Leda Writes for Fintech Futures: Breaking the cycle of aggressive conformity

Every Thursday, Leda Glyptis, 11:FS Chief of Staff creates #LedaWrites. This week she turns her attention to bankers behaving badly…and cookies.

Why would you call anyone a tough cookie? Tough cookies are terrible, it’s the soft ones that taste good. But for some reason, plenty of bankers call others a tough cookie. Anything that makes someone different from the ‘baseline’ is a vulnerability, a weakness It could be for their age, their height, their gender, their skin colour or anything else. Calling them a tough cookie braces their shoulders and readies them for whatever attack is coming their way. And they need to be tough.

But it’s an awful thing to do. Telling others that they need to be tough cookies perpetuates the nonsense. It perpetuates acceptance of a need to be tough. Tough becomes a badge of honour and stepping away from a situation you don’t want to be a part of, one of weakness. Pushing for toughness means losing sight of what matters: being innovative, increasing co-operation, and improving efficiency. When survival is the end-game you perpetuate the hostile environment.

Read the whole story at Fintech Futures.