Tipping Point?

There is an old adage which says that if you are not left wing when you are young then you are heartless and if you are not right wing when you are older then you are a failure. I have to confess I have always been fairly liberal economically although I saw a thought provoking film last night called The Shock Doctrine which is "an investigation of "disaster capitalism", based on Naomi Klein's proposition that neo-liberal capitalism feeds on natural disasters, war and terror to establish its dominance". The film looks at Milton Friedman, his Chicago Boys and their efforts to implement free markets, but rather than starting with Thatcher and Regan, the film also considers Pinochet and Videla in Chile and Argentina respectively. It also extends the theory to explain what has happened in Iraq since the West invaded. Rather brutal stuff all in all. Maybe free markets and capitalism isn't all that. That thought, plus the fact that I hadn't shaved for a couple of days over the weekend meaning I had the start of a small beard, made me think I was turning into my friend Laurent.

I quickly shaved this morning, and on reflection I realised that the film hadn't even talked about the sovereign debt crisis or any of the other problems that come about from having too large a state - the film whilst interesting was very one sided. Now I'm feeling better.

Other news of the day is that the plaster cast is off, the bone looks to be healing correctly but I can't jump any horses for at least another month. Sounds like progress.

Better or Different by a Perfectionist Dad

One of the problems of being a perfectionist is that you have to change even extremely minor things to make them absolutely perfect. This can be quite frustrating for people e.g. the author of a document. It was only through talking to a friend that I realised that I was changing things to make them different rather than making them necessarily better.

One of the delights of being a Dad is that just before you go to bed you get to go in and check on a sleeping Maxime to ensure he's in a sensible position. It's a very enjoyable moment of the day if for no other reason than it's one of the few occasions that he's not screaming and running around like a headless chicken.....I would even go so far as to say as he looks peaceful.

As such I was proud of myself when I looking in on Maxime last night and decided not to move him into "the perfect sleeping position", because he was doing just fine without me. Whilst I don't think he's ready to leave home yet, it was certainly a mini victory of sorts for me. Rather bizarrely it's given me a spring in my step today - most people know it's a bit of a difficult period at the minute for the O'Brien household but I'm feeling pretty optimistic about today.

My weapon is useless and my ornament is ugly

I read an interesting article tonight in this week's Economist. It seems that, "Almost all of the traits considered to be masculine—big muscles, facial hair, square jaws, deep voices and a propensity to violence—evolved, it now seems, specifically for their usefulness in fighting off or intimidating other men, allowing the winner to get the girl." Apparently a trait is sexually selected if it evolved specifically to enhance mating success. They come in two main forms: weapons, such as an elk’s horns are used to fight off competitors; and ornaments, like a peacock’s tail, which are used to advertise genetic fitness to attract the opposite sex. My arm (weapon) is broken and my plaster cast (ornament) is pretty ugly. I think I'll go and buy Sandie some flowers tomorrow, or just remind her I spent 2.5 hours cleaning her flat in Pau - that's pretty masculine right? The full article can be found at http://www.economist.com/science-technology/displaystory.cfm?story_id=16160490

I smell a rat

There can't be many people who, on their holidays, accept to do a 3 hour round trip in the car with their father in law to go and spend 2.5 hours cleaning a flat by themselves. I must have missed a trick somewhere along the line. The most alarming thing however is probably that this hasn't been the low point of my 7 week holiday! Flat clean, sick wife happy, I'm ready for bed (don't even talk about the dirty washing brought back from the flat that is going to take all morning tomorrow). Who said it was all glitz and glamour in the south of France.....

Before I go however, something else that has struck me over the last few days is the glorious smell of various fauna that is now blossoming all around Biarritz. I don’t know why this has only struck me now….either I’m really learning to slow down and absorb life around me, or someone broke my nose, reset it, and thus allowed me to smell properly again. Whatever the reason, it’s most enjoyable and almost even helps me forget about cleaning flats.

Taking Shape

The first week at Wipro is now taking shape. It looks like I will fly to the UK on Sunday 6th, be in Reading on Monday the 7th, London on the Tuesday and Wednesday before being in Paris on the Thursday and working from home on the Friday. It's all rather exciting. It's also nice to know that someone is expecting me on day 1! I think I will also be happy to put an end to this less than successful 7 week holiday!

A few other things to share with you are that this is the 100th blog posting I've done since last March....if you like the blog then do feel free to sign up as a follower; I'm always curious to know if people out there are really reading or if I am just doing this for my own benefit :-).

