Greed Is Still Good

"Greed is Good..." remember those famous words uttered by the Michael Douglas character, Gordon Gekko, in the 1987 motion picture Wall Street? In light of the recent economic situation, someone reminded me of Gekko's speech in the movie. They alluded to the fact that the speech was about GREED BEING GOOD and that greed is pure evil, no ands, ifs, or buts.

That certain someone told me that the Gekko speech is an exact reflection of the current economic situation. Which he said was born out of Greed and Lust for Money and Power. My friend may be right (to a certain extent).

Here is the certain extent. Those three words are part of a larger speech in the movie, when Gekko is given his 15 minutes at a shareholder meeting.

Here is Gekko's speech in its entirety, please read it and then make up your mind as to what Gekko was really saying:



"Well, I appreciate the opportunity you're giving me, Mr. Cromwell, as the single largest shareholder in Teldar Paper, to speak. Well, ladies and gentlemen, we're not here to indulge in fantasy, but in political and economic reality. America, America has become a second-rate power. Its trade deficit and its fiscal deficit are at nightmare proportions. Now, in the days of the free market, when our country was a top industrial power, there was accountability to the stockholder. The Carnegies, the Mellons, the men that built this great industrial empire, made sure of it because it was their money at stake. Today, management has no stake in the company!

All together, these men sitting up here [Teldar management] own less than 3 percent of the company. And where does Mr. Cromwell put his million-dollar salary? Not in Teldar stock; he owns less than 1 percent. You own the company. That's right -- you, the stockholder.

And you are all being royally screwed over by these, these bureaucrats, with their steak lunches, their hunting and fishing trips, their corporate jets and golden parachutes.

Teldar Paper, Mr. Cromwell, Teldar Paper has 33 different vice presidents, each earning over 200 thousand dollars a year. Now, I have spent the last two months analyzing what all these guys do, and I still can't figure it out. One thing I do know is that our paper company lost 110 million dollars last year, and I'll bet that half of that was spent in all the paperwork going back and forth between all these vice presidents.

The new law of evolution in corporate America seems to be survival of the unfittest. Well, in my book you either do it right or you get eliminated.

In the last seven deals that I've been involved with, there were 2.5 million stockholders who have made a pretax profit of 12 billion dollars. [applause] Thank you.

I am not a destroyer of companies. I am a liberator of them! The point is, ladies and gentleman, that greed -- for lack of a better word -- is good.

Greed is right. Greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms -- greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge -- has marked the upward surge of mankind.

And greed -- you mark my words -- will not only save Teldar Paper, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the USA. Thank you very much."

Is this speech still relevant?
I say it is. I say that the entire speech is very much relevant. The points that Gekko makes are all to hauntingly close to the today's business world. Greed for money drives the problems we are in now. Greed to make a quick buck, Greed to buy a house at the lowest possible interest rate, Greed to buy a car that makes us look better than the neighbors. However, Gekko is NOT exclusively talking about the kind of Greed that revolves around $$$. It is part of it but not all of it.

It is about the Greed that makes us want the best for the ones we love. It is the kind of Greed that motivates us to keep going to that job we despise knowing that at the end there will be something better. Greed also motivates us to leave a bad relationship for something better. It is also about the kind of Greed that makes us want to be a better person than we were yesterday that makes things happen.

Please, do not be fooled by Alarmist tactics that are designed to mislead the population to believe one thing when the big picture is something completely different.

Just as Greed is what got us into this financial mess, Greed is what will lead us out of this financial mess.

Greed is still Good and that is the bottom line.


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Weathering The Storm

A few weeks ago I wrote change and how circumstances force change on us and how it can also be the perfect opportunity to initiate change. There was something I overlooked; the storm that usually comes with change.

The storm?
Yes, some people call it fallout and others call it the storm. This is what happens when change is happening but it affects them in a negative manner or so they think it is negative. This is when resistance starts. Thus the person initiating the change goes head-to-head against the person(s) resistant to the change.

As the person initiating the change, your change, you have to expect that there will be those that will fight you every step of the way. This is when you have continue fighting through. You have to ensure that you do not back down. Under no circumstances are you to even consider changing your mind, you went to all that trouble to initiate the change. Now, why would you want to go back on your decisions?

Sure it may eliminate the displeasure and discomfort that is causing others, but it will also let the others know that if they moan and whine long enough you will give in. Stand your ground, this time and every time.

Again, it may be difficult and discomforting for you as well. You will need to ensure everyone that your decisions are yours and you will not be intimidated into rescinding your decisions.

Keep fighting the good fight and in the end you will be better for it.

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Hurricane Ike Evacuees, Hotels, & the Web

This morning I saw a disturbing news report on CNN Headline news. It seems that College Station, Texas area hotels are between in a rock and a hard place due to a Texas A&M football game this weekend. There were hotel reservations made long before Hurricane Ike ever made the scene. Now that Ike has come and gone and football day is here, the Evacuees that were hunkering down are being asked to leave because of the reservations.

