Do You Have to be a Bad Guy in Order to Win?

Do you have to be a bad guy in order to win?

Have you looked at the news lately and felt disgusted? The headlines of today’s news confirm what we all feel and know in our gut. The headlines I am talking about are those of CEO’s going to jail for running their corporations into the financial rocks; ignoring the lighthouse that is beaming it’s light for safe passage and to fiscal responsibility. All the while it is not the captain (CEO, CFO, etc..) that goes down with the ship. It’s the crew (workers and their pensions) and the steerage passengers (the investors). How did it get to become this way? What happened to the feel good years where it was common to hear "What’s good for GM is good for the country" is that era long gone? While I have no answer as to why the Enron, WorldCom, Tyco, and the slew of other corporations stole, lied and cheated; I can say that I feel that these fiascos have their root in greed.

"The point is ladies and gentlemen that greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right. Greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of it's forms - greed for life, for money, knowledge - has marked the upward surge of mankind and greed - you mark my words - will not only save Teldar Paper but that other malfunctioning corporation called the USA. Thank you." - Gordon Gekko, from the movie Wall Street, 1987

Does art imitate life or is this a case of a self-fulfilling prophecy? Did Dennis Kozlowski (Tyco’s Chairman & CEO) watch Wall Street 1 time too many? Maybe he did, perhaps he felt that it was the right thing to do. The sad thing is that he’s not alone. Other CEO’s share in this greed is good mentality. For all the bigwigs that have been caught, there are thousands of others that haven’t. Where are the headlines condemning these men, who have shipped jobs overseas not because of patriotism but for profits, theirs. If you don’t think this is so look at the rustbelt, go to Pennsylvania, where are the manufacturing jobs? Personally, I don’t think it needs to be this way. I believe that I can be happy without having more than my neighbor. In the very least I don’t need to put or climb over my neighbor in order to get ahead. My personal feeling is that if I can make a dollar while I help you out than I have done good for my society. Doesn’t that sound like providing a good service and or a quality product? Build a better mousetrap and they will come. The basis of the free market system is competition, which drives innovation.

"One man can completely change the character of a country, and the industry of its people, by dropping a single seed in fertile soil." - John C. Gifford

I have been called a dreamer, that I am unrealistic a nonconformist; All badges that I wear proudly! Why not reject the current state of affairs and lead by example. Be the change. Whether you are a clerk in a large corporate machine be the best clerk you can, excel at your job. If you are a small business owner than provide the best possible service that you can. At the end of the day you’ll reap the benefits of a repeat customer, good word of mouth and the positive feelings that you have sowed from that fertile soil. While you might never be the richest man in the world monetarily does this mean that you are not a affluent man? The golden rule "treat others as you’d want to be treated" is my business philosophy. It’s simple yet obtainable. If I can do this so can you. Imagine that everyone followed our lead, what would the media outlets report about then?

Every man is the architect of his own fortune. - Pseudo-Sallust: Epist. de Rep. Ordin. ii. 1.