18 ★ FINANCIAL TIMES Monday 2 March 2020
I am tired. Not just from being at my
desk too long and staying up too late
(though both are true). It’s something
altogether different: inspiration
fatigue.
I discovered my malaise after
receiving an email offering to introduce
me to inspirational women. I hit delete.
This is a difficult time of year. Ahead of
International Women’s Day, inspiring
women come out in droves. But, in
fact, inspirational men and women are
with us all year — at conferences, as
after-dinner speakers and in books,
urging us to take control of our careers
and reach for the top.
“Inspirational”, as applied to
business figures, sums up many of the
things that are wrong with the modern
ideology which frames work as a quasi-
religious experience.
The inspiration market is booming;
there is a publishing industry devoted
to cataloguing inspirational figures.
On my desk is a motivational book
by Ben Williams, a former drug addict
who became a marine. In his book,
Commando Mindset, he writes that
inspiration can “be fun and make you
feel good. An inspiration can make you
punch the air with excitement. But it
can also be sobering.” In other words,
inspiration is whatever you want it
to be.
Recently, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton
wroteThe Book of Gutsy Women, in
which they describe heroic figures
“with the courage to stand up to the
status quo, ask hard questions, and get
the job done”.
I can see that Hillary is gutsy and
even (whispers), inspirational. But I
fail to see what I could learn from her
daughter, aside from the realisation
that being born to American political
royalty gives you a huge advantage.
It is inspirational women that I find
particularly irksome. With the
emphasis on success, they put a gloss
on difficult workplace issues — like the
gender pay gap. As Shani Orgad, author
ofHeading Home: Motherhood, Work,
and the Failed Promise of Equality, puts
it: “The trouble with role models is that
they individualise and personalise
issues.” It’s all about the pluckyindividual, rather than focusing on
changing the structures of the
workplace.
An inspirational label puts pressure
on the role models, too. Inevitably they
are inundated by requests for
mentoring, to speak at events, to do
work beyond their actual jobs.
Elisabeth Kelan, a professor of
leadership and organisation at the
University of Essex, warns her students
against seeking for inspirational
women. “I normally encourage women
to pick more specific behaviours to
emulate, like the way they lead
meetings, mentor their team or have
dinner with their children. These
composite role models are more
concrete and realistic.”
May I suggest an alternative? An
anti-role model. These are un-
spirational people who show you
the path to avoid. There are those
who teach the perils of perfectionism,
or not to be vile to colleagues. A friend
has learnt from their manager never
to belittle their team and hold them
back. “Their progress doesn’t detract
from your own,” she says, but the
reverse.
Another friend told me that she left
her company and thanked her boss,who she couldn’t wait to escape. “What
did I do?” the boss asked, fishing for
compliments.
As my friend looked at her boss, she
realised he was her anti-role model.
She never wanted to become like him:
exhausted, overworked and trapped by
their job. In that moment, she felt
vindicated by her decision to leave and
grateful for the unspiring lesson.
When I look back to the people who
have made a difference to my career,
it’s not inspirational figures kicking ass
and all the other slick empowerment
mantras but ones who spotted
potential in me, gave me opportunities,
or, better still, a pay rise.
One only needs to listen to former
Arsenal footballer Ian Wright’s
interview on B BC radio’s Desert Island
Discs to be reminded of the importance
of such people.
