Age-discrimination in reverse

Called into a meeting with Managing Director Trevor Bush to discuss a new corporate folder (which will be used to send out letters, quotations, product specification sheets etc). Normally a project of this kind is a long, drawn-out exercise, with many different opinions about what is required and what it should look like. I went into the meeting feeling it was the first step in what would be a long journey (and one that ultimately might come to nothing, as the project became stalled and then failed from lack of agreement).

This was not the case however. The proceedings were very brisk, with decisions being made swiftly, one after another. As well as Trevor Bush, the two Regional Sales Managers (Mark Miller in the north and Craig Wymer in the south) were at the meeting, sitting side by side at the oblong table. On an adjoining desk (we were in Neil Hancock’s office) sat my assistant Antony Fraser (I had taken him into the meeting in case I later needed a second opinion on what had been agreed).

They had a visual on the table, a mock-up of what the folder might look like (produced by one of the two design agencies we use). In almost no time at all we had agreed the layout, the alterations, the contact details. There was none of the usual haggling over minutiae, or drifting off into diversions, and no-one said the scuppering words “do we really need this folder anyway?”. There was one point when Craig Wymer said he wanted the block colour on the front to be silver (“Silver!” exclaimed Antony Fraser in disgust, when we were back in the privacy of the Marketing department). I stopped this idea by pointing out that printing in silver would mean using an expensive fifth colour. The meeting finished with Trevor Bush pointing to Mark Miller and Craig Wymer, and telling me that they were the decision makers, and that only their opinion mattered.

Mark Miller and Craig Wymer were sat side by side, and I noticed that they were wearing the same shirt and tie – white with a faint cross-hatch check (Mark’s in pale pink, Craig’s in pale brown), the silk ties in pastel stripes (pink-white and brown-white). Mark Miller had heavy (expensive-looking) silver cuff-links, and had left the top button of his shirt undone. Craig Wymer was wearing a heavy (expensive-looking) Omega watch, and had turned up his shirtsleeves to half-way up his forearms. No matter how much stress they are under (and you have to concede that their jobs are stressful) they always manage to appear flawless. Looking at them, it occurred to me that within the company they probably suffered from age-discrimination in reverse – they are too young and fashion conscious to be taken seriously by some of the older managers.

And yet the amount of money they bring into the company is phenomenal.