The Witch of Portobello

"Sherine, who likes to

be known as Athena, brought into the workplace a new kind of emotion--passion. Yes, passion, something we never normally consider when discussing loans or spreadsheets. My employees started using music as a stimulus for dealing more efficiently with their clients."

Another executive interrupted, saying that this was an old idea: supermarkets did the same thing, using piped-in music to encourage their customers to buy more.

"I'm not saying that we used music in the workplace. People simply started living differently because Sherine, or Athena if you prefer, taught them to dance before facing their daily tasks. I don't know precisely what mechanism this awakens in people; as a manager, I'm only responsible for the results, not for the process. I myself didn't participate in the dancing, but I understand that, through dance, they all felt more connected with what they were doing.

"We were born and brought up with the maxim that 'time is money.' We know exactly what money is, but what does the word time mean? The day is made up of twenty-four hours and an infinite number of moments. We need to be aware of each of those moments and to make the most of them regardless of whether we're busy doing something or merely contemplating life. If we slow down, everything lasts much longer. Of course, that means that washing the dishes might last longer, as might totting up the debits and credits on a balance sheet or checking promissory notes, but why not use that time to think about pleasant things and to feel glad simply to be alive?"

The director-general was looking at me in surprise. I was sure he wanted me to explain in detail what I'd learned, but some of those present were beginning to grow restless.

"I understand exactly what you mean," he said. "I understand too that your employees worked with more enthusiasm because they were able to enjoy one moment in the day when they came into full contact with themselves. And I'd like to compliment you on being flexible enough to allow such unorthodox practices, which are, it must be said, producing excellent results. However, speaking of time, this is a conference, and you have only five minutes to conclude your presentation. Could you possibly try to list the main points which would allow us to apply these principles in other branches?"

He was right. This was fine for the employees, but it could prove fatal to my career, and so I decided to summarize the points Sherine and I had written together.

"Basing ourselves on personal observations, Sherine Khalil and I developed certain points, which I would be delighted to discuss with anyone who's interested. Here are the main ones:

"1. We all have an unknown ability, which will probably remain unknown forever. And yet that ability can become our ally. Since it's impossible to measure that ability or give it an economic value, it's never taken seriously, but I'm speaking here to other human beings and I'm sure you understand what I mean, at least in theory.

"2. At my branch, employees have learned how to tap into that ability through a dance based on a rhythm that comes, I believe, from the desert regions of Asia. However, its place of origin is irrelevant, as long as people can express through their bodies what their souls are trying to say. I realize that the word soul might be misunderstood, so I suggest we use the word intuition instead. And if that word is equally hard to swallow, then let's use the term primary emotions, which sounds more scientific, although, in fact, it has rather less meaning than the other two words.

"3. Before going to work, instead of encouraging my employees to do keep-fit or aerobics, I get them to dance for at least an hour. This stimulates the body and the mind; they start the day demanding a certain degree of creativity from themselves and channel that accumulated energy into their work at the bank.

"4. Customers and employees live in the same world: reality is nothing but a series of electrical stimuli to the brain. What we think we 'see' is a pulse of energy to a completely dark part of the brain. However, if we get on the same wavelength as other people, we can try to change that reality. In some way that I don't understand joy is infectious, as is enthusiasm and love. Or indeed sadness, depression, or hatred--things that can be picked up 'intuitively' by customers and other employees. In order to improve performance, we have to create mechanisms that keep these positive stimuli alive."

"How very esoteric," commented a woman who managed investment funds at a branch in Canada.

I slightly lost confidence. I had failed to convince anyone. Nevertheless, I pretended to ignore her remark and, using all my creativity, sought to give my paper a practical conclusion:

"The bank should earmark a fund to do research into how this infectious state of mind works, and thus noticeably increase our profits."

