1. Took my daughter Ruby to first-school last week. She's four and a bit but ready for it - articulate, confident and happy. We have three entry-points in Suffolk, September, January and April so she was one of only a handful of littlies. I asked her at the end of the day if she'd played with any of the children. No dada, I played on my own, but that was ok she told me. I had one of those moments and had to gather myself up, the thought of a solitary Ruby among playing others being a little too much. `But I like it, lots, dada, she continued, catching my register a little. Who says kids aren't smart?
2. Ever seen the cartoon about men and women. It depicts a bloke and woman sitting on a bed holding up placards to each other. The man's says `NO SEX = NO LOVE'. His wife's reads 'NO LOVE = NO SEX'. I have been meditating on gender relations since reading Lucy Kellaway's excellent `The Secret Life of the French'. The author married a Frenchman and moved there, had kids, got divorced but remained in France. In her book she talks about the role of pleasure-seeking in French society where it is considered a right, even among the married. While people, of course, still hurt each other, it isn't necessarily the end-of-the-world in the way it is in UK and US cultures. People still tend to stay together, even if an affair is revealed. While the French state of mind has lots of imaginary appeal, I am alas too much of a staight-laced, guilt-ridden Anglo-Saxon to ever step seriously out of line, even if I was miserable. And anyway, I am far too busy...
3. My Dad the other day advised me to change my car. I drive a 13 year old Ford Focus that looks its age and has 130k on the clock. Take anyone in that car and you'll struggle to win their business, said the 65 year old company Director with a 40 year career in sales. Today I went to see a client I hope and expect to sign up and out in the car park the deputy CEO told me, jokingly that my choice of car helped them make up their mind to use us. We're clearly not people who are bleeding clients dry, he smiled. I'll tell my dad that, I thought, as I attempted to start the car.
1 comment:
Wise move Craig; always leave the ferrari at home when dealing with tree huggers! Its a valid point you make though - my sense is that i prefer your dads view; however (as you know) I have been affected by perspectives from public sector commissioners who have occasionally raised an eyebrow at my 30k bmw (leased, but they didnt know that!). Its a pathetic scenario in all honesty and if "checking out your wheels" is one of the significant ways your customers calculate the value of your service to them then i would be concerned - maybe they need you in other parts of their organisation!
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