market value company by 2001.

I shot a 15 minute video of Gil telling his ’story’ on a Nokia GSM video phone, but it sadly seems to have disappeared. If I can somehow reclaim the footage, I’ll post the video at a later date. Scoble also shot him in high resolution so if my raw footage is lost, you can watch the interview on Fast Company.com later this month.

One of the things that was an underlying thread throughout all of his business examples and recap of Check Point’s history, was his love of Israel and his belief that running a technology company here is easier than it would be in the United States. Easier and more efficient. He also brought up several other points.

Says Gil, “we?ve had an entrepreneurial spirit for over 100 years. My parents came here, trying to build something new. First agriculture, then infrastructure and today, technology. One thing that really helps us here is that we don?t have a local market.

What if we had started Check Point in Boston rather than Tel Aviv? Here, we think more globally. In the states, France and Germany, you have large local markets, which means creating and thinking in those languages and for those cultures. We are thinking of customers who are 6,000+ miles away from home.”

More than anything else, he stressed the benefits of building a company in Israel. “People are loyal here,” says Gil. “They are driven, think globally, and have a lot of passion. Because they are far away from the energy of Silicon Valley, they are focused on products and listening to customers, not the hype and latest trends.”

He thinks that being in an environment where a new trend born every few months is distracting. In Silicon Valley, there’s always a new trend and if people don?t jump on that bandwagon when it hits, they feel left behind. “Not the case here,” he says. “People work at companies for 3-5 years or longer and don?t feel as if they?re being left behind. They feel like they?re part of a group, a community, that they?re building something.”

In Rosenthal’s book, what it means to be an Israeli entrepreneur comes through as strong as it did today when we chatted in one of his conference rooms on Tel Aviv’s Ha’solelim Street. She describes him as a ‘boyish looking bachelor with cropped hair and John Lennon glasses.’ I didn’t quite see him that way, but I do think she did a great job of bringing his dry and serious wit to life.

During his interview with her, he noted that Israel is a natural for start-ups. Yossi Vardi feels the same way as does numerous other driven and successful entrepreneurs in this country.

Like Gil’s references today, he brought up the impact that immigration has had on business growth, particularly technology. He has immigrant mentality – strong, committed, loyal, passionate, driven and practical. I have read in a few articles that wearing black clothes is one of Gil’s trademarks, so I expected him to walk through the door wearing all black, and he did. Not surprising that he thinks wearing all black is “practical.” When you travel as much as he does, it makes sense.

He tells an amusing story of his resourceful mother in the book, an example from childhood that I resonated with. I think his mother and my grandfather would have really hit it off since my grandfather pulled similar stunts on a regular basis when I was growing up.

He recalls traveling around the country with her. “She’d see a dairy and stop and ask, ‘can my kid watch how you milk cow? She knocked on the door of Ha’aretz and asked, ‘can my kid see how you print the newspaper?’

It’s the best way to raise kids in my opinion. It gives children a sense of adventure and shows them how easy it is to create it. If it doesn’t feel right or you’re not sure, just ask. How will you know if you don’t try? I was raised that way but its no surprise since I was raised my grandparents, a generation behind most of my counterparts.

That generation is closer to the early immigrant mentality that Israel is experiencing today. It is during this stage of building a new country that great innovation happens. Passion and energy levels are high. There isn’t a lot of fear nor is there much complacency.

People hunger for growth and knowledge and with these characteristics, comes great things, like the amazing technology that came out of Check Point more than ten years ago and is being launched today in incubators and start-ups. Great innovation is coming out of kibbutzim as well but that’s another story to be told. Stay tuned. It’s a story that will likely bring tears to your eyes.

Israel Photo Collection

I officially uploaded a sample of photos from my recent Israel trip. It was a hard choice to decide what to upload from a collection of more than 1,000 shots. Enjoy!

Who Is Hillary Now?

English to Armenian . Brasov . Restosundsecge peta dunia satelit