Space for Choice

Barriers are how people stop other people from providing certain skills. We all need to eat. Our livelihoods, dreams, responsibilities, and view of ourselves are often wrapped in the “lifestyle to which we are accustomed”. The respect. The security. If you are lucky, the love of what you actually do every day. 

Creative Destruction is when someone comes up with a better way to solve the problem. The “Porter 5 Forces” talks about the intensity of competitive rivalry, the threat of new entrants, the threat of substitutes (alternative ways of solving the problem), the bargaining power of suppliers (the costs of solving the problem for clients), and the bargaining power of buyers (how empowered and willing are they). If who we are is tied to how we get paid, we are going to be very anxious. 

In Life Insurance and Pensions, the theory marries Assets (that make money) to Liabilities (the money that needs paying)… effectively institutionalizing hand-to-mouth living. The idea being that the smaller the assets needed (capital requirement) the higher the return. The problem is the work the capital can do gets defined by the nature of the liabilities. The same is true for individuals. If you don’t build a buffer or capital, then what you can do gets defined by what you must do. That sounds like an unhappy marriage to me. 

Choice comes from space. Choice comes with the ability to adapt as creation genuinely solves problems. Choice comes from us not relying on the problems to remain unsolved in order to feed ourselves.

Space for Choice, Space for Creativity

Where You Are

Stilling the waves of money anxiety is not about having more. In the same way, competitive yoga makes no sense. Although, being people, we have created ways to weigh and measure people in conspicuous progress there too. You are as “advanced a yogi” on day one, as you will be after years of practice. The starting point, is always the same. Where you are. It is also the destination. You are already enough. Despite feelings of inadequacy and manufactured discontent. That realisation does not absolve you of action. It just means the key is not in comparison. Deal with the cards you are dealt. Money anxiety stills through the relationship between what comes in (however big) and what goes out (smaller than the in). Through building a buffer for the unexpected (however big) and an Engine of reserves to reduce your reduction to being a productive asset. Letting go of your judgement of yourself. Letting go of others judgement of you. Price is not value. Salary is not worth. You are not your job. Life is not a competition.

Stand Up

Part of my practice of Yoga has been reining in my inner competitive South African male. Cumulative hours of pre-Rugby match pep talks mean there is enough “Pick Me” and “Stand up and be counted” in my deep soaked scripts to power many Bobby Skinstad commentary sessions. Although the headstand is a big part of the Sivananda style of yoga I follow, it isn’t the point. Aggressively trying to get into postures leads to injuries. Instead, Tim Minchin style “micro-ambition” is better. Small, achievable, sustainable goals that build good habits. One step at a time. Slightly deeper. Slightly more relaxed. Stilling the waves of money anxiety starts with acknowledging where you are. Being aware. Then gradually building a practice.

Competitive Wiring

I don’t want what I am supposed to want. I have a competitive wiring, so people who have known me in previous incarnations will have seen my crazy eye when I choose to go for it. Even when my skills, knowledge or ability aren’t 100% up to the task. We back the underdog over meritocracy, or we would be wired to roll over and play dead. A school buddy teases me about shouting, “we can still win this” at 78(ish)-0 playing Maritzburg College. We lost 111-0. But when I am the me I like, I try find ways to wiggle out of the nonsense. I don’t want to play in a world where we are constantly weighing and measuring each other. In a way that stops us seeing each other. Where the quality of our lives is determined through regular sortings and divisions. Where we cut each other loose like gangrenous limbs when we can’t reach common cause. I want more than that. Part of that comes from acceptance. I know. I am trying to work out what I can and what I can’t accept.

Competitive Wiring

Get Out

In a knowledge economy, the key asset is the people. There is no real intellectual property (IP), because people aren’t allowed to be property. They get to leave if they want to. There can be the illusion of IP with processes and stories that people buy into. There can be a tipping point of people that other people rely on. Internal groups might not leave, unless they leave together. It makes sense that lots of companies will therefore operate on the basis of a club mentality, where loyalty is more important than real merit. There are strong barriers to us unwinding privilege and prejudice because to do that properly, you have to invest in people who might not stay. Closed communities aren’t interested in individual meritocracy. They want the community to do well, irrespective of the community’s merit. In the same way as we personally want to do as well as we can. We don’t refer potential opportunities away from ourselves and towards people we think are better than us. The real way to reduce privilege is to reduce barriers to entry, and barriers to exit. Make it easier for people on the inside to get out, and people on the outside to get in.

Team Sport

Money making is not about you. Hand-to-mouth living is all about you. “What do you want to be when you grow up?” is all about you. Meritocracy, performance attribution, annual reviews, bonuses, status symbols and conspicuous consumption can become all about you. About being good enough. Being worthy. Leading a successful life. Being a really big deal. Capitalism done well is a team sport. A sport in which there is competition, but players and managers switch teams and everyone meets in the bar afterwards. No company exists without suppliers, customers, regulators, alternatives and complex knock on effects. If you want to understand money, stop thinking about yourself. The song is not about you. Start thinking about the needs of communities. Start looking at every business you come across. “How is money made?” is a question so much more powerful than “How can I make money?” that it can release you to change the What to a Who. Who (not what) do you want to be? Let Capital set our Labour free. Build Capital.