Don't Overlook Democracy as a Management Model

An organization called WorldBlu was formed in 1997 to champion the growth of democratic organizations. Founder Traci Fenton identifies ten principles of organizational democracy, including transparency, accountability, decentralization, fairness, dignity, and choice.

Principle six on WorldBlu's list, Individual + Collective, was more or less enshrined in the Kinko's Philosophy, which stated, "...we encourage independent thinking and teamwork."  This presents one of the great challenges of a democratic workplace, and one of the greatest benefits. The advantage of balancing independent thinking and teamwork comes from the unleashing of individual creativity. The challenge is the balance itself - keeping that creativity directed toward advancement of the organization's goals.

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Categories: Corporate Culture | Customer Service | Management Skills | Leadership | Ethics | Competitive Advantage

4 comments - Posted by Paul Orfalea at 7:24 AM

What if Rampant Consumerism Isn't the Answer?

by Dean Zatkowsky

I happened to be visiting Yellowstone National Park on my 51^st birthday, and noticed that I was wearing the same black sweater I wore in Yosemite on my 18^th birthday.  Before the sweater was mine, it had been my brother-in-law's letterman sweater in the late 1960s.

When I reminded my sister that my favorite sweater for thirty-three years had been her husband's for who knows how long before I got it, she said, "They don't make sweaters like they used to."

Her son corrected her: "No, they don't make consumers like they used to."

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Categories: Economics | Ethics | Environment

2 comments - Posted by Dean Zatkowsky at 11:52 AM

American Priorities

By Dean Zatkowsky

Because I watch The Daily Show and The Colbert Report on my computer, I've seen a certain AT&T ad about a hundred times in the last couple of months. The ad explains that the company will soon be replacing its vehicles with a fleet that operates on "American natural gas." The spot concludes, "It's smart business. And if it makes our country stronger, that's even better."

Well, yes it is, but I think AT&T's ad agency has unintentionally illustrated a bit of a problem in our society these days. Their verbiage suggests that business comes first, and the country is an afterthought. AT&T may not feel that way - I'm not going to hold them responsible for a copywriter's syntax - but many companies do. Writing about Wall Street for the last decade, I've read the work of hundreds of investors and CEOs who preach that a public company's sole responsibility is to generate profits for shareholders. And they are adamant about this - the very idea of social responsibility seems heretical to them. As far as they are concerned, creating wealth and employment is social responsibility enough. But what if it isn't?

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Categories: Leadership | Economics | Ethics

0 comments - Posted by Dean Zatkowsky at 9:43 AM

The Bridge to Where We Already Are

by Dean Zatkowsky

Wall Street's financial innovations transformed our economy into Capitalism's evil twin, where Social Darwinism degrades the invisible hand into a sociopathic pickpocket. Business people routinely operate with the understanding that anything not specifically forbidden by statute is ipso facto legal and ethical. And in a pinch, they can buy a change in the statute. Disguised as pillars of society, they are really savages that feel entitled to whatever spoils they can carry off.

A free market is the path to greater world-wide prosperity, but a market free of ethics is not free at all. When  "Let the buyer beware" was revealed as the real law of our land, people stopped buying and froze the economy.

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Categories: Leadership | Economics | Ethics

3 comments - Posted by Dean Zatkowsky at 9:08 PM

Taking Responsibility

There is a great article called "Cleaning Up Our Own Messes," at Inc. Magazine's website. The moral of the story, that empowerment and accountability must be "welded together," is an important lesson for our children, our coworkers, our students; anyone we want to see grow and develop into an independent, capable, responsible individual.

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Categories: Education | Management Skills | Leadership | Ethics

14 comments - Posted by Paul Orfalea at 7:17 AM

Cavalier Kingpins

By Dean Zatkowsky

We often accuse CEOs like John Thain and Rick Wagoner of arrogance, but it's their selfishness and irresponsibility that really diminishes them as leaders. For my forthcoming book, Kamelot: Kinko's Brief Shining Moment in Business History, I had to coin the term "bossiopath" for executives who not only exhibit sociopathic tendencies, but also present their greed, cruelty and self-obsession as attributes of leadership

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Categories: Corporate Culture | Management Skills | Leadership | Ethics

3 comments - Posted by Dean Zatkowsky at 7:08 AM

Three Quotations to Consider and Discuss

By Dean Zatkowsky

1. "The business of America is business," said President Calvin Coolidge, justifying his administration's laissez faire policies. Then he handed the White House keys to Herbert Hoover in 1929 and slipped out of sight as the economy collapsed. And yet, one still hears Coolidge's words repeated as gospel. Do you believe that business is the business of America?

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Categories: Entrepreneurialism | Economics | Ethics | Investing | Optimism

7 comments - Posted by Dean Zatkowsky at 9:39 AM