Time flies...

Continuing saga of culture shocks in America....

Well... time just passes by - usually when you're desperately trying to finish work!
 
Work for me swings from being fun (rare), to really down and boring - I'm at the "data collection" phase of my project but it's not easy.  The more data I collect the more I'm sure we were not all that right in the past, but I cannot point things out because those who were supposed to have taken care of it are still here... so I can't say too much, else the knife will find a spot between my shoulder-blades faster than you can say "office politics!" 
 
One of the plus points is my colleague, Linda.  She is learning fast, and as one would expect from someone as experienced in the company as she is, she applies things quickly too.  It's heartening to see it happen, because I think I can hand this stage of the project over to her and move on to the other higher skilled stuff.   Such as preparing defence document in case we get challenged.  Linda is great in that so far, she has picked up a lot of tax from me.  Okay, I also enjoy teaching, and am happy to spend 2-3 hours going through concepts, and ideas, and drawing in real life examples from around the company, which she can through her accounting background, piece together.  But you know,  she had put herself through 10 years of night-school for her undergraduate degree, and then I don't know how long for her MBA all the while, raising her son and keeping down a full time job.  Got to give it to her - she is capable.  The question now is, can she take the step back from the details into the realms of the bigger picture.
 
Many people think that tax work is about filing the tax return - for most people, that is the only time they think about tax.   However, in a group like P&G, tax reaches into every aspect of our operations.   A fundamental principle of tax law is “Every man is entitled, if he can, to order his affairs so that the tax attaching under the appropriate Acts is less than it otherwise would be” – Lord Tomlin in CIR v Duke of Westminster.   With that in mind, and of course, keeping in mind the weapons the tax authorities have to counter tax avoidance, we in the tax world carry on legitimate tax mitigation.   The simple fact is, as Lord Tomlin implies, there can be more than one way of doing things: some ways can reduce your tax burden, others might even increase it.  So.  My job is to find ways for the business planners to carry out their projects in the most tax efficient way.  For instance, P&G could expand into a new country in a number of ways, some would cost us less in tax than others.  Or we could change the way we are currently doing business to achieve greater tax savings.  Even the simple thing as how we charge a fellow group company for the goods they sell could have a great impact on the tax bill, and ultimately, the total shareholder return.  The types of legal documents I have drafted, and the types of legal positions taken has led one of my friends in the legal department to look at me and say, "You live in very strange world..."  And in fact, a lot of tax planning is quite simple:  most of us save money in the bank, but in most countries, there are ways to save money which allows you to deduct the amount you save for tax purposes.  So your tax bill goes down!
 
Anyway.  I need to be able to see if I can bring her from all her years of dealing with accounting for the transactions, to actually think about the setting in which the transactions take place.  I've realised there are some people who will never be able to step back to see the bigger picture.  They know everything there is to know about the trees, but cannot tell you anything about the forests.  But there are even more who could, but have never been trained.   Hitherto I have had good bosses in my working career, who have pointed me along the way.  Let's see if I can help her do that!
 
Speaking of which  I had an interesting discussion with the Director of International Tax here.  The Tax Department is part of the Finance Department, so in a sense we are specialists within the general Finance organisation.  The question was:  am I a generalist, or a specialist within the Tax Department.   In a sense, this was a double edged sword:  P&G is like Britain of old - does not like the specialists.  Everyone is to be gifted amateurs - well rounded , but never a specialist.  If you become highly specialised, you career goes up to a certain level, and no more.   You need to be an all rounder before you are permitted to rise to the top.  So how do we as  a Tax Department view ourselves?  The Director thought that the local country tax manager was a specialist, because he or more likely than not, she, had to know all the rules for a particular.  Well.. let me rephrase that - she was our reference for what that country's laws were.  Regional tax people (like myself) were generalist:  we really didn't know the detailed rules of any country, but knew the general principles, and with these principles, plus our skills of analysis, synthesis, and the local tax manager's detailed knowledge, could solve the bigger problems.   However, some regional folk, like myself, have as special interest in a particular area of taxation, and could work equally in any other area.  However, we also had those who just worked within one special area of taxation, and did not really do much work outside that area.
 
So in the end, I think there are 4 distinct categories of people within our organisation:  the specialist who are the country tax managers.  The generalists - who do not know the detailed rules of any country, or more likely than not, have long forgotten the detailed rules of the country in which they first trained, but work on principles.  The generalists with special interests like me, who while being able to work on problems come what may, have a special interest in a particular field of practice.  And there are the experts - they only work in one area.
 
Which is an interesting inversion of the commonly held idea (based on the medical profession) that the generalists were the "lesser" part of the profession, while the specialists were the elite.  However, the distinction I think we are making, is one between knowledge (which the specialists, and the experts had in abundance) and skills - which the generalists use, drawing on the knowledge of others to come to a solution.
 
