Client Centred Coaching - Peter Sioen

(Dutch version below; Nederlandse versie hieronder)

Today Margaret Thatcher’s funeral is held, not in Westminster Abbey, the church next to Parliament, but in Saint-Paul’s, the Cathedral in The City, the square mile. Her funeral comes 20 years after Thatcherism was declared dead. But the impact of her policy can still be felt throughout the UK and the rest of Europe today in ways we don’t realise.

At her first election in 1979 she found an economic ruin. The United Kingdom had become the weak link in Europe. British products were avoided worldwide, deemed low quality. The British economy lay flat completely at times. Thatcher’s voters had gone through a winter of strikes without services, work or electricity. Children made their homework by candle light. Many senior citizens died of cold; but barely any gravediggers were found willing to bury them. Thatcher addressed the situation head on. She prided herself on being hard, very hard. She may have saved the British economy from bankruptcy, but at a price. And that price is still being paid today, and not in the UK alone. Her approach had winners but many losers, still today.

She embraced and protected the financial world and lifted regulations. As a result The City boomed, driven by short term superprofits. But she set them free when they crashed in 1986 and saved them with money and her deregulation was free license. As such Thatcher instigated the “anything is allowed and possible” feeling that reigned over The City from then on and which drove other financial centres to behave in the same way. It is that evaporation of ethical and moral boundaries that has led to the financial crises starting in 2008. Those crises are hitting many people much harder than the 1986 one. So, the position Thatcher took in the eighties has an impact today on our bank accounts and certainly on our saving accounts and other financial investments. And also on our shrinking pension funds. Because mass profits for a few can’t happen without losses for a few or very many others.

The grocer’s daughter worked her way up to the top and helped create this new-Victorian idea of upper class, causing a rift in society. She fought hard and ruthlessly to get to the top and considered herself as such the sole role model. Thus she still has an influence on today’s hard and tough style of competing in professional arenas. The economic elite, those with astronomical wages and bonuses, populated her world whilst more and more people failed to make ends meet. She was the longest running Prime Minister so far and the only female Prime Minister of the UK. But in all her nearly 12 years in office and in three consecutive governments, she appointed only one female minister. No Prime Minister since the Second World War appointed less female ministers. As such she stood in the way of a widening of professional happiness and diversity. We are still working hard today to resolve that.

Mines were closed, but thirty years on too little jobs were created for the people who were sent off with benefits. Two or three generations later, children still grow up without perspective on a job and without the example of work ethic. CEO’s worldwide still adore here for the way she silenced unions. But the United Kingdom she is leaving behind is a country of ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’. It is the ‘haves’ that get noticed around the world and frustrate people, even on average incomes, making them feel like they don’t possess enough and want more.

She left the United Kingdom a lot less united than she found it. The EU is still reeling from her attitude, but she didn’t reserve that for Europe alone. She alienated the Northern Irish and the Scottish. The latter might be voting for independence next year.

The special relationship she enjoyed with Ronald Reagan still lives on in the British-American tandem that tries to control world politics. “When Ronnie and I ruled the world …” was one of her favourite remarks during her dinners with the elite that continued to be her dinner guests long after she was forced out of number 10.

She didn’t keep it a secret that of all her nicknames, Iron Lady was her favourite. Iron is hard; too hard maybe. It is cold. And it rusts. Sometimes slowly.

[Peter Sioen - career & management coach and psychologist in the City of London, author and international TV, radio & news media commentator and author of the management book Superyou]

Vandaag wordt de begrafenis van Margaret Thatcher gehouden. Niet in Westminster Abbey, de kerk van het Parlement, maar in Saint-Paul’s, de kathedraal in The City. De begrafenis komt 20 jaar nadat het Thatcherisme dood is verklaard. Maar de impact van haar beleid voelen wij ook vandaag nog; dat leeft, zelfs in België, Nederland en de rest van Europa.

Bij haar eerste verkiezing in ’79 trof ze een economische puinhoop. Het Verenigd Koninkrijk lag op zijn achterwerk; het was het zwakke broertje van de Westerse wereld. Britse producten werden wereldwijd vermeden. In het VK zelf lag de economie soms helemaal plat. Thatchers kiezers hadden een stakingswinter doorstaan zonder diensten, werk of elektriciteit. Kinderen deden huiswerk bij kaarslicht. Voor de velen bejaarden die stierven van de kou vond men geen werkwillige grafdelvers. Tegen die situatie is Margaret Thatcher hard in gegaan, zeer hard. Daarmee heeft ze de Britse economie misschien van een ondergang gered. Maar dat kwam tegen een prijs, voelbaar tot ver over de landsgrenzen. Haar aanpak had winnaars maar ook heel veel verliezers, tot vandaag.

