Wednesday, November 15, 2006

間諜秘笈: 色性丶权力丶金錢 / The Secret Spy Manual: Sex, Power and Money

Back in the Cold War years of the 60's, there was a joke going around: After spending a lot of efforts, one of the superpowers was able to obtain the enemy's Secret Spy Manual. With much anticipation, the chiefs gathered around and opened their prize book, only to find that the manual contained just one page and three words - Sex, Power, and Money. Although the joke came out in the 60's, these same three words actually have a good grip on many people throughout human history, from the east to the west, from ancient villages to modern states. Over the 5000+ years of Chinese history, from the creation of mother-earth to the present days, there have been no lack of stories about power struggles, warring states, and the beauties whose smiles toppled the Great Wall and the Country. In the western civilization, one needs only to examine the stories of Caesar's assassination, Shakespeare's Hamlet, and in more recent years the British King who gave up his throne for his beloved American Countess (which was more love than sex). We are no strangers to these stories. Even today, we still quite often see these types of sagas being played out on different international, political, and commercial stages in both the public and private sectors. It appears that in this new millennium with all our technological wonders, some human beings are still at the same stage of evolutionary development as our ancestors thousands of years ago and still have that instinctive lust for Sex, Power and Money.

6 comments:

Ruth Tam said...

So true, that's human nature.

Haricot 微豆 said...

Hi Ruth: Sorry for the delay in responding as I have been quite busy at work. I think of the three mentioned, 'power' appears to be at the top of the list in most cases, including the office environment. It is also the one that seems to be gender-neutral. I don't know whether that is your experience as well.

Kineyi said...

agreed, also in the office

Haricot 微豆 said...

And we all know the damage office politics and power plays can bring (sigh) !!

Ruth Tam said...

Not in my company and that's why I like my company. We have 2 career paths - management and sales. So, I can still get promotion and salary increase if I do well just as a sales. Many people in our company step back from being a team leader to be just a sales when this policy implements.

I guess we like money more.

Haricot 微豆 said...

Glad to hear you are with a good company that allows dual career paths and provides a healthy work environment. Apart from higher income, perhaps people also like the fact that there are less people-headaches that often come with management positions?

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