Blenheim Partners Anthology November

John F. KennedyBlenheim Partners’ Anthology

FRIDA KAHLO Frida KahloConsidered one of Mexico’s greatest artists, Frida Kahlo was born on the 6th of July 1907, inCoyoacán, a village on the outskirts of Mexico City.Frida Kahlo’s father, Wilhelm (also called Guillermo), was a German photographer who hadimmigrated to Mexico where he met and married her mother Matilde, who was a mixed ofSpanish and Indian ancestry. Frida had two older sisters, Matilde and Adriana, and heryounger sister, Cristina, was born the year after her. Kahlo's mother raised Frida and herthree sisters in a strict and religious household. La Casa Azul was not only Kahlo's childhoodhome, but also the place that she returned to live and work from 1939 until her death. Itlater opened as a National Museum dedicated to Kahlo.Aside from her mother's rigidity, religious fanaticism, and tendency toward hystericoutbursts, several events in Kahlo's childhood affected her deeply for the rest of her life. Atage six, Kahlo contracted polio; a long recovery isolated her from other children andpermanently damaged one of her legs, causing her to walk with a limp after recovery.Frida’s father, with whom she was very close, and particularly so after the experience ofbeing an invalid, enrolled his daughter at the German College in Mexico City and introducedKahlo to the writings of European philosophers. All of Kahlo's sisters instead attended aconvent school. Kahlo was grateful for this and despite a strained relationship with hermother, always credited her father with great tenderness and insight. She was interested inboth strands of her roots, and her mixed European and Mexican heritage provided life-longfascination in her approach towards both life and art.

Kahlo had a horrible experience at the German School where she was sexually abused henceforced to leave. At the time, the Mexican Revolution and the Minister of Education hadchanged the education policy, and from 1922, girls were admitted to the NationalPreparatory School. Kahlo was one of the first 35 girls admitted out of 2000 students andshe began to study medicine, botany, and the social sciences. She excelled academically,became very interested in Mexican culture, and became active politically.When Kahlo was 15, Diego Rivera (already a renowned artist) was painting the Creationmural (1922) in the amphitheatre of her Preparatory School. Upon seeing him work, Kahloexperienced a moment of fascination that she would go on to fully explore later in life. Atthis time, Kahlo also befriended a dissident group of students known as the \"Cachuchas\",who confirmed the young artist's rebellious spirit and further encouraged her interest inliterature and politics. In 1923 Kahlo fell in love with a fellow member of the group,Alejandro Gomez Arias, and the two remained romantically involved until 1928. In 1925,together with Alejandro on their way home from school, Kahlo was involved in a near fatalbus accident.Alejandro survived unharmed, however, Kahlo suffered multiple fractures throughout herbody, including a crushed pelvis, and a metal rod impaled her womb. She spent one monthin the hospital immobile and many more months bedridden at home. During her longrecovery she began to experiment in small-scale autobiographical portraiture, henceforthabandoning her medical pursuits due to practical circumstances and turning her focus to art.During the months of convalescence at home after her bus accident Kahlo's parents madeher a special easel, gave her a set of paints, and placed a mirror above her head so that shecould see her own reflection and make self-portraits. Kahlo spent hours confrontingexistential questions raised by her trauma including a feeling of dissociation from heridentity, a growing interiority, and a general closeness to death.By 1927, Kahlo was well enough to leave her bedroom and re-kindled her relationship withthe Cachuchas group, which was by this point more political. She joined the MexicanCommunist Party (PCM) and began to familiarise herself with the artistic and political circlesin Mexico City. She became close friends with the photojournalist Tina Modotti and Cubanrevolutionary Julio Antonio Mella. In June 1928, at one of Modotti's many parties, Kahlo waspersonally introduced to Diego Rivera who was one of Mexico's most famous artists and ahighly influential member of the PCM. Soon after, Kahlo boldly asked him to look at one ofher portraits and decide if her work was worthy of pursuing a career as an artist. He wasutterly impressed by the honesty and originality of her painting and assured her of hertalents. Even though Rivera had already been married twice and was known to have aninsatiable fondness for women, the two began a romantic relationship and were married in1929. The new couple moved to Cuernavaca in the rural state of Morelos where Kahlodevoted herself entirely to painting.By the early 1930s, Kahlo's painting had evolved to include a more assertive sense ofMexican identity. At the time, two failed pregnancies augmented Kahlo's simultaneously

