Let's get this decade right

Well I am sure we all agree that the first decade of the century and millennium was a failure by even the most optimistic measure. It is pretty obvious that it was a total failure of leadership by government and business. The short sighted CEO's who managed the economy into the gutter by thinking they work for Wall-Street share the blame alongside the fat cats on Wall Street who thought their bonus checks were their IQ's and let's not forget the total lack of leadership in Washington where the idea of, "If I don't admit wrong then I am not wrong" prevailed along side a total lack of interest in the national well-being.

So now we're in a new decade and hopefully we can turn things around. It may seem highly unlikely now but with the right set of circumstances we might be able to do so but like any task it will take work and sadly thanks to reality TV, government officials and Corporate CEO's we've been taught that hard work is wrong and we should be going for the fast and easy buck. Well thankfully for all of us the days of easy money are over so let's see if we can get the teens, my name for this decade, right.

First of all the biggest change needs to come from the corporate world. Corporate leadership in America does not exist and is driven by really stupid people who think they work for Wall Street and don't care about anything beyond the next quarter. Believe it or not there was a time when companies cared about things like customers, products and yes employees. Companies like IBM and Dow used to brag about how they hired only the best and the brightest. We need to get back to the days of treating employees as valuable assets rather than expendable tools. Employees need to be treated as an asset and not a liability on the balance sheet.

Companies also need to realize that they can anticipate events but can not control them. More effort needs to be put into flexibility and planning rather than trying to cover all possible scenarios are just working under the assumption that we know everything and that events will just work out perfectly because we're super smart and can plan anything again. The goal for the coming decade is an idea I call planned flexibility. Let's be ready for the changes in the marketplace but lets also keep in mind that despite all media hype, the world does not change all that quickly.

As for the other two legs of this stool of stupidity, we need to restore a sense of balance. I laugh at the concept that these firms need to pay these bonuses because if they don't they will lose these oh so valuable souls to the competition. That would be like your local baseball team looking at the player who consistently failed in the clutch and gave up home runs or struck out with the bases loaded and saying, "we really wouldn't want the competition to have this gem." Actually, I think that is exactly what you want! Strengthen the gene pool by getting rid of the weakest link. On the Serengeti in Africa if a gazelle is too slow or gets too close to the watering hole then the gene pool is preserved because the gazelle is some lion's or croc's lunch.

As for Washington, can we tear it down and start over? I think Nebraska gets it right, no parties. Everyone is non-partisan so they have to work together! Let's do that and maybe if we can get people to work together and set one seven year term for all members of congress maybe we can see some real reform.

I hope that we can see the errors of our way during the past ten years and make the changes that are necessary. Sadly, the people best in position to make the changes are the ones who got us here in the first place so forgive me if I am not overly optimistic.