Nepotism on the Faroe Islands

The Faeroe Islands is an isolated community in the North Atlantic with long family histories, where fathers pass their trades or companies onto their sons. Everyone knows everyone else and it is difficult to separate business from friendship. Your co-workers sit in the same church, live in the same village and you can drop by for a cup of coffee without calling ahead. It is a quiet, safe and rooted by deep traditions and norms. To hire your friends and family first is second nature, no matter the job, and to do otherwise can cause friction in the community. However, the isolated community in the middle of the North Atlantic is no longer isolated from the rest of the world, and is being influenced by technology and culture that was before foreign to it, and with the immigration of technology and culture, new norms that the Faeroe Islands never knew before.

The world is evolving, and a global culture is slowly forming, marked by films, foods, languages and sports. Along with common sports such as football and hand ball, and films that are shown the world over, comes norms and morals. Every culture in history has been introduced to new norms and morals at one point or another, as a gate way to participating in an global economy, telecommunications and society. The Faeroe Islands is no exception. New norms are making in roads, and it is no long true, that everyone knows everyone else. Still, there are some bastions that have a strong foot hold in the culture, the chief among them is nepotism.

The definition of nepotism is, according to Wikipedia, favoritism granted to relatives regardless of merit. If you grant your son a job, despite others performing better than he, then you are practicing nepotism. If you were passed over for a job, despite being the most qualified candidate, and see a relative of the person hiring granted the position, you were the victim of nepotism. Most of us have experience with nepotism in one or another form.

But is it okay?

We all should respect the rights of ownership and dominion over property. If the owner of a business chooses to give the business away, no one can dictate who the business is given to, for example, a child. The dream of handing down the family business is strong in all people. Nepotism can be a necessity in this case, where a child must be raised for the position. To those working for the company, it may seem like the child was never qualified for the job, that they are more deserving of the rewards given to the child. Ownership of a business doesn't require any qualifications, other than you are legally allowed to own a business. However, to run a business, owners must know something about business, and that can require a little bit of on the job training.

In other instances, nepotism has nothing to do with necessity, but protectionism at the expense of others. The dangers of nepotism is how it affects society. Even when you do not work for a company, organization or office, the nepotism practiced there can effect you personally. If an person is hired based on family relations instead of qualifications, you are at risk of receiving unqualified service. When you file a request at the local kommun office, you have the right to be served by the most qualified person the kommun could hire, and have a reasonable expectation for professional and competent service. This is not always the case, and receiving incorrect information or unqualified service can result in cases lost, appeals denied and personal economic damages. In these cases, nepotism was never a necessity and should never be tolerated. Like wise, when you apply to work for a company, you can experience nepotism in the form of a hiring manager favoring a cousin who just graduated 10^th grade, for a position that receives public funds, money to which you contribute to through taxes.

But, what can one do you protect yourself from this practice?

The best advice available is to write a letter to a news paper, telling the reader where and who is practicing nepotism, and how it has unfairly hurt you; if you were hurt by this practice, others are also at risk and should know about it. You can also tell your friends, this company or that office may not have the most qualified employees, enabling your network to make more informed decisions, if they will spend their money for services from a company that has questionable hiring practices, or if they should be careful when dealing with a public office.

In the worst cases, your legal rights may have been violated. By hiring unqualified people, both in the private and public sector, professionalism suffers and discrimination based on race, gender or political affiliation can become an everyday occurrence. The papers you file can be lost, or mistakes can be made in standing cases. If these occurrences are intentional or not, you still have the right to professional service and the kommun should strive to provide you with that. In these instances, it is best to contact a lawyer.

As time moves on, the Faroe Islands will need to adopt new norms if it is to participate on the global stage and be considered a peer among governments. Old bastions of culture and society no longer support or advance it, but weighs it down. The Faroe Islands can move on, as it integrates with the rest of the world. As a foreigner living here, it is part and parcel that I help the society free itself of a few of these chains.

- Servus

An open letter to Hans Joensen, chairman of Tórshavn's labor union

Dear Hans Joensen,

I read your statements in the 25^th of February, 2013 edition of Sosialurin, and I cannot say I agree with many of your views, but I can understand why you may feel threatened to some extent. Currently, there are fewer than one thousand foreigners on the Faeroe Islands, around two percent of the total population, and that is to say, we count for two out of every hundred people. While it is far from enough people to over-swim the Faeroe Islands as you suggested is happening currently, I can agree we are changing parts of what is normal on the Faeroe Islands, but it is part and parcel to integrating the Faeroe Islands into a global society, economy, and culture.

