09 - 12 October 2008GGI Central & EasternEuropean ConferenceEisenberg, Austria

28 – 30 October 2008GGI Latin AmericanRegional ConferenceRio de Janeiro, Brazil

30 October - 02 November 2008 GGI World ConferenceRio de Janeiro, Brazil

13 - 15 March 2009GGI EasymeetVienna, Austria

14 - 17 May 2009GGI European ConferenceLucerne, Switzerland

15 - 18 October 2009 (tbc)GGI World ConferenceBudapest, Hungary

www.ggi.com

ORCA, the Romanian-Cyprus Business Organi-zation jointly founded by Mirus Advisers S.R.L. of Romania and Eliades & Partners of Cyprus, both members of GGI, will hold its 2008 tax conference under the title “Romanian Tax Insights and the Cy-prus Venue” from 12 to 16 November in Limassol, Cy-prus. The conference will com-mence with a welcome speech by Mr. Charilaos Stavrakis, Min-ister of Finance of the Repub-lic of Cyprus. Marios Eliades, Managing Partner of Eliades & Partners, and Ionut Zeche of Mirus Advisors S.R.L. will be keynote speakers as well. Af-ter the first successful event in November 2007 organized by

Simic & Partners of Slovenia and Eliades & Partners of Cy-prus, this is the second event to be organized in Cyprus by GGI members. ORCA is a great example of GGI mem-ber firms working together in the spirit of the network. For more information, go to www.eliades.eu or www.mirus-group.eu.

INSIDER

GGI proudly presentsthe ORCA AnnualTax Conference

Issue No. 38, September 2008 GGI Publications

GGI internal news Practice Group interview GGI member firm news Member spotlight: DRS Law Meet Dr. Teodoro Cocca GGI new member firms Try this: Leadership at the movies Of character, substance,

and integrity Further events Editorial

GG

I

tbc = to be confirmed

P r e p a r a t i o n s have been under-way for meetings and conferences in October. A high-light of October’s GGI Central & Eastern European Meeting in Eisen-berg, Austria will be the discussion on the psychology of financial markets by keynote speaker Dr. Teodoro Cocca. Get to know Dr. Cocca better now on page 7.

The Latin American Re-gional Conference, sched-uled for 28 to 30 October in

Rio de Janeiro, will include a presentation on coaching by Juan Tausk and a presenta-tion about IFRS, currently an important issue in the world. The GGI World Conference, from 30 October to 2 Novem-

ber, features João Carlos Mar-tins as keynote speaker on the topic of pursuing goals. A virtuoso pianist who had been badly injured in two accidents, Mr. Martins beat the odds to ...next page

GGI events in October

Marios Eliades (Eliades & Partners, Cyprus) and Ionut Zeche (Mirus Advisers S.R.L., Romania).

The Christ statue above Rio. A typical Copacabana kiosk.

DIARY

CONTENTS

www.ggi.com Issue No. 38, September 2008 Page 02

INSIDER

later become a banker, a secre-tary of state, and a pianist once more. More information on the host firm De Rosa, Siquei-ra, Almeida, Barros Barreto e Advogados Associados can be found on page 6.

Several Practice Group meet-ings will be held during the con-ferences. It is still possible to sign up for the conferences although we cannot guarantee any book-ings at this point. For the Latin

American Conference, send your completed form by fax to +55 21 2255 26 92 or by e-mail to: ggirio@alamedario.com.br. To register for the World Con-ference or Central & East-ern European Conference, send your form by fax to +41 44 256 18 11. Should you need any further information about either conference or the meeting, please contact marton@ggi.com.

The next GGI Easymeet is scheduled to take place from 13 – 15 March 2009 in Vienna, Austria. For juniors of GGI member firms, it pro-vides a unique opportunity

to meet colleagues, attend workshops and share ideas and experiences. Invitations with details will be sent out next week. We look forward to seeing some of you there!

GGI Easymeetto be held in March

Members of GGI’s Ger-man Speaking Chapter met in Frankfurt from 12 to 14 Sep-tember to discuss a market-ing strategy for the German-speaking region and the latest legal and fiscal developments in their home countries. Hosted by Benefitax GmbH in Frankfurt, the annual meeting was a success.

Oliver Biernat, managing partner of Benefitax GmbH Tax Consulting and Public Audit Company, heartily welcomed the guests, who came from six different member countries to attend the meeting.

After Oliver’s welcome, Claudio Cocca, founder of Geneva Group International,

opened Saturday’s meeting, underlining the importance of smaller GGI meetings which allow for the discussion of new ideas and development of detailed strategies. Claudio thanked Oliver and his team

for their initiative in inviting a marketing expert who dis-cussed the importance of be-ing present and reported on print and online media.