I also managed to speak to Jim the QC earlier in the week. We spoke about making snap judgements and he brought up the interesting point that as soon as he had a medic or a professional person in front of them he tended to take their opinions on face value.....he stressed the words "reliability and credibility"....not sure how to bottle that up for the first 5 seconds of any client meeting in a consulting context....

And one final point is that I have now raced into Soulan Saint Lary 18 times since I got the bike trainer. I think I’m a bit sick of the Pyrenees and I’m going to invest in another DVD – the Tour of Flanders sounds good….I was always a big fan of Belgium and I'll feel right at home by wearing my Fortis cycling jersey.

France - Take 2 - Take 2

Another massive difference between the last period when I worked in France (2003-7) and this upcoming period starting in June is the fact that I now speak the language fluently. How silly of me to have forgotten this in the initial France – Take 2 posting. Surely that is going to make life simpler even if it is quite clear that the more work that is done in English the better this is for me personally.

The other thing which got my thinking about the original posting again was a conversation with a friend of my Dad’s last night. He is a senior barrister from Scotland who carries the title of QC (Queen’s Counsel) and another Francophile. He was asking my view on the difference between working in France and the UK. I shared my long held view that I felt the French were penny pinchers and fundamentally more dishonest that Brits. Jim seemed taken aback on this second point and asked for further clarification. As I started to share examples from my past, I started to wonder if the difference between the two cultures is actually not that great….not that the Brits are more dishonest than I thought, but that maybe the French aren’t as bad as what I my initial view….maybe all that has changed in the intervening period is my own level of seniority and responsibility. Maybe all of that coffee machine decision making and showpiece meetings that frustrated the hell out of me all those years ago, well maybe that’s just the way to do business regardless of location. I will be keen to start work again in June to see if this is actually the case or not. However I still believe that they are penny pinchers!

The QC also talked very briefly about his own job and his need to make snap decisions on people in a court room setting. This reminded me of the book Blink and my favourite topic of Action Units. I must ask him about that today over another homemade hamburger at my Dad’s second BBQ in two days. The summer is definitely upon us!

Catch 22 of the Day

You can call it whatever you like - a Catch 22 situation, pre-requisites, requirements...however I was reminded of a related type of dilemma today when I took Maxime to the park by myself....the number of young mothers who fall over themselves to smile, share their biscuits and help out two guys in any way possible, especially when one of them has a broken arm and butter wouldn't melt in the mouth of the other one, is quite impressive. Finally I'm beginning to enjoy this babysitting lark.

You can't keep a good man down

I have to admit that I’m feeling quite proud of myself tonight. There are a million and one things that you cannot do with a broken arm e.g. ride a bike, ride horses, play the piano, bathe an infant successfully etc. However tonight I completed a stage of the Tour de France in the Pyrenees Mountains, well sort of.

Those of you that know me know that I like my sport and need to do some physical exercise each day otherwise I’m like a bear with a sore head. I’ve done nothing since the start of May as a result of the triple fracture of my arm. However I suddenly realised that I could buy a “home trainer” for my bike and still ride my bike, albeit it in my garage.

The home trainer that I bought arrived yesterday and included a DVD of one of the stages of the Tour de France bike race. As such I have converted my garage into a virtual theatre of cycling dreams….Sandie’s car is now parked in the street, my bike has taken centre stage, the horse riding saddles have had their dust covers put on them (for the minute), and I have even taken the TV and DVD player out of our bedroom and wheeled them into the garage. Tonight I climbed two “cols” and proudly lofted my arms above my head as I crossed the finish line in Saint Lary Soulain in a pre-determined time of 1 hour 00 minutes and 40 seconds. Bliss. A nice hot shower afterwards and now it’s time for bed….I think I’ll relive the dream tomorrow morning nice and early before Maxime wakes up and before Sandie realises the TV has moved.

Morgan Freeman

A nice quote from Morgan Freeman in the film The Bucket List was "you measure yourself by the people who measure themselves by you". This reminded me of the other famous quote from William James, "Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does." Sobering thoughts for a Thursday morning.

The Pace of Life

If I had deeper skills in mathematics, greater intelligence or more patience then I am sure it would be possible to develop a nice formula for the pace at which we should live life depending on a certain number of inputs or variables that can be entered depending on the individual. Unfortunately my deficiencies in these areas mean that the only option left open to me is a rambling blog posting.

