Reading to get you thinking

Age of Crisis issue, July 2012

I’ve just finished reading an excellent issue of the New Statesman called “Age of crisis (and how to survive it).” Edited by David Miliband, the former British foreign secretary brings together a global cast of politicians and thinkers putting forward a range of ideas on finding our way out of our current predicament.

High points included former Australian PM Kevin Rudd’s excellent essay on China and the West and the fundamental questions that Western leaders need to answer in order to effectively engage with China. Michael Semple’s fascinating interview with a Taliban leader was also illuminating.

Relative low points came in the form of Hillary Clinton’s tedious and uninspiring piece on “The future of American power.” The Secretary of State offered nothing new but rather reiterated America’s foreign policy approach.

What was pleasing was that, while Milliband obviously has access to a wide circle of friends from whom he can draw on, there were counter-intuitive contributions that challenge the status-quo. Ozwald Boateng on how Africa can help Britain out of the crisis and Sir Richard Branson talking about the benefits of EU membership and immigration are two examples of this.

In short, it’s been a long time since I’ve read a New Statesman from cover to cover. As far as this particular issue goes, I’d encourage you to do the same.

My European odyssey begins: Paris, France

Chatelet, Paris, 27.07.12

The first stop in my European Summer is Paris, France. Beautiful weather and friendly Parisians too! Next stop, Amsterdam.

RIP President Atta Mills, God bless Ghana!

John Atta Mills being sworn in as president in 2008

When I received news this evening that the president of Ghana, John Evans Atta Mills had died I was saddened and stunned. I immediately turned to my colleague, who I was with at the time, and told him the news. 

“Was it an assassination?” he asked, instinctively.

Appalled, but now used to such ignorance, I simply replied: “No.”

“Will there be civil war?”

Words actually failed me but controlled anger never does. 

For all those who think of Africa as a country populated by a barbaric, sub-human species, Google “Ghana” and see what you can find. 

Ghanaians are:

• A dignified people
• A friendly people
•  A God-fearing people
•  A peaceful people and, most importantly,
•  A united people.

RIP President John Evans Atta Mills. The whole of Ghana, and Ghanaians around the world, are in mourning at your passing.

God bless our homeland Ghana.

Keeping your head down versus blowing your own trumpet

Blowing your own trumpet? Go ahead!

I’ve wrestled with this one almost since the start of my corporate career. But in recent months the dilemma has become so central to my progress/reputation that I’ve been forced to tackle it head-on. 

Picture it. For months you’ve been slaving away in the office and, on many occasions, taking work home, in order to get the job done and keep the client and, ultimately, the boss happy. Then when you seek recognition for the above-and-beyond contribution you’ve been making to the company’s balance sheet, all you get is a blank expression. Zero. Zip.

“But nobody knows what you’ve been doing,” the boss says in response to your appeal for recompense to reflect the work you’ve done.

“Well, I’m not one of those people who talks and doesn't do,” you say when you’ve recovered your voice from the shock. “I let my results speak for themselves.”

Now it is his turn to look bemused. In 2012, it seems that approach no longer works in the workplace. In order to get ahead, you need to get yourself noticed and, in order to do that, you need to be your own biggest cheerleader. Reticence belongs to yesterday. Bragging is so now.

The fact is, in this celebrity-obsessed age, talk is cheap but it sells, even in business. While you’re there in the corner burrowing away like a beaver, someone else is in the boss’ office talking up his achievements, however dubious they may be, making them sound not just plausible but incredible.

If, like me, self-promotion doesn’t sit well with you, try these tips to ease your way into the game:

• Be strategic in who you shout your achievements to. Beware of backstabbers; be aware of allies.
• If you receive praise from the client, don’t keep it to yourself. Ask them to put it in writing to your boss.
• If you’re routinely working out of hours (e.g. weekends, holidays) copy your boss into any correspondence you send.
• Make alliances with those who you respect, not only those who’ll get you far. Find a mentor who can guide and advise you.
• You may think your work speaks for itself but you also need to speak for your work. Present your project and its achievements at company meetings.
• Value yourself. Put your achievements on the line and ask for what you deserve. If you don’t get it, be prepared to say, Thanks, but no thanks and leave. Your greatness will surely be respected somewhere else.

Gender apartheid in the European workplace

Women in the workplace - 1950s or 2012?

In my previous workplaces, I had never noticed an obvious gender bias among either the proletariat or the ranks of senior management, mainly because there wasn’t one. On the whole, there were near-equal numbers of female and male managers and, if anything, there were more women staff at the officer level than there were men. Maybe it’s do with the sector. The public sector, with its family-friendlier policies and emphasis on work-life balance, has always been attractive to women, especially those with families. 

But the gender imbalance in the European workspace is more subtle. It’s not so much about numbers of women in the workplace but attitudes to the women there. There are two types of women in the corporate arena in which I work – the dolly bird and the dogged bird. And guess which one gets further ahead? The one who is serious, focussed and gets the work done with little fanfare? Or the one who looks good, sounds good but does very little to add to the bottom line? No surprises there then. 

