Robert McKenzie’s response to Alan M Webers’ “Three Rules for These Time” on Conversation Starter at Harvard Business Publishing.
Dear Alan,
I am in total agreement with you! For too long the class room has taught management as if it were all about economic performance, shareholder value, and the share price of publically traded companies. But sadly:
Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as:
Knowing when to come in out of the rain; Why the early bird gets the worm; Life isn’t always fair; and maybe it was my fault. Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don’t spend more than you can earn) and reliable strategies (management, not necessarily shareholders, are in charge).
His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of CEOs taking big bonuses, at a time when markets performed poorly and employees were told that their efforts were not enough. Common Sense lost ground when shareholder value was seen as the most important thing and left employees wondering their self worth. It declined even further when self-centered decisions were made which resulted in massive failure and the production supervisors and operations managers’ gets blamed. Common Sense lost the will to live as businesses became greedy and went after pre-tax profit at whatever cost.
Common Sense took a beating when businesses asked regulators to give them more control to achieve supernatural levels of efficiencies, some would argue that most governments are still trying to determine the meaning of the word efficiency
Common Sense was preceded in death, by his parents, Truth and Trust, by his wife, Discretion, by his daughter, Responsibility, and by his son, Reason… He is survived by his 4 stepbrothers; I Know My Rights, I Want It Now, Someone Else Is To Blame and I’m A Victim.
SOURCE: Harvard Business Publishing
If common sense were to be here with us; most of the problems we have entangled ourselves with in recent times especially the credit crunch debacle and others would have been averted.
We will all miss common sense.
Adieu!!!