The only firm conclusion that I have reached is that rightly or wrongly, we are expected to and do live the different phases of our lives at different paces. Whilst Maxime clearly lives his life in short bursts of energy, the overall pace is a very relaxed one – it’s difficult to argue otherwise when you sleep for up to 15 hours a day. At the other end of the spectrum, I’ve recently started to think more about death (nothing to do with a broken arm and a sick wife I assure you). I remember speaking to my Glasgow Gran before she died – she seemed very at ease with the idea of her pace of life coming to a complete standstill; maybe that’s the best way to die.

It’s the bits in the middle of these two extremes that I’d like to have a formula for…is it simply a case of life speeding up through childhood, your early professional career and the moment of starting a family until your mid-life crisis; before it then slows down as you take in what’s around you, rue your lack of physical wellbeing and prepare yourself for the inevitable big red stop sign? I don’t think it’s this simple, and I also think we should realise that we are making choices all along the way, even if we are doing this subconsciously.

Thinking back to my childhood I always remember the focus being on playing football with boys who were older than you – if you were 16 and playing against 19 year olds then you knew you were doing something right. Schools often like their pupils to do some of the core exams a year early to allow them to focus on the other subjects during the normal examination year. We also always laud those 12 and 15 year olds who get accepted to university (even if behind closed doors people secretly say that such pupils must be oddballs who won’t really take advantage of all of the benefits of university life i.e. getting p!ssed with other 18 year olds). On the other hand, you often hear of people complaining that kids are growing up too quickly these days (or maybe that’s the parents who are no longer able to keep up as they wish to slow the pace of their own lives). On balance, I would say that childhoods should be lived at an up-tempo speed…anything less seems to me to be a waste of good health and free (parental) money. I’m not sure if my wife would agree – she used to come home at lunch time for a siesta during the school day….

That period between leaving home (around 18) until you start your family is an interesting one (around 30). It seems that those people who are most successful as students who are those who are mature beyond their years, and who can understand what they are studying in terms of its impact in the real world, rather than simply from the perspective of the dry 1000 page textbook (it took me 3 years at university to work that one out). Again, it’s probably wise to be a bit precocious. The same was definitely true at the outset of a professional career, at least for me. The early years were fun but a bit of a grind really – I always thought the more interesting stuff came when you got a bit more responsibility. However it’s only after 10 years of the rat race that I’ve started to realise that the pace at which you choose to live life is only in part chosen by you…..I couldn’t have the same level of responsibility at 26 as I have now at 32 – life and people (including clients) around me demand greater maturity and experience than that I possessed 6 years ago. The other thing which I've talked about on this blog is my increased awareness of the need to slow down every now and then in an effort to be an effective leader. I think this is all part of the wider pace of life question. Overall I think you can go quickly at least initially, but you can’t “bruler les étapes” as they say in France, and you probably shouldn't want to either.

I think that the idea of a change in the pace of life being forced upon you is even more important as soon as you start having a family. The little munchkins just can’t stay awake all day and they genuinely object to cold, wet weather at horse shows in November. Maybe that’s what I struggled with most at the announcement of twins – the additional loss of control over the pace at which I had wanted to live life (I always knew I was a control freak). The upcoming slow down with a second child was manageable, having numbers two and three in one go just seems, at the minute, like jumping on the breaks (a feeling that is only magnified by having a broken arm)…..

As for the period between starting a family and the big red stop sign, I’m not sure yet. My fascination with this period revolves around when people think they are sufficiently secure financially to be able to take the foot off the pedal, and how this judgement call may have to change for my generation given the sovereign debt crises that are unlikely to abate any time soon.

Seeing Double

Now that I’ve digested the news of having twins, I decided to buy some replacement sunglasses. They were much cheaper than the last pair – I couldn’t bear to lose such an expensive pair of sunglasses again, but I’m very happy with them, especially the discount I negotiated!

The real problem I have with sunglasses is that I’ve never really worn them and am not completely used to the idea yet. As such I find it impossible to casually glance at people and good looking ladies by just moving just my eyes that are hidden behind the shades – I still turn my whole head and give the game away every time.

