Another great post from Dr, Itzhak Adiges, one of my favorite business-management/life thinkers.... I think his final paragraph is the most enlightening:
"A new theory of management and economics is being called for. One that provides new goals to be followed; where profits are not the goal, but a by-product of reaching the desired goal."
I think we can all take this "macro-message" and see where it finds us on our "micro-level". It is not only a new managerial theory that is important- as this is what Adiges does for a living, and he is great at it- but a new "personal way of interacting with the capitalist world"....
-------------------------------------------------------
What is Wrong With
Business Schools?
Fifty years ago, when I received my MBA and doctoral degrees at Columbia University Business School, MBA programs were not yet popular. Since that time offers have grown like mushrooms after the rain, especially in Eastern Europe and the developing countries. In India, I have noticed Business Schools are everywhere, and the US business schools are making fortunes essentially franchising their programs.
What is wrong with that?
Economics and business schools teach that the purpose of business is to produce profits. Finance theory and micro-economic theory preach that the goal of business is to increase earnings per share. So do all other courses in marketing and even human resources. The profit motivation is always there as the measuring rod of success.
Granted, here and there you can find a course devoted to social responsibility, but it functions as a fig leaf for the real program, which is clearly oriented around profit: market domination for profit orientation, etc.
What is wrong with it? It legitimizes greed.
Making profit, the purpose and goal for which a business exists, validates and justifies greed. If there were no greed, profit motivation as a goal would not be as attractive.
So what, one may ask?
To make profits, companies have to create needs so they can increase revenues. Just look at the variety of products being provided just in a supermarket. We promote meat consumption and never in the history of mankind has so much meat been consumed per capita. And what is the meat consumption doing to our environment? Do you know how much water and land use is necessary for one pound of cow meat? And how much pollution of our water resources the dairy business causes?
The result is that companies are profitable while the environment is increasingly getting destroyed. Our standard of living is going up while our quality of life is going down.
To increase profits, companies seek global sourcing of products and go where the costs are the lowest. That creates unemployment at home.
We preach democracy, go to war and sacrifice our children's lives supposedly to bring democracy to far-away lands, only to turn around and franchise or promote business schools who teach anything but democracy in how corporations should be managed.
Representing owners, corporate governance is not democracy. Workers who are managed have no say in who their leaders will be. The reality is that we teach that benevolent dictatorship is the most-desired leadership model of corporations. That is the reality of our management education.
The search for economic returns is impacting how top managers behave, too. The gap in salaries between top management and workers is the highest it's been since the era of the robber barons in the late nineteenth century.
The result is that we legitimize greed and then condemn it, live in a galloping consumer society that is wasteful beyond comprehension, and preach democracy but promote non-democracy in our corporate life.
Overall I would say the system, as we know it now, is producing unexpected, undesired collateral damage. Profit-seeking as the preeminent goal is a force of disintegration, which is hurting us and will hurt future generations even more. Business Schools are the swamps that breed the malaria carrying mosquitoes.
The efforts to make business leaders more socially conscious is like swimming against a tsunami. After a year of indoctrination that profits are the goal to be focused on and the basis of which we grant rewards, coupled with the natural desire to accumulate wealth, developing social consciousness is like an aspirin for cancer. It might relieve the pain (i.e. sense of guilt) for a short-time, but the damage will continue to happen.
What about the theory that leadership of business organizations should have a host of stakeholders to consider in their decision-making? The community, workers, and needs of the environment are not to be ignored.
Nice in theory. In practice, if your competition produces better profits than you, your position as a leader of the corporation might be in jeopardy.
What about the claim that socially conscious corporations are more profitable? Maybe, but note how the profit motive is driving even social consciousness as a measure of justification for the effort.
But responsible businesses practice philanthropy, you might say.
I find it ironic that Coca Cola Company, for instance, finances a chair for social responsibility at a business school. A company that is feeding sugar millions of people with dire health consequences. The same goes for McDonald's and Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC).
Fig leaf efforts.
A new theory of management and economics is being called for. One that provides new goals to be followed; where profits are not the goal, but a by-product of reaching the desired goal.
Just thinking.
Sincerely,
Dr. Ichak Kalderon Adizes
Sunday, September 14, 2014
Friday, September 5, 2014
Where is that idea you have been hiding?
Bob Burg, is the co-author of a great little book called "The Go-Giver"
which I bet most of you have seen or read. He writes a wonderful blog and I would like to post it below because I love the energy, direction and vision of it all.
The fact is that we have so many ideas that we are afraid of putting forth, so many ideas which never really make it to consideration due to lack of time, attention, drive and support. Who knows how many great ideas have been buried before life has brought them forward.
I would like to ask you: what idea are you burying that should be out there for due attention and potential cultivation?
----------------------------------------
The Go-Giver Blog
Finding The Way (To Create Value and Profitability)
Posted: 25 Aug 2014 06:51 AM PDT
My friend, bestselling author and Prosperity Authority, Randy Gage has famously said:
“You don’t have a money problem. You have an idea problem.”