At three different workshops the GGI members discussed their own experiences in this field and formulated their ideas on how to strengthen the image of Geneva Group Inter-national in German-speaking regions. In the end, the assem-bly decided on a new market-ing concept which shall soon be submitted to all concerned members for final resolution.

Protagonists of the after-noon session were the GGI members themselves. Di-rected by Oliver Biernat, eight

short presentations with con-centrated information on re-cent developments in legal and fiscal affairs in six mem-ber countries and the Europe-an Union were held by Niels Fischer (CH), Carlos Frühbeck and Dr. Astrid Dorfmeister (E), Dr. Karl Friedrich Dumou-lin (D), Dr. Hubert Tramposch (A), Uffe Bass Johannsen (DK), Klaus Küspert (D), Dr. Attila Kovács (HU) and Clau-dio Cocca (CH). At the end of the meeting all participants could take home a wealth of information for their interna-tional work.

The guests’ stay began on Friday, with a short visit to Alt-Sachsenhausen, the historic center of south Frankfurt, the home of Benefitax. Carrying blue Benefitax umbrellas in the rain, the group dined at a typical restaurant known for its local cider called Ebbelwoi and traditional, home-made dishes. A last drink at Harry’s New York Bar closed the first evening before the guests returned to their spacious rooms at the Main Plaza Ho-tel and enjoyed its panoramic view of Frankfurt.

...next page

GGI’s German Speaking Chapter: Going Public

In front of Frankfurt’s historical opera house.

A presentation on marketing strategies.

www.ggi.com Issue No. 38, September 2008 Page 03

INSIDER

After the intense work ses-sion on Saturday, Astrid Rechel-Götz, in charge of the entire organization of the meeting, guided the GGI-group along the idyllic Main River to the historic Frankfurt town hall, the

Römer, where the guests had the special honour of visiting the Kaisersaal, which for sev-eral centuries was the place of enthronement of all German kings. The walk continued through the narrow streets of

the Römer area and finished with a visit to the impressive buildings of the Alte Oper and the Deutsche Börse, seat of the Frankfurt stock exchange. The only European hotel paternos-ter lift was the last challenge

the GGI delegates had to pass before enjoying dinner on the rooftop of Fleming’s, the five-star city hotel, and saying good-bye to Frankfurt with a last night glance over ‘the smallest metropolis in the world’.

Michael Munkert, Sr. was born in Würzburg on August 6, 1943 and died on July 28, 2008. Growing up in Nurem-berg, he was hard-working as a young man and studied business administration at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg while working at a tax consultancy. At the age of 25 he founded DR. MUNKERT & PARTNER, which started as a tax consul-tancy and went on to provide auditing, legal advice, busi-ness consultancy, corporate finance and investment man-agement services. Forty years later, the MUNKERT KUGLER + PARTNER group is now one of the major multidisciplinary consulting groups in Ger-many with approximately 350 employees in 34 locations.

Dr. Michael Munkert, Sr.

was successful in business as well as in his academic ca-reer. He taught undergradu-ate and graduate students of tax law and accountancy for a number of years at the Uni-versity of Erlangen-Nurem-berg while working on his doctoral degree there. More-over, he was a lecturer at the Bundeswehr (German armed forces) University in Munich for a number of years. Both as a teacher and employer he understood how to moti-vate and fascinate students, employees and colleagues for his profession. He always supported “his” university, particularly with the Dr. Mi-chael Munkert Scholarship for graduate students who were outstanding performers in tax law, accountancy and auditing. He was the found-

ing father of the Nürnberger Steuergespräche e.V., which serves as a bridge between academia and practical work by providing financial sup-port and by being the host of conferences where the best academics and professional advisers come together with students to exchange ideas.

In addition to his academ-ic work, Dr. Munkert was a member of the Rotary Club and other social organiza-tions, investing a lot of his time supporting those who did not have the success in life that he had. Moreover, as vice president of the Cham-ber of Tax Consultants, he served his profession, espe-cially in the fields of educa-tion of younger tax advisers, quality assurance, mediation and strategic development of the tax profession. He was on the examination board for tax advisers for many years.

Dr. Munkert was a lecturer at many important confer-ences and the author of a considerable number of pub-lications. Until his death in July 2008, he was editor and ...next page

In Memoriam: Dr. Michael Munkert, Sr.

Dr. Michael Munkert, Sr.

The annual Swiss American Golf Championship took place under blue skies at the Golf & Country Club in Hittnau, Swit-zerland last Saturday and at-tracted a large group of spec-tators.

