The Good Captain:
:: It seems to me that the current economic system does not encourage long
:: term planning (even a year or two is too far out---gotta make that money by
:: next quarter and get the fuck out of Dodge).
[Begin rant]
You couldn’t be more right. This is a huge problem that we are going to be feeling the effects of for a long time if the current corporate business model doesn’t change.
Just a brief business model comparison, if you will. The difference between the recent demise of Seagram and the longevity of The Absolut Company is that Seagram was privately owned and therefore driven by quarterly profits, and Absolut is government owned and driven by long range planning.
The president of Herman Miller (those furniture people) once said (and I basically believe in the truth of the statement) that "Business is the only institution that has a chance, as far as I can see, to fundamentally improve the injustice that exists in the world. But first, we will have to move through the barriers that are keeping us from being truly vision-led and capable of learning."
"Business" or "corporations," after all, are just people, and as organizations, businesses or corporations are the only entities around that have the kind of clout and financial resources to be able to make changes in the world. Governments certainly don’t have it. Religious organizations don’t.
What’s wrong with corporations is what’s wrong with people. Capitalism isn’t going to go away, but it CAN be responsible. It’s one of the reasons that I feel like I have kind of a personal mission to be working from the inside, so to speak, in order to create change. To make sure that I promote, every day on an on-going basis, the kind of values and self (organizational) analysis that leads to the kind of learning that Simon, the HM president, was talking about. Now I know this sounds a bit lofty and perhaps naïve, but ya have to start where you are and all, as my favorite Buddhist monk would say.
[End rant]
