corporate responsibility (special thanks to kathy sierra)
May 8th, 2007
NOTE: This post is an old post from MySpace copy/pasted into this one to add content. It is raw and unedited for content or formatting. Love it.
OK, for those of you who read my Jobs Siggity Suck post, I recently read an article on Kathy Sierra’s Passionate Users blog that articulates what I was trying to say so much better. Why is it that girls always do things better than I do? Anyway, read yonder graph below and see my comments following:
The beauty of this is that she gives somewhat specific instances of how this could work in…um, the workplace. See, I think that capitalism is wonderful, but there are some pitfalls that it causes, one of which is valuing the company and its profits over people in the priority food chain.
However, this post isn’t about the specifics of how to make the job place better. See, I’ve felt for a long time that we should be talking more about corporate responsibility in western culture. Is it possible that profits should not be the end game? Of course they need to be part of the equation in order for capitalism to work, but should other things be emphasized more? Like people, for example. Or community service. Or providing a safe working environment that nurtures personal and professional growth for it’s employees. Things that help society at large rather than only the corporation. Even if that means making less money as an entity.
Of course economic experts may rattle off how profits are best for shareholders and organizational growth provides more jobs and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. My friends, any arguments in that vein end at the same place: they benefit that specific company. Is it possible that shareholders in a corporation should share some of the weight of global responsibility by not owning as big of a yacht or sending their kids to state instead of Columbia? And what if the job market was diversified more? Less Wal-Mart employees equals more mom & pop employees = more entrepreneurs = more small businesses = stronger, decentralized economy.
Just as the former Soviet Union had a difficult time incorporating democracy and capitalism after the communist government was over and done with, so economic reform of this kind would be a difficult road; and a long one to boot. However, I believe that if my generation and the generation immediately following starts to internalize principles like valuing people and global responsibility, this reform could happen over time. The result, I believe, wouldn’t just be MORE jobs, but would also be BETTER jobs.
Oh, and please don’t stop reading my blog just because the last two were boring. I promise I’ll be more fun soon. Um, in the meantime, here’s a joke.
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July 19th, 2007 at 01:27
[...] I’ve referenced the article before, and I’ve even used her nifty graphic table in one of my own articles, so for context, feel free to read them again. But here, I’d like to present Workplace 2.0*, [...]