- Home
- Smartmoney
- Living the Life (1)
Living the Life (1)
- By Cordelia Onu 07025594849
- Published March 15th, 2010
- Smartmoney
- Unrated
“ALL the world’s a stage”, says Shakespeare and he had my present world in view while writing that. He meant it literally in my case. There is a full theatre on here and in all other small businesses at all hours. The show is quite entertaining and original for the mere fact that there are no rehearsals. It is often so theatrical here that you would mistake some of it for movies if someone were to catch the actions on tape which is why many abandon ship. You won’t cope without a good sense of humour and a system that can imagine all things, believe all things, forgive all things and get used to all things. Nothing shocks you after a spell here. You have a nerve of steel.
There are quite a few people I know who swore they will never get used to the life. One said he is convinced ‘normal’ folks will brand him mad if he ever begins to consider the life as normal. It is a warped way of living and seeing the world, he insists. For me, it is a way you get used to if you must move on; why insist on the impossible when you are not likely to get your wish. Whoever said the life is really abnormal? It looks to me like a crude form of life in the big corporations of this world. If we here were to all have some good dose of formal education, dress in a corporate manner and talk glibly, we would have been doing exactly the same things but greatly refine our methods and often do full dress rehearsals pending the real show.
It didn’t take much time to get fully initiated into the life; I was working at an extra-exciting job. No two days were alike for me then as it is now. There was no break in the parade of surprises and sudden twists and turns and so I simply continued the life but in a crude setting. There are the happy days and times, the very gloomy periods, the alarms, the play periods and the evil days but there is no lack of excitement. Even the not-so-good periods often provide reason for much laughter when you review the events later.
The most important thing in my view is that one must extract the necessary lessons from each occurrence and also learn to have a sense of humour and thereby find reason to laugh daily despite everything. The truth is that there is reason to laugh when we are not all jousting to see who keeps the bulk of the money coming in. By ‘we’, I mean my sales staff and I plus government agencies and mechanics.
There are often reasons to laugh if you can just convince yourself that you are not dealing with extraordinary people and situations. The situation here is as normal as could be. The reason a new comer gets alarmed is that he or she may not have been so deeply involved in handling corporate squabbles and intrigues and all that in a former life to the extent of seeing how rough the play and drama could get.
It is true that a few things get to you but over time you learn to work your way round some of the most annoying aspects of the life. There is this thorny issue of micromanagement in which you are expected to closely watch the goings-on in the business. It is an issue that many never get a solution and so gripe over it up to the extent of quitting in frustration. It is a hard life but then micromanagement is present in every setting where there is dishonesty and little trust; that describes just about all organizations.
The difference between my life as a micromanager and that of the chief executive of an A-list company is that we adopt different ways of closely watching everything. I am often expected to be there physically but the other man watches everything with electronic eyes. Ever been inside the commodious suite of a chief executive who travelled outside the town or country where his company is located? His office at the headquarters is quickly replicated and in twenty minutes all sorts of communication gadgets are up and he commences the running of the show from that location.
The people are another matter entirely but then that would only pose a grave situation if you don’t learn to abide by simple rules of personnel management and human relations. After many sad experiences, I have learnt to live in relative peace and harmony with the people I work with. Initially, I wondered, often aloud, how on earth anyone is expected to live with my staff but not anymore. I had to step down a few expectations before I could take the situation.
One thing though is that I insist on a youthful workforce. I refuse to work with anyone who has ceased to dream! I prefer young people who still have plans and who don’t think it is all over. This decision has its own implications like I have to accommodate their dreams and wish them well whenever they decide to move on. It means I have to change work plans to fit the schedule of staff who wish to sit for exams, go for evening lessons or undertake part-time courses in tertiary institutions. It is hard to manage but then it is a duty to help them realize their own dreams even as they help me with mine to the best of their ability.
The young are also often a handful especially when you are not exactly too young anymore. The hairstyles and general boisterousness used to be a problem but then that is the young and I have come to laugh at the fads like the recent craze for dreadlocks among my sales staff. One by one, they all adopted the hairstyle to my amusement since I know the second quarter of the year will likely usher in another style. I often wish the ladies in the workforce are as trendy as the males; at least I would get to know the latest things in girlie styles and avoid being described as ‘old fashioned’ by the kids.
