Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Destination Hardbargain

My whole life I have been, to say it euphemistically and standard, inquisitive. In local parlance, I find it difficult to mind my own business. That may or may not be true but it’s at least characteristic, you’ll see.

I have been trying to manage some information: I, who in a sense bastardised the Soca line “no behavior we winin’ with no behavior” and came up with “full disclosure we winin’ with full disclosure”, this week began Post Graduate studies. The excitement was fleeting but real.

I have embarked on an International Masters in Business Development and Innovation at the Arthur Lok Jack Graduate School of Business, University of the West Indies. I have never had an interest in studying business.

I like many who grew up in the 80’s thought Corporations were the enemy. True to form we as a world, in the main are now united by brands, be it Puma, Sony or Apple. They have come to speak for us. Puma with its developing world chic, Sony as the original East meets West bridge or Apple as a singular statement of modernity and beyond. The point is that globalization is in part facilitated and achieved by global brand identification. It is unifying and that is good.

Big fish eat small fish, though, and in the idealism of adolescence as we all sought to define and express our individuality anything that threatened that was the enemy. Business is in part about negotiation and as the years have worn on, some of us would like to think that finding that Nike that no one else has or using our technology on our own terms means we too win even as these mega corporations become as visible as they want to be.

So yeah, I’m doing my Masters in a field I have little formal knowledge in and one that has always felt foreign to my sense of self. I’m arts and letters not science and numbers.

After ten years on the airwaves and no interest in Business Journalism as a specialization I feel very confused, that’s the truth.

You have such a great voice they say, a reminder that folks are comfortable with me being on the radio. On my end I must admit to feeling as if I have a relationship with my network’s listenership, its an inherent part of the job. I wonder if this marks the beginning of our end, not knowing where this course of study will lead. It causes me anxiety, not a matter to be taken lightly.

The possibilities are endless really and promising. I think of qualified architects who transition so well to the career of fashion design.

As I admitted I have trouble minding my business, maybe this will make me perfect for consultancy.