April Powers

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

More pigs

You know that I care what happens to you,
And I know that you care for me.
So I don't feel alone,
Or the weight of the stone,
Now that I've found somewhere safe
To bury my bone.
And any fool knows a dog needs a home,
A shelter from pigs on the wing.
                   (Pink Floyd - Pigs on the Wing, Part Two).

My previous post may have seemed like the ranting of someone who has suffered a bad day at work, but in truth it is the culmination of thirty-plus years of observing/suffering corporate Australia.

I believe the problem stems from an extreme form of a widespread new doctrine that I actually have a little sympathy with, and that’s the idea that “you can be whatever you want to be”. Of course we all understand that it’s simply not the case that everyone can become the astronaut or rock God that we all aspire to be, but I do like the concept of persuading kids and adults alike to do and be the best they can, at whatever level that might be.

The problem however is that we are now suffering a huge influx of low and middle level managers who genuinely believe an extreme form of that doctrine, which is that with their master’s degree in business administration, their worn out copies of Zig Ziglar motivational tomes and countless hours of viewing Game of Thrones they can and damn well will achieve whatever it takes to further their own careers and line their own nests.

And so we are at the mercy of an amoral corporate mindset in which lowly managers are hell bent on destroying their own departments and everyone within them for a productivity bonus and another one-line entry on their curriculum vitae as to how they saved such-and-such an enterprise x squillion dollars a year in operating costs. Never mind the awful trail of destruction and devastation to people’s lives they leave in their wake, or even the fact that they have destroyed the very efficiency and efficacy that they claim to have improved. No, they are 21st century visionary managers and can save your corporation/department/business/enterprise from ruin for just a few hundred thousand dollars/euros/pounds per year.

Where, how and why the basic humanity of man has been cut asunder from 21st century corporate culture I do not know, but I do believe it is a cyclical thing which will pass, but it will seemingly take another generation or two. It’s savage, and it’s brutal, and it appears to be the personification of the conscience-lacking corporate entity come to earth in human form. With no soul to damn, and no conscience to keep it awake at night it slashes and burns with the full authority of the boards of directors to whom they answer. And should one of them fail, or fall in a hail of gunfire from another tormented worker who ‘goes postal’ with a cheap Chinese assault weapon, then there is an army of replacements to choose from as the business schools and post-graduate campuses spit them out en masse with promises of huge salaries and fat bonus cheques if they sack as many people as they can.

It is small wonder then that today, a cross-training day, I took to walking the district seeking out new and invigorating trails to help cope with the senseless onslaught of a selfish, sociopathic world. And I succeeded! A trail I haven’t used for some time has been opened up to provide a couple of very useful alternative routes which will give me a decent amount of trail running, hill climbing, and can help me avoid the worst of the highway traffic on my Lane Cove National Park run. It will also help me burn off the excess venom that is building within me each and every day I have to suffer my maniacal bosses at work.

To hell with all that! Bring it on, you corporate demons, I’m ready for you! [spits on hands and attempts a menacing glare before exiting stage left, then lacing up the running shoes and heading for the beer fridge].