Since its initiation in 1998, the golf championship has raised approximately 600,000 Swiss Francs to support the SOS Children’s

Villages, whose mission is to provide food, shelter and ed-ucation in loving, family-ori-ented environments for more than 50,000 orphans, poor children and youth around the globe. This year’s tourna-ment raised nearly 100,000 Swiss Francs, which will go entirely to the Children’s Village in Iloilo, the Philip-pines.

GGI is proud to be an annual platinum sponsor of the golf

championship. For more infor-mation, visit: www.sagc.ch.

The Children’s Village in Iloilo.

GGI sponsors Swiss American Golf Championship

www.ggi.com Issue No. 38, September 2008 Page 04

INSIDER

This month marks the start of our series of Insider in-terviews with Practice Group chairmen. We’d like you to meet Oliver Biernat, Chair-man of the GGI International Taxation Practice Group.

GGI: What are your duties as chairman of the International Taxation Practice Group?

Oliver Biernat: Beside the more formal aspects – which certainly are important – of organizing and preparing the meetings, I try to concentrate on making the sessions more efficient and our work bet-ter-known within and beyond GGI. My personal concern is to strengthen the joint action and presentation of the Prac-tice Group to face the com-petition of big companies in international markets.

GGI: How many participants attended the last International Taxation Practice Group meet-ing? What were the main top-ics?

Oliver Biernat: The last meeting was attended by 17 participants, but the total number of members working

together within that frame-work is over 40. As usual, new members – luckily we could welcome quite a few of them – had the opportunity to present their companies. As a special highlight, we could distribute hot off the press an abso-lute GGI novelty developed by the Practice Group members: the brochure International Tax Services, which describes in short terms our expertise in international tax issues and contact data in 15 countries. In the technical part of the meet-ing, we discussed tax news in our member countries and heard presentations on cross border tax issues in the Neth-erland Antilles, the U.K. and Romania as well as new E.U. tax legislation. Furthermore, we initiated new projects like the international taxation ma-trix, an update of the Inter-net/Intranet platform of our Practice Group and formed a task force to handle future updates.

GGI: Was it a successful meeting?

Oliver Biernat: It definitely was. A mere glance at our

agenda mentioned before will prove this: New members were introduced, interest-ing presentations from many participants were given, and discussions on ways to make progress took place. A lot of good ideas came out which now need following up.

GGI: What did participants learn?

Oliver Biernat: The particu-larity of the Practice Group is not only to learn about techni-cal news like new tax legisla-tion in other countries or tax havens, but to learn from oth-er members’ experience and

to market their expertise in international taxation via GGI. Certainly we don’t have the time to delve too deeply into individual subjects, but we get a first impression on the new opportunities or problems arising when doing business in the other countries. Details can always be discussed at the get-together or in bilateral contacts with the local expert on demand. Also, our aim is for others to find out about the network as a vehicle for clients.

GGI: What makes a great Practice Group meeting?

Oliver Biernat: Inspiring ourselves and others by con-tributing new ideas for future projects and letting the out-side world know that we are here and we are good at what we do – this is what makes a great meeting. Having a lot of participants who give presentations is the best way to achieve this aim and dis-cussing tricky cross border tax matters with other members gives the final shape to a per-fect meeting.

...next page

Oliver Biernat

GGI Practice Group interview series

A man of vision

co-author of a handbook for quality assurance in tax con-sultancies, which is used in more than 8,000 firms in Ger-many and has recently been translated into Japanese.

Dr. Munkert married in 1970. He and his wife Gerti had two children, Susanne Munkert-Riedrich and Dr. Mi-chael Munkert, Jr., who have

been working as a lawyer and a tax adviser for MUNKERT · KUGLER + PARTNER for a number of years and are now continuing their father’s life’s work. Although Dr. Munkert put so much energy into his business, academic and so-cial work, his family always came first, and he enjoyed spending time with them, es-

pecially traveling and playing golf together. He was a toler-ant and liberal father and a great role model who encour-aged his children to be open-minded. Dr. Munkert was a charismatic man and a good story-teller with a zest for life. GGI members held him in high regard for his business expertise and enjoyed spend-

ing time with him.With the establishment of

the Dr. MICHAEL MUNKERT FOUNDATION, his family will ensure that Dr. Munkert’s ideals will live on. The foun-dation will support research, education and social work, especially for those who re-quire help from others.

www.ggi.com Issue No. 38, September 2008 Page 05

INSIDER

GGI: How can Practice Group meetings be improved in future?

Oliver Biernat: Generally speaking, we have already improved a lot – by setting agendas ahead of time, creat-ing task forces, writing de-tailed minutes, and regarding the content, we have already presented first results of our work with the brochure. Still, there’s a lot to do. In-vitations should be sent out much earlier so that more people will be able to coordi-nate their plans for traveling well ahead, and the issues recently launched need more dedication.

