{"id":25642,"date":"2019-08-20T09:03:57","date_gmt":"2019-08-20T14:03:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/?p=25642"},"modified":"2020-04-12T15:59:23","modified_gmt":"2020-04-12T20:59:23","slug":"great-minds-run-in-the-same-gutter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/2019\/08\/20\/great-minds-run-in-the-same-gutter\/","title":{"rendered":"Great Minds Run In The Same Gutter"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Long-time readers are aware that I don&#8217;t view the end-goal of capitalism to be the accumulation of money, wealth, or even garden gnomes. From investors to CEOs, <a href=\"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/2019\/04\/08\/its-unsettlingly-like-cancer\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">I have often said<\/a> that the customers and employees come first, and if you can&#8217;t take care of them, wiggling your way to a profit regardless is so much a transgression that you might as well call it as secular sin: it hurts, rather than helps, society.<\/p>\n<p>And now I have some company. A pack of CEOs from companies such as <strong><em>American Airlines, American Express<\/em><\/strong>, and others are at least signing a letter suggesting that they believe there&#8217;s things more important than their profits out there. <a href=\"https:\/\/opportunity.businessroundtable.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/Business-Roundtable-Statement-on-the-Purpose-of-a-Corporation-with-Signatures.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Here&#8217;s the letter<\/a>, minus the signatures:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Americans deserve an economy that allows each person to succeed through hard work and creativity and to lead a life of meaning and dignity. We believe the free-market system is the best means of generating good jobs, a strong and sustainable economy, innovation, a healthy environment and economic opportunity for all.<\/p>\n<p>Businesses play a vital role in the economy by creating jobs, fostering innovation and providing essential goods and services. Businesses make and sell consumer products; manufacture equipment and vehicles; support the national defense; grow and produce food; provide health care; generate and deliver energy; and offer financial, communications and other services that underpin economic growth.<\/p>\n<p>While each of our individual companies serves its own corporate purpose, we share a fundamental commitment to all of our stakeholders. We commit to:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Delivering value to our customers. We will further the tradition of American companies leading the way in meeting or exceeding customer expectations.<\/li>\n<li>Investing in our employees. This starts with compensating them fairly and providing important benefits. It also includes supporting them through training and education that help develop new skills for a rapidly changing world. We foster diversity and inclusion, dignity and respect.<\/li>\n<li>Dealing fairly and ethically with our suppliers. We are dedicated to serving as good partners to the other companies, large and small, that help us meet our missions.<\/li>\n<li>Supporting the communities in which we work. We respect the people in our communities and protect the environment by embracing sustainable practices across our businesses.<\/li>\n<li>Generating long-term value for shareholders, who provide the capital that allows companies to invest, grow and innovate. We are committed to transparency and effective engagement with shareholders.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Each of our stakeholders is essential. We commit to deliver value to all of them, for the future success of our companies, our communities and our country.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Do they mean it? I guess we&#8217;ll find out. But it&#8217;s encouraging to see what might be considered thought leaders finally getting out the information that maximizing profits cannot be the be-all and end-all of corporate life &#8211; or it&#8217;ll be the end of corporate life. Some appear to have realized that the bumpy road ahead may be partly due to the past actions of their companies.<\/p>\n<p>Not everyone agrees this is a good idea. <em><strong>WaPo<\/strong><\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/business\/2019\/08\/19\/lobbying-group-powerful-ceos-is-rethinking-how-it-defines-corporations-purpose\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">claims<\/a>, but I could not find, that the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cii.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><em><strong>Council of Institutional Investors<\/strong><\/em><\/a> issued a statement:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8230; an association of pension funds, endowments and foundations, said it \u201crespectfully disagree[s]\u201d with the statement, adding that it \u201cundercuts notions of managerial accountability to shareholders.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>A carefully chosen phrase, don&#8217;t you think? As if shareholders and their profits are primary. I&#8217;d be careful with that particular entity. They appear to be all about the money &#8211; no surprise, of course, given that they&#8217;re investors.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m glad I never started a company. The tension between profits and trying to render good service to the customer would have driven me nuts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Long-time readers are aware that I don&#8217;t view the end-goal of capitalism to be the accumulation of money, wealth, or even garden gnomes. From investors to CEOs, I have often said that the customers and employees come first, and if you can&#8217;t take care of them, wiggling your way to \u2026 <a class=\"continue-reading-link\" href=\"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/2019\/08\/20\/great-minds-run-in-the-same-gutter\/\"> Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr; <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25642","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25642"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25642\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28328,"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25642\/revisions\/28328"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/huewhite.com\/umb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}