harsh and beautiful representation of the specifically female experience through symbolismand autobiography.During the first few years of the 1930s Kahlo and Rivera lived in San Francisco, Detroit, andNew York whilst Rivera was creating various murals. Kahlo also completed some seminalworks including Frieda and Diego Rivera (1931) and Self-Portrait on the Borderline betweenMexico and The United States (1932) with the latter expressing her observations of rivalrytaking place between nature and industry in the two lands.Soon after the unveiling of a large and controversial mural that Rivera had made for theRockefeller Centre in New York (1933), the couple returned to Mexico as Kahlo was feelinghomesick. Kahlo had numerous health issues while Rivera, had an affair with Kahlo'syounger sister Cristina. Kahlo too started to have her own extramarital affairs withHungarian photographer Nickola Muray who was holidaying in Mexico at that time. The twobegan an on-and-off romantic affair that lasted 10 years.While briefly separated from Diego following the affair with her sister and living in her ownapartment Kahlo also had a short affair with the Japanese-American sculptor IsamuNoguchi. The two highly politically and socially conscious artists remained friends untilKahlo's death.In 1936, Kahlo joined the Fourth International (a Communist organisation) and often used LaCasa Azul as a meeting point for international intellectuals, artists, and activists. She alsooffered the house where the exiled Russian Communist leader Leon Trotsky and his wife,Natalia Sedova, could take up residence once they were granted asylum in Mexico. In 1937,as well as helping Trotsky, Kahlo and the political icon embarked on a short love affair.Trotsky and his wife remained in La Casa Azul until mid-1939.During a visit to Mexico City in 1938, the founder of Surrealism, André Breton, wasenchanted with Kahlo's painting, and wrote to his friend and art dealer, Julien Levy, whoinvited Kahlo to hold her first solo show at his gallery in New York. Kahlo travelled to theStates without Rivera and upon arrival caused a huge media sensation. People wereattracted to her colourful and exotic Mexican costumes and her exhibition was asuccess. Georgia O'Keeffe was one of the notable guests to attend Kahlo's opening. Kahloenjoyed some months socialising in New York and then sailed to Paris in early 1939 toexhibit with the Surrealists there. That exhibition was not as successful and she becametired of the over-intellectualism of the Surrealist group. Kahlo returned to New York, hopingto continue her love affair with Muray, but he broke off the relationship as he had recentlymet somebody else. As a result, Kahlo travelled back to Mexico City and upon her returnRivera requested a divorce.Following her divorce, Kahlo moved back to La Casa Azul. She moved away from her smalltin paintings and began to work on much larger canvases. In 1940, Kahlo and Riveraremarried and their relationship became less turbulent as Kahlo's health deteriorated.Between the years of 1940-1956, the suffering artist often had to wear supportive backcorsets to help her spinal problems. She also had an infectious skin condition, along with

syphilis. When her father died in 1941, this intensified both her depression and her health.She again was often housebound and found simple pleasure in surrounding herself byanimals and gardening at La Casa Azul.Throughout the 1940s, Kahlo's work grew in notoriety and acclaim from internationalcollectors and was included in several group shows both in the United States and in Mexico.In 1943, Kahlo accepted a teaching position at a painting school in Mexico City, 'LaEsmeralda', and acquired some highly devoted students with whom she undertook somemural commissions. She struggled to continue making a living from her art, neveraccommodating to clients wishes if she did not like them, but luckily received a nationalprize for her painting Moses (1945) and then The Two Fridas painting was bought by theMuseo de Arte Moderno in 1947. Meanwhile, the artist grew progressively ill. She had acomplicated operation to try and straighten her spine, but it failed and from 1950 onwards,she was often confined to a wheelchair.Kahlo exhibited one last time in Mexico in 1953 at Lola Alvarez Bravo's gallery, her first andonly solo-show in Mexico. She was brought to the event in an ambulance, with her four-poster bed following on the back of a truck. The bed was then placed in the centre of thegallery so that she could lie there for the duration of the opening.Kahlo died in 1954 at La Casa Azul.

LEARNINGS FROM AN ENTREPRENEUR – A SUCCESSFUL ONEYou need a vision • Ultimately, you've got to have a vision because people want to know where they're going. You've got to help them to know and understand where they are going.What you need to be aware of and thinking about • Creativity leads to opportunity. • In the world today, speed and flexibility are the pathways to competitive advantage. • You need to constantly question yourself in terms of how do we do it better and how do we innovate around reaching our customers better. • It is important to look outside your industry and home country and just spend time looking at a whole range of things that people are doing, but more importantly, what they are thinking and how they are approaching what they are doing. • You need to be constantly thinking that “you have to be disruptive” or you are going to be disrupted yourself. • Every business has got to believe that they will be put out of business, not by their competitor but by something else that they have not seen or maybe has not been invented yet. If you don't think that way, you are going to be put out of business at some point.Success can cause you to fail • Without a doubt, the bigger you get, the easier it is for you to think you are doing well and to become complacent. You can easily forget as companies and as individuals that the world is moving at speed and is accelerating. If you're not better than you were six months ago, you'll probably be on a downhill slide within 6 to 12 months.