GGI: Would you like to see increased participation or have meetings held more often?

Oliver Biernat: Regular meetings help to follow up the projects and it would be fantastic to have participants from many countries. Yet I see the difficulties in travel-ing great distances for short meetings. In future I can imagine having video confer-ences that will allow more members, especially from outside Europe, to join the meetings without having to travel.

GGI: What can members do to get more out of Practice Group meetings?

Oliver Biernat: They can contribute to set up the agen-da by presenting issues of their concern right ahead. Discussions could be even livelier if the participants read and prepared the agenda carefully long before arriving at the meeting and thought about what they could con-tribute to that meeting. Fi-nally, it’s up to the members

to volunteer to give presenta-tions on taxation topics they are experts in.

GGI: What’s on the agenda for the International Taxation Practice Group?

Oliver Biernat: Our task forces are currently creating a new flyer on “Doing Business in…” for each member coun-try, developing guidelines for intranet display and the description of our Practice Group on the GGI website, and creating a list of links on interesting databases and homepages in connection with international tax law. Those topics will be recur-rent themes at the next meet-ings. For the next meeting on October 9th in Eisenberg, Austria, prior to the Central and Eastern European Con-ference, we might emphasize Central and Eastern Europe-an tax law. For the meeting at the World Conference in Rio we’re planning to focus on tax issues in Latin America and how Latin American and other GGI members could co-operate more intensely. Our latest project is establishing a joint, regular information service to inform our interna-tional customers on tax news all over the world. This will certainly be a highlight of our next meetings.

GGI: What are you really concerned about today?

Oliver Biernat: Referring to the accounting branch, the “Big Four” are intruding into the market for mid-sized tax companies. They are using their market power and cut-ting their hourly rates to cap-ture clients in the mid-sized segment, forcing mid-sized firms out. On top of that,

it is very hard nowadays for mid-sized tax firms to find qualified staff because young graduates are being won over by the Big Four companies on university campuses.

GGI: If you could have a face to face discussion with anyone in the world, who would you choose?

Oliver Biernat: President Dmitry Medvedev of Russia. I wonder why he isn’t using the power of words for negotia-tion instead of practicing ar-chaic war strategies by send-ing tanks to Georgia, putting pressure on people and de-stroying various regions. Using the right strategy, he could achieve an up-to-date win-win-situation instead of playing a game nobody can win and provoking the next cold war.

GGI: What makes Frankfurt special?

Oliver Biernat: Frankfurt is the most international city for business in Germany and the German financial center. Not only its skyline is unique, all the infrastructure is here and our Taunus Mountains and Rhine Valley form attrac-tive soft factors for business. Companies trying to get into the German market would be well-advised to start up in Frankfurt.

GGI: What would you like to share with GGI members?

Oliver Biernat: I’d like to invite GGI members to work together even more actively. That’s the purpose of the network. We all need to put in some effort to make the most of it. Again: We should transmit the spirit that we are good at what we do, but to-

gether we are even better!

GGI is pleased to an-nounce that Mr. Biernat has just passed exams to be one of the first official “tax con-sultant specialists in interna-tional law” in Germany.

Are you interested in join-ing the International Taxation Practice Group? Contact:

Benefitax GmbHSteuerberatungsgesellschaft, Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesell-schaft, Frankfurt am MainOliver Biernat, Chairman of the International Taxation Practice GroupE: o.biernat@benefitax.de T: +49 69 25 62 27 60W: www.benefitax.de

GGI sponsor Anker Bank has changed its name and is now known as Banque Canto-nale de Genève (BCGE). For more information about the bank, see: www.bcge.ch.

Anker Bankchanges name

www.ggi.com Issue No. 38, September 2008 Page 06

INSIDER

What started as the legal arm of the Ernst & Young au-diting company in Sao Paulo

in 1984 steadily grew to be-come the law firm known as De Rosa, Siqueira, Almeida,

Barros Barreto e Advogados Associados. Abbreviated as DRS, the firm has been ac-tive in various practices of law for 24 years. Headquartered in Sao Paolo and with offices in nine other key cities includ-ing Rio de Janeiro, DRS is an innovative firm that strives to provide its clients with person-al service and pursues stan-dards of excellence. The firm’s mission is to help many of its clients transform their ideas into results, implement their business strategies, and in-

crease their ability to compete in Brazil and abroad. Gradu-ates of top law schools, the 40 DRS attorneys are active in all areas of law ranging from corporate law, privatizations to joint ventures, operations in the Brazilian and interna-tional capital markets, litiga-tion, consulting, tax planning and much more.

