Somebody Else

In my job hunting I have had many conversations with friends, former colleagues, recruitment agents, and friendly strangers on LinkedIn. Covid means I have not done the coffee circuit. I probably saw more people in week-long visits to Cape Town than I have seen in the (just more than a) month I have been properly back. Conversations move slowly. Even when there is an obvious vacancy. Corporates have to go through the process of advertising jobs, screening candidates, and rounds of interviews. I am doing the same in reverse. There are periods of silence. There are forms to fill in. People who do not turn up for calls. Sometimes repeatedly. I am still of the view that a job is a bigger deal for the candidate than the company. Someone will fill the role and the company will carry on doing its thing. As Tim Minchin says in a love song to his wife, “If I didn’t have you… I really think I would have somebody else.” For the candidate, it feels like more of a big deal. How you are going to spend a big chunk of your time. Where? With who? Tim’s point probably still holds true if you do not connect too deeply to any single opportunity. Push on with a little yogic detachment. It matters, but it does not define you.

If I didn't have you

Self Worth

It is comforting to think we get paid based on effort. If we can look at the world and believe the trick is to understand cause and effect. That actions lead to reliable, predictable, consequences. Unfortunately, that is not how it works. Sorry If you worked really hard and are a really good person. If your solution is the same as someone else’s, then the only way you get paid more is if the person with the money (1) likes you, or (2) doesn’t know about the equivalent solution. We have a long history of roles, class, and standing in society. New solutions shake things up. Price is based on supply and demand. Knowledge spreads and more people can provide the solution. The word Capitalism has almost lost its meaning, but I think it is worth thinking of separately from Corporatism and Pricing. Capital is breathing space. It’s not about you, your effort, or your solution. It can morph. Corporates are just how we create barriers to protect effort. Prices are just a way of counting and communicating. All three are tools. Learn to use them and you build the ability to value yourself, rather than being priced by the market.

Life Pulses

Life can be pitched as a story of progression. In a world with salaries that promise to go up, with time and experience. With one directional promotions, as we take a step up on the ladder. A gradual expansion of the standards to which we are accustomed. Till we retire. If we accept this, I can see why people confuse price and value. Why salary gets mixed up with worth. Roles and grades in big corporations try to standardise levels of success and seniority across the incomparable. Mirroring what markets do with price. An illusion of control and sense. Markets allow us to put a number on anything if two people agree. But don’t confuse this with value, permanence, or a ranking of souls. A buyer and seller have options, and constraints. They have preferences and choices. Those change. In both directions. The problem with the corporate world is it tries too hard to mirror our class and caste structures. Our prejudices. Our loyalties. Our egos. To over time turn people into a big deal. Price does no such thing. Today’s price makes no promises. It is today’s price. What you do with it is up to you.

Up and Down

Stories that Serve

Compound growth is both powerful and dangerous. I am a believer in both localisation and globalisation. In unlearning and learning. In strong foundations and courageous stretching. Conn Iggulden is a powerful storyteller who bases his tales on as much factual evidence as he can. Then fills in the gaps, collapses characters into each other and creates a story. I think that is how our memory and sense making works. His conqueror series focuses on the rise of Genghis Khan. An interesting part of that is how connected Genghis stays with his people. The life of the leader and the life of the people don’t have multiple layers of abstraction. Genghis still lives in a Ger (a portable round tent). Part of our strength lies in the institutions we build. The Nations, Companies, and Groups that we use. But if they become more powerful than us, we need to reconnect them to the base. Stories shouldn’t be more powerful than the people they serve.

Ger

Marlboro Man

There is no point in being angry at God if you are an atheist. There is no one to direct the anger at. I am anationalist and an acorporatist. Not in the sense that I don’t believe in Nations and Corporations. Just that I don’t believe they are people. There are people that believe in them, and they have power to impact actions. But they are stories. Stories that influence the choices of others and create vested interests worth protecting. The tobacco industry loves high taxes and zero advertising. This stops new entrants and protects the lingering story of the old titans. Similarly the Asset Management industry wouldn’t be happy if the cost of investing fell to zero. To manage money for others requires Capital, a buffer for insecure income, and financing a stream of expenses. Needing money to make money protects those who already have money. They want the associated expenses as a barrier to entry. A way to prevent staff from getting ideas. Senior analysts don’t break away to do their own thing because they have fired enough junior analysts to know the lightning that started their careers has to hit twice. They know the emperor is wearing no clothes. They also know that winners tend to keep winning. Starting is hard. If we want real change, we need to empower starters.

Old Stories Have Power