If you read the comments on Martin Varsavsky’s recent post about some wealthy person robbing Martin’s iPhone (Los Ricos también Roban in Spanish) you will witness one of the most depressing characteristic of my native Spain.
In the comments, many people display how they believe that business is always a zero sum game, and a dirty game at that. The idea is as follows: “If someone is rich, (s)he must have stolen from the poor”. This idea is quite widespread across the country, and many of the comments suggest that, “of course all business men are robbers”, and “Martin you are naive because among business people you are among robbers, of course someone stole your iPhone”
I am not naive enough to believe that ALL rich and/or business people are natural do-gooders, a flock of angels; but a majority of them are good hard working ambitious people. And, of course, there are the occasional bad apples, as in all groups in society.
Unfortunately, these attitudes are quite bad news for the country and for anyone who loves business like I do, who enjoys it, and who believes it is a fundamentally positive force in today’s society. It creates multiple negative outcomes:
* Many talented people prefer to stay away from business. Few in Spain agree with the view that “business is good for society”, specially at a younger age, and few smart people choose a career in business.
* People, in general, display a passive-aggressive attitude towards business. “We consume your products, we want a good job at a stable organization, we love the low prices, but businesses are fundamentally evil!”
* In consequence, many people working in business have a passive-aggressive attitude towards their work.
* Because business is seen as dirty, many people don’t know much about how they work, therefore remain financial illiterates and do not upgrade their skills (”why? to learn more and do more evil?); this affects the country’s productivity (EU15’s lowest productivity per hour) and because of illiteracy, all business news are portrayed in a negative light in the media.
* In my view, the previous passive aggressive attitude to work, creates a vicious circle of low motivation and the preponderance of the “ugly manager”, whose work is to “scare/force people into work”; this promotes bad managers and bad management practices and reinforces the negative views. But the fact is that a “positive reinforcing manager” might not generate as many results, because some people don’t want to work per se… (Good news MBAers: Leadership skills are sought after in Spain!)
* Businesses and business-people have a bad social reputation. Who wants to be labeled as a rogue robber? Therefore many successful business people try to stay as anonymous as possible. No Forbes or Fortune equivalent in Spain!
In all fairness, the situation is not as bad as I am describing (and quite a bunch of comments on the original blog just show support to Martin). But comparing attitudes with other countries (US, UK, Scandinavian, Germany) the differences are shocking! So many Spaniards are anti-business despite the fact that they work at them, buy at them, etc…! Businesses are a fundamental part of people’s life, and Spaniards’ attitudes show a fundamental mismatch between the reality and their ideas!
I guess this post explains pretty well why I am ambivalent (read reluctant) to return to Spain. In the USA, an entrepreneur is a hero, a creator of jobs and wealth! In the UK, a good corporate citizen (as long as she is green and CSR compliant). In Germany a pillar of the community. In Spain,… … Well, a “rogue robber” is a mild way to put it.
So why should I return to Spain? It must be the food and the sun, because to be seen as a rogue robber… Not for me, really!
August 8th, 2007 at 4:42 pm
Hi, Patxi!
I agree with you in some extent. A friend of mine used to say that’s the heritage of centuries of steely Catholicism, with the ideas of “don’t let your left hand know what your right hand does”, and so on. That’s why business and, by extension, anything related to money is absolutely taboo: how much do you earn, where do you earn it, etc. According to him, in the countries with a Calvinism tradition, whith its idea of redemption through hard work, people is much at ease with the fact that they do business, and money, and that is it.
However, the general identification that Spaniards do between businesses and robbers may be justified, in some extent, by the devastating corporate landscape that Spain offered some years ago, or at least, the image of it offered by the media. After all, the “cultura del pelotazo” is a genuine Spanish invention, and, to a greater or a lesser degree, many of the “big riches” in Spain of the previous decade have had problems with Justice…
August 9th, 2007 at 9:53 am
Hi Esther!
Thanks for your comment. The origin of these ideas is also a fascinating subject. In my original post, I wanted to focus on describing the situation now.
I fully agree with the wiew the religion and moral history of the country plays a huge role.
With respect to the “cultural del pelotazo”, I have to disagree with you. While there are bad apples, and those get all the publicity, there are plenty of anonymous and successful business people in Spain.
Most of them have had no serious problems with justice, but they don’t get to the headlines…
Frankly, I suspect the country does not want to hear about successful entrepreneurs or investors, as most of them see it as an “in your face!” kind of declaration, that might make feel some people inferior. After all, there are perfectly legal ways to riches that require talent, instinct, hard work, discipline and a bit of luck… but those resources are, of course, difficult to come by!
Envy runs so high in the country’s cultural DNA!
August 9th, 2007 at 5:08 pm
Very interesting post my friend.
It is interesting to see how so many of the things you say about Spain would fit the Italian view of business just as well, which makes me thing that perhaps you are describing a southern european attitude, rather than just a Spanish one?
Only I really don’t understand one of your points:
“In consequence, many people working in business have a passive-aggressive attitude towards their work”
ciao Patxi.