Life with them means pausing to remember they are still young and also considering that they may not know any better. It means remembering that even I could not have done better if all the years of formal education and other valuable experiences were wiped off. I didn’t see things this way initially and that was counter-productive. It is not all altruism also. It is a basic truth that except for a few hopeless cases, people will help you achieve your own goals if you also help with theirs. Helping them is therefore good for business.
There are quite a few people I know who swore they will never get used to the life. One said he is convinced ‘normal’ folks will brand him mad if he ever begins to consider the life as normal. It is a warped way of living and seeing the world, he insists. For me, it is a way you get used to if you must move on; why insist on the impossible when you are not likely to get your wish. Whoever said the life is really abnormal? It looks to me like a crude form of life in the big corporations of this world. If we here were to all have some good dose of formal education, dress in a corporate manner and talk glibly, we would have been doing exactly the same things but greatly refine our methods and often do full dress rehearsals pending the real show.
It didn’t take much time to get fully initiated into the life; I was working at an extra-exciting job. No two days were alike for me then as it is now. There was no break in the parade of surprises and sudden twists and turns and so I simply continued the life but in a crude setting. There are the happy days and times, the very gloomy periods, the alarms, the play periods and the evil days but there is no lack of excitement. Even the not-so-good periods often provide reason for much laughter when you review the events later.
The most important thing in my view is that one must extract the necessary lessons from each occurrence and also learn to have a sense of humour and thereby find reason to laugh daily despite everything. The truth is that there is reason to laugh when we are not all jousting to see who keeps the bulk of the money coming in. By ‘we’, I mean my sales staff and I plus government agencies and mechanics.
There are often reasons to laugh if you can just convince yourself that you are not dealing with extraordinary people and situations. The situation here is as normal as could be. The reason a new comer gets alarmed is that he or she may not have been so deeply involved in handling corporate squabbles and intrigues and all that in a former life to the extent of seeing how rough the play and drama could get.
It is true that a few things get to you but over time you learn to work your way round some of the most annoying aspects of the life. There is this thorny issue of micromanagement in which you are expected to closely watch the goings-on in the business. It is an issue that many never get a solution and so gripe over it up to the extent of quitting in frustration. It is a hard life but then micromanagement is present in every setting where there is dishonesty and little trust; that describes just about all organizations.
The difference between my life as a micromanager and that of the chief executive of an A-list company is that we adopt different ways of closely watching everything. I am often expected to be there physically but the other man watches everything with electronic eyes. Ever been inside the commodious suite of a chief executive who travelled outside the town or country where his company is located? His office at the headquarters is quickly replicated and in twenty minutes all sorts of communication gadgets are up and he commences the running of the show from that location.
The people are another matter entirely but then that would only pose a grave situation if you don’t learn to abide by simple rules of personnel management and human relations. After many sad experiences, I have learnt to live in relative peace and harmony with the people I work with. Initially, I wondered, often aloud, how on earth anyone is expected to live with my staff but not anymore. I had to step down a few expectations before I could take the situation.
One thing though is that I insist on a youthful workforce. I refuse to work with anyone who has ceased to dream! I prefer young people who still have plans and who don’t think it is all over. This decision has its own implications like I have to accommodate their dreams and wish them well whenever they decide to move on. It means I have to change work plans to fit the schedule of staff who wish to sit for exams, go for evening lessons or undertake part-time courses in tertiary institutions. It is hard to manage but then it is a duty to help them realize their own dreams even as they help me with mine to the best of their ability.
The young are also often a handful especially when you are not exactly too young anymore. The hairstyles and general boisterousness used to be a problem but then that is the young and I have come to laugh at the fads like the recent craze for dreadlocks among my sales staff. One by one, they all adopted the hairstyle to my amusement since I know the second quarter of the year will likely usher in another style. I often wish the ladies in the workforce are as trendy as the males; at least I would get to know the latest things in girlie styles and avoid being described as ‘old fashioned’ by the kids.
Life with them means pausing to remember they are still young and also considering that they may not know any better. It means remembering that even I could not have done better if all the years of formal education and other valuable experiences were wiped off. I didn’t see things this way initially and that was counter-productive. It is not all altruism also. It is a basic truth that except for a few hopeless cases, people will help you achieve your own goals if you also help with theirs. Helping them is therefore good for business.
