Part of blogging, for me, it contextual in regards to “the times”. The current events are relevant to the medium. And this is our current reality in the United States of America.
- Unemployment hits 25-year high – jobless rate hits 8.1% in February as a record-high 12.5 million people are unemployed (3/6/2009)
- Merrill Lynch uncovers trading ‘irregularity’ – London forex trader reported to be at centre of probe (3/6/2009)
- Agreement Sets Stage for Madoff Plea Bargain – massive worldwide Ponzi scheme
- Obama’s speech to the nation – Determined Obama vows to renew US
- Jindal’s response to Obama
- 90 minute wait, 3 minute interview – job fairs
- Big bank stocks get dumped again – Citigroup stock below $1
- Saskatchewan a jobs ‘hot spot’ in Canada
- Republican Bailout Bill Fails
- overhaul of U.S. health care system?
- GM going bankrupt “substantial doubt” it will remain a “going concern”
So things are kind of crappy right now. Yet we miss the most basic truth. Business is about making something and selling it. Or performing a service and being paid for it. It isn’t about derivatives that you can’t understand. And those fancy Harvard MBAs, unfortunately, are lying to you. Find a way to humbly serve the customer profitably.
Like Joel Goodson says near the end of the Academy Award Winning memorable (seminal?) movie Risky Business:
My name is Joel Goodson. I deal in human fulfillment. I grossed over eight thousand dollars in one night. Time of your life, huh kid?
No I’m not suggesting we become Joel. I am suggesting that he is more of a business man than GM, Citibank, Merrill Lynch, Madoff, Stanford, or the lot of them.
Ed, have you read the book Enough by John Bogle? It talks about how businesses need to refocus to serve customers, create value and focus on the long term, not short-term speculation. It's directed towards the finance industry (which needs the most refocusing), but the novel is applicable to all businesses. Here's some good quotes:
"Some men wrest a living from nature and with their hands; this is called work.
Some men wrest a living from those who wrest a living from nature and with their hands; this is called trade.
Some men wrest a living from those who wrest a living from those who wrest a living from nature and with their hands; this is called finance."
"At a party given by a billionaire on Shelter Island, Kurt Vonnegut informs his pal, Joseph Heller, that their host, a hedge fund manager, had made more money in a single day than Heller had earned from his wildly popular novel Catch-22 over its whole history. Heller responds, 'Yes, but I have something he will never have… enough.' "
Posted on March 8, 2009 at 8:51 pm.
Love this part 'Yes, but I have something he will never have… enough.' " – awesome!
Posted on March 13, 2009 at 11:04 am.