When wearing them I am also starting to realise how much I used my eyes and that part of my face to communicate – I often find myself not saying anything, but making some sort of facial expression, and then I realise the person who I am talking to can’t see my face because of the sunglasses. It reminds me of a section in the book “Blink”, recommended by the Belgians, which talks about a taxonomy of facial expressions – the scientists Ekman and Tomkins catalogued every single muscular movement that the face could make. Each individual muscular movement was called an Action Unit (A.U.) – there are thousands of them. Combinations of action units tell a story e.g. AU’s 1, 2, 4, 5 20 and 26 or 27 are fear; disgust is AU 9 or 10 plus 15 or 16 or 17 etc.

Nice sunglasses, it’s just a shame they are stopping me from communicating.

France - Take 2

Before twins and broken limbs, one of the thoughts that raced through my mind on a regular basis was the prospect of being based in France from a work perspective for the second time. Whilst the first spell was successful in the official sense in terms of promotions etc., it became abundantly clear to me that there is a significant cultural difference between the two countries that one needs to appreciate. Second time round I’m a lot more sanguine about the idea of being based in France again. I think there are a few reasons why….

The fact that I am officially based in Biarritz (rather than Paris) gives me immense peace of mind, especially in light of the idea of multi-dimensional success. I have a greater chance of being successful in all areas of my life, including work, with a Biarritz based contract.

My role still promises to require international travel and the opportunity to work in the UK and Switzerland – I don’t feel like I’m being backed into a Blue-White-Red corner.

Make no bones about it, Accenture is a hierarchy and the culture is very much “up or out”. By all accounts Wipro is different – you can get your (financial) rewards for working well without having to get up the next career level. This will very different for me and I’ll need to get my head around that, but I think that over time I will come to appreciate the fact that I can focus on serving clients, rather than trying to work out what the next best move is vis-à-vis upcoming promotion points.

I also think that there is a good chance that the cultural difference I’ll need to be more concerned about is the European / Indian difference rather than the Anglo-Saxon / French one. I am hopeful that I will be able to bridge this gap given both my experience of the UK (which has close links with India), and my knowledge of the French culture and its people.

I’m also just that bit older (which already helps in France), and hopefully a bit more mature and less inflexible. I think the flexibility issue is key – being a bit older has brought it home to me that just because I’m an early bird, the rest of France isn’t going to follow suit just to please me….Having Maxime has also helped me become a bit more flexible…..whilst I can see that it is not impossible to have a immaculate, pristine, orderly house every second of the day, the effort it takes to achieve that with one (or three) children just isn’t worth the satisfaction I would obtain – the opportunity cost is the opportunity lost and 24/7 cleaning means I can’t do lots of other things.

So I think I am ready for another helping of France, I’m not sure if they are ready for me!

You'll miss me when I'm not there

I would have to say that generally I am in a more positive frame of mind than at the end of the weekend. That said the key things that strike me at the minute are that even though I am not in constant pain, you really don’t appreciate your health until you don’t have it – everything from opening a milk bottle to driving is infinitely more difficult with a broken arm (although thankfully changing nappies isn’t even on the agenda).

The second thing is the difference that it makes to life when you have a number of family and friends who go out of their way to help – whether it be Michel driving 90 minutes to bring me home straight after the accident, or Mum and Dad babysitting Maxime at their house, Geraldine bringing take away in the evening or Sonia just ringing every few days…..no matter what level of help people offer, life would be much more painful without them. I was bowled over by people’s generosity after Maxime’s birth, and especially because I am fiercely independent, I am genuinely humbled by how friends and family rally round and help.

The final thing that strikes me is that despite only having 75% of my limbs in working order and despite Sandie being sick all day every day at the minute, Maxime thinks it’s great to have both parents around – he’s as happy as a pig in mud. You would swear he had no idea what morning sickness was as you watch him catapult himself across the bed in the direction of his mother with an ear to ear grin plastered on his face.

Three

That's the number of times I fractured my arm on Thursday falling off a horse. Six is the number of screws they used in the metal plate to hold the bone together. Four is the number of days I spent in hospital. Two is the number of times this has happened to me (I had a very similar accident five years ago).

I have to say that it's tough to remain positive after this one - it's somewhat galling to watch your holidays go up in smoke because you don't get many opportunities to take 7 weeks off in a single go. I'm trying to see the upside...I will get to read more (I completed two books whilst in hospital including "Blink" that came recommended by my Belgian pals Pat and Bernard). I get to meet some new people who I would not have otherwise come across e.g. a 61 year old retired Commercial director from Marseille who "popped" his artificial hip. Hmmm, I'm not making a very convincing case for it at the minute.

