What I learned in Rome, pt 1

This trip to Rome (December 2011) was my first trip overseas (I had visited Mozambique before, but you drive there, and we share a border with them, no ocean-crossing needed, so this I classify as my first ‘overseas’ trip - and it’s the first time I left the African Continent in 31 years.)

Being my first trip out of Africa, and the many people telling me how much it would open my eyes, I’ve been giving plenty of thought to what aspects of my mindset have been altered or opened or tweaked through this trip. There’s been quite a few, mostly by way of observations about Home, Habits and Mindsets, and I’ll share these in a few “What I Learned in Rome” posts. Hope you enjoy!

What I learned in Rome, pt 1: Materialism is huge in Jozi.

Audrey and I at the truly amazing (and tiny!) Trattoria Sporga)

I was quite taken with the mindset I observed in the people of Rome - and this is all through observation, so I could be way off, but this is my sense: Johannesburgers are very materialistic. It makes us rush and hurry everyone and everything. It makes us greedy. We dwell on money and work a lot. There is unhealthy competition between companies, colleagues, and even friends. It makes us aspire to more and bigger and better.

That last one, in and of itself, isn’t necessarily bad - but I think we can learn from more relaxed places.

Another way this Materialism manifests itself quite badly, and I think this one can blanket the whole of South Africa, not just Jozi, is our way of viewing our jobs. I saw coffee bartenders (baristas) that were happy, content, and in their 40s and sometimes even 50s. Here, a 50yr old who was essentially a waiter would be drowning in sleepless nights and the scorn of the broader community, wondering how he can move up the world. We aren’t happy to stay the barista - we want to own the coffee bar.

Again, ambition is fine - we need it to go after the things we want - but I think that there comes a point where our ambition grows like an overfed monster, and begins to dictate the things we want - rather than simply drive us towards the things we truly want.

On a racial note, there’s a two-sided coin to how I feel this applies to us.

For white people, we need to stop viewing certain jobs as beneath us. Deny it all we like, we still see some jobs as ‘black’ jobs, and this is as much an after-effect of apartheid, as it is just the plain reality that poor people tend to have low-income jobs, and the majority of poor people for the most of our lives have been black - with a population of over 70% black people - this will sadly always be the case. Empowerment will not increase the white population - so this means your average poor person in South Africa will always be black.

But that is an aside, and I’ve become sidetracked - what I was saying was about white people, is that we need to stop looking down at certain jobs. In Rome, the 6 black people I saw were all french-speaking tourists, and everyone else, from the deliveryman to garbagewoman, was white. I’m sure that there is still a certain stigma attached to low paying jobs, but we need to move past that, especially in racial terms.

So as a white person, we need to view any and all means of bringing in a salary as legitimate, honourable and to be highly esteemed. Anything that you work hard at and earn a wage is something to be proud of - even if that means you become a white gardener, or white garbageman.

On the flip side of the race coin, my thoughts are that black South Africans need to stop thinking that big businesses are the way they will become financially secure. BEE will not save you. Taking over a fancy job at an old well-established firm is not the answer.

I read an interesting article over the holidays about the changing face of Capitalism, and the major point was that it’s small - not big. Big businesses are generally slow to adapt and innovate, have huge expenses, and have bureaucracy embedded into their culture that ensures that good ideas die on the floor around the water cooler.

Small businesses are the way to go - what I saw in Rome as the most visible creators of money were newspaper stands, run by one or two people, tiny (and even tinier) restaurants, sandwich shops, small retail shops, and the like, just about all run by their owners (obviously all these examples are in the retail sector, but I think the rule can apply to all).

Where we have such a big population, and so much need, and such a huge requirement for “jobs” - jobs are not the answer. Find out what you love, and do something tiny about it. If you like flowers, plant a few flowers and sell them and see where it goes.

Spaza shops and tiny little businesses have the power to transform the lives of South Africans, I truly believe - and I think BEE & BBBEE are not going to work - and adding yet more B’s to the front of it isn’t the answer. We need to think small.

So what does that mean for me? After all, the original idea behind this post was what I learned!

I think for me it means I need to be more aware of the culture of the city I live in. We Joburgers are much ruder than the Europeans I came into contact with - and I realised that smiling at a stranger isn’t weird, and it costs nothing to be nice to people we come across.

It means I want to drive slower. Allow people to join the flow of traffic ahead of me instead of behind me. If we want to build a society, we need to start with the people we come in contact with on a daily basis.

It is hard to smile at the cashier who’s scowling and growling at you at the Spar - but it must be done. We need to break the cycle.

For me and my business, it has reminded me to keep on the path I struck out on over 2 years ago now - I need to keep my focus on quality of life as much as income. Income is important, but so is living life and enjoying every day, because life is short and difficult.

Being more aware of Jozi’s culture also means making sure to root out the negative aspects of the materialism we’re enveloped in. We are not competing - we are living together in a city. So we need to stop comparing, we need to stop striving so much, and when we set our goals and our sights, we need to make sure that money isn’t the factor that drives our decisions.

Quality of Life is more important that cashflow.

Let’s live like we really believe that!