I've been browsing blogs and came across Washington's Blog. It's showing a collection of photos and video from the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster. I found it shocking, saddening and it moved me to feel thanks towards Jonathan Elinoff, the collator of the images.
But it's done more than shock and sadden me. It's helped me to put into words something I've been feeling for a while now. It's the dissatisfaction I feel with the way many large corporate enterprises define their purpose. Don't get me wrong; I'm not against corporate enterprises. I see them as a vital aspect of life and part of the bedrock of most economies. I am against the limited view many corporate executives have created and subscribe to; to “maximise shareholder” value. Now, I have a pension scheme and would like it to give me a reasonable return later in my life, so that means shareholder value is important to me too. But it’s not everything. How about the corporate enterprise that exists to service humanity and the living plant first, and then return shareholder value?
It’s time for a change of corporate thinking and the sooner it starts to happen, the better for all of us. A quote a by Bertrand Russell, the British philosopher, historian and mathematician comes to mind. Exchange ‘education’ for ‘enterprise’…
“It is because modern education is so seldom inspired by a great hope that it so seldom achieves great results. The wish to preserve the past rather than the hope of creating the future dominates the minds of those who control the teaching of the young.”
Washington’s Blog - http://bit.ly/aZNtEE
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