An essential – Deep knowledge of the market and your competitors • The only way you can get anyone to be interested in buying your product is if you actually know as much or more about every one of the competing products. This is more critical than anything. By knowing all the other products and what is happening in the market, you can engage with the customer and are more able to find an angle to exploit with your customers as to why your product should be the preferred buy.Young talent – How to extract value • Go and find really young talent that want to have a go. Help them to truly learn and understand the business and give them training, especially on the job training. You need to take people out and show them how to go about the job because you are not necessarily always hiring people with experience either due to age or new industry.What drives success for you • To succeed is to persevere! Business models may adapt, they may change, they might move in different ways, but ultimately if you look at everyone who succeeds, it is usually after a little bit of perseverance. • Ultimately to really succeed as an individual: o You have got to love what you're doing – to really enjoy and love the industry you are in; o To have the right attitude to learning – you can never stop learning; o The right attitude to getting out there in life; o Not being afraid of taking a risk; o Knowing that you have to work hard for it; and above all, o Common sense is absolutely critical!

THE TWO TIER BOARD MODEL – WORTHY OF EXPLORATION?Background • With the increasing scrutiny of Board’s and listed companies in Australia, the burden of corporate governance is ever increasing. • Many Boards lament the fact that too much time and energy is being devoted to corporate governance issues as opposed to strategy and growth, both in terms of revenue and profit. • Some Boards however, have taken steps to lessen the burden in formal Board meetings using a range of initiatives from delegating to sub-committees of the Board to deal with a range of these corporate governance issues, or alternating Board meetings with a governance focussed meeting and a strategic focussed meeting. • The question remains however, is there a better model? • The German model of dual Boards or two tiers of governance is one such model that has been highlighted as worthy of exploration within the Australian context.The German Model • The German Board structure is two-tiered. • It is made up of a “Supervisory Board” and a “Management or Executive Board”. • The “Supervisory Board” is the overarching Board and is made up of shareholder representatives, and in some cases, employee representatives given the nature of the German labour market system. o The Supervisory Board: ▪ Oversees the Management Board, appoints its members and is not involved in the day-to-day management of the company. o The Management Board:

▪ Manages the day to day business of the company and representing it with third parties. • There is a clear separation of duties between the Supervisory and Management Boards that is reinforced by the prohibition of simultaneous membership of both Boards.Advantages • Clear delineation of responsibilities that are becoming somewhat blurred in the Australian model would be far clearer o Executive Team (Management Board) make the decisions and are accountable for the decisions o Board (Supervisory Board) have the oversight and review of the strategy and execution of the strategy as carried out by the Management Board. The Supervisory Board would have the responsibility of appointing the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) who would be the Chairman of the Management Board.Disadvantages • The clear separation of the duties of the two Boards under the German model prohibiting dual membership could create a degree of separation between the two Boards. With the CEO (Chairman of the Management Board) not permitted on the Supervisory Board, there is a real possibility a lack of alignment could well occur. The current Australian model where the CEO can be on the Board is viewed as advantageous in overcoming this. • The formal separation of duties could result in the unintended consequence of the Supervisory Board being “removed” or “out of touch” with the business. This could result in a lack of ability to oversee or “supervise” the Management Board who could operate more independently than is desirable.ConclusionThe German two-tiered Board Structure consisting of a “Supervisory Board” and a“Management Board” appears on the surface to be very similar to the Australian Boardstructure of a Board and Management, but using a formal means of clarifying andreinforcing responsibilities. One of the reasons for some interest in this more formalarrangement is the perception of “responsibility creep” in the Australian context, where itwould appear that Boards are being driven more and more into what many regard as“management responsibilities” as opposed to “oversight”. The dilemma is that whenformalising such arrangements there is always the risk of what “falls between the cracks”and does not get done, resulting in risk. Any contemplation of such a model could well beenhanced by incorporating the CEO (Chairman of the Management Board) onto theSupervisory Board, which could also minimise what “falls between the cracks!”