Ze heeft de Britse financiële wereld in de armen genomen en een hand boven het hoofd gehouden. En schrapte regelgeving die die sector in goede banen en onder controle moet houden. Daarmee kende The City een echte boom, gedreven door korte termijn woekerwinsten. Maar ze heeft ze ook vrijgeleides gegeven en toen ze in ’86 crashten. Ze heeft hen vrijgekocht. Ze heeft hen geld gegeven en nog meer gederugaliseerd. Daarmee heeft Margaret Thatcher mee de toon gezet voor een “alles kan, alles” mag cultuur in de Britse bankenwereld die wereldwijd is overgeslagen. Het is die ethische en morele normvervaging, die ons globaal naar de crisissen van 2008 en daarna geleid heeft. En die crisissen komen voor velen nog een stuk harder aan dan die van ’86. Dus Margaret Thatcher heeft door haar opstelling van toen, vandaag nog een impact op onze bankrekeningen vandaag, maar vooral op onze spaarboekjes en andere beleggingen. En dus ook op onze krimpende gemeente- en pensioenkassen. Want woekerwinsten voor enkelen gaan niet zonder kleine en grote verliezen bij vele anderen.

Als kruideniersdochter die zich opwerkte heeft ze mee het nieuw-Victoriaanse idee van een professionele upperclass uitgebouwd, en zo een kloof in de maatschappij geslagen. Ze had zich hard en hardvochtig naar de top gewerkt en vond zichzelf daardoor het enige rolmodel. Een kleine incrowd feestte mee terwijl steeds meer mensen uit de boot vielen. Daarmee bepaalt Thatcher ook mee tot op de dag van vandaag de keiharde competitieve stijl in de bedrijfswereld. De grote heren met de hoge lonen en astronomische bonussen bevolkten haar wereld. Als enige vrouwelijke Britse Premier heeft ze zelf slechts een één vrouwelijke minister aangeduid in de bijna twaalf jaar waarin ze drie opeenvolgende regeringen heeft geleid. Daarmee heeft ze verbreding van werkgeluk en diversiteit in de weg gestaan, iets waar we vandaag nog hard aan werken om dat opgelost te krijgen.

Mijnen werden gesloten maar dertig jaar later zijn daar nog geen nieuwe jobs. De mensen werden met een uitkeringetje in het riet gestuurd, en twee, drie generaties later groeien hun kinderen en kleinkinderen nog steeds op zonder uitzicht op werk. Zonder gevoel voor werkethiek mee te krijgen. Bedrijfsleiders overal ter wereld adoreren haar nog steeds omwille van de manier waarop ze de vakbonden heeft klein gekregen. Het Verenigd Koninkrijk dat ze achterliet is verdeeld in “haves” and have “nots”. En het zijn de “haves” die internationaal in de kijker lopen en zelfs mensen met modale inkomens frustreren omdat ze voelen dat ze niet genoeg hebben en meer willen.

Ze heeft dat United Kingdom ook een stuk minder United achtergelaten dan ze het vond. Haar eigengereide Engelse houding, gestuurd door dat typisch Engelse (niet Britse!) meerderwaardigheidsgevoel, bewaarde ze niet enkel voor Europa, dat daar nog van nahijgt. Ze vervreemde ook de Noord-Ieren en de Schotten ermee. Die laatsten stemmen volgend jaar misschien voor onafhankelijkheid.

De speciale relatie die ze had met Reagan, leeft nog steeds voort in de Brits-Amerikaanse tandem die globaal de internationale politiek probeert te bepalen. “When Ronnie and I ruled the world …” was een van haar favoriete opmerkingen tijdens haar dinners met de elite nadat ze was buiten gebonjourd uit Number 10.

Ze maakte er geen geheim van dat van alle koos-en bijnamen die ze kreeg, Iron Lady haar favoriete was. IJzer is hard; misschien te hard. Het is koud. En het roest. Soms langzaam. 

[Peter Sioen - career & management coach and psychologist in the City of London, author and international TV, radio & news media commentator and author of the management book Superyou]

March has been a very special month for me, as my book Superyou went on general release in Belgium and the Netherlands (in Dutch “Superjij”); published by renowned publisher De Bezige Bij. It was welcomed with excitement and very positive feedback. The media-reaction was overwhelming:

• A 5 page spread in quality newspaper De Standaard www.standaard.be
• 2 pages in quality newspaper De Morgen http://www.demorgen.be/
• A noted appearance in TV talk show Reyers Laat: can be viewed here, I come in at about 28 minutes http://www.canvas.be/video_overzicht/215000
• A nice 2 page portrait in the largest Belgian magazine Humo www.humo.be
• A full page in the best-selling newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws http://www.hln.be/
• A much coveted slot in Saturday morning radio talk show Interne Keuken http://internetradio.vrt.be/radiospeler/v2_prod/wmp.html?qsbrand=11&qsODfile=%2Ffiles%2Fredactie%2Fherbeluister%2F11_11inke.xml (I come in after half an hour)
• A lunchtime interview on Radio 2

Unfortunately, aforementioned articles in the written press are all still behind paying walls, but should be available to everyone in the next few months.

More articles are in the pipeline, for instance in specialised magazine Psychologies and current affairs weekly magazine Knack.

As it was book week in the Netherlands last week, we decided to focus on April for promo over there. A first interview, for the largest Dutch paper, het NRC Handelsblad, a newspaper of outstanding quality, will be recorded shortly. Other media appearances have been booked for mid-April.

