Saturday, May 24, 2008

Gordon, let's admit it, you don't cut the mustard

Listening to Gordon this evening I felt that horrible cringy feeling. Oh please stop, you sound pathetic. He may have been a sound Chancellor, but, as with others, he has surely been promoted to his level of incompetence. His total lack of self awareness has lead to him applying for.......and getting........a job for which he is not qualified. He is clever, has an eye for the big picture and the detail, a political heavyweight. BUT he totally lacks any ability to communicate, where are his people skills? Whatever anyone says about Blair (and regular readers will know I am not exactly a fan), he understood about connecting with people. Brown is failing because he doesn't.

Now, at the risk of upsetting the boys, I do think there is a gender issue. In my experience men apply for jobs whether or not they think they can do them, women tend to only apply for jobs they know they can do. So, Gordon has taken on a job, maybe arrogantly believing he can do it, but without the package to deliver. But, I do believe he is motivated by a sense of wanting to tackle poverty and injustice. In which case perhaps it is time to sacrifice his own personal ambition for the greater good. But..........I am not convinced, despite the events of the last few weeks, he can see that.

10 comments:

Paul Walter said...

Yes, it's because he's a man. And also, don 't forget (what's wrong with you these days?) that he learnt Latin at school and can still remember, and indeed uses, a few phrases like in extremis and ad infinitum. That's the real issue isn't it Linda ????!!!! ;-)

Linda Jack said...

No, it's not just because he's a man! But - as I said and have tested this out over the years with both men and women, he appears to be displaying a characteristic that thinks he can do the job when he plainly from the beginning never had the right package of skills. It may be purely socialisation (and I am sure you will not deny the huge impact that has had and continues to have on gender roles and expectations), I don't know. I know what my experience has been over 36 years working with men and women in a whole host of different situations. Do you really think gender has no impact on people's behaviour and expectations? Must be because you are a man! :-)xxx

Paul Walter said...

I didn't really read your post - I just wanted to wind you up.

Sorry

Linda Jack said...

It was ever thus!!!!!
:-)

Anonymous said...

I get it, he has one eye, nice one ;)

Paul Walter said...

I have read it properly now. What you have said doesn't upset me as a man because I am acutely aware of the limitations of men - I married a woman after all. If I thought men were brilliant I would have married a man! But as a human being I am a little concerned by comparisons of gender which generalise. I have been in the same job for 16 years and have resisted three requests to apply for promotion and I took my name off the PPC list because I don't think I could do the job while keeping my equilibrium. And you could then look at women who have applied for jobs they can't do. The example that springs to mind is Estelle Morris who was the first to say herself that she was out of her depth as Education Secretary.

Linda Jack said...

I agree with you re generalisations Paul, but the danger in refusing to generalise on occasions I think can lead to us missing the point. Of course you will always find exceptions. There is always a huge overlap. Generally women are shorter than men, but there are a lot of men who are shorter than women and a lot of women who are taller than men - that doesn't negate the generality! Estelle Morris is an interesting case, I would guess she took the job on thinking she could do it, but discovered she couldn't. But, again, she was exceptional in admitting she couldn't, something that Gordon can't do. If your apparent premise was correct then there would be no differential, in which case you would have a much more representative gender spread in the workplace, politics et al. That clearly isn't the case. Maybe an interesting issue for research?!

Paul Walter said...

"she was exceptional in admitting she couldn't, something that Gordon can't do" Agreed. Generally you have a point. And women have less opportunities to be over-confident - which is a problem! But we just need to be careful. There are a lot of thoughtful men out there who know their limitations. Just as there are a lot of women who have been over-promoted - just look no further than Harriet Harman - talking of communication skills, could she not easily be replaced by above averagely articulate "speak your weight" machine?

Linda Jack said...

He he, yes I can see a wonderful cartoon coming on! And as for me being careful.........aren't I always?!

By the way did you know Jim Wallis (from Sojourners) is speaking in London tonight on faith and politics? Thought you may be interested.

Info here http://www.faithworks.info/Event.asp?id=8221

Paul Walter said...

Thank you for telling me about Jim Wallis - I am a great fan of his mainly because he put George Bush in his place!