Daniela Lobao, Director of DRS in Rio de Janeiro, work-ing at the firm since 1993, told GGI about the firm’s newest ...next page

De Rosa, Siqueira, Almeida, Barros Barreto e Advogados Associados hosts next month’s GGI World Conference in Rio de Janeiro

DRS Partners: Marcelo Rebeiro de Almeida and Waldir Siqueira

GGI member spotlight

GGI member firm news Success for

Yakovlev & Partners

Lawyers at GGI member firm Yakovlev & Partners were successful in defending the interests of Sberbank of Rus-sia in the recovery of a loan amount of US$ 150,000,000, which was given to a construc-tion holding for the building of the Tsarev Sad business-retail complex in the centre of Moscow. Established in 1841, Sberbank is the largest bank in Russia and Eastern Europe and has over 20,000 branch-es, one million corporate cus-tomers and 250 million retail customers. For details, see: www.matec.ru.

O’Flynn Exhams Partner appointed to the CIETAC Panel of Arbitrators

The China International Economic and Trade Arbitra-tion Commission (CIETAC), the most important perma-nent arbitration institution in China, announced that it has appointed John Gaffney, a partner of GGI member firm O’Flynn Exhams, to its Panel of Arbitrators. John Gaffney shares this distinction with a select number of distinguished international arbitrators. For more information go to www.oflynnexhams.ie.

Gibbons is a top U.S. employer

Working Mother magazine, the authoritative source for career mothers in the United States, and Flex-Time Law-yers LLC, a U.S. consulting firm advising attorneys and legal employers on work/life balance, have named GGI member Gibbons P.C. a 2008 “Best Law Firm for Women” for the second consecutive year. Working Mother and Flex-Time Lawyers partnered two years ago to recognize 50 firms that have redefined the standards of success by creating workplaces that en-courage the retention and ad-vancement of women.

Gibbons P.C. has also been ranked among the top “25 Best Medium-Size Compa-nies to Work for in America,” which is compiled by the So-ciety for Human Resources Management (SHRM) and the Great Place to Work Insti-tute, the same organization that produces the FORTUNE “100 Best Companies to Work for” list. For more information visit www.gibbonslaw.com.

www.ggi.com Issue No. 38, September 2008 Page 07

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Meet Professor Teodoro Cocca,Keynote Speaker at GGI’s Central &Eastern European Meeting in October

Dr. Teodoro D. Cocca was born in Zurich, Switzerland in 1972, and is a cousin of GGI founder Claudio Cocca. A Swiss national of Italian ori-gin, he previously worked for Citibank, conducted research at the Stern School of Business in New York, and lectured at the Swiss Banking Institute of the University of Zurich. Today Dr. Cocca is a professor in As-set Management and a mem-ber of the Research Institute for Banking at the Johannes Kepler University in Linz, Austria. He also is a lecturer in banking and finance at the Universities of Zurich and Fribourg, head of private banking research at the prestigious Swiss Banking Institute in Zurich, a member of the Board of Management of FORTUNE Wealth Manage-ment Group AG (Zug/Zurich), and Chairman of the annual Private Banking Summit.

Dr. Cocca is married and lives with his wife and daughter in Linz. When he isn’t working he likes to spend time with his family, cook, jog, cycle and play tennis. He is also a player on the University of Linz soccer team. To counter these healthy pas-times, some of his vices should not remain unmentioned. After an opulent dinner with a well-tempered bottle of wine, prefer-ably Italian red, enjoying a spicy cigar and an old cognac is how Teodoro Cocca likes to spend an evening in good company.

GGI: You are the keynote speaker at next month’s GGI Central Eastern European con-ference in Eisenberg, Austria, where you’re going to discuss the psychology of financial markets and behavioral finance. Can you briefly define this subject?

Dr. Cocca: It is a new field of science within finance. Sci-

entific results from psychology and sociology are applied to the world of financial markets. It provides a different perspective of financial markets and deci-sion makings of investors. The focus is on the irrational be-havior of individual investors. We question the traditional assumption in finance theory that investors are rational. For regular observers of the stock market it will seem clear that psychology is an important fac-tor affecting markets. In finance theory its influence has been neglected for a very long time.

GGI: What can GGI members learn about it?