Randy’s premise is that if you can find a way to bring value to others (i.e., the marketplace) your money situation will be well taken care of. This, of course, ties into what John David Mann and I say in our Go-Giver Series which is:
“Money is an echo of value. It’s the thunder to value’s lightning.”
In Certified Go-Giver Speaker and Branding Authority, Bill Ellis’ recent Friday’s Fearless Brand Blog post he highlighted Enterprise Rent-A-Car Founder, Jack Taylor who came up with a new twist to an already-established idea and built his little company into an international powerhouse. It was a great idea.
A young entrepreneur by the name of Fred Smith looked at package delivery in a different way than anyone else did and saw his company, Federal Express dominate the marketplace. It was a great idea.
A native New Jersian turned Texas lawyer named Herb Kelleher teamed up with some people who felt they could “democratize the skies.” Despite having to fight through a whole lot of political beauracy and Cronyism to make it happen, they have soared from the get-go. In an industry in which practically all their competitors lose money, they have been profitable for the over 40 years they have been in business.
From Bill Gates to Steve Jobs to Mary Kay; from Sara Blakely to Donald Trump to Tony Hsieh; From Debbie Fields to Amar Bose to Louise Hay…people who have ideas – and are willing to find a way to apply those ideas – are the ones who prosper. And, Free-Market Capitalism* being what it is (where no one can be forced to buy from you), they can ONLY prosper by finding ways to provide significant value to the lives of many, many others.
None of the above mentioned companies; none of the above people, started out big. But, they had an idea. And, they were willing to pursue it.
You can, too.
Most likely, no one is going to hand you the idea. You’ve got to find it. And, you do so by placing other peoples’ (the marketplace’s) interests first. Then you determine how to do it and keep doing it until the world embraces the value you have created.
—–
*I love the quote by my favorite economist, Professor Walter Williams:
“Prior to capitalism, the way people amassed great wealth was by looting, plundering and esnslaving their fellow man. Capitalism made it possible to become wealthy by serving your fellow man.”
which I bet most of you have seen or read. He writes a wonderful blog and I would like to post it below because I love the energy, direction and vision of it all.
The fact is that we have so many ideas that we are afraid of putting forth, so many ideas which never really make it to consideration due to lack of time, attention, drive and support. Who knows how many great ideas have been buried before life has brought them forward.
I would like to ask you: what idea are you burying that should be out there for due attention and potential cultivation?
----------------------------------------
The Go-Giver Blog
Finding The Way (To Create Value and Profitability)
Posted: 25 Aug 2014 06:51 AM PDT
My friend, bestselling author and Prosperity Authority, Randy Gage has famously said:
“You don’t have a money problem. You have an idea problem.”
Randy’s premise is that if you can find a way to bring value to others (i.e., the marketplace) your money situation will be well taken care of. This, of course, ties into what John David Mann and I say in our Go-Giver Series which is:
“Money is an echo of value. It’s the thunder to value’s lightning.”
In Certified Go-Giver Speaker and Branding Authority, Bill Ellis’ recent Friday’s Fearless Brand Blog post he highlighted Enterprise Rent-A-Car Founder, Jack Taylor who came up with a new twist to an already-established idea and built his little company into an international powerhouse. It was a great idea.
A young entrepreneur by the name of Fred Smith looked at package delivery in a different way than anyone else did and saw his company, Federal Express dominate the marketplace. It was a great idea.
A native New Jersian turned Texas lawyer named Herb Kelleher teamed up with some people who felt they could “democratize the skies.” Despite having to fight through a whole lot of political beauracy and Cronyism to make it happen, they have soared from the get-go. In an industry in which practically all their competitors lose money, they have been profitable for the over 40 years they have been in business.
From Bill Gates to Steve Jobs to Mary Kay; from Sara Blakely to Donald Trump to Tony Hsieh; From Debbie Fields to Amar Bose to Louise Hay…people who have ideas – and are willing to find a way to apply those ideas – are the ones who prosper. And, Free-Market Capitalism* being what it is (where no one can be forced to buy from you), they can ONLY prosper by finding ways to provide significant value to the lives of many, many others.
None of the above mentioned companies; none of the above people, started out big. But, they had an idea. And, they were willing to pursue it.
You can, too.
Most likely, no one is going to hand you the idea. You’ve got to find it. And, you do so by placing other peoples’ (the marketplace’s) interests first. Then you determine how to do it and keep doing it until the world embraces the value you have created.
—–
*I love the quote by my favorite economist, Professor Walter Williams:
“Prior to capitalism, the way people amassed great wealth was by looting, plundering and esnslaving their fellow man. Capitalism made it possible to become wealthy by serving your fellow man.”
Hey Guy- Got Hobbies?
"Get interested in something. Shake yourself awake. Develop a hobby. Let the winds of enthusiasm sweep through you. Live today with gusto."
Dale Carnegie
As a coach, I found the following article on the importance of hobbies to be an important one.
You see, many of us are stuck in careers that make little sense, feel bonded and caged in some ways, depleted of energy with no real career change plan.
And here is where hobbies can sometimes save the day because it gives the individual a creative outlet where the career has not.
