Our Bottom Up Economy
As you may know, I find writing this blog helps me think "out loud" about how I feel about my "career" choice. Most of my material comes from reading and or conversations that I have with all of you. Today's post is inspired by a co-worker from a recent lunch conversation. Subject's included off-shoring, executive compensation, history of the populist movement in the 1800's, etc. As it was time to head back to work the topic moved to retirement (it's a long way off for both of us), when he said, "I'm going to work for "THE MAN" until I'm 80, then hope I can live long enough to travel for a couple of years." What could I say beyond, "On that note, I'm excited about heading back to the desk for the afternoon!" Geez, what a downer!
Well, the next morning I read, "Why 'Bottom Up' Is On Its Way Up " and I felt significantly better. Since I have pretty much been a "bottom-feeder" all my life (at least organizationally) I took heart in the following:
This new style of business, birthed by the Internet, is ignored at any company's peril.
Is there something that I could be doing that is putting "THE MAN" at risk...Apparently so. The notion of "co-creation" of value between producer & consumer seems quite appealing. I might know very little about helping a widget consumer co-create the next generation widget, but I think I'm in a pretty good position to help co-create value when it comes to software tools & products...at least certainly better than "THE MAN"
Is THE MAN always the bad guy?
Lest you think I'm the type that thinks every CEO is a crooked, greedy SOB, I offer this link about Starbuck's CEO Howard Schultz. The full text of the article is available only if you subscribe, but the short version is this:
Three Starbuck's employees were murdered in Washington D.C. He received a call about the incident at 5 am. He flew from NYC to DC and was on the scene by 9 am, talking to the police, employees, and families. He stayed long enough to attend all three funerals, and donated all profits from that Starbuck's stores to a support group for victims families. Sounds like more than a decent guy!
Then there is the other side of the coin, also from Fortune, that reminds us that public perception for corporate executives will be hard to change, and probably get worse before it gets better.
As you may know, I find writing this blog helps me think "out loud" about how I feel about my "career" choice. Most of my material comes from reading and or conversations that I have with all of you. Today's post is inspired by a co-worker from a recent lunch conversation. Subject's included off-shoring, executive compensation, history of the populist movement in the 1800's, etc. As it was time to head back to work the topic moved to retirement (it's a long way off for both of us), when he said, "I'm going to work for "THE MAN" until I'm 80, then hope I can live long enough to travel for a couple of years." What could I say beyond, "On that note, I'm excited about heading back to the desk for the afternoon!" Geez, what a downer!
Well, the next morning I read, "Why 'Bottom Up' Is On Its Way Up " and I felt significantly better. Since I have pretty much been a "bottom-feeder" all my life (at least organizationally) I took heart in the following:
This new style of business, birthed by the Internet, is ignored at any company's peril.
Is there something that I could be doing that is putting "THE MAN" at risk...Apparently so. The notion of "co-creation" of value between producer & consumer seems quite appealing. I might know very little about helping a widget consumer co-create the next generation widget, but I think I'm in a pretty good position to help co-create value when it comes to software tools & products...at least certainly better than "THE MAN"
Is THE MAN always the bad guy?
Lest you think I'm the type that thinks every CEO is a crooked, greedy SOB, I offer this link about Starbuck's CEO Howard Schultz. The full text of the article is available only if you subscribe, but the short version is this:
Three Starbuck's employees were murdered in Washington D.C. He received a call about the incident at 5 am. He flew from NYC to DC and was on the scene by 9 am, talking to the police, employees, and families. He stayed long enough to attend all three funerals, and donated all profits from that Starbuck's stores to a support group for victims families. Sounds like more than a decent guy!
Then there is the other side of the coin, also from Fortune, that reminds us that public perception for corporate executives will be hard to change, and probably get worse before it gets better.
posted by Mike McGowan at 2:40 PM
<< Home