This seemed a reasonably satisfactory ending, and so I preferred not to use the two minutes remaining to me. When I finished the seminar, at the end of an exhausting day, the director-general asked me to have supper with him, and he did so in front of all our other colleagues, as if he were trying to show that he supported everything I'd said. I had never before had an opportunity to dine with the director-general, and so I tried to make the most of it. I started talking about performance, about spreadsheets, difficulties on the stock exchange, and possible new markets. He interrupted me; he was more interested in knowing more of what I'd learned from Athena.

In the end, to my surprise, he turned the conversation to more personal matters.

"I understood what you meant when, during your paper, you talked about time. At New Year, when I was still enjoying the holiday season, I decided to go and sit in the garden for a while. I picked up the newspaper from the mailbox, but it contained nothing of any importance, only the things that journalists had decided we should know, feel involved in, and have an opinion about.

"I thought of phoning someone at work, but that would be ridiculous, since they would all be with their families. I had lunch with my wife, children, and grandchildren, took a nap, and when I woke up, I made a few notes, then realized that it was still only two o'clock in the afternoon. I had another three days of not working, and however much I love being with my family, I started to feel useless.

"The following day, taking advantage of this free time, I went to have my stomach checked out, and, fortunately, the tests revealed nothing seriously wrong. I went to the dentist, who said there was nothing wrong with my teeth either. I again had lunch with my wife, children, and grandchildren, took another nap, again woke up at two in the afternoon, and realized that I had absolutely nothing on which to focus my attention.

"I felt uneasy: Shouldn't I be doing something? Well, if I wanted to invent work, that wouldn't take much effort. We all have projects to develop, lightbulbs to change, leaves to sweep, books to put away, computer files to organize, etc. But how about just facing up to the void? It was then that I remembered something that seemed to me of great importance: I needed to walk to the letter-box--which is less than a mile from my house in the country--and post one of the Christmas cards lying forgotten on my desk.

"And I was surprised: Why did I need to send that card today? Was it really so hard just to stay where I was, doing nothing?

"A series of thoughts crossed my mind: friends who worry about things that haven't yet happened; acquaintances who manage to fill every minute of their lives with tasks that seem to me absurd; senseless conversations; long telephone calls in which nothing of any importance is ever said. I've seen my directors inventing work in order to justify their jobs; employees who feel afraid because they've been given nothing important to do that day, which might mean that they're no longer useful. My wife, who torments herself because our son has got divorced, my son who torments himself because our grandson, his son, got bad marks at school, our grandson, who is terrified because he's making his parents sad--even though we all know that marks aren't that important.

"I had a long, hard struggle with myself not to get up from my desk. Gradually, though, the anxiety gave way to contemplation, and I started listening to my soul--or intuition or primary emotions, or whatever you choose to believe in. Whatever you call it, that part of me had been longing to spea

k to me, but I had always been too busy.

"In that case, it wasn't a dance, but the complete absence of noise and movement, the silence, that brought me into contact with myself. And, believe it or not, I learned a great deal about the problems bothering me, even though all those problems had dissolved completely while I was sitting there. I didn't see God, but I had a clearer understanding of what decisions to make."

Before paying the bill, he suggested that I send the employee in question to Dubai, where the bank was opening a new branch, and where the risks were considerable. As a good manager, he knew that I had learned all I needed to learn, and now it was merely a question of providing continuity. My employee could make a useful contribution somewhere else. He didn't know this, but he was helping me to keep the promise I'd made.

When I returned to London, I immediately told Athena about this invitation, and she accepted at once. She told me that she spoke fluent Arabic (I knew this already because of her father), although, since we would mainly be doing deals with foreigners, not Arabs, this would not be essential. I thanked her for her help, but she showed no curiosity about my talk at the conference and merely asked when she should pack her bags.

I still don't know whether the story of the boyfriend in Scotland Yard was a fantasy or not. If it were true, I think Athena's murderer would already have been arrested, because I don't believe anything the newspapers wrote about the crime. I can understand financial engineering, I can even allow myself the luxury of saying that dancing helps my employees to work better, but I will never comprehend how it is that the best police force in the world catches some murderers but not others. Not that it makes much difference now.