kitblake/in SF on Mon, 20 Nov 95 16:38 MET |
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California. The last land of the pioneers. When they hit the sea they had to stop colonizing, so they began pioneering society itself. California is the source of new America. It is where social innovation begins. Advances made there spread to the rest of the country, hopping to the East Coast first, then infecting the heartland in between. California leads in enacting "empowering" legislation. Expanding the rights of the people into new realms. Raising the level of social consciousness, asserting the power and value of the individual. There is a cult of the individual here. Everybody is concerned with themselves, with their rights, their entitlements, their personal space. It is the ultimate evolution of democracy, an extrapolation which completes the circle, linking with fascism. Peer fascism. The center decrees the fate of the sphere. Peer pressure turns into written law. New rules are enforced by personal space rangers, fanatical zealots ever watchful of the slightest trespass. They have supreme confidence in the knowledge that they inarguably, legally right. Government is everywhere. It's not Big Brother you have to worry about. It's little Sister. And little Brother. How about little dog? No, little dog is not a problem, because any time little dog is, say, on a train, little dog must have a muzzle on, a metal face cage which insures that little dog could not possibly bite anyone or anything. Or even yawn. That might scare a child. The system works. Do a test. Light a cigarette in a public space. Within seconds, a personal space ranger is hustling towards you, arms flapping, finger wagging, "Excuse me! Excuse me! This is a No Smoking area! Didn't you see the sign? It's over there! See? It says No Smoking! You can't smoke here!" Life returns to normal. The social terrorist has been neutralized. The same pioneering spirit operates in the mental sphere. California spawned various social movements, the most recent of which is the New Age trend. On the one hand, you might think that Americans could learn a lot by studying Eastern religions and ways, but it inevitably becomes a shallow interpretation, an empty shell with just the trappings of exploration. Like crystals. "Harness the power of natural crystals! Healing energy radiates from these mystical stones!" Yeah. Guess they're reinventing science too. There's a saying: San Francisco - or LA - is like granola. Full of fruits, nuts and flakes. Just add milk. Nonfat milk. On the table there's a milk carton, and on its side, in that valuable advertising space, it reads, "INDULGE YOURSELF..." And then something about Peanut Butter Cups. Backed by the social endowment of majority decree, California has become the most self indulgent society ever created. California is the source of all self help programs. One recent trend is people are, thru various means, "getting in touch with their inner selves." A guy who works in the company - his name is Tony, he's from New York - has a friend, also from New York, and she has this great T-shirt. It reads: "I'm getting in touch with my inner bitch." Which is gender specific, but works equally well for me if I say: "I'm getting in touch with my inner creep." While on the subject of T-shirts, here's another: "I can go from zero to bitch in .5 seconds." I suppose that's in response to an oncoming creep. The blending of politics and daily life shows up especially strong in the corporate environment. Working in an American corporation is akin to being a member of the UN - it's an agglomeration of personal space nations. Diplomacy is a requisite skill, with espionage, rumor and innuendo providing the [nonfat] social grease. The three of us developing Online now comprise a separate section within the company, not exactly official, like a department, but somewhat of an established entity. We call ourselves the Online Group. During the first week we got set up, scavenged Macs and SGI's, desks and telephones, and took over an office. All that stuff was supposed to be ready for us, but you know how that goes. The second week we gave demos to upper and middle management, so everyone knows what we're developing and what connections we want to make. The chairman, Leen, gave us the authority to do what research we feel is required, which includes going to conventions, renting cars to visit companies, and the like. Settled in, the team came together. This was the first time we had ever worked in the same room, and we really enjoyed the concentration and nonstop creative development. Then the corporate power game kicked in. We're paranoid. Totally, completely paranoid. Part of the cause is no one really knows what is going on with the company. In August around a third of the people got sacked. Then in September Leen fired Raymond, the founder, the source of all the groundbreaking concepts the company has developed. Following the Apple/Sculley model, where the professional businessman takes over to make the company profitable, and eventually pushes the founder out. Rumors trickle in that the Hong Kong office might be closed. The VP of Asia, a Brit named Peter, has been spending most of his time here. His wife shows up. Taking a look at San Francisco? Suddenly everybody is very interested in Online, because it looks like Online is the one part of the company slated to grow. The new Europe Development Manager, an American named Derek, starts sending emails talking about how the WWW server will be developed. The Support Manager here begins talking to everybody except us about how Online has great support potential. And so on. We're not exactly surprised. We have a meeting with Peter, who tells us Leen has put him in charge of the Online Group. Informally. On the one hand, we know we need someone like that, because we are not business people. We're a bunch of artists. We can't paint a business plan. In the past, we had talked about who might fill that position, and Peter was the one we hoped for. But on the other hand, the company is in such precarious shape that many people are preparing exit strategies, or at least safety nets, and we had heard from a Dutch associate of Peter that he was working on setting up Internet services in Hong Kong. So we weren't sure what we should do. In a corporation, ideas become company property as soon as they are put on paper, and we weren't pleased with the situation. These ideas could be taken elsewhere, and if the company rolls over, we'd like to take them with us. The demo we did for everybody utilizes technologies and ideas that already exist, but we have plans for the next track. Some of those ideas may constitute core technologies, which is what every venture capitalist is looking for. It's those concepts we're worried about, because Peter could take those ideas away with him. To compound the paranoia, Peter brings one of his Hong Kong people over, a market researcher named Wilson, to work with us. Well, the group needs someone to do that kind of research, but we know Wilson. He's a real Hong Kong entrepreneur, always looking for new ways to make money. And not necessarily for the company. We start speaking a lot of Dutch in the office. Which is both a pleasure and a headache for me. Peter also mentions that for Online to be successful, it must be located here, in San Francisco, and inquires how we feel about moving here. We duck the issue, saying that would have to be thought about and discussed with our girlfriends. Leen had agreed that the company would pay for them to come visit. Now it starts to make sense, as I was a bit surprised that we pulled that one off. Fortunately, my friend is meeting me in New York, so I feel a notch or two higher on the stupid scale. Then some intelligence comes in from Amsterdam. All of the programmers are going to be asked to come to the States. There will be no more development team in Holland. The European office is moving to a new space, and there is only room for six people. We figure four marketing/sales and two support. At the time this info came in, Leen was over there, and shortly he made an announcement, maar het was tussen neus en lippen - but it was between nose and lips - which means that it wasn't exactly said, just indicated. But if one of the programmers didn't want to come, that answer was indicated too. We also hear that when people in the Amsterdam office asked, they were told the Online project is located in the States now. Oh really. Echt waar? Odd things began to click into place. Leen had gone to Holland to present a report to the investors about the condition and direction of the company. To illustrate the plans, a sketch had been made on a whiteboard, and Peter asked me to turn the scribbles into a presentable chart. It was so confidential that he said I should move my computer into Leen's office, where the whiteboard was, and do the work there. If anybody walked in I was to tell them to leave. Of course, I shared the diagram with my Online colleagues, and by analyzing it we could see a number of things. One was that European development - and Online - were going to be minimized in Europe and maximized in the States. We didn't realize that it would be absolute. After hearing about the new office, that became clear. Something else that became apparent was that the company was in deep financial shit. The diagram indicated a number of possible paths, sell this part to that company, sell everything to another, make a strategic alliance with this one, merge with that one. Obviously, the company needed money, fast, and would accept any solution to get it. The investors have showed up here. Leen has gone away on vacation. Middle management looks tense and meets often behind closed doors. More intelligence has come in, and we now know what is going down, but since I'm still a good corporate cog, I can't say more. It's company confidential.