Dr. Cocca: Take the price development of commodities markets or the value of the U.S. dollar. Are these price move-ments rational or irrational? Ev-eryone admits that psychology influences the markets. We will

discuss how to gain systematic advantages in making market forecasts using behavioral sci-ence. I want to help listeners become better investors. Most private investors are subject to the so-called phenomenon of over-confidence, which means that most investors overes-timate their investment abil-ity. Studies show that people should be more realistic about their investment skills. Another ...next page

Dr. Teodoro D. Cocca

activities and pro bono work. “We have begun helping poor, uninsured people obtain very expensive medicine they re-quire by filing lawsuits on their behalf against the gov-ernment, which understands that certain kinds of medi-cine cannot be provided by its health system. Most of the lawsuits are being filed in Sao Paolo and the number of suc-cessful lawsuits is rising.”

DRS is also involved in en-vironmental issues, mainly in the carbon credits area. The firm has a team skilled in this

subject that acts in the iden-tification, development and commercialization of projects that generate carbon credits, as well as environmental con-sulting services in the areas of energy efficiency, neutraliza-tion of emissions and sustain-ability.

The firm was a member of Brazilian delegations at sev-eral UNFCCC meetings and throughout the years acquired broad experience in the devel-opment of Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects and negotiation of carbon

credits. Today, DRS counts on an ample net of apt technician partners to develop any type of project.

DRS law firm also provides legal advice and services for environmental finance proj-ects, funding and delivering of environmental products such as bio-fuels, small hydro power plants, co-generation and waste treatment.

De Rosa, Siqueira, Al-meida, Barros Barreto e Ad-vogados Associados is the host of next month’s GGI World Conference in Rio

de Janeiro. For more infor-mation about DRS, contact daniela.lobao@drslaw.com.br.

DRS Director Daniela Lobao

www.ggi.com Issue No. 38, September 2008 Page 8

INSIDER

interesting result is based on gender differences women are actually better investors than men and have less of that over-confidence, which makes their investment strategies more successful.

GGI: How did you become Chairman of the annual Private Banking Summit and what are your biggest accomplishments in this role?

Dr. Cocca: I got to take on the role of Chairman because I was one of the few private banking experts in Switzerland that can combine theory and practice. As Chairman, I helped turn the Private Banking Sum-mit from a small Swiss event into an international confer-ence that is now the main Euro-pean Private Banking event. We book the best speakers at our conferences.

GGI: Can you comment on the state of private banking in Switzerland?

Dr. Cocca: It has been a hor-rible year so far with much bad news in the first half. There have been the bad market con-ditions; the UBS problem that naturally affected other banks and the Swiss banking repu-tation; the Liechtenstein affair; and banking secrecy issues. It was the worst half year in the last 20 years – a bad mix of events. Nevertheless, I am sure Swiss banks will overcome these turbulent months and keep being the leading center for private banking.

GGI: Do you have any finan-cial and/or investment tips for us?

Dr. Cocca: I’d be cautious these days. In times of incerti-tude, even among central bank-ers, I don’t have a good feeling. I expect markets to continue being difficult at least until the end of the year.

GGI: You are professionally very active. How do you keep

your life in balance?Dr. Cocca: The Swiss side of

me is a hard worker. As I am half Italian, I also like to enjoy life. It’s a great combination: I like sports and also like to spend time at wellness centers using the sauna quite often, where I do a lot of my financial reading. For me, family life is an oasis where I can escape from the pressures of work.

GGI: Whom do you admire today?

Dr. Cocca: I don’t feel like mentioning names. I admire the unknown people who do good things for society but don’t get media exposure for their contributions. I also ad-mire all kinds of artists who are able to touch one’s soul with their work.

GGI: Name three things you want to do in the next 10 years.

Dr. Cocca: First of all, I want to enlarge the family. Second, I want to find the magic formula

for success on financial mar-kets. I also want to improve my risottos. I like cooking risotto and Steinpilze (Bolete mush-rooms) risotto is my favorite.

GGI: What was the first job you ever had?

Dr. Cocca: As a teenager I worked in a Zurich grocery store warehouse during school vacations. I had to carry and move very heavy boxes full of bottled drinks. That was hard physical labor, and after that I became a clerk in the store.

GGI: Is there anything you’d like to say to GGI members right now?

Dr. Cocca: All men should come to my presentation to learn how to be better inves-tors. Women should come to hear about how great they are at investing.

