February 26th, 2008
Biological determinism and toys for the boys
Two extremes of managerial behaviour are dissected on successive pages in today’s FT. On the comment page, Michael Skapinker gingerly picks his way through the sensitive issue of whether men and women run things differently - and whether biology can explain any such differences. Turn over and you see a Business Life feature analysing the popularity of those ghastly plastic deal trophies that sit on the desks of macho bankers and lawyers. I loved the anecdote about the angry company which subverted the genre by sending its banker a little model of a garbage bag filled with real, shredded money to express their annoyance at a badly under-priced IPO.
