How to leave a legacy

From the magazine Unlimited, they have a fascinating story on how to leave a great legacy and the lessons come from looking at how cathedrals were built in the middle ages. 

Jacoline Loewen

I also wrote an article for the Globe and Mail on Cathedral building and how similar it is to building a business in that each generation adds a wing or a tower and then passes it along to the next generation to continue the vision. Some cathedrals took hundreds of years to complete which is hard to imagine. 

I am complaining about Eglinton Avenue and the time to build the subway so it does make me realize that time is relative.

I will post my article below but here is the article from Unlimited and the link to the full article.

We are entering an era of Cathedral Wealth, where the most meaningful thing that you can hand down to the next generation is no longer a watch or family estate, but a grand challenge, a life’s work or a multi-generational task.

In the Middle Ages, building a cathedral to honour God was considered one of the greatest works that a community could undertake. Everyone from heads of state and religious leaders to architects, craftsmen and labourers joined together to create these monumental structures.

Building a cathedral was an endeavour of such scale that they would often take decades or even centuries to finish. The people that laid the foundations would do so in the almost certain knowledge that they would never live to see the finished product.

Today, at a time when the future of mankind has never looked more complex and uncertain, we are increasingly realising that our biggest questions may require multi-generational answers.

‘Modernity has pulled us into an era of short-termism and individualism,’ says Rachel Armstrong, senior TED fellow and founder of Black Sky Thinking.

‘However, the biggest issues facing humanity, such as climate change, over-population and energy and resource shortages, require us to think in terms of solutions that will span generations.’

Like the craftsmen that laid the first stones at St Paul’s, St Basil’s and Notre Dame, today’s leading scientists, business leaders and creative innovators are beginning to think in terms of a new kind of wealth – the handing down of purposeful and life-affirming projects that only their grandchildren, or even great-grandchildren, will see bear fruit.

‘In the past, your legacy would have been much more about handing down tangible assets, such as cash and bricks and mortar,’ says Ken Forster, angel investor and managing director of Internet of Things solutions company Momenta Partners.

‘Today, it’s about a more organic, more sustainable wealth transfer – leaving your life’s work, something you created, unfinished, and trusting those who follow you to see it through to completion.’

In this report, we examine how Cathedral Wealth and long-termism are beginning to emerge in society in three pivotal ways.

: Creative Cathedrals – the multi-generational projects that are shaping the future of science, technology and design

: Commercial Cathedrals – how the world of business is moving its sights from the next quarter to the next decade and even the next century

: Cultural Cathedrals – why our fascination with long-term cathedral wealth is driving the emergence of new forms of art and culture that will be enjoyed by future generations

read the article here

Do you fall victim to soundbite economics?

Jacoline Loewen

At a recent book club, one of my girlfriends who teaches fashion and clothing at Ryerson, brought along a women's magazine from the early 1900s. I was startled by the quality of the content and the depth of the stories.

It made me realize that there has been a steep decline in the sheer complexity and structure of the written word. In comparison, the media and economic sources have simplified and shortened their features. It made me reflect on just how do we cull our daily information? How does this impact on how we view the markets and our investments?

Likewise, I do believe that the quality of economic analysis in financial markets has suffered in recent years. This is not a comment on the quality of my peers in the industry – there are many excellent economists and I do see the very best. 

However the trend in the broader market has been inexorably towards soundbite economics; superficial analysis with little attempt to challenge the wisdom of established authority or "rule of thumb" relationships. 
Call it the economics of the airport bestseller (am I bitter that my books are not stocked at Pearson? Maybe). 

We can see this in the way markets overreact to underlying data, even in the questions that are asked in the media. 

And do not get me started on the blogosphere.

Is it getting too late? The market is late in the cycle prompting investors to ask this question.

I am concerned about Canada says Niall Ferguson

With a flair for the dramatic, Niall Ferguson, is saying he is concerned for Canada. Ferguson likes to remind us that he predicted the 2008 crisis and was shouted down. He is now sounding a warning for Canada. Read the full article here.

Ferguson is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University in California and a senior research fellow at Oxford. He is a prolific author on history, economics and colonialism and has written and presented five major television series, including The Ascent of Money, which won the 2009 International Emmy Award for best documentary.
"It seems to me unnecessary because Canada doesn't have a major fiscal problem," he said. "It's not as though Canada needs to sell its assets, so I don't see the need for a major realignment of its position as the United States' little brother."
On a recent visit to Australia, Ferguson recalled remarking to an Australian acquaintance: 'You realize you're gradually becoming a Chinese colony? "He said, 'No mate, it's more like a semi-autonomous republic. It's a good place to start (when discussing Canada-China relations)."
"I don't think China makes a massive distinction between Australia and Canada," said Ferguson. "These are thinly populated (nations) with huge quantities of resources that China needs. The question (for China) is: How best to access those? Do you do it by straight forward purchases on the open market or do you want to own them? And if you own them, how far can you go before there is a political backlash. This is what China is asking about a lot of countries."

Fintech innovation and Switzerland

It was an honour to be the guest of the Switzerland Innovaton Enterprise and the Swiss Consulate to their Toronto conference. We were talking Fintech and innovation.

Jacoline Loewen

In the past month, the Switzerland Blockchain Business Council (GBBC) opened an office in Geneva, the group announced in a press release. Launched in January 2017 during the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, the GBBC is a platform bringing together leading businesses and executives from around the world to educate on the latest innovations in blockchain technology and advocate for its widespread adoption. 

It serves as a global forum for information, collaboration and partnerships. Leading full service blockchain technology company The Bitfury Group and international law firm Covington are behind the initiative.

A global center for international cooperation

By locating in Geneva, the GBBC will work side by side with an array of international organizations active in uniting global causes and industries, such as the World Economic Forum (WEF), the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the World Health Organization (WHO). 

Speaking on the decision to house the platform in Geneva, Tomicah Tillemann, GBBC Chairman, explained that the Swiss city has “a long history as a place where people come together to reach consensus”, and that it is “already home to some of the world’s most important and effective international institutions”.