I want to apologize if you feel foreigners are coming here and dictating to you what you may or may not eat, what time you may get up in the morning, how to dress and what day to observe your faith, but I also think you are going above and beyond the reality of the situation. I want to apologize, and give you the point, for we are coming here and questioning some of the norms you grew up with. It is never easy to suddenly find what you used to do as a child is now a social faux-pas, but I also will point out for you, every culture that has integrated into the global society has gone through this phase. Bastions that used to keep society from self-collapse yesterday, weigh it down today, and tomorrow can bring society crashing down onto itself.

The aspirations the Faeroe Islands have for participating in world affairs comes at a cost. To call yourself a peer among nations, you must also integrate into your peers' cultures. Allow us, the two out of every hundred, to help you through this difficult task. The Faeroe Islands has much to offer the world, and we want to help guide you, Hans Joensen, but we only ask for respect and help in integrating into your society in return.

So I hope, in the future, we will be able to sit down with each other over a cup of coffee, talk about the weather as friends, and remember this period as a fond memory of cultural change. My door is always open to you Hans Joensen, to a cup of coffee and a friendly chat.

Best regards,

Peter Smedskjaer.

I decided to make a time lapse video of me driving around the Faroe Islands. I think it is a good overview of what it looks like up here.

I still need to ad Vestmanna and the airport, but I think you get the idea.
More to come.

The things a president has gotta do!

The 2012-16 Presidency starts off with

• Eastern seaboard hurricane recovery.
• Winter housing for Sandy victims.
• A successive storm threat.
• Israeli threats to bomb Iran.
• Israel at risk.
• Iranian nuclear risks.
• A major economic recovery.
• Global climate change.
• An approaching energy crisis.

This list is independent of who would have been voted into office. If this isn't enough for any presidency, both Obama and Romney had their own agendas. Obama will be dealing with his own to do list for the next four years, but what would have Romney's looked like? I think it would have gone something like this.

The Romney administration would have

• Worked to dismantle Obamacare at the federal level.
• Dedicated federal funds to overturn a Supreme Court ruling.
• Cut taxes to all groups.
  • While still giving special exceptions to the middle and lower class.
• Pass a legal definition of personage.
• Expand camp X-Ray.

Obama on the other hand, will

• Expand Obamacare.
• Expand legal immigration to the US.
• Expand Federal powers in detainment of individuals.

I cannot see any major difference, since the tasks either would have had to take on is a hell of a burden and personal projects should be set aside. Ron Paul was right about the important things being set aside for minor desires. Have a happy 4 years!

The Mission Statement - Believing in what you're doing

One of the major differences between business in America and Scandinavia is the mission statement. How business men relate to this concept can determine the success of a partnership. Understanding how your partner relates to the mission statement, how he or she thinks, can be the most valuable tool in cooperation. It can help you determine what props will need to be on the stage, what everyone needs to do their job. In these props, you find a representation for our motives, the goal and the activities to reach those goals. Understanding what motives a person has will help you have some idea what a partner will do with a prop, and how.

Of course the goal of any business is to make money, but this is unstated, understood with a nod between colleagues. When it comes down to what you and your company talks about at meetings and what you do, it will center around your mission statement. A basketball team is motivated by competition, by the fun in being the best in their region. That is the motive behind their activities. But a basketball team will become a professional team for the money it can make through ticket sales. If there was no money in playing basketball, the team would meet up for a weekend game and have a little fun before returning to their daily lives. In this example, the team's motivation for turning professional was monetary gain. With this goal comes activities, such as daily training, team management, marketing and ticket sales. Understanding the motives represented in each prop will help a partner to the team understand what part of these activities are motivated by the players having fun and what part is motivated by money and necessity. Like wise, understanding the differences in motivation between an executive at IBM and LG can help you understand what each will be willing to do for a partnership.

In the US, money is king. It is not to knock the US or the business culture there. People want to live the good life and are willing to work together to achieve great things in exchange for a bit of luxury. It can help settle differences between two rivals or two bitter combatants. People will believe in a mission statement if it brings them prosperity. An engineer at Boeing loves what he does, but he studied hard and took on professional manners for the prosperity it brings him. The same principle applies at all levels of employment in the US. You are a factory floor worker at Ford for the prosperity, not the love of what you are doing. You are an executive at Disney because you have a large paycheck, not because you love animation. The love either has for what they do is found in the activities that drove them to pursue these careers, but if they can do what they love on their time off with a paycheck, the larger the paycheck the better. In the end, money talks more than the profession and either would work in any other career if it gives them the financial and qualitative freedom to do what they want.

In Scandinavia, the motivations can be in broad strokes the same, but because very few are very rich and very few are very poor, the incentive in money in dampened. What drives people to follow a mission statement is more often the mission itself. If an engineer or designer can make the same amount of money as an artist, people will choose to take what would be a hobby in the US and turn it into a career. People want to see their own visions fulfilled more than earning a little bit more money, since the difference in prosperity is often too small to make a difference to one's motivation. This pronunciation of the mission statement's significance doesn't change the bottom line, but how you sell something should take this difference into consideration and focus on what you want to create and how you want to do it. If you understand the motivation of your audience, you can save yourself time on pitches that will fall on deaf ears.