We are living in a day and age where the choice of hobbies is so great that one can get stressed out just by having to choose, so knowing how to choose a hobby is also important.
On the other hand it is not what hobby that one chooses that really counts, in my opinion, but how serious, persevering and involved one gets in it- the more the better, taking all other "life stuff" into consideration.
So, guys….if you have a good hobby, good for you- keep it up! And if you are not there yet---go for it! It can make the difference between a life full of meaning and a life spent "waiting for Godot"….
http://www.dailygood.org/story/782/the-power-of-hobbies-carolyn-gregoire/
Dale Carnegie
As a coach, I found the following article on the importance of hobbies to be an important one.
You see, many of us are stuck in careers that make little sense, feel bonded and caged in some ways, depleted of energy with no real career change plan.
And here is where hobbies can sometimes save the day because it gives the individual a creative outlet where the career has not.
We are living in a day and age where the choice of hobbies is so great that one can get stressed out just by having to choose, so knowing how to choose a hobby is also important.
On the other hand it is not what hobby that one chooses that really counts, in my opinion, but how serious, persevering and involved one gets in it- the more the better, taking all other "life stuff" into consideration.
So, guys….if you have a good hobby, good for you- keep it up! And if you are not there yet---go for it! It can make the difference between a life full of meaning and a life spent "waiting for Godot"….
http://www.dailygood.org/story/782/the-power-of-hobbies-carolyn-gregoire/
Thursday, September 4, 2014
Are you an Adrenalin Junkie?
I once had a client here in Israel who was a neurologist with extensive work with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
In a moment of levity (or not?) he once told me: "Really, Ronnie, you don't think Israel is an ADHD country? How often have you felt that people here have zero ability to put off anything, which is a cardinal symptom of ADHD".
Mmmm….I really laughed because I too have encountered this thought in my mind, albeit without the "ADHD country label".
Yet, on the more serious side, we all know or have experienced in ourselves or with others the need to continually be in action, to be on the go, to be do-do-doing something, God forbid a lull in the action, we might get depressed and start wilting away…
Do check if you are an "adrenalin-junkie" and, if yes, take steps to control it.
Adrenalin is a great thing to have if you want to push ahead but when it manages you, your decisions in life, career or business, watch out!
I have seen time and again business owners make horrible decisions because they did not have the time to think, reflect, consult and allow for processes to happen.
Don't be one of those…cheers!
In a moment of levity (or not?) he once told me: "Really, Ronnie, you don't think Israel is an ADHD country? How often have you felt that people here have zero ability to put off anything, which is a cardinal symptom of ADHD".
Mmmm….I really laughed because I too have encountered this thought in my mind, albeit without the "ADHD country label".
Yet, on the more serious side, we all know or have experienced in ourselves or with others the need to continually be in action, to be on the go, to be do-do-doing something, God forbid a lull in the action, we might get depressed and start wilting away…
Do check if you are an "adrenalin-junkie" and, if yes, take steps to control it.
Adrenalin is a great thing to have if you want to push ahead but when it manages you, your decisions in life, career or business, watch out!
I have seen time and again business owners make horrible decisions because they did not have the time to think, reflect, consult and allow for processes to happen.
Don't be one of those…cheers!
Wednesday, September 3, 2014
What is Home anyway?
"Home is knowing. Knowing your mind, knowing your
heart, knowing your courage. If we know ourselves, we're always home, anywhere.
"
( Glinda, the Wizard of Oz )
I have often battled with answering this question.
At
times I think it is obvious, at others I have my doubts.
Home is something in
your mind, it is a concept and you can have many "homes" if you want
just as you have many "identities" in your life. As a former
extensive traveler I found my "home" in different countries with different
kinds of people, ways of life and cultures.
The "home" concept can
help you live a great life if you widen, expand and share it with others….it
can also be a terrible concept when you use it as a way to extend hate and
violence.
I like to feel that the world is my home, although I must admit that
I get a lot of opposition to this from those who see "home" as more
parochial, limited and "only for us"….that is already a different
post…
Below is an article about home from the
"homeless" perspective.
Tuesday, September 2, 2014
To want and to REALLY WANT
"Wanting something is not enough. You must hunger for it. Your motivation must be absolutely compelling in order to overcome the obstacles that will invariably come your way."(Les Brown)
We are a super-wanting culture. It seems that wherever you go there is something that you want, want to achieve, want to change….but do you really want it?
I have found that people are quick to "want things" but not quick at all to REALLY WANT them, that is a big difference. You see if you REALLY WANT something you will break down walls, cross bridges, go out on a limb and do nearly everything to make things happen.
So be aware and ask yourself about the important stuff: do you REALLY WANT it?
We are a super-wanting culture. It seems that wherever you go there is something that you want, want to achieve, want to change….but do you really want it?
I have found that people are quick to "want things" but not quick at all to REALLY WANT them, that is a big difference. You see if you REALLY WANT something you will break down walls, cross bridges, go out on a limb and do nearly everything to make things happen.
So be aware and ask yourself about the important stuff: do you REALLY WANT it?
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