Summary

The author reflects on their realization that their bosses are millionaires, gleaned from attending a Christmas party at one director's house and researching property values, and identifies six common traits among these wealthy individuals.

Abstract

At a company Christmas party held at a director's spacious Mascot home, the author, after a long commute in unpleasant weather, contemplates their boss's affluence. Curiosity leads them to check the property's value online, revealing a sale price of $1.73 million. This discovery, coupled with the knowledge of another director's$ 5 million home overlooking Dee Why Beach, prompts the realization that all seven directors the author works with are millionaires, having accumulated wealth through careers in fields like investment banking, law, and construction. The author notes that these directors lead quiet, comfortable lifestyles rather than ostentatious ones, excel in their professional roles, possess exceptional acting skills to maintain composure under pressure, think strategically about communication, view subordinates as tools for achieving goals, and despite their positions of power, are still bound by certain constraints.

Opinions

The author initially feels obligated to attend the Christmas party due to their employment, not genuine enthusiasm.
There is a sense of disbelief or surprise that the directors, who appear ordinary, are actually millionaires.
The author implies that the directors' wealth is not the result of recent trends like cryptocurrency or e-commerce but from traditional corporate careers and current public sector salaries.
The directors are portrayed as skilled in their professions and adept at managing their public image.
There is a subtle critique of the directors' utilitarian view of their employees, using them to achieve their own ends.
The author seems to admire the directors' strategic thinking and ability to navigate complex professional situations while maintaining a facade of positivity.
The term "slaves" is used metaphorically to describe the directors' lack of complete autonomy, suggesting that even those in positions of power must conform to certain expectations to maintain their status.

The Christmas Party where I realised I was working for millionaires… and the 6 things they all have in common.

10th of December 2021

It’s 12pm and the weather is grey, pouring and dreary, perfect conditions for a Christmas Party. I have paid $20 to sit on public transport for more than an hour, walk in the rain for another 10 minutes so that I can hang out at my boss’ house in Mascot and engage in small talk with my fascinating colleagues for the next three hours . Am I thrilled? Am I keen “to have fun”? Would I be attending this party if the boss wasn’t paying me a fortnightly wage that covered my bills? No. Anyways… that’s besides the point.

So, I arrive at my boss’ house located in Mascot. The house occupies a land space of >400m squared. There is a sofa and a decently sized TV in the living room; 2 paintings on the wall- one Dita Von Teese and the other of a boyband who I did not have the cultural knowledge to understand the reference. There are 3 bedrooms, 1 bedroom each for her 2 children and then finally a bedroom of her own whereby she and her husband slept. In the backyard, there is a little music room with a DJ set and then 3 guitars hanging on beautiful dark ochre wooden walls (I didn’t know my boss could even play the guitar?). The house was not mind-blowingly mansion-like but spacious and comfortable.

So all 20 or more of us stand in this music room. Holiday Plans are shared. Dolphins in Port Stephens. Camping up the Snowy Mountains. 4 days booked in Bermagui. All that jazz. Food is served. Kris Kingle is set. Funny awards are given out. All the motions have been through and it’s finally an appropriate time to leave.

Realestate.com.au- you gem.

It’s now 5pm and I’m at Mascot Station waiting for my Bumble BFF date to show up. As I wait for her to show up, I was suddenly, irrationally curious. I decided to search up my boss’ exact address on realestate.com.au to find out the exact price of the house I had just gone out of my way to attend- it was almost like the curiosity that you have when you stalk your crush’s Facebook/Instagram profile for the first time.

And there it was. Black and White

Sold for $1.73mil in February 2021.

And then something else clicked.

A memory from the year before.

Last year’s Christmas Party was held at another Director’s house. That house had 4 bedrooms and a backyard view overlooking the beautiful Dee Why Beach. I did a ctrl+f on my work emails from the year before- the exact address to which I again, ctrl+c into realestate.com.au. I was somewhat taken aback by the actual figure hitting the $5 million ballpark. Heck this wasn’t my Director’s only home either- he had another property in the Blue Mountains he visited regularly and maybe a whole portfolio more.

My Epiphany

Sure, you could say- a house overlooking Dee Why Beach in Sydney… of course it would be in the millions. And in some ways- subconsciously I was aware of this of course- homes in the Eastern Suburbs, Surry Hills, Newtown etc. all fall within the millions.

But there was something about typing that figure into realestate.com.au and seeing the actual number pop up which struck a chord. It’s kind of like hearing and seeing pictures of your boyfriend’s ex-girlfriend who is a leggy, 5ft 10, signed Portuguese model with >20k IG following versus being actually stunned by her towering presence.

But jeez, all 6 of my director bosses and one of my associate directors who owned a hefty property portfolio up in the North Shore… were all millionaires. I had been working with these directors for 3 years now… There were all sorts of labels I could stick on them, to which the “millionaire” status was not! You forget sometimes hey, because today’s media would have you believe all the millionaires had made their fortune in some cryptocurrency boom/ online e-commerce break- not by heaven forbid, “having a regular job”! These, dare I say, ordinary people had made their fortune hustling their way through the corporate jungle of former investment banking/ lawyer/ construction firms and were now sitting on a comfortable public sector salary.

The 6 common traits

While I am sure each of my 6 directors would have their own recipes for financial success, here are the traits I have gathered common to all 6 from my past 3 years working in my current role:

Quiet comfortable lifestyles v. glamorous lavish lifestyles. I think this one speaks for itself- most of my directors aren’t wearing branded clothing 24–7, driving around Maseratis all day. They regularly travel, live in big houses/mansions, have a family and wide friendship circle and have hobbies like skiing/golfing/ocean swimming/surfing all of which have on average, higher investment cost.
Being good/ excellent at what you do is a given. Whether the director came from a finance background/ a legal or engineering background, these directors are all excellent at what they do.
Incredibly good actress/actors. I mean you could call it having emotional control but I think the words actresses/actors better convey the message. This one probably is the most surprising point of all 6. I have seen all these directors in testing situations- from situations where a highly sought promotion was on the line to situations where their job was on the line. All the directors had the ability to not only grin and bear it but also put on a great show of positivity and engagement even though their situation was furthest from that.
Calculating/ thinking ahead. You think sending an email/ replying to an email while asking for basic project information is so straightforward? No, sensitive topics where you want the message to be delivered but not have a paper trail tracing back to you… you call. Topics where you want evidence… you email and cc in people as witnesses.
Seeing people as tools and a means to an end. Maybe this is a given for all managers/ people in leadership positions but all the juniors are pawns to the directors at the end of the day- either to get the job delivered, or to help paint a certain image/ build a certain reputation of themselves. Things like loyalty and coaching all hinge on this.
Still slaves to a certain extent at the end of the day. My definition of a slave? When you can’t say no. And although these directors do occupy positions of power, to keep renewing their contracts, they still have to play by the rules- those rules may be different for the average person but they are rules nonetheless.