- Servus

The value of a friendship

I tried a little experiment on FaceBook the past couple of months. With a few friends, I stopped initiating conversations. I didn't ignore my friends. I decided to let them come to me instead of me going to them. What happened? Well, I haven't spoken with them, at all, since the experiment started, until one of them sent me a link to a page about letting go of attachment. Her whole point was about how she didn't need any connections to me, so she was formally severing them. To be honest, she was among the friends I picked for that experiment because I honestly questioned the nature of that friendship before I even designed the experiment, so severing connections with her was not a real problem, which was un-friending her on FaceBook, but I do need to reflect on the past here and derive some sort of lesson. The lesson in that one case, don't be of endless utility to your friends. In fact, it is best to be of no need to your friends. Mega Tokyo put it best, when Largo replied he didn't need Erika either, tossed her a beer and continued on without blinking. If people are around you out of utility, then you are going to get hurt.

But I also haven't spoken with a couple of people I thought were going to message me within a couple of days. Seems like I misread those friendships. My concern is, that I am more of an annoyance than a pleasure for people. I don't want to waste time around people who don't enjoy my company. Annoying people is not a good way to build a positive reputation. Now I need to be oh so very careful with my other friends and figure out what the nature of those friendships is. Thing is, I actually value some of those friendships, so this part is actually gonna hurt.

Moral of the story? Be careful of who your friends are.

- Servus

Know your town's networks

Living on the Faroe Islands helped taught me the importance of informal conversation and interaction in business. Business isn't the big sale and best offer on the table. Business is a chunky concept, but the two corner stones for business is managing your professional work's relationship with the public, and making your profession a profitable one. Looking back, it is clear there are differences in both cornerstones when America and Scandinavia are compared and companies that try to enter from one market to the other can experience difficulties in managing relationships and profits. Here are some fine details any business should keep in mind.

Work ethics in blue collared jobs are radically different. For the Dane in America, some sound advice is sorely needed. Any stereotypes of lazy teamsters you carry with you will fail you when it comes time to start production. Americans are hard working individuals who want to provide for their families and with the current economic environment, competition for work is fierce. Asking an employee to slow down and take a break can cause friction. Worse still if you take it easy as a foreman, manager or director; if you are visibly driven to meeting your goals, your employees with slowly loose respect for you and in the end, resent you a tad little bit. American workers may work hard for the money, but take pride in their work and you need to show faith in what the company is doing. Just as important for an American in Scandinavia, pushing people to work faster and perform better will more likely result in a strike than increased production. Rules and ethics are well defined by the work-unions and it is hard to fire someone for under performance. The work ethic is more formal and requires you to use more time to consider your position with care than in America. That said, nominal results are the best guide in deciding if someone needs to be let go or kept on board.

Work relations over beer is a bit of common ground between Scandinavia and America, but keep in mind to how much business in done over a glass of beer. Business lunches are out right common, but don't order that beer if you are in America. You need to return to work afterwards and it is frowned upon to drink before you clock out. There are exceptions at the executive level; informal business is done on the golf course and a bit of brandy isn't uncommon at the club house, but this is rare if the interpersonal relationship is all business. A glass of beer is more common when you leave the office with your co-workers or the guy you think is good for a conversation and also happens to have a great project you want to get your hands on. Again, we are focused on the interpersonal relationship between you and your drinking buddy. In all other occasions, you need to abstain from 'Den Grønne'. The case is different in Scandinavia. It is actually common to enjoy a bottle of beer, or few, at lunch and chat a bit. If you want to your negotiations to take on a relaxed tone, invite your perspective partners or clients to a café, enjoy a light lunch a offer a round of beer.

Formality is a tripping point for many. There are dress codes and then there are dress codes. Individual style has a greater foothold in Scandinavia, because businesses are focusing more on your production, not your personal stylistic tastes. It was common for my managers to wear a pair of blue jeans with a button down shirt. The executives would wear sports jackets as often as suit jackets. It is completely acceptable to come to a formal meeting wearing slacks, suit jacket and no tie. In the US, the situation is far different. Dress codes put employees in uniforms. A tie is always a must and more often than not, a white shirt with black dress suit and shoes are required. If you know the Mærsk company well, you can compare the dress codes in that one Danish company with most large corporations in America and see little difference. Before stepping on that flight, make sure you can meet the dress code of most companies. They enforce it even on partners to protect their professional image.

These are some rules of thumb for the cornerstone of business that represents your relationships in business. A good lawyer will help you sort out the second stone, but business relations is all on you partner.

- Servus