Maverick thinkers have warned of the perils of unbridled greed for centuries, yet few were listening. Not until the world turned dark on
September 15, 2008 with the perfect financial storm did the rest of society take notice.
That was a day of economic infamy-the day Wall Street investment banking died. Lehman Brothers, one of the most respected and powerful
financial institutions in the U.S., came crashing down in an economic shock heard round the world. With its demise, the remaining investment banks went on life support resuscitated only by woeful government rescues.
With the crash of the credit and securities markets in 2008, the relationship between business and the public irrevocably changed. No
longer is the old adage, "it's not personal, it's business" an acceptable view. The crisis resulting from the misbehavior of bankers at the expense of ordinary folks unequivocally reveals that everything we do in business is indeed personal to someone.
The Economic Crisis of 2008 has brought forth the Economic Epiphany of 2010. The sentiments last week among the world's business leaders echoed the urgent need for a moral economic framework. Out of the halls of darkness comes the light. Mercy, mercy, hallelujah.
For all those skeptics out there, the 2010 Davos Forum focus on values signifies an enormous change for the year ahead. People are mad as hell and they don't want to take it anymore.
Yet these are not ordinary angry mortals, like Joe the Plumber or moose shooting hockey moms. The outraged include the banking and business elite themselves. Members of a once admired fraternity hold errant colleagues responsible for destroying the good business model. Barclays' President Robert Diamond said, "Those who stayed strong are angry at those who had poor management."
Trust is your bread and butter in business. Banking is a respectable and honored profession when used to serve the community. Not a roulette wheel spun with the chips of pension-less factory workers, ninety-year-old widows, and the working poor. Where did common good values go?
Deutsche Bank CEO Josef Ackerman complained to the Davos crowd, "We should stop the blame game," and "start looking forward." His remarks were directed against the inevitable new taxes and industry regulation favored by those present. Ackerman did not realize that regulating banks is looking forward-toward creating a system that works for all, not just a self-serving few.
The German banking chief acknowledged the importance of public opinion. "If you lose the support of society, you are not going to realize your corporate objectives in the long run." (A belief that seems not to be shared by some colleagues.)
As WEF's official theme reveals, the new paradigm is to "rethink and redesign" the global economy to include world interest with self-interest. It is no longer okay to create suffering for others in the savage quest for more. French President Nicolas Sarkozy stated that for "those who create jobs and wealth" to "earn a lot of money is not shocking. But those who contribute to destroying jobs and wealth and also earn a lot of money (it) is morally indefensible."
Survival-of-the-fittest naysayers have become like dinosaurs on the verge of extinction. The only ones who don't know that seem to be
employed by bailed out banks.
Yet "blame", as distasteful as that might be on most WEF participant lips, is not altogether fruitless. If the perpetrators of this colossal calamity continue to ignore their personal responsibility, then the world will continue to point fingers and tighten the strings. Call it blame if you must, but the post-crisis behavior of unrestrained banker bonuses looks greedy to those looking on. And greed no longer looks good.
Mexico's ex-banking chief pointed out that banks have "misjudged the deep feelings of the public." The Wall Street Journal reported that banks returned to a "culture of high-risk-taking and lavish pay as soon as they were out of intensive care" and brought the anger on themselves.
The President of the European Central Bank, Jean-Claude Trichet, claimed bankers changed the game by using taxpayer money "to guarantee loans at banks"a gigantic amount" and could no longer dictate the new rules.
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