There’s a very famous quote from John F. Kennedy. Most of you are probably familiar with it whether you’re in the US or somewhere else. …ask not what you’re country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country.
This line kept repeating in my head today, and I’ve had the last four hours to analyze and pick it apart. With each passing minute, I’ve gotten more intimate with the meaning, with what lays between the lines, and have decided we are now friends. This quote and I.
I’ve worked for a handful of large corporations over the last sixteen years. I’ve been through at least five mergers/buy-ups with these various corporation. In case anyone ever tries to tell you otherwise – a merger is a buy-up. It’s not a marriage, it’s an adopted parent/child relationship, regardless of how its spun.
Another thing I’ve been to with at least the last four out of five companies is large meetings which exist to share the company vision with all the peaons. Should I phrase that differently? Probably. Depending on upper management, they don’t all feel that way about the rest of us underlings, but for the most part we’re minions.
We had one of these meetings today. I also attended one of these meetings almost exactly a year ago, for my last company. On the surface they were both the same. They had both decided to go with the red carpet “Everyone is a star” theme. Which meant two things (look, bulleted list):
- HR employees snapping everyone’s pictures as they filed into their seats
- The snacks were popcorn and water (which means cheap refreshements and entertainment if you’re keeping track)
The similiarities didn’t stop there(no bullets this time). There were slide shows in each. Company produced films (new company is about a million times better at those). Key note speakers who were upper members of management. Little intermissions where specific minions were recognized for their outstanding accomplishments. Etc.
The biggest surface difference (besides the fact that I had to fly to Nashville for one, and got to go to work an hour late and drive a whole five minutes from my house for the other), was that in Nashville, we got caught in a tornado warning. We could hear thunder, lightning, and rain the entire time. It’s Novemeber here, and it’s 65 degrees and sunny outside and gorgeous.
But the weather reflects the underlying meaning in each presentation. In case I haven’t painted enough of a picture for you yet, these meetings are the four hour long version of a Tony Robbins infomercial. All of them. There’s no escaping it. So reading between the lines is the best way to keep entertained.
Which brings me back to the JFK quote. Theme for last year’s meeting pretty much reflected that quote. It was four hours of “This is what you can do to make the collective more successful.” Mmmm…Borg. You will be assimilated.
The message today? “This is what we’re going to do for you because without you, we’re not successful.”
Subtle difference, but if you look closely, you’ll see it. And since I’ve restricted myself from talking about the writing process, I won’t connect the dots here, but be assured that over the rest of the month, I’ll drop enough hints to allow you to do so. I suspect as creative writers, you can all draw your own parallels – I’d love to hear them ^_^