Having indulged in this philosophical discussion, the question is - are there truly a set of "lifeskills" or "universal skills" that everyone can or should have, in order to progress up the corporate hierarchy on merit?  Interesting, but I will have to indulge in that line of thinking another day...But if there are these skills, then I need to be able to identify them, and see how I can impart them.    She comes to the tax department without the tax knowledge.  I have no doubt she will learn the principles of tax necessary to function as a generalist - hey the one book I recommend most people to read is less than 200 pages - will there be a way to build on the skills she has for her to move from not being a tax person, to the type of tax generalist I am, but without spending 13 years learning detailed tax rules?  Logic says it might be possible for the right person.  Having said that, most of our regional generalists are from practice and came to P&G after years of consulting experience.   We shall see...
 
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Of course I'll have to mention the weather.  2 weeks ago, it snowed.  Yes, it was after Easter, but it snowed on Monday.   Then for the rest of the week we had glorious weather - into the 70s F or 20s C.  Then this week, it's just rained every day.  Every single day.  Oh well.  Given that the choice is between great weather, and not breathing, or rainy days and being able to breathe, maybe it's not so bad after all.  One of the biggest differences between living back in the equatorial climes and here is how we view the sun.   I suppose having grown up near the equator, the sun is something I can deal with, but will avoid.  But if you've had to survive the cold of winter, the emergence of the sun really lifts the spirits:  and I can see why those from the temperate climes would immediately flock outside, just to get the sun.  No big deal for me, but I suppose for them, it's a big deal.  Well.. the weather will really be warming up soon, and what will emerge (have seen some of it already) are... not the cicadas, who aren't here yet, but the bare or nearly bare torsos and legs.  In order to catch the maximum of sun, many dress short.  Somehow this is a country where extremes can be seen side-by-side:  the superfit people who have spent the last 3 months in the gym getting ready for this moment of revelation, and the ambulatory blobs of adipose masquerading as humans.  Call it beauty and the blobs.  If my memory serves me, Londoners behaved pretty much in the same way when the sun came out - people would sit on anywhere green and strip off to enjoy the sun.  However, most people were around the average joe and jane - neither too big or too built.   Here, it's been interesting.  The last place I recall such a display was in Central Park in New York, during lunch hour.  Having said that, the contrast in Central Park between beauty and the blob was far more stark. 
 
Trang, my ex-boss was in town last week.   Oh - I didn't cook for her.  We went out for dinner instead as I couldn't buy any fish the night before.  Okay - I did try to go shopping at 10.00pm the night before.  This is America - the land of the 24 hour supermarkets...  But no fish.  :-(   It was quite funny, the fact that I was driving her around town, when in Singapore, she would be the one who would be driving me around.  So somehow, the Asian in America drives the American around, when the American in Asia, drives the Asian around.  Hmmm... 
 
And with the great weather, we had... great pollen.  I had just washed the car on Saturday... Okay - I had just had the car washed on Saturday.  After church on Sunday, there was enough pollen on the car that you could sign your name on the bonnet.   I had to go buy a brush just to clean the pollen off as I wasn't going to go pay for another car wash.   So far the pollen has been benign... it's been poplar pollen, which I can sort of deal with - except when the concentration rises during the early evening.  Grass comes later.  That will be interesting as I am most strongly allergic to grass....  But for $80 a month, those Zyrtecs better work!
 
My ex-colleague Jane passed me a book, which I had seen around, but had never even browsed.  "The purpose driven life."  I told Linda that Jane had passed a copy to me.  I was surprised when Linda told me to read it, as she wanted to re-read it and she wanted to discuss it with me.  So okay.  Reading a book is not a problem for me.  But when I opened the book, I had a shock in that this was not just a book: it was more a work book to challenge its readers to identify the reader to uncover the purpose their lives.  All in a 40 chapter sequence.  So.  I am now embarking on this little journey.  Don't know where it will lead, but I did tell Jane that if at the end of this I resign from P&G, it's all her fault for passing me the book - and Trang was the one who brought it over to me!
 
Okay - Trang and Jane are coming over so I could ask for some refills for goodies, but I think I know what I want them to get me:  good curry powder.  I can get most things at the local chinese restaurant, but am missing some good old Singapore/Malaysian curry powder... I have some curry paste which Lesley had sent over, but that's disapperaing soon.  So  What are friends for but to be imposed upon? 
 
Time for me to sign off and get on with cooking the curry.   Which means I won't be eating it till tomorrow, as curries really shouldn't be eaten till the following day... but cook it I will have to do.
 
Until next time...
 
Regards
 

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It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities..."
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Amended on: Sunday August 01, 2004