History Begets Attitudes

History begets attitudes.

I’m back from my biannual depressurization trip. This time it was to Central Europe. As always, I assess new and different things through a business owner’s eye.

We visited five countries (Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary), each sharing a border with at least two of the others. Each spent part of its history (willingly or not) under a common government with at least one or two of its neighbors.

Coincidentally, in three of the countries (Austria, Slovakia and Hungary) we were present around national independence holidays. I know my impression of their attitudes is from a small sampling of discussion and the overall feel of admittedly tourist-centric locations. It serves, however, for my business analogy.

In Germany, we were in two cities occupied in the American zone after WWII, but which looked across the Danube to the Russian zone. They seemed pretty happy about that, and knew they had gotten the better end of the deal. Otherwise they had similar attitudes to other 21st century economic powers. The are successful in the world as it exists today. There are major issues, especially immigration, but they will be settled in due course.

The Czechs will never forget the Munich Agreement, where their treaty allies handed over much of their country to Hitler (without the Czech government being in the room.) They’ve joined NATO, but will never again be confident of someone else defending them. Nor do they plan to defend themselves, with a small army based on 6-month mandatory conscription. They are very proud of their cultural heritage, but realistic about their dependence on others to maintain it.

Austria too, is proud of their heritage, but Vienna especially still pines for the empire of 100 years ago. They are quick to mention that WWI shrunk the Hapsburg’s rule from 54 million to 8 million people overnight. They point to their palaces and say “Yes, we are a small country now, but look at who we were.”

Slovakia is just so damn happy to be a country. Their public art and advertising is full of wacky humor. They are proud to have qualified financially for the Euro where their EU admission contemporaries (The Czech Republic and Hungary) have not yet reached the threshold. They have virtually no history as a nation-state, and I got the impression that they were enthusiastic about working with a clean slate.

Hungary is interesting. Occupied in succession over the last 1,000 years by the Mongols, Turks, Austrians, Germans and Russians, they still focus on the glory of the independent Hungarian Kingdom prior to the early 1500s. This seems to be a PR point for the right wing nationalists who are now in power; although liberals have the moral support of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, which remains huge in the national consciousness.

History in your business.

What does this have to do with business ownership? History begets attitudes. Your culture is based on the legends and beliefs you hold as an organization.

Some businesses are like the Czech Republic. They know that they are subject to the vagaries of larger customers or suppliers, but try to make themselves too desirable a partner to ignore.

Some are like Germany. They acknowledge the past, but have learned to compete in the current environment on their own terms.

Some are like Austria. They seek recognition for who they used to be. They are successful enough today, but feel that their partners in commerce should show some extra level of consideration for their past achievements.

Some are like Hungary; angry that they can’t influence their surroundings as they once did. They spend too much time complaining about what is holding them back (regulation, competition, customer demands) and not enough working to overcome those obstacles.

And some are like Slovakia, just happy to be in business and making the most of it.

What is your attitude regarding your company’s history and position in the marketplace? You can be sure that it permeates through your organization, and “tourists” (vendors, customers, prospective employees) get a sense of it.

Please share Awake at 2 o’clock with another business owner. Thank you!