On today’s show I’m offering a perspective on the protests that we’re seeing playing out every weekend for the last several weeks in France. I managed a team of 110 employees in France for several years. In that time, I developed an understanding of French culture.
Generally speaking, the idea of protesting is deeply ingrained in the French culture. In an environment where it is very expensive to fire employees, the side effect is that it is very difficult to get hired. While the French are highly critical of the state of affairs in their country, they’re even more fearful of change. Maintaining the status quo is safer than any improvement. The protests are not just about a few cents per liter of higher gasoline prices. They’re protesting other changes that haven’t been announced yet that could affect the security of their employment.