We wish to extend a very warm welcometo our new distinguished members

GGI new member firms

LLC McKinven Consulting Group 12/1 Petra Alexeeva Str., 121471 Moscow Tel.: +7 495 545 92 92 • Fax: +7 495 545 92 92 info@mkcg.ru • www.mkcg.ru

Company languages: English, RussianContact person: Peter Vdovin • Dir. tel.: +7 903 596 51 92 • pvdovin@mkcg.ruServices: Financial Audit & Accountancy, Tax Consulting, Law Firm, Management Consulting, Corporate Finance, Business Valuation, Preparing companies for IPO

RussiaPeter Vdovin

...next page

www.ggi.com Issue No. 38, September 2008 Page 09

INSIDER

ACTIV LTD 5, Dunav Street, 9000 Varna Tel.: +359 52 660 700 • Fax: +359 52 660 730 activ@mnet.bg • www.activ.bg

Company languages: English, BulgarianContact person: Jenny Dimitrova • Dir. tel.: +359 52 660 721Services: Financial Audit & Accountancy Services, Tax Consulting, Management Consulting

BulgariaJenny Dimitrova

Beaufort Associates FZ-LLC P.O Box 500329, Dubai Tel.: +971 4 391 03 20 • Fax: +971 4 391 03 29 www.e-beaufort.com

Company language: EnglishContact person: Mian Muneer • Dir. tel.: +971 4 391 03 21 • muneer@e-beaufort.comServices: Management Consulting

UAEMian Muneer

GT Fiduciaires SA, Fiduciaire Hellers, Kos & Associés Sàrl 19, rue de Bitbourg, 1273 Luxembourg Tel.: +352 24 5211 • Fax: +352 24 521 234 info@gtf.lu • www.gtf.lu

Company languages: English, Portuguese, Italian, German, French, Dutch, LuxembourgishContact persons: Thierry Hellers, Gernot KosServices: Financial Audit & Accountancy Services, Tax Consulting, Management Consulting, Trust & Wealth Management, Domiciliation of Companies, Payroll Services

LuxembourgThierry Hellers Gernot Kos

...next page

www.ggi.com Issue No. 38, September 2008 Page 10

INSIDER

Huembes, Solorzano y Asociados FIACYC Bosques de Altamira No. 63 P.O. Box C-347 Managua Tel.: +505 278 60 13 • Fax: +505 277 57 31 www.genevanic.com

Company languages: Spanish, EnglishContact person: Francisco J. Huembes • fhuembes@genevanic.com • fhuembes@gmail.comServices: Financial Audit & Accountancy Services, Tax Consulting, Management Consulting

Nicaragua

CLA Abogados San Pedro de Montes de Oca, Los Yoses, San José Tel.: +506 8382 99 29 • Fax: +506 2253 66 85 cla@claabogados.com • www.claabogados.com

Company languages: Spanish, English, ChineseContact person: Luis Montes S. • lmontes@claabogados.comServices: Law firm

Costa RicaLuis Montes S.

Gérard & Partners 523, avenue Louise, 1050 Brussels Tel.: +32 2 646 06 52 • Fax: +32 2 646 40 17 www.gerard.be

Company languages: French, Dutch, English, German, Spanish, ItalianContact person: Philippe Grégoire • phgregoire@gerard.beServices: Law firm

BelgiumPhilippe Grégoire

Francisco J. Huembes

www.ggi.com Issue No. 38, September 2008 Page 11

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An early-morning walk is a blessing for the whole day. Henry David Thoreau

Bring out the snacks and pop in a DVD. It’s time for a lesson on leadership.

“Movies can be a great tool to stir thinking and conversa-tion about leadership,” says CCL’s Clemson Turregano, who has facilitated “leadership at the movies” sessions for years.

“I started using movies when I was teaching at West Point and then at the Na-val War College,” he notes. “Movies, like a case study, offer real-life portrayals of examples of leadership in crisis. Viewers can use these portrayals to dis-cuss the behaviors they would like to emulate or avoid during similar circumstances.”

Movie watching is also a great way to model complex ideas for people who are more visual in their learning prefer-ence. For instance, Turregano has used the 1957 drama 12 Angry Men to illustrate Jim Col-lins’ ideas in the best-selling book Good to Great, and the classic It’s a Wonderful Life to model Robert Greenleaf’s ideas

of servant leadership.The key that turns enter-

tainment into a foundation for dialogue and learning, accord-ing to Turregano, is purpose-ful viewing – watching the film with a goal in mind. Give the viewers an assignment to find examples, themes or behaviors that translate to the topic being studied.

“Using purposeful viewing,

participants can key into lead-ership behaviors that are both positive and negative,” says Turregano. “They can reflect on their own reactions to those behaviors and whether the be-haviors are conducive to good leadership.”

During a recent workshop, for example, Turregano featured the movie The Legend of Bag-ger Vance, the 2000 film about a golfer and his mystical caddy, Bagger Vance, played by Will Smith. “I asked one group in the audience to look at the re-lationship and how Bagger de-veloped and built on it. Another group was asked to view how Bagger assessed the golfer’s ability, while a third group was asked to comment on the golf-er’s challenges and how Bagger supported him through these challenges. This provided excel-lent commentary for discussion around themes of coaching and developing others.”

