Invisibility and 'Invibecility'………..
Although at this stage of my life I could very well write a book on Corporate behavior, the first chapter of which would be 'On Flora and Fauna', fecund soil for enjoying describing the type of top management you tend to encounter in almost every corporation, I would just like to make a note on my host country's approach to the 'human angle'.
As I am not going to fall into the trap to start writing my book now, I will refer to one aspect only, as follows.
In general, most top executives wonder around the office's corridors looking somber and pensive (in the sense that people would think about the poor chap's brain heat as the grey-matter melts in the constant generation of brilliant ideas and good/careful decision-making), cross employees' 'parallel ways' without blinking or even acknowledging their presence. Some staff, young, inexperienced, naïve and/or respectful, still tend to fall into the 'Pavlovian' reflex of uttering some sort of greeting, just to be, as usual, met with indifference.
In my view, this 'invisibility' is not in the least due to the fact that the 'Masters of the Universe' do not use spectacles (frames or contact lenses), but because of the sheer terror of being forced to stop and exchange a few words and eventually be forced to answer one or two questions the 'bar-coded' may ask. The latter, far from what they imagine their superiors to be, may discover that there is not much brain and/or find that the expected capabilities, skills and knowledge of top managers is in fact quite poor….
It is so nice and rewarding to see, in my host country, not only top management but all staff, particularly men, stopping in the corridors, meeting each other with a 'hello' and with a handshake. Interestingly enough, this happens even if you meet the same person a few times during the same day (provided that you are not crossing your ways back in the next hour or so….).
Fascinating experience. Something that tells that, despite of the fact that in this culture being powerful and/or resourceful has to be clearly stated, people still understand that, in the art of life per se, we are all equal when it comes to 'basic' needs…...
Note that, being a top manager, I have included myself in the lot so that this generalization (by default as stupid as any other…) will not appear to be discriminatory in my judgement.
Have a great day !
As I am not going to fall into the trap to start writing my book now, I will refer to one aspect only, as follows.
In my view, this 'invisibility' is not in the least due to the fact that the 'Masters of the Universe' do not use spectacles (frames or contact lenses), but because of the sheer terror of being forced to stop and exchange a few words and eventually be forced to answer one or two questions the 'bar-coded' may ask. The latter, far from what they imagine their superiors to be, may discover that there is not much brain and/or find that the expected capabilities, skills and knowledge of top managers is in fact quite poor….
It is so nice and rewarding to see, in my host country, not only top management but all staff, particularly men, stopping in the corridors, meeting each other with a 'hello' and with a handshake. Interestingly enough, this happens even if you meet the same person a few times during the same day (provided that you are not crossing your ways back in the next hour or so….).
Fascinating experience. Something that tells that, despite of the fact that in this culture being powerful and/or resourceful has to be clearly stated, people still understand that, in the art of life per se, we are all equal when it comes to 'basic' needs…...
Note that, being a top manager, I have included myself in the lot so that this generalization (by default as stupid as any other…) will not appear to be discriminatory in my judgement.
Have a great day !
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