The moral authority to lead and shifting ethics in American business.
So many years ago, I was sitting in a liberal arts class deep in a discussion of morality and ethics. As I was stating my opinion, a classmate challenged, “You are an economics major, you will be going into the business world. All you will care about is yourself, and making as much money as you can. Why should anyone listen to you?”
I responded, “You want to become a social worker. A noble profession. But a career in business can be noble too. If I do my job well, a business will thrive. A product will be built that is of value to society. People will be employed and make a good living. If I do my job well, my employees will have much less need to ever come to you for help.”
By the end of the day’s class, I claimed a victory for business, for our capitalist system. For decades to come, I lived that win. I was fortunate enough to work for companies who won in the marketplace. Products were manufactured. Motors, aircraft engines, electronics, computer chips, boring industrial equipment. All a value to society. All with employees making a good living.
There were times when we were not winning, when employment had to be reduced. It was done with compassion for those employees impacted. Smoothing the transition with short-term layoff benefits, income extension aid, job retraining, plant closing benefits, moving employees to other plants.
Tough decisions were made, not delayed. Capitalism continued to work. Pain for the employees and their families was reduced.
And I taught Junior Achievement’s Project Business and Applied Economics in public school classrooms, extolling the virtues of capitalism and careers in business. A rewarding experience, winning hearts and minds a little each day.
But what happens when crony capitalism becomes dominant?
What happens when the very best companies eliminate the safety nets they had previously built? Job retraining eliminated. Severance reduced. Plant closing benefits gamed away (the plant is still “open” having gone from 1,000 employees to 50, so no plant closing benefits for the 950).
What happens when benefits for current employees are reduced every year?
What happens when promised retiree benefits are stripped away?
What happens when leadership abandons the long and intermediate term health of the businesses they are intrusted to lead? When short-term deals, when harvesting (failure to invest) wins the day, every day.
What happens when new managers are no longer taught how to lead people? When work life balance is ridiculed. When people are treated as machines.
As example after example after example of ethics in business eroding, and the collective morality of business leaders compromised, I think back to my “win” so many years ago in that classroom.
What happens when children are taught through the experiences of their parents that “business is bad”? What happens when there is no one left to defend and advocate for our American capitalist system?
Can a “younger me” still win the argument today? Can a career in business still be viewed as noble?