As a business owner, I am left to face the question, how will the economy effect my business? This is no simple question. We rely on clients who need physical therapy, massage therapy, sports training, and so on to have the ability to pay for the services we provide.We also largely rely on the insurance companies to be around another day to pay for the services we provide that are covered by their plans. We rely on our clients to have money to fill their gas tanks to be able to get to our office in order for us to provide our services. The one thing we don't rely on however is for someone to bail us out.
I am amazed and almost outraged at the current CEO's that are leading these companies that are being bailed out by the Federal Government. I guess business sense goes out the window when greed and ego take over. Maybe I am glad I didn't spend another $80,000 on an MBA from a high profile institution to be lumped into the same category as some of these phonies. Leaders are reliable, they are accounable, they take responsibility for their actions, they accept blame and ask for apologizes when they have done something wrong. They don't hide behind lawyers, golden parachutes, and other cronies good at fixing books like cowards. My favorite quote was made by one executives wife after the Enron debacle. She said, "We are the laughing stock of the Country Club." And rightfully she and her husband should have been.
I have many reasons to wake up every morning and make it into work. I know that I have 12 employees and a business partner that rely on me to help keep the company running. I have a vested interest in seeing that our company can sustain itself another day. I have bills to pay and a family to take care of. I have motivation to avoid failure because I want to avoid being embarrassed in the community which has been so great to us and for which we are a large part of. But most importantly because I have a sense of pride in what I do. Where has that gone for these CEO's of major corporations that make decisions that effect millions of peoples lives. Has their ego gone too big to make them believe they are invinsible? Or are the incentives there no matter what so that they don't feel like they need to work to make ends meet? I have never understood the "golden parachute?" Can anyone tell me what incentive there is to make the right decision when a CEO has a couple a million dollar windfall no matter what the outcome?
I propose a change. How about the board of directors for these large corporations making a clause in there that the "golden parachute" will become the company's payroll for the remaining employees if the company ceases to remain functional based on a decision that the CEO makes. That may increase accountability and get their attention when making decisions based purely on greed rather than what is best for the longevity of the business. I can hear it now, But who will want such a job? Companies need these high profile CEO's to come take charge and they may not want the job if there was such a clause? If every corporation put in such a clause I would highly doubt that these celebrity CEO's would all crawl under a rock and pout. They would suck it up, act like adults and actually have to work to earn their money like the rest of us while being held accountable for their decisions.
How will the economy effect us? I don't know, but I sure hope that we are not effected because our clients fell victim to some leader-want-to-be at the helm of their ship. Let's bring accountability back to life and demand it from those around us.
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