AMELIA EARHARTAmelia Earhart was born 24 July 1897 in Atchison, Kansas to Amy Otis and Edwin StantonEarhart. From her early childhood she had a great sense of adventure, she played gameswith her younger sister which involved imaginary journeys. She loved to read, and herfavourite authors were Sir Walter Scott, Charles Dickens, George Eliot and WilliamShakespeare. While she was in high school her mother moved her and her sister fromMinnesota to Chicago when her father’s alcoholism grew worse.After Amelia attended Ogontz school in Rydal, Pennsylvania she moved to Toronto, whereher sister was attending school. This is where she saw wounded veterans of World War Iand consequently became a Red Cross volunteer. She worked in Spadina Military Hospitaland came to know and ultimately admire the young fliers of the Royal Flying Corps. In 1918,she undertook a course in automobile repair, before being chosen to study medicine atColumbia University in 1919.A year later she made the decision to join her parents in Los Angeles, as the aviationindustry was beginning to take off in Southern California. Earhart was attracted to the airshows and flying demonstrations at the local airports and she had her first airplane ridefrom Glendale airport. Soon after she convinced her parents to help her take flying lessonswith pioneering woman pilot, Neta Snook.In June 1921, Earhart made her first solo flight in a Kinner Airster. A year later she had savedtwo thousand dollars to purchase a three-cylinder Kinner Canary. In this plane she set awoman’s altitude record of fourteen thousand feet. Unfortunately, flying was expensive andpaid employment for women in aviation was scarce. In 1922, when her parents divorced,she sold her plane and returned to Massachusetts to teach English to immigrants. She alsoworked as a social worker at Denison House.

In 1928, Earhart was selected by publisher George P. Putman to fly with pilot Wilmer Stutzand mechanic Lou Gordon in a Fokker trimotor named “Friendship” to fly across theAtlantic. The flight was a success and she was given a hero’s welcome when she returned toNew York. Putnam produced the book “Twenty Hours Forty Minutes”, which was Earhart’saccount of the flight, her observations on the role of women in aviation and the future offlying. In 1931, she then married Putman.For the remainder of her life Earhart campaigned tirelessly for the cause of women in flyingthrough participating in cross-country air races, flying an autogyro, and being a founder ofthe Ninety-Nine Club, an organisation of licensed women pilots. Her advice was sought bymany airlines and airplane manufacturers, and she became a role model for young womenthroughout the country.In 1935, Earhart became the first person to fly alone from Hawaii to California and the firstto fly non-stop from Mexico City to Newark, New Jersey. The trustees of Purdue Universitypurchased a twin-engine Lockheed Electra for her, and she then began planning a round theworld flight. There were several false starts and minor accidents but finally on 1 June 1937Earhart and her navigator Fred Noonan took off from Miami, Florida. After a month theyhad flown across the Atlantic, Africa, and Southern Asia to Lae, New Guinea. The pair tookoff again on 2 July with the intension of landing and refuelling on tiny Howland Island in themiddle of the Pacific Ocean. Unfortunately, several hours later the Coast Guard cutteranchored off Howland Island heard a radio message from Earhart stating that she was lostand running low of fuel. Neither the plane nor the pilot or navigator were ever found.SignificanceWhilst Earhart did not complete her round the world flight, she had a great impact on theaviation industry and helped open many doors for future female pilots. Earhart showed thatwomen had a place in fields that were generally restricted to men. In addition to her pilotingaccomplishments, Earhart was known for encouraging women to reject constrictive socialnorms and to pursue various opportunities, especially in the field of aviation. In 1929 shehelped found an organisation of female pilots that later became known as the Ninety-Nines,where she served as its first president. In addition, in 1933, she debuted a functionalclothing line, which was designed “for the woman who lives actively.”Earhart demonstrated enormous determination and perseverance, she never wavered herlove and passion for flying when it became expensive or although it took multiple attemptsto start a journey.

BACKGROUNDBlenheim Partners specialise in:▪ Executive Search;▪ Non-Executive Director Search;▪ Board Strategy and Structure Consulting;▪ External Succession Planning; and▪ Executive Re-Engagement / Transition.Founded in 2012, our team have acted as specialist Psychologists, Coaches and exceptionallyadviser to many of the world’s leading experienced Researchers.corporations on Board and Executive performance,capability and succession planning. Blenheim Partners is continually investing in knowledge and understanding as exemplified byOur consultants have worked with clients from all our Thought Leadership “The Challenges ofsectors and a broad range of geographies. They Attaining Growth”, Industry Papers and monthlyinclude over 80 of the ASX 100, 10% of the FTSE Market Intelligence reports.100, Private Equity, Multinational, Private Familyand Mutually Owned Companies. Our philosophy is to develop deep and committed relationships with a select number of clients andOur work includes assignments that are both local help them deliver a superior performance byand international in scope. optimising the composition of their Board and Executive team.Our team consists of senior SearchConsultants, Human Resource Directors, Our culture is built on pride, professionalism, esprit de corps and client service.ConfidentialityThis report and the information contained in it are confidential and proprietary information belonging to Blenheim Partners. The reportcontains confidential and proprietary information based on data from public and private sources, including Blenheim Partners’ proprietarydatabase of information. The recipient will not use or disclose, or permit the use or disclosure of, this Report by any other person or forany other purpose. The information contained in this report is preliminary in nature and subject to verification by Blenheim Partners.Blenheim Partners does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.