Multi-billion dollar deal? Hold my beer!

Deal with it: Internet opinions: just because you have one does not make it valid

Lolcats, Bubble Spinner, Dolphin Olympics, Epic Fails and universal mockery of the formerly respected, activist turned streaker “Kony 2012” orchestrator, Joseph Russell. The Internet has allowed for the creation and distribution of an amazing variety of unique and, well, “culturally significant” materials.
On a less important note, the Internet has also made it so that any and all opinions, thoughts, mentalities, treatises and, of course, rants can be broadly and instantaneously shared.
While exposure to a diverse range of views can be eye-opening, most of these views, frankly, are worthless conjectures.

Deal with it: Entrepreneurial high hopes post-graduation are misguided

In April 2012, a 27-year-old nobody named Kevin Systrom picked up a check for a cool $400 million. He and a friend founded a company just two years prior that not only allowed people to share pictures of really uninteresting and generic foliage, but also apply fun “filters” to the images in a vain attempt to disguise their flagrant mediocrity. By now you may have realized that Systrom was one of the inventors of Instagram: the photo-centric social media platform bought by Facebook for $1 billion in April 2012. While I actually harbor no ill will towards Systrom or Instagram, I believe that such incredible success stories distort people’s perceptions of the entrepreneurial and start-up sphere.
Though being the next Systrom, Elon Musk, Richard Branson or CEO and co-founder of Bubba Gump Shrimp is a favorite aspiration of the two-beers-deep college student, it is not a smart path to pursue directly out of school. Self-employment or running one’s own business is a great endeavor for later in life. Recent graduates, however, would be better off building a solid reputation while accumulating real experience along with a host of professional connections in well-established firms and organizations.
Consistent readers of my column—Mom and Dad—know that I harp ad nauseam on the importance of business relationships. Mostly for my own sake, I will not continue beating the long dead horse. Suffice it to say, strong ties with colleagues across an industry can mean the difference between founding the next Amazon and being relegated to the overflowing “Page Not Found” trash heap with the other broken dotcom dreams.

Deal with it

Multi-billion dollar deal? Hold my beer!

This piece represents the opinion of the author:

Will Powers

Columnist

October 24, 2013

People are always looking to justify their alcohol consumption: “It’s heart-healthy,” they say. “But my doctor said in moderation…” “It’s just one beer/glass/handle.” “I have to hydrate somehow!”
Let’s be honest, we all know the purported health benefits of alcohol are complete nonsense. If you think this is about to turn into a pro-sobriety rant, relax and take another sip of your Friday Thorne-brunch mimosa. I am here to argue that alcohol and social drinking have, and will continue to be, essential to the functioning of both the business and political worlds.

I have written previously that business deals are built on personal relationships and that facilitating and creating these connections is key to success. I stand by this and, bear with me here, submit that social scenarios are what really build these relationships. If college has taught us anything, it is that alcohol is a popular compliment to (and often the focus of) these social situations.

JSTOR has a shocking number of studies (more than zero) regarding the effect of alcohol on groups of professionals. One article cites how certain cultures create trust through drinking rituals. The Chinese commonly begin professional drinks with a toast to friendship, dual prosperity and the like, and finish with the phrase “ganbei”—or “bottoms up.”

There is nothing lost in translation: throw your Brooks Brothers’ tie over your shoulder and chug. While the act of participating in what is usually a series of toasts is most important, the subsequent communal intoxication afterwards can make or break a business deal.

Koreans, for example, place considerable emphasis on drinking games and loud, off-key singing (the worse the performance, the better the time). Those who do not partake in these events are seen as reserved and distant—poor prospects for a positive and casual relationship.

So what is it about drunkenness and general asshattedness that is so complementary to business functions and conversation? Most obvious is the loss of inhibition and social anxiety that alcohol provides. All of a sudden even the dullest topics provoke intense curiosity and discussion. People bond and form crucial social capital over the most frivolous matters.

A nice buzz tends to increase the overall amount of conversation and thus more information is shared. If some of that information is revealing or embarrassing, the vulnerability expressed shows that the speaker is willing to place trust in a potential business partner and their rapport strengthens. Intoxication tends to break down social strata as well. Superiors and employees are able to exist on a more equal level with a greater degree of camaraderie after a round (or several) of jägerbombs.

The Japanese have formalized manager-worker social drinking in a practice known as “tsukiai.” In these after-hours events, bosses give candid, often harsh, feedback that is blunted by a relaxed and drunken haze.

Finally, alcohol makes everyone more willing to compromise. I hope I do not need to explain the value of settlement after last week’s budget and debt fiasco. Columnist David Steury touched on Washington’s “bourbon rule,” or the bonding of American legislators over drinks and poker. Maybe the House should look into installing a permanent margarita mixer.

Of course, excessive consumption of alcohol ruins negotiation prospects and can even undermine them, as during the 1970’s SALT II Treaty. In these discussions drinking was near-constant (Americans had drank whiskey, and Russians vodka, for those interested). The Americans, due to their inability to hold their liquor, accidentally gave away a few sensitive state secrets, which hindered the agreement process. The deliberation over actual details should be undertaken in a state of sobriety, or at least a very low BAC. But relationship building? Debate over contentious, but very general matters? Ganbei!

FDR said it best, “What America needs now is a drink.” I would suggest instead, “What business and politics (almost always) need now is a drink.”

Comments are permanently closed.