It was moving to hear him talk about
the teacher who took him under his
wing. “I don’t know why he chose me
but he did,” Wright said. “He gave me
responsibility... It was really good, I
just felt important. He just gave me a
sense of feeling like I had some use.”[email protected]
Twitter: @emmavjThis is a difficult time
of year. Ahead ofInternational Women’s
Day, uplifting womencome out in droves
Stuff the
inspiring types,
find me an
anti-role model
CROSSWORD
No. 16,414 Set by ZAMORCA
JOTTER PAD
ACROSS
1 Soldiers left two pints
unfinished before argument (7)
5 Racket during bash spoiled holy
day (7)
9 Jack in drugs to get court
discharge (5)
10 Introducing discussion of fish in
Crosby (9)
11 Translate Pinter play first in
Russian and French (9)
12 Heard angry calls for alcohol (5)
13 Cause contamination of
dressing (5)
15 Rude old fellow swamps me
with very extreme language (9)
18 A maths geek’s no good when
forced to hurry (4,5)
19 Predatory animal has female
bird protecting young one (5)
21 Get rid of wasteland (5)
23 Thought company nervous
having lost leader (9)
25 Eager for mischievous child to
get a connection with books (9)
26 Dismantle canape and remove a
nut (5)
27 Times without number, regret
being unfaithful (3,4)
28 Decide to do puzzle again (7)DOWN
1 Challenges point in risqué
production (7)
2 Amazed to pronounce rower
beaten (3-6)
3 Device going round either way
(5)
4 Wearisome debts after
childbirth in America (9)
5 Way to take away fat (5)
6 Form of support for ordinary
members? (4,5)
7 Morning turn around island with
Spanish friend (5)
8 Cleaning routine picked up
important bit of DNA (7)
14 Artist displaying work in old
house’s keeping one section
restricted to Americans (9)
16 Fine crew bringing in King and
Queen’s vessel (9)
17 Duplicate papers briefly tempt
top grade student (9)
18 Fail to get on satellite-bearing
space flight (7)
20 Worker in high mountains
reduced to a slow tempo (7)
22 Regularly reed grass is put in a
new container (5)
23 Vocal group from town in
Cheshire (5)
24 Spelling mistakes found in
community posters (5)Fantasy football
US soccer teams attract frothyvaluations despite losses
ZCOMPANIES & MARKETSEmma Jacobs
Business Life
Whatnot to do: Meryl
Streep in ‘The Devil
Wears Prada’ —Fox 2000
Pictures/Moviestore/ShutterstockMany farms are not businesses
Source: US Department of AgricultureTractor
SupplyWalmartHome
DepotSource: S&P CapitalUS, of total in Small family farms Mid-sized family farms Large family
farms Non-family
farms Hobby farms Tractor Supply has
healthy margins
Gross () { }
Retirees. Dirt-loving hipsters. Modern
homesteaders. Whatever the moniker,
more Americans seek the pastoral life
these days and the number of “hobby”
farms across the country has risen. That
is good news for those retailers that
cater to their needs.
Almost 820,000 farms were run by
people who had other primary jobs in
2018, according to the Department of
Agriculture. Recreational farms
accounted for more than 40 per cent of
the total, up from 38 per cent in 2012.
Equally as telling: in 2012-17 only the
smallest (less than 10 acres, or
4 hectares) and the largest (2,
acres, 800ha, or bigger) rose in number,
the agency noted.
All this has yielded good business for
Tractor Supply. Founded in 1938, the
Tennessee-based retailer’s sales have
grown by more than half over the past
five years to $8.3bn. That is no small
feat. Other department stores such as
Macy’s have shed billions in revenue
and market value over the same period.
Some of Tractor Supply’s new-store
openings have been on sites
abandoned by struggling chains such
as Kmart and Bed Bath & Beyond.
Despite its name, Tractor Supply
does not actually sell tractors at any of
its 1,844 small-box stores. But it doeshave everything else that small-time
farmers need to run their farms and
look after their pets and livestock.
Shoppers can buy chicken coops, cattle
gates, work overalls, snow ploughs and
gardening and power tools.
Its specialised focus and merchandise
mix (one-third of its sales are from its
own private labels) have helped shield
it from online competitors. Try to buy
40lb (18kg) bales of chopped hay from
Amazon. Tractor Supply also has very
respectable gross and operating
margins (9 per cent) compared with
Home Depot, and better than Walmart.
Clever marketing helps. It woos
followers with blog posts devoted to
horses, chicken raising and beekeeping.
Recent topics include raising therapy
goats, chainsaw-sharpening tips and
hotspots for ice-fishing.
Selling to rural communities does
pose unique challenges. There is a lack
of broadband in farm areas — 80 per
cent of those without reliable, low-cost
connections in America reside there,
says the USDA. Tractor Supply thus
focuses on shopping via smartphones.
Tractor Supply prefers its customers
in plaid flannel shirts. No need to target
label-conscious, young millennial
professionals. It has done well from
harvesting dollars in the countryside.Tractor Supply/hobby
farms: field of dreams
MARCH 2 2020 Section:Features Time: 1/3/2020 - 19: 01 User: simon.roberts Page Name: 1BACK, Part,Page,Edition: EUR, 18 , 1