Glasgow Gran

An afterthought linked to the previous posting is something my Glasgow Gran once said to me, "People take you at your own evaluation of yourself". Maybe that's my answer?

Value and Keeping Up With the Jones'

My most interesting thought of the day (apart from lots of obviously very technical horse riding stuff), has turned into something of a dilemma. I've always held two separate thoughts as being true. It was only today when I realised that the two seem to be conflicting. Everything started as I read the obituary of Alan Sillitoe earlier today and was struck by the phrase, "he had his own worth, and his own pride...He was nothing at all when people tried to tell him what he was.”

Thought 1: When we are young we are horribly self conscious. In mid life we become more comfortable with who we are. When we're really old we just don't care what other people think or, for example, if we look silly because we "missed a bit" when shaving.

Thought 2: We live in a world of being measured by other people or groups of people; aptitude tests, GCSEs, A Levels, University degrees, evaluations at work, promotions at work, show jumping competitions, our car versus the neighbour's car. We're even encouraged to positively look for feedback on our performance in many areas of life; surely this must have some real benefits other than just extra money or getting the approval of one person who happens to be our supervisor at a particular point in time.

So I suppose my dilemma is where should we draw the line between asking people to tell us what we are, and what we believe our own worth is? Apologies to any of you who already have the answer, but for the minute it's gnawing away at me.....

Lists

For those of you who know me, you know that I cope with adversity, complex situations and almost every other part of everyday life by writing lists. On the news that Sandie was pregnant with twins yesterday, I wrote a list of all the major things that need to be sorted out before the birth e.g. what are we going to do about our Super Nanny from the Congo - will she be able to look after all 3 of them when Sandie gets back from maternity leave in May 2011, what about our car - will it need to be changed etc. There were in fact 11 items that Sandie and I will need to agree on a solution for, once she has stopped vomitting.

I have also decided that I am going to write another list....this time it will be a list of people whose immediate reaction is to think that having twins is a fantastic idea and that it's really "cooooooool" and "gen-ni-al". So at 2AM on a cold December night when I have 3 crying infants all waking each other up, this will also be the list of people that I will ring to ask to pop over to give me a hand.

Perspective

Perspective can have many meanings. One of my favourite Father Ted episodes is when Ted is trying to teach Dougal that some cows are nearby and small, whereas some other cows are far away and large but appear small by virtue of the fact that they are far away. I really admire people who manage to achieve an appropriate degree of perspective on things. I would suggest that it is my being a perfectionist that often prevents me from achieving an appropriate degree of perspective at times.

I lost my favourite sunglasses in Spain yesterday (the second time I have lost sunglasses in Spain - I am rapidly going off it as a country and beginning to believe that it deserves its 21% unemployment rate), and that really, no, really, annoyed me. Today however I learnt a new trick on how to get a better perspective on losing a material possession; step 1: make sure you are sitting comfortably, step 2: speak to your wife on the phone, step 3: get your wife to tell you that you are expecting twins and that in 6 months time the peaceful serenity in your house will be destroyed because your family of 3 will suddenly become a family of 5. Emotions are currently fluctuating from immense pride and excitement to absolute terror but one thing is sure, bugger the sunglasses.

REM 2

It is hardly news that the world’s centre of economic gravity is shifting towards emerging markets. Buy a mobile phone and it will almost certainly have been made in China. Use it to phone a customer helpline and your call may well be answered by an Indian. Over the past five years China’s annual growth rate has been more than 10%, and India’s more than 8%. Yet even these figures understate the change that is taking place. Emerging countries are no longer content to be sources of cheap hands and low-cost brains. Instead they too are becoming hotbeds of innovation, producing breakthroughs in everything from telecoms to carmaking to health care. They are redesigning products to reduce costs not just by 10%, but by up to 90%. They are redesigning entire business processes to do things better and faster than their rivals in the West. Forget about flat—the world of business is turning upside down....Even more striking is the emerging world’s growing ability to make established products for dramatically lower costs: no-frills $3,000 cars and $300 laptops may not seem as exciting as a new iPad but they promise to change far more people’s lives. This sort of advance—dubbed “frugal innovation” by some—is not just a matter of exploiting cheap labour (though cheap labour helps). It is a matter of redesigning products and processes to cut out unnecessary costs.

Source: The New Masters of Management, Leaders Section, The Economist, April 17th 2010.