Once Were Managers

Once Were Managers?

It is a corporate world we live in these days. To rush around in a sharp suit with one hand on the cellphone and the other on the steering wheel is no longer considered the sole prerogative of the yuppie. Indeed I would consider myself a toby - too old to be a yuppie!

Pace must be furious in the 90's.If it is not then your boss will be and then there will be hell to pay, not to mention the mortgage. To be performing at the speed of sound implies both assertiveness, motivation and fuels the theory that "winning is everything".

We pretend that the greed of the 80's is behind us and that we care for and about each other. More I imagine that as there is less around, we had better change our image. If Banquo finds out what Macbeth is up to then there will be more damn spots than you can shake a stick at.

Cynical, I hear you say. Honest, I would reply. When I was a child I was told never to tell lies and that honesty was the best of all policies. Over the years I have taken the middle ground on most issues. I would utter the smallest, whitest untruths. No harm done?

In order to keep pace one has had to sacrifice ones principles. As a child I remember popping along to my local sports shop to purchase international rugby tickets. What a thrill for a small boy to actually grasp those tickets and know that he would soon see his heroes in the flesh. Those amateur sportsmen who sacrificed so much to play a game, to wear their country's colours.

If ,as I have been many times, you are one of the privileged who are either giving or receiving corporate hospitality then the thrill continues. If not, then if you have Sky television or know someone who does then you may be able to see the game on the box.

Have we gone full circle? There was a time when nations like England were controlled by well meaning gentlemen who believed in the Olympian spirit of taking part. Honour was the key. Pride in your country and it's heritage. They were privileged and had money but some believed, perhaps naively that they could run the world with honour.

As we all know, money is power and it makes the world go round. Nowadays, if you have made a fortune you will accord more respect than if you were born with it. With that I do not disagree but honour has been replaced with the need for glory at all costs.

When Queen Elizabeth II dies then it is likely that her son and heir will not take the throne. A man ridiculed by the media for his passionate belief in his heritage albeit one that has destroyed his very soul. To speak out against his father, his wife, and his countries architectural decay has branded him just a fool who talks to plants. Fool maybe, but not without honour.

As I sit here in my dressing gown, with one hand on my coffee cup, one on the Sky remote control, an ear on CNN news and an eye on the post box, I wonder whether at my age I should lose a little innocence and bullshit my way back into corporate heaven