above. From this place we notice many attitudes and values ignored by the gaze from above. These attitudes and values, the people and practices that embody them, the soil they grow out of, form the basis for a rich set of alternative ideas for rethinking organisation in today’s world. We use the term ‘Larrikin Principle’ to encompass a range of features that hang together in this alternative. We will not begin with full definitions of our key terms (Neo-Liberalism, Managerialism, Larrikin Principle). We prefer to allow definitions to emerge, to do justice to their richness and complexity. Yet, as we just did with Neo-Liberalism, we give a preliminary account as our starting point. The term ‘larrikin’ is associated with Australia, and we use this context to help understand it, but the Larrikin Principle is not confined to Australia or English-speaking countries. Nineteenth century Australia, when the word first appeared, was nationalistic, xenophobic, racist and sexist. All these attributes coloured the conception, and congealed into a stereotype. Similar things happen to stereotypes in other countries. The ‘typical Mexican’, the ‘typical Brazilian’, the ‘typical Yank’ are potent ways of failing to understand the respective peoples and nations. Our version of Larrikins is coloured and inflected by the complex realities of today, post-modern, multicultural, gender-aware citizens of the world, a core part of our strategy to illuminate the issues of organisations throughout the Neo-Liberal world. Paradoxically, many Australians reject the Larrikin Principle. Many nonAustralians show more of it than do most Australians. None of its features is exclusive to larrikins or Australians. The principle came to Australia from a diverse global culture, and in this era, it reconnects with this scope and diversity. Instead of a symbol for a single national identity, for one small nation on the global scene, we use it to see existing and potential connections across this now profoundly connected globe. Aussies still like to think it is typical of them. It connects with what they think of as their convict past, when their national character was shaped by opposition to the dominant, repressive British rule. This was not a typical post-colonial story. Larrikins did not rise up in arms and throw the coloniser out, as Mexicans and Americans (though not Brazilians) did. They developed a distinctive low-key strategy, beating and joining their oppressors. In this sense Larrikins have a laid-back style. They are irreverent towards authority, bending or breaking rules if they do not see their point. They expose ‘bullshit’ wherever they find it. They adapt to new challenges with whatever comes to hand, with pared-down efficiency that gets the job done better than following the rules does. These qualities were born in frontier conditions the past, still needed in post-crisis organisations. The Larrikin Principle is still alive and well in Australia today, in popular culture and in the world of business, even though a few decades of bipartisan Neo-Liberalism drove it underground. It acts through women and men 13
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