On Money and the Soulless Corporation
Yesterday I sat and listened to something that has my stomach turning even today and I’m not sick (my son is – he has the flu so he has a real reason to throw up). I felt like it was right out of Dilbert.
Normally I don’t have an ethical problem with being a marketer. Why? because value is exchanged. Other times I do have a problem with marketing. Like when you feel like the person talking would sell their own soul (and yours) for money. Businesses are in business because they have cashflow, so it’s not evil to want that.
My disgust started with reading a blog post about how a Chinese toy manufacturer hung himself after Fisher-Price recalled its products. They had too much lead. At least 75% of our toys come from China and this is a persistent problem. His close friend and supplier sold him tainted paint. It talked also about how people are dying or getting sick because of the chemicals being put into products imported to the US. Poisoning children – that is disgusting.
Quote from the Unusual Business Ideas that Work Blog which talked about the things we’d do for money. It’s called, ” 42 Money Facts That Will Rock Your World.”:
For $10,000,000 most of us would do almost ANYTHING! Including abandoning our family and friends and our church. A very high percentage of us would, for that same amount of money, change our race or sex. And, 1 in every 14, would even murder someone for ten million bucks.
What’s really strange about this is, the statistics remain the same whether it’s ten million dollars all the way down to three million. For three million bucks, most of us would do the same horrible things we would do for ten million. But, guess what? Few of us would do these things for a “measly” two million.”
Guy to group yesterday: I’m always on the lookout to make more money off people. My job is to max people out completely (I wish I had the exact quote he said with a completely straight face).
Something else happened the same day same place that is still on my mind that I find deplorable. Not on the level of poisoning children. Just your regular kind of corporation speak but worse than usual. Sometimes people get very mixed up on what might be motivating or good for morale. And some don’t care about morale at all. Mine hit an all-time low being in that room hearing this. I should’ve stood up and walked out.
A business professor from the University of Michigan (the university that publishes the American Customer Satisfaction Index) named Claes Fornell – says when customer satisfaction falls, so do profits. I’m sure that employee satisfaction is also a factor in profits. It’s good business to treat customers and employees well. If you don’t invest in them, they won’t invest in you. The less trust there is between people the more expensive it is to do business.
I believe that we will answer to God how we treat people around us and how we view them. Money is money. It’s printed paper. What matters is the contribution we make to each other, not how much money we can amass. And that’s coming from me – someone who enjoys business and making money – a lot.
8 Responses to “On Money and the Soulless Corporation”
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August 14th, 2007 at 7:59 am
[...] Thanks to Janet for blogging about the 42 money “facts”. Here are a couple of interesting “facts” (the author does not cite where he gets the list from or where the research comes from so take it for what it is) from the full list: 2. If we could have any luxury in the world (and money didn’t matter) more of us would choose to spend money on a butler and a maid than anything else. [...]
August 14th, 2007 at 8:45 am
I guess some people, are blinded by greed, and grossly misinterpret the meaning of stewardship- in fact they do not understand the concept to begin with. Some think they are Gods.
August 14th, 2007 at 2:08 pm
Yeah. I agree. Motivation shouldn’t come from money alone and it seems like employers don’t understand that. I know my motivation comes from recognition and respect for what I do for the companies I work for. My wife is the money hungry one for good reason. Employers already devalue the lives of the individuals that work for them by trying to pay as little as possible to the employers that work for them. My dad was more of less forced out of business because big executives decided to sell out their brand that took an entire century to build. Big business sucks.
August 14th, 2007 at 4:45 pm
ALL I HAVE TO SAY TO THAT IS – AMEN SISTER!!!
August 14th, 2007 at 5:05 pm
In Lynne Twist’s book, “The Soul of Money” she talks a great deal about this. I have learned a lot about my own perception of money and how it has become an idol that so many people worship.
In the book she quotes Anne Morrow from the book “Gift from the Sea”:
One cannot collect all the beautiful shells on the beach. One can collect only a few, and they are more beautiful if they are few.”
Sometimes we forget how much joy we had when we had no money. We were children and we had hope…
August 14th, 2007 at 9:27 pm
It’s a fabulous article. It is so often that we see people forgetting about their souls and simply being human at all when they talk business. The most disappointing thing is that I know so many examples of these business-only people actually succeed. I only wish we could name at least as many examples of human approach to business that proves to be successful.
August 16th, 2007 at 2:00 pm
Janet, haveing read this, I understand why you were glad to receive my email this week. We need more people in the business world like yourself and my boss.
Why has money become so much more desireable than family, friends, compassion and plain human decency? I am as disgusted at you.
One problem is that it is the good, God loving, “do unto others” are disgusted when the money hungry, get more at any cost should be the ones disgusted.
Maybe, just maybe the few people like yourself (which seem to get fewr every day) can make a difference in this world. I can assure you, you have made a huge difference and I plan to.
August 16th, 2007 at 2:14 pm
Lynne,
Thanks for your comments and kind words. Now you know what a blog is. I encourage you to think about setting up a blog – sign up at http://www.wordpress.com and start writing.
I’m going to leave a text link to your site (this is her first web site!). Since my blog isn’t about outdoor teak furniture, it’s not going to help you much in the search engines. If any of my readers is in the market to buy outdoor furniture, perhaps they can take a look.
Best
Janet