Archive for November, 2006
November 20, 2006 at 8:03 am · Filed under Australia
I love living in the Southern Hemisphere, especially in November. Here it’s the tail-end of spring and you can just get to the beach on the weekend. The plants are all going bonzo after a wonderful winter nap. The sun rises a little after 5:30 am - and the birds about an hour before that. You can leave work in daylight and have tea (dinner) quite late.
The schedule sounds much like the Northern Hemisphere - except we’re doing all this while my family rakes leaves, bundles before going out, stacks firewood and prepares for winter. It’s a delicious feeling to call fresh from the beach on Christmas day and hear of their day indoors.
At times it’s unsettling. On Victoria Road is a Christmas store - selling everything at discount. To get motorists’ attention they have a Chinese man dressed as Santa Claus. He carries a brolley (umbrella) to provide some shade and has at his side a water bottle. No wonder - this weekend it was 30 degrees (85 +/- Fahrenheit) and Santa would have been sweating under that beard. Christmas trees are sold - but it’s wise to get one a week beforehand, as the trees can’t handle the extreme heat of Christmas. Ever decorate a tree in your bathers (swimsuit)?
All this I am willing to handle - especially as it is so lovely outside today.
November 13, 2006 at 4:34 pm · Filed under Australia
So many things about Australia reassure the American visitor. The clothing looks similar - we all shop at the same stores. Of course we share the English language and all saw the same films over the weekend. So it’s easy-peasy settling in Down Under, right?
Maybe not.
This month The Australian Financial Review ran an article headlined, “The US is a deceptively foreign country” (3 October 2006). Australia’s senior trade commissioner warned business people that America wasn’t as easy-to-understand as you might think. He suggested you perfect your elevator pitch and leave your sense of humour at the airport. Americans are all business.
What differences can the American expect in Australia? Australians are proud of their country and all that we’ve achieved on the local and world stage. But we’ll never chest-thump. Patriotism is a nascent art down here. There’s a thorny sense of humour that’s usually self-deprecating. Please don’t take yourself too seriously, mate. If you can’t have a chin-wag at the local then you’re too haughty for the hoi polloi. (Chin wag = Talk; Local = Corner pub).
We’re a country of migrants but we retain our primary cultural heritage to our country of origin. Australia is our geographical and heart-felt home, but ask us and we’ll say we’re Italians or Croatians or Vietnamese. The mythical connection with the bush is fading, as most live in the cities. But at heart we identify with the rural battler trying hard to make a living on the farm. Most of us can’t sing “I Still Call Australia Home” without a break in our voice.
It’s hard to summarise the differences between Australia and America. They exist and perhaps because you don’t expect them they hit you all the harder. When you go to Japan or China or Malta you expect there to be differences. Australia lulls you into a false sense of security before smacking you between the eyes with the culture gaps.
This isn’t Dallas, mate. The sooner you wise up to it the better.
November 10, 2006 at 10:09 am · Filed under Australia
On the first Tuesday in November business stops in Australia. It’s not a public holiday across the country - but workers in Victoria have the full day off. As part of spring racing season, the first Tuesday is when the Melbourne Cup is run. (Providing credit where sponsorship dollars are due, it’s now officially the Emirates Melbourne Cup.)
Don’t expect to get business done that day. You may be able to wrangle a meeting in the morning - but after 1:00 pm all serious business is put aside. The local betting agency - TAB - has record attendance. In Sydney they erected tents in the centre of town and had people queuing for 45 minutes to place a bet.
And while the race is not run until 3:00 pm, office workers and casual labourers retire to a nearby pub or restaurant to eat, drink and enjoy.
Recognising the improbability of serious work that day, I hosted lunch for the team in a nearby restaurant and told them all to go home after the race. Who wants people sending client emails after two or more glasses of champagne?
Yesterday I flew to Melbourne for business - a full two days after the Melbourne Cup. Thursday was “Oaks Day” at the races, and is also “Ladies Day.” Before the race it was common to see well-dressed women with extravagant hats trying to hail taxis.
If doing business in Australia in November, factor in a dive in productivity the first week of November. Although if you’re in the fashion industry November is a great month for sales - people don their finest for the races.
Melbourne Cup is the race that stops the nation - really!
November 3, 2006 at 4:25 pm · Filed under Australia
In the lead-up to the USA mid-term elections next week, Australian newspapers pour over every shift in public attitude. You’d be surprised at how closely the political race is followed. Yet as the world’s remaining superpower - and as Australia’s ally - America remains central to many interests.
Yet there’s a lot of antipathy.
In The Australian Financial Review columnist Graham Barrett captured it well.
“Yet while Bush remains in office the US will be possessed by a crisis of authority and credibility even as it remains for a while the only superpower; a quarter of the global economy; a military force bigger than the next 10 powers combined and at least a generation ahead in technology; more patents and Nobel prizes than any other nation; a dedication to research, innovation and inventiveness.”
Is it because it’s easy to dislike the biggest kid on the block, even when you depend on him to protect you from the real truants?
November 2, 2006 at 5:40 pm · Filed under Workplace
Why do people cycle in and out of jobs so frequently? I hate the changes of personnel in agency life. Yet it appears to be an accepted fact of life. It is terribly disconcerting.
I’m new in my role - and yes, I made a change for a better job. I didn’t fit in where I last worked. It had a conservative culture and change was talked about more than it was enacted.
And now I’m making changes. Is that causing people to re-evaluate? A sage Gen-Yer told me the other night that a new boss gets people thinking. It’s not that they dislike the direction - many appear to be jazzed. Yet it makes people question their own career ambitions. And lots of times that means change.
At the other extreme too little change is bad, also. Ford prints a glossy catalogue of gifts that employees choose from on their 25th anniversary. When I’d been at Ford five years I was called a ‘tweener - neither a newbie or a lifer.
What is a healthy pace of change?
November 1, 2006 at 6:21 pm · Filed under Australia
Australians love their sports and the sooner you come to terms with that the easier your life here will be. Rugby Union (NOT to be confused with Rugby League) is the New South Wales sport of choice, while Aussie Rules is king in Victoria. Summer is the time for the boys in white - it’s cricket season, mate! Don’t you love a sport that has a tea break? We all wore green and gold scarves until Australia got cheated out of the World Cup semi finals. And come the Olympics we cheer for all Australian athletes, but we revere our swimmers. With all this ocean we better be good, right?
But it permeates culture even deeper. Network news is still the dominant force (a bit like the glory days for Dan Rather or Walter Cronkite in the USA). After 10 minutes of local news, then a minute of international updates, it’s time for the sports. There are so many games and updates that the Sunday news barely has time for world developments.
And it goes deeper. Want a product to succeed? Add a sports star to the mix. Today LG Electronics launched an Australian first - an integrated HDV Recorder in their plasma and LCD televisions. And at the event was a V8 SuperCar driver, fresh from his victory at Bathurst. Cars and televisions - there is a link, believe me!
And one deeper. If you want to do business here follow a sport. Pick a team. I use the excuse that I’m truly an ice hockey fan The school I went to was top of the league in the sport and there’s nothing like the speed and action of a college hockey game (Go Saints!).
But it’s best if you pick a sport - any sport. And track their progress. It’ll make the idle time before a business meeting easier. Go Swans!