Superjij is available in all major outlets as well as online http://www.wpg.be/boeken/overzicht/isbn/9789085424505/

[Peter Sioen - career & management coach and psychologist in the City of London, author and international TV, radio & news media commentator and author of the management book Superyou]

The Cyprus economy has been over-reliant on its banks. Five years into the global banking crisis, it is unacceptable that it was allowed to go into such dire straits. You would think that financial controllers would be more vigilant, having learned from bank collapses and revelations of evaporating moral and ethics. Moreover, Cyprus is closely linked to Greece: So Europe’s central bank should have been vigilant and should have started clearing up the Cyprus mess five years ago or else on the cusp of Greece’s problems.

So another fire needs to be extinguished with bureaucrat top-to-bottom measures coming from a distant, cold Brussels. The plans are obviously not supported at grassroots level in hot Cyprus. Small, far, nicely tucked away near the Middle East and closely allied to Russia, I fear Cyprus may be sacrificed as a test case. As a tax haven for rich Russians, it is not any different than the Channel Islands for the Brits. Worrying is that people’s savings all over Europe no longer feel safe. Saving accounts should be the one reliable investment, a corner stone of banking for the people. It should be restored in its pre-86 glory, not eroded.

In most European languages, solidarity is a word. It is not heard much these days.

(written by request of the Evening Standard 25/3/2013)

[Peter Sioen - career & management coach and psychologist in the City of London, author and international TV, radio & news media commentator and author of the management book Superyou]

All over the world banks are still making huge profits; at the bottom of this blog you can find a sample of articles reporting on that. Still we seem to accept that there’s a banking crisis going on. The notion has now penetrated our brains so deeply and settled itself there so neatly, it is now considered a fact. It has moved into the vernacular as if it were a true given, an undeniable object like table or chair. But as most banks have reported very healthy profits over the past months, we need to wonder what this banking crisis really is and why this blanket term is so easily used.

Undeniably, there has been a cluster of crises since 2008, all related to the financial world. However we have now come to understand that some of those crises started well before that date, but were not labelled as such. It was a crisis of culture, of ethics and morals, of law and perhaps a deeper structural crisis in our banks, our investment models and speculation strategies. Those crises were typical of some parts of banks only; they were probably most extreme in the biggest financial cities. It was also a crisis of control. We are still dealing with the fall out, and we are still trying to mend the problems. But most parts of most banks, most employees in most localities were lawful, hardworking and trying to do a good job. They too are now sucked in this maelstrom of banking crisis.

In many countries, banks had to be bailed out by governments who feared bankruptcies would cause profound economic damage. They didn’t want to see the domino effect again that followed the Lehman collapse.

As most of us are still feeling from the double blow of the double dip recession, many banks and other institutions, seem to hide cleverly behind this notion of banking crisis to reinforce positions and powers, fight off legal interference, cut down on customer service and fire many people. The financial world, reeling after the exposure of their smelly internal kitchen, seems to pretend they are suffering. But profits still come rolling in. And smokescreens are erected, once again trying to appeal to the trust of their employees and customers. I feel the real lesson form the crises was that we all needed to establish a business-relationship with our banks, not a trusting one. Having some insight in the mechanisms of the financial world, I can’t help but suspecting that there are many companies and people out there who are earning fortunes on the back of this notion of global crisis, and benefit of keeping the image of crisis going. These people and organisations don’t necessarily care much about the interests of the people they make feel the crisis.

This banking crisis is not how it is presented by the banks concerned, by other financial organisms and by the press. There must be some people out there enjoying the fact that we are all misled.

Last month, Antony Jenkins the new CEO of Barclays whose duty it is to polish up the bank’s badly soiled image, announced that from now on employees need to subscribe to the banks new values: respect, integrity, service, excellence and stewardship. It is frightening to realise that this humongous bank has dealt with our money all these decades without respecting those very basic values. You would think it’s the least you could expect. Excellence is an over-used and now tired word. It reveals a tired mind. Any healthy company would tolerate their employees to have at least moments of weakness; piling pressure on already stress out people by requesting excellence only is almost inhumane. But what I miss most in all the expensive plans for change is the announcement of changes how management is going to operate, because ultimately management is where the responsibility always lies. Shortly after Jenkins announced that his people had to shape up or leave, hence suggesting some were out of shape, and at the same time as Barclays announced their Transform programme, they fired yet another 3700 people. Still, the City is reacting well. Operation image repair seems to have become a success.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/halahtouryalai/2012/08/28/what-downturn-bank-profits-hit-34-5-billion/ , http://articles.marketwatch.com/2012-05-24/economy/31832758_1_bank-profits-problem-list-bank-net-income , http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/world/337103/european-central-bank-profit-rose-in-2012

http://www.standard.co.uk/business/business-news/barclays-new-broom-antony-jenkins-tells-staff-to-toe-the-line-or-leave-8455584.html

[Peter Sioen - career & management coach and psychologist in the City of London, author and international TV, radio & news media commentator and author of the forthcoming management book Superyou]