Souce: Center for Creative Leadership’s e-Newsletter (Au-gust 2008)

Try this: Leadership at the movies Following is our small selection of new books worth reading.

Starbucked by Taylor Clark is a fast-paced, educational book about coffee, commerce, culture and the rise of the marketing phenomena Starbucks. It is well-written and fun to read.

Forbes Greatest Investing Stories by Richard Phalon is ten mini biographies of men and women who were masters of the art of investing and the winning strategies with which they and their epigone made their fortunes and revolutionized the markets.

A scene from the movie Twelve Angry Men.

Book Review

Monthly Quote

Why companies need authen-tic leaders and not charismat-ic stars at the helm. By Bill George.

To achieve sustained high performance in the 21st cen-tury, organizations must devel-op leaders who generate trust and empower their people. But developing leaders with these capabilities is not easy. It takes years of intense effort and ro-bust processes. These days the best leadership development

programs are shifting from competency and skills training to focus on the leader’s inner qualities.

THE PAST DECADE has been a rough one for business executives. From Home De-pot to Siemens, Hewlett-Pack-ard, Boeing, Shell, Procter & Gamble, Xerox, Sears, Kmart, Coca-Cola, AT&T, Citigroup, Merrill Lynch, and Bristol My-ers, leaders failed and put great companies in grave jeopardy. They not only destroyed share-

holder value but put at risk the entire enterprise and everyone who has a stake in it. Some, however, like Hewlett-Pack-ard, P&G, Boeing, and Xerox, have bounced back rapidly un-der new leaders, proving once again that good leadership at the top really does matter.

What is the root cause of these dramatic leadership fail-ures? It’s not the stock market, dissident shareholders, Sar-banes-Oxley, or the media. The ...next page

Of character, substance, and integrity

www.ggi.com Issue No. 38, September 2008 Page 12

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Geneva Group International is growing, and our member magazine reflects this, too. To make Insider more interesting for all GGI members, the content will grow to include company features, business stories, interviews with remarkable people, book reviews, articles on work & life balance and further topics. We want you to thoroughly enjoy reading Insider. Do you, GGI member, know any exceptional people you’d like to tell us about? Have you or any of your coworkers or clients started a business, received a promotion, written a book, or undertaken an unusual hobby recently? Have you read any great books lately that you simply must recommend? Do you have any networking advice to share? We would greatly appreciate your ideas and stories for our upcoming editions, so don’t hesitate to submit them.Our first interview in the Practice Group interview series commences this month. GGI spoke to Oliver Biernat, Chairman of the International Taxation Practice Group, who is dedicated to making the most of the group.Enjoy the arrival of autumn and all that it brings.

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problem is far more basic than that: Many boards of directors have chosen the wrong lead-ers to run their companies. Of course, this is not their intent, but it is the result.

As a board member for sev-eral corporations – ExxonMobil, Goldman Sachs, and Novartis – I can attest to the fact that nothing is more important for boards than choosing the right leaders and monitoring their performance. If they get that right, everything else will fall into place, even if the corpora-tion’s business goes through a rough patch. If boards choose the wrong leaders, the whole future of the corporation may be put in jeopardy, and little can be done to save it until the failing CEO is replaced with a new one.

The wrong criteria After interviewing 125 cor-

porate leaders and observing many more during three de-cades in active corporate lead-

ership, I believe the root cause of the leadership crisis is using the wrong criteria in choosing new leaders. Selection commit-tees often emphasize charisma over character, style over sub-stance, and image over integ-rity. When leaders are chosen for charisma, style, and image, why are we surprised when they turn out to lack character, sub-stance, and integrity?

All too frequently, the selec-tion process aims to impress Wall Street with a “star” CEO from outside the company who knows little about the company’s business, its people or its culture. That’s what hap-pened when the Home Depot board looked past its 170,000 employees to recruit GE star,

Bob Nardelli, who himself was passed over in the CEO sweep-stakes to replace Jack Welch. Nardelli’s lack of understand-ing of the retail business led to a series of missteps that resulted in his resignation.

The key to successful leader-ship development is to recog-nize what kind of leaders will be needed to lead the company in the coming decade or two. Gen-eral Electric, in particular, has had the foresight to anticipate the challenges the company will face and then give leaders like Reginald Jones, Jack Welch, and Jeff Immelt the mandate and the time to transform the company. Immelt is proving to be a visionary CEO who has adapted GE to the needs of the 21st century, just as Welch did in an earlier era.

To read the full article, click here! Source: This article ex-cerpt was taken from The Focus online, the Egon Zehnder Inter-national Leadership Magazine, Volume XII/1.

Bill George