MUNICH — I really love meeting people with a similar career path but totally different background. Today I have had a good chat with a top businessman who used to work in German politics, and I loved what he had to say.
Politics, as you know, is bad.
Is that right?
Earlier today someone had said to me, about someone else: “Oh, he’s so political.” And that’s not a complement. It means that he’s slippery and a sycophant and all sorts of other horrible things. Because that’s what politics is all about, right.
No!
No. It’s not actually. I have also worked as a journalist in the past and politicians and journalists (in more open and democratic societies) are in a perpetual struggle to drag each other further and further into disrepute. But politics is actually quite a noble profession. And it teaches you a whole lot about the world, about people, about decision-making and about how change happens.
All of those are fundamentally important skills for business too.
My lovely dad used to say: “In this country (Canada) where we don’t have mandatory military service, everyone should have to work in government for at least two years.” And I think that’s right.
Business and politics are closely linked, particularly in this new flatter, more consultative business age.
We need more people with political skills in business. The two are inseparable. Inseparable, like…
/df
