Saturday, September 11, 2010

The Love Life of Borg and Digital Diplomacy

On the very same day I made two interesting interviews - one with Anders Borg, Secretary of Finance in Sweden, and the other with Alec Ross, who advices Hillary Clinton on technology and innovation. Both are rather strong personalities.
One can have different opinions on Anders Borg and the policies of his liberal-conservative party Moderaterna, but one must give him the credit for keeping Sweden afloat during the global financial crisis. We talked about a variety of things, from the ongoing election campaign to his passion for walks in the forest, and then I asked him what he was most proud of. "Well, my wife and I have had a very long relationship, I was 16 when I moved in with her. We still have a vivid and loving relationship and I think we offer our children a great and safe environment".
It took me by surprise that he choose to talk about his love life, but it also made me happy. I believe politicians needs to be well grounded (and of course armed with a vision).
Visions is only the first name when you have a conversation with Alec Ross who is known for his "digital diplomacy". I quickly fell into his idea of spreading digital telecom to the developing world and thereby making people communicate, innovate, get access to banks and other services and - according to the World Bank - increasing their country's GDP. According to Ross its all about creating projects and learning by doing. You go.