Month: February 2023

Here is a random fact for you. Snails are the 2nd most populous species on earth after insects.

There are at least 60,000 known species of snails. They live in both fresh and salted waters as well as on land. For comparison, humans are only one species – homo sapiens and we share our preferred habitat with snails.

What makes snails so populous is probably the fact that they can reproduce both with and without partner. Snails can combine both solitary and social behaviors. Studies showed that the snails deprived of the social group interactions would prefer to stay solitary the rest of their lives and never return to society.

Humans, on the contrary are the social beasts. Our ability to dominate all other life forms and nature is not due to our large brains (in fact they are 25% smaller than of Neanderthals), nor our longevity (Hydras are known to be immortal and whales can live more than 200 years), but of our ability to create social links, form groups, organizations and governments.

One of the oldest human projects was probably Göbekli Tepe – an 11,000-year-old ritual site, built by stone age people, erecting 5-meter-tall pillars weighing up to 10 tons. It is located less than 200 km away from the city of Gaziantep, in the region where on February 6th 2023 two consecutive earthquakes took place, destroying countless number of homes and killing tens of thousands. Since then, more than 40 countries have sent their rescue workers to help save as many people as possible. Same governments pledged to support the rebuilding efforts financially.

In the turbulent times some of us act like snails, hiding in their shells, sealing the door shut and ignoring the outside storm. Others prefer to act. And it is this act of bravery, solidarity and compassion that moves humanity forward, pushing our horizons, changing our lives for better, achieving unprecedented results.

Being snail is easy as long as you have your shell…

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I flew next to one of the major bank’s regional head recently (imagine, they fly economy too! :)).

After a small talk we introduced ourselves. He was fascinated by the retail industry and the tectonic shifts in both retail and consumption behaviors. It reminded him of the old days when the ATMs transformed the retail banking. Everyone those days was afraid of losing jobs to machines. Manual retail banking operations have indeed dramatically decreased, but so did the space they had to occupy. Thus, the need for smaller space and the lower cost pushed competitors to open much more “proximity” banks, greatly increasing the number of staff needed, growing the retail industry thanks to the ingenious automation.

Retail of 2023 is about sense. Seamless flow, automation and digitalization, mixed with smart cost management and nature preservation are the key ingredients in the recipe of success.