The City is a very small world. Despite it's large populace marching like penguins back and forth over London Bridge everyday, it's like 6 degrees of separation.. you know someone, who knows someone, who knows someone.
When I watch Sky News at 19.30 with Jeff Randall, Live from the Gherkin.. see picture to the right twinkling in the Sun... I can't help but laugh as to how the city is portrayed - rolling ticker tape of stocks and shares, some commentary on today's main movers and shakers.. quite different from my experience of drinking an afternoon away in one of the Gherkin's many bars. This is the insurance district after all.. St Paul's (location of the LSE) is a good mile away. Whenever the service industries are reported it's always in generic faceless terms... Banking! Insurance! Stockbrokers!... like they are a series of bleak edifices which churn out an opinion every now and then coveted by the likes of Jeff Randall. The reality couldn't be more different. The City is a people place. Insurance is a people industry and if you want to progress to the top you need to enjoy socialising and frequently making new acquaintances.
The last 10 years has seen a clamp down on all financial services industries... more regulation and a greater need for 'transparency' as well as an actual legal statute the 'bribery act' being introduced (probably similar to MP's expenses now being declared to their constituents...) However, this got me thinking. What none of these acts actually cover are the complex range of relationships which are apparent and reflected in many day to day, year to year business arrangements...
- The nearly retired men who have worked together with each other since 1963 and still reminisce fondly over the 'English Club' and afternoon lock ins before pub opening hours were extended. The phrase 'on the back of a fag packet' stems from these days when a deal was scrawled thus. This bond is impenetrable (see first blog post)
- The 25 year plus business marriage.. alright they might not actually be shagging, but they act like a married could as they've worked together so long and the trust is implicit
- The Affair.. tricky for both parties, as usually they really can't piss each other off business wise for fear of covers being blown. Numerous and can be short and very very long lived to that point that they are known in the industry as a couple
- The Flirt.. those that feel they can move in on someone and sweeten them up with some business deal, leading to lunches, leading to wine and eventually, they hope, leading to sex
... the list could go on. Not much combatting this is there?! Yet they are at the heart of many, many deals which are done. And on the back of all these relationships? Gossip. Gossip about everyone. Gossip about someone, who knows someone, who knows someone. In an industry where companies constantly change it's not unusual that new employees to the firm are known because of some story that precedes them, rather than their business acumen... countless times have I been told of someone's arrival that I vaguely have heard of to be told 'you know, he was shagging his 18 year old junior', 'ahhhh, him!'. Basically it's who you know and not what you know. Relationships are king, regardless of the format in which they appear. And it would be wise to heed... whilst people don't remember the basics of business life.. they will always remember a downright dirty extra curricular tale..