The evacuees are left out to find themselves with another place to stay. The report did mention that some hotel personnel were calling people with reservations and explained the situation with some canceling reservations but not all. So the Ike Evacuees are being forced out, again.

It got me thinking how this is a great opportunity for organizations like Hotels.com, Priceline, Travelocity, and Expedia to step up and help by doing what they do to get Hotels for the evacuees lined up. As of 9:00am this morning, I checked all four mentioned websites and only one had a direct link dealing with the hurricane it read "Travel Alert: Hurricane Advisory" but does not directly mention Evacuees and their unique situation.

With a little planning and some forward thinking they could be working with their "vast network" of suppliers to provide evacuee assistance for airline, hotel, and rental car bookings during this and every hurricane season. It really should not be a big burden for these organizations to do something good. Maybe get good old Captain Kirk to go on TV and run a spot directly aimed at those affected by weather or other natural disaster events. It should not be a stretch for Bill Shatner to do a simple promotion to give people a place to turn to, as I am more than sure the brief shameless self-promotional appearance on Saturday Night Live last week will confirm that they will do what it takes to get the message out.

Anyone have other ideas on how to help people in these situations, today and in the future?

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Bank Bailout??? and the $1000 Bagel!!!

Federal Government bails out AIG and now has its eye on the Banks and Banking System. It seems that the US Government, according to a CNNMoney.com online report, is "poised to establish a program to let banks get rid of mortgage-related assets that have been hard to value and harder to trade."

This is very interesting...sounds like the CDO problem???? Collateralized Debt Obligations? Sound familiar? It should, it was back in July 17, 2007 that I first talked about CDOs and why you should be worried.

Is this really what the Government should be doing? Is the government going to buy the foreclosed home next door to me and then do what with it? I am more than sure the government does not want to be holding on to these homes? They are going to move them and they can afford to take a loss on the resale of these home, heck after all they are foreclosed homes. These things should be a bargain and because people love a bargain, they will snatch them up and either drop property values even further or raise value as subdivisions are back to capacity? See where this is going?

While I am all for the Government backing off, I am also a proponent of stepping in when people will get hurt. This is what government should be all about. Let a business make an attempt at success or failure but let's not have government looming overhead and waiting for the first mistake so that they can intervene. Of course there are always exceptions, much like Enron or WorldCom, when the activities are more blatant and people will suffer, then by all means jump right in.

Let's trust the process enough to let it work. I would like to see how these organizations would have handled the recovery process without having the government to turn to.

Even then, when the time comes for the government to step in and take care of the people, please, let's not save someone from drowning by keeping them out of the pool.

In the "by the way" department: Time to change another channel....it was fun while it lasted. When you have to blog what you have posted someplace else, well, all I can say is that the $1000 Bagel has certainly gone stale for you.

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I'll Start Doing It When You Start Doing It

Another friend and I were talking and she was telling me about a conversation her Co-Worker (C-W) and her were having the other day. It was a very interesting conversation. It seems that a member of the co-worker's staff is flat out disregarding the C-W's directives. These directives are the common stuff you hear of in the workplace; turn in time-sheets by close of business Monday, double check your work, and other relatively mundane stuff but still disregarded nonetheless.

My friend recommended that it may be time to start holding those people accountable and writing them up as a method to not only show that C-W was serious about what is expected of the employees but also as a tool to motivate the Co-Worker's employees in the right direction.

The Co-Worker's response to my friend was "I'll start doing it when you start doing it." Needless to say, my friend was floored. My friend told me she was stunned and could not believe that the C-W, a manager of a medium size department (approx 30 members), would actually utter those words.

My friend asked me, what I thought that was all about? To me that statement was nothing short of a cop out and certainly explains how her C-W's people got so out of control and basically disrespect her Co-Worker.

While I, personally, do not know my friend's Co-Worker, but those words spoke volumes about the C-W and it also put in perspective what C-W is looking for. The Co-Worker is looking for someone else to handle his/her problems for him/her. It is quite obvious that C-W is NOT taking a leader's approach to solving problems but more of a "pawn it off on someone else" approach.

Again, I want to be sure that everyone understands that I do now know C-W but nonetheless C-W is in a position of authority and a lame response will not solve C-W's problems. Another thing to consider is that maybe, just maybe, C-W is not ready to be a leader. Remember folks, being a manager does NOT make you an automatic leader.

Something else to remember; being in charge of 30 people is not for a manager...it is for a LEADER. These 30 people certainly NEED A LEADER.

How does one empower C-W and all the other Co-Workers in the same situation? Let the C-W know that problems they are encountering are not unique to them, these problems are the same that other leaders have dealt with in the past and will deal with in the future. These are problems that are not to be passed off on someone else to handle, they are to be addressed immediately and effectively.

However, we cannot empower all of our Co-Workers until they are ready to take that stand and be fully prepared to WALK THE TALK.


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