Accountability

Heads up: This is not about my family—rather; I end up on my soapbox about the state of our economy. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. --Jennifer

I don’t know how many of you have read this book, or ever even heard of it, but Jack Welch’s “Winning” is the best book on management I’ve ever read. (disclaimer: I’ve only read 4 management/leadership books)

I am in middle management at work, and I strongly agree with many of Welch’s points. I recently pulled this book out to let one of my employees have a read, and before I gave it to him, I opened it up to have a quick glance. Right there on the page are these paragraphs on the relationship between companies, the government, and the economy:

“Obviously, the government is a vital part of society. First and foremost, it does nothing less than protect us all from the insidious and persistent challenges to national security that are with us now and for the foreseeable future. But government provides much more: the justice system, education, police and fire protection, highways and ports, welfare and hospitals. The list could go on and on.

But even with the virtues of government, it is crucial to remember that all of its services come from some form of tax revenues. Government makes no money of its own. And in that way, government is the support for the engine of the economy, is it not the engine itself.

Winning companies and the people who work for them are the engine of a healthy economy, and in providing the revenues for government, they are the foundation of a free and domestic society.”

I wonder what he would have to say about the government’s gargantuan bailout of the banks and automakers? I am dangerously close to stepping on my soapbox, so I’ll just say a few things: I don’t think it’s a bailout at all—I think it’s postponing the inevitable. And where is the accountability for the stupid decisions these companies have made over the years? What about the irresponsible people to agreed to ludicrous loans to live way beyond their means? Nobody is holding anyone accountable, and we are feeding the monster with more money—delaying the inevitable. And that’s all I’ll say about that…I don’t want to come across as one of those weird conspiracy-theory, gloom & doom, anti-government and anti-media people. I just thought it was strange to open a book written well before we were aware of today’s economic crisis and see that written on the page. Oh, and I did get on my box and preach to some poor unsuspecting folks about this at work yesterday. Sorry, guys…