What has been shocking, though, is the blatant way in which hardworking women are simply not heard and are treated as a bit of office fluff, irrelevant. They’re listened to but ignored, consulted but patronised. Don’t get me wrong. The dolly bird isn’t taken seriously either but she does get what she wants. The dogged bird is taken seriously – ostensibly, at least - but doesn’t get what she wants. In the end, neither wins. This may just be a private sector thing where it’s easier to get away with such flagrant prejudices but the fact that it persists is disturbing.

Then there’s the outside workspace, the interaction with clients and partners. One day, at a conference for about one hundred middle managers from across Europe, I hired a trainer to deliver a workshop on public speaking. After delivering three sessions to three different groups, she says to me: “I could see a couple of the men looking at me thinking, What does this little woman think she can teach me?” I sympathised, really, but thought to myself, Try being black and a woman and reading the thoughts of those men… and the women to boot! But then this isn’t a competition and, again, there are no winners. 

Which brings me to another point. It’s not just men who perpetuate the gender bias. Women are also guilty of propagating it, which is, perhaps, marginally worse. We all know the stereotype of the woman who manages to climb the corporate ladder by acting like man only to pull up the ladder when she reaches the peak. That stereotype doesn’t quite apply here. In this case, the perpetrator is a woman of a certain age, somewhat north of fifty, for whom youth is an issue. Threatened by younger, rising stars, she is quick to dismiss their input and resist their management and even quicker to denigrate them to the boss, a man of a similar age and background to her own.

And that leads me to this. The relationship between gender, race and class is well documented. Being black and female means that you’re usually at the bottom of the totem pole, just one rung behind the black male. But being Eastern European and female, my colleague assures me, also has its problems in western Europe. The same woman of a certain age who is resistant to management by younger women once allegedly said of her younger manager: “These Eastern Europeans, who do they think they are? They’ve only been in the system for five minutes and they think they know it all!” Ouch!

But Europeans don’t want to worry about a little thing like racism. What with their economies in the toilet and their futures down the drain, the only thing left to do is blame those pesky Others – migrants and immigrants - who keep flooding their shores and who should be grateful that they were allowed onto the continent – or into the Union - in the first place. Yes, because what Europe needs right now is more Europeans who can’t work, won’t work and expect to be paid for the privilege, too. (See German companies are like Italian companies).

German companies are like Italian companies

It seems German companies are no different from Italian companies when it comes to nepotism and cronyism in the workplace. The economic engine of Europe is fuelled by entrepreneurs with TFBs (Trust Fund Babies) who, having been raised with a silver spoon in their mouths couldn’t possibly be expected to go out and work like the rest of us. So what better solution than to “find” gainful employment in your father/uncle/godfather’s company?

I learnt this, to my detriment, first-hand recently. Having bowed at the altar of German efficiency and economic superiority, I was sad to learn that the Germans are, in fact, no different from those they’ve spent the last three years castigating (Greeks/Italians/Spanish).  

It all started with the antics of an errant colleague. He-who-shall-remain-nameless has a history of truancy. He shows up for work at eleven, takes an hour and a half for lunch and leaves at four, and that’s on a good day. Yet, for some, mysterious reason, he was always getting away with it. Actually, to say “getting away with it” would imply that he was doing all this secretly. Not a chance. He was unashamed in his conduct yet he remained untouchable. Some scratched their heads as to how he was allowed to behave in such a way knowing full well that if it was anybody else they would be out the door without so much as a P45. The whole thing was a mystery to them. But the reasons weren’t so mysterious after all given the man's “connections” to senior management.

“It’s all so Italian,” my Milanese colleague says. “I’ve travelled a thousand miles to work in an “Italian” company. I might as well have stayed at home. In Italy, the more work you do, the more you’re considered a failure. The thinking is that you do as little work as possible. And if you leave [the country], you’re considered a failure. People think: Why didn’t you manage to get a job at your father’s business or your family’s business? You’re seen as weak and a failure.”

It’s hard to express how demotivating it is to work in an environment where there is one rule for one and another for everyone else. Not only is it demotivating but it’s insulting, too.

Now, I have nothing against employing your family and friends. I would probably do the same if I were in a position to do so. I find it hard to believe that any parent would rather see their child unemployed or destitute (granted, they’re not the same thing) than give them a job in the family business. The problem comes when that child or relative becomes more of a liability than an asset. A true businessperson would surely be more concerned about the bottom line than the family line and would gracefully retire his or her kin to a life of leisure back on the ranch, if not to save the company and the livelihood of its staff then to protect the family inheritance.

It was the American philosopher, Milton Friedman who said that in a truly capitalist society there would be no racism because a true capitalist would hire the best person for the job, regardless of race. Perhaps that philosophy could be adapted to the European context by saying that nepotism wouldn’t exist in a truly capitalist society either.

It seems to me that, in this current climate, if you want a productive workforce that actually works for the money their paid, then your best bet is to hire two sets of people: those from Eastern Europe who have known hard times and don’t shy away from hard work, and ethnic minorities who are drilled from birth to know that they must work three times harder than everyone else to get just as far. This I know. (See Gender Apartheid).

And, for the record, it wasn’t me who drew the original analogy between German and Italian companies. That would be a bona-fide Italian who’s worked for both Italian and German companies and is speaking from experience. From my own knowledge, I can only say that, yes, working with the boss’ friends/relatives/associates – delete as appropriate – is not conducive to a productive working environment if not extremely anti-capitalist. And what European nation would dare claim to be that?