Duplicity - Merging the work and home masks

"No man, for any considerable period, can wear one face to himself and another to the multitude, without finally getting bewildered as to which may be true." - Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804 - 1864)
I came across this quote on what appears to be a Porsche forum (I didn't want to take the time to look further) while looking for a good family lawyer and was so entranced by it (the quote, not the site) that I had to blog about it. As a Gemini, and someone who once upon a time struggled with duality in his own personal identity, this quote really resonated with me.

The quote actually reminds me of a particular incident that took place at a diversity event when I worked at the Comfy Green Bank. A British immigrant of East Indian descent (hereafter referred to as "Buddy") asked a question of the bank's US head (of East Indian heritage, let's call him "Barry") - his question went something along the lines of "how does he manage the series of masks that he has to wear between his (presumably East Indian) home self, vs his work self, in order to allow himself to succeed in North American Culture. Well, Barry shot down Buddy in a hurry, telling him (in a tone that said, "what are you, a frigging idiot??") that this whole wearing of masks thing was pure horseshit, and that Buddy better figure out who he was and be it if he wanted to move up the proverbial corporate ladder.

In my mind, Barry was a bit harsh. The truth of the matter is that you absolutely have to be yourself. Your values, your morals, ethics and all the stuff that makes up the essence of you, has to be consistent, has to carry through. Think of yourself as a drink of water - sometimes hot, sometimes cold, sometimes frozen, sometimes in a bottle, glass or other container, but no matter what, you're still H2O.

Here's hoping Buddy's got this figured out.

Peace.

Coloured? Really?

My 3 year old air conditioner broke the other day (apparently it ran out of refrigerant, so much for Keeprite quality) so I called in the dealer rep. Pretty decent guy, told me all kinds of useful info about my furnace, ac unit, and the whole concept of how an ac unit works. Being an info junkie, I soaked it all up and mentally decided this was my go to guy for any future heating / cooling issues. So I was kind of taken aback when he suggested that my last name (Wright) was kind of unusual for a "coloured" guy.
Now he'd struck me as a pretty smart guy until he made that comment. So here are the things that bothered me about it.
1. Who the fuck uses the term "coloured" any more?
2. Aren't all people "coloured" (As in that kid's Christian hymn, "Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world. Red & yellow black & white, all the colours in his sight etc...").
3. The use of the word coloured clearly shows the limited social interaction this dude has with any black people, so did I make an error in judgement by being friendlier with him than befitted what was strictly a business transaction?
Anyhow I explained that most Caribbean blacks are the descendants of slaves, who carried the names of their former English / Spanish / French slaveowners.
Adding insult to injury, buddy then went on to say that he knew a lot about Caribbean history, from the (get this) 5 Caribbean cruises that he's taken! At this point I mentally wrote off all the points that this guy had accrued.
I wonder what percentage of the North American population is this clueless?

Black Man Coming

The night is warm

Streetlights shining bright

You're walking with your lover

Arm in arm, I'm the only one in sight

your breath kinda shallow

You force a smile

Footsteps now sounding hollow

911 ready to dial

I calmly walk by

With a friendly nod, a calm goodnight

You turn to your lover and say

"See baby", they're not so bad, no need for your fright"

Pfizer justifies child deaths

This reads like a scene out of a movie.

Pfizer has been accused of conducting improper drugs trials on children. About 200 kids in Nigeria's north-western Kano State took part in trials for an anti-meningitis drug in 1996. Officials in Kano say more than 50 children died in the experiment, while many others developed mental and physical deformities. Pfizer says only 11 of the 200 children in the drug trial died. The Nigerian government's expert medical panel concluded that the experiment was "an illegal trial of an unregistered drug" and a "clear case of exploitation of the ignorant". (The original articl can be found here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6241322.stm)

Its pretty twisted when a global pharmaceutical firm does this kind of stuff. Aren't these folks supposed to be about protecting life, not destroying it? Are Pfizer shareholders really that greedy that they would be willing to look the other way to justify an additional couple of percentage points growth? This devaluing of life is sickening to witness. With all the advances in technology, medicine, and living standards, are we really moving forward? Or are we giving up our humanity with each new scientific achievement?

Thanks Man

So I brought the SVP of finance a version of my work, walked him through it, noted the changes he wanted made, made a small joke that made him laugh, then walked away to words which pissed me off to no end. "Thanks Man".

Now maybe I'm reading too much into things, but as a minority working his way up the corporate ladder, hearing that makes me think that the person I am speaking to is acutely aware of me not as a colleague, but as a Black colleague. It further suggests to me that when I am considered for a promotion, I'll be viewed through that lens. So much for "judge me not by the colour of my skin but by the content of my character " (MLK). Am I reading too much into things? Let me know what you think.

Sabi Marwah and the importance of mentoring

I read an article in the Globe and Mail last December on Sabi Marwah. Sabi is the 55 year old CFO of the Bank of Nova Scotia. More to the point, he is one of a select few high profile visible minorities (along with TD's Bharat Masrani, RY's Janice Fukakusa, AIC's Michael Lee-Chin and some others who don't get much face time) in Canadian financial services. He's also a great immigrant success story.
His success should prove inspirational to other vm's looking to get ahead at one of Canada's large FI's. Especially to East Indians, whom Marwah goes out of his way to mentor. I wonder if Michael Lee-Chin (he's the only high profile FI black leader I can think of) goes out of his way to do this. Goes to show you the importance of supporting your own as you move up through the rank and file.

Organizations like Junior Achievement are a great way of supporting your community by going out to schools as a positive role model for kids who may lack direction and feel disenchanted about opportunities once they graduate. Making yourself available as a mentor to those moving up through the rank and file is also important. Like Wesley Snipes said in White Men Can't Jump - "If I don't support my brothers (and sisters) who will?".

Bank Earnings - Take 2

So I'm browsing through the cookie aisle at Longo's today, trying to find the crackers (Eventually found out that crackers have their own section, apparently putting them near the frozen food section is a more logical place for them) - when someone comes up to me and asks me if I work there. I was a bit annoyed, because I certainly didn't think I was dressed like a Longo's employee (not to disparage longo's employees, but they don't generally walk around in dress shirts and ties)... I wonder if the same question would have been asked of me had I been white and dressed the same way (the guy that asked me the question was black).

Anyhow - on to other things.
So we're right in the middle of bank earnings season. BMO, NA & RY have reported. RY reported some frigging amazing earnings. But it looks like my earlier comment was right, since even with the stellar earnings, RY tanked. Well... maybe tanked is a bit too strong of a description, but it closed down anyhow. We'll see if the trend remains flat / negative when CM, BNS & TD weigh in. Meanwhile, my interest has been kinda piqued by OSK-N, especially since I decided it was time to get out of ECA after a nice little run up in the price. The price seems reasonable (seems to be some pricing pressure due to the JLG acquisition, as well as some pissed off employee in finance who did bad things). We'll see...