"Wheeling and Dealing"

"Wheeling and Dealing", the terms my superiors often laughed and sarcastically smirked upon. I've never heard of the terms, making me unsure if the terms actually a self-made term, especially created by the people within my industry - Consulting. But, I have been drawn into this term so much that the moment someone said "Wheeling and Dealing", I would think about it the whole day.

Wheeling and dealing, apparently, is the term that commonly addressed to those men (more so than women) who sat at various public areas, ranging from some 'cheapy' malls' food courts to the coffee shop at some 5-stars hotels, to do some "business(es)" which may include the sorts of conversation of things that (seems like) don't exist just as yet. In other words, the conversations mostly involved in the talking of "future business", "future JV", "future negotiations", "future benefits", and all of other "future" things. The idea is to discuss the potentials of each businesses by venturing each others' connections and most importantly, capitals and assets.

Although sounds like any other normal terms of businesses, however, in reality, these businesses occur when the majority of the men have other jobs and the activities are meant to come either for or from "other" business(es). Also, many of these activities are hardly done at any formal offices. Because more often than not, the offices are non-existent. Therefore, a talk over coffee break, lunch break, dinner break, (or simply other breaks) would do justice. Depending on the nature of the business or the level of the people involved, locations play part in these activities. Normally, higher ranking or targeted men would probably be catered inside an upper-class setting such as a 5-stars hotel. Rarely that these events take place inside a meeting room, as that would probably generate more costs. A coffee lounge would serve them well for the atmosphere and also for the wallet. Also the type of products being wheeled and dealt with would also take part in that decision. There seems to be some unwritten ethical rule of the games in order to be in these activities. If it involves the deals on natural resources, energy and mining, then, men with capitals should be invited to better settings. Locations determine the seriousness, the ability, and the prestige of the people involved.

The players are mostly casually dressed. Without ever really knowing their backgrounds, these men are talking and trying to convince on one-another. CVs would be useless, as performance and past experiences would be derived from references of their networks. The business might sound big. But, the players are not necessarily big.


You can easily find these wheeling and dealing on the process when you hear things like;
tender, government, connection, "Kalimantan", "Sumatra", coal, oil, investment, investors, etc. Or immediately be tuned in when you hear phrases such as, "I know the Secretariat General, Director General (or the so and so officials of the higher ranks in strategic government positions", " I've won tender easily", "the success of so and so is because of me -- not the company", "That (officials) are my men", " we're close with him (higher rank officials", etc.
Obviously, some of these words may sound bias to some of you. They could easily appear in meeting rooms. But, imagine if they all being said outside of that. Beware, you're probably inside a wheeling and dealing situation.

The problem about this whole whealing and dealing is that probably nearly 80% of the meetings are just pure TALKS. Problems often attached to this activity somehow. The products may not be available just as yet or the business may not have officially existed just as yet and the only relying factor of this activity is just the talk and talk themselves. Nevertheless, it is crucial that funds should be disbursed first, in order to make sure that this activity runs to meet everyones' goals and dreams. To put it mildly, wheeling and dealing is one of the ways to find investors - those who would willing to let go their money for future benefits.

It doesn't, however, say that the whole activity comes into a pointless result. Some activities do come into reality. Just like a spider web, the success of this wheeling and dealing really depends on which web is being used and then expanded. If it comes onto the wrong web, anyone can just slipped into a bad deal.


Indonesia - not just Jakarta- is so full of it.
Indonesia being a country blessed with super natural resources- as they say. A country thirst of foreign investments. A country with people wanting to live the life of the super rich. A country, so corrupted, that nobody knows to be exact the right definition of corruption. A place where everybody can become someone and get away with everything they want, as long as they have money. It is such a wonderful place to be live in. It is so full of these wheelers and dealers.

As i sat here, writing this, wheeling and dealing is on its course.
I am not the type to overhear conversations. I don't even care. Minding someone else's business (hopefully) is not in my vocabulary.
However, I just can't help this one. It triggers me to write this blog.

I am not terribly sure about who would be the wheeler and who would be the dealers. All I can share now, one of them is such a good seller to the extend, I find this man could win a speech contest. He's so well-spoken explaining the type of man he is and the connection he could get, and his ability to be relied upon. Not bad for a business man. They are talking about doing business in Kalimantan.
It's not about the whole conversation that I am drawn into. But, the fact that these men are wheeling and dealing right next to me just tickles me with no apparent reason. I know their intentions (supposedly) good. Because, at the end of the day, the essence of these talks are about opportunities, money, and better living standard. If anyone can put these altogether, it's almost impossible to see the wrong side of things. However, as the talk progresses, I realize all these men are just going round and round until they have finished their coffees, decided they should exchange phone numbers, and that they will set up another meeting to discuss the so-called "progress" or "continuance" of their meetings, with no conclusion actually achieved, I believe.

People say, it's common. They (probably) say, "this is how I look for money". I say it's a waste of time.
But, I am not about to have a conclusion, just as yet. Because, the way I see it wheeling and dealing has always been a new trend. So, we' ll see.