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Our corporate world is in a space in time where greed and selfishness has overpowered common sense and leadership. Many people look with amazement at the current economic state of corporate America with distress and resentment. They ask how we arrived at this desolate abyss of financial jeopardy in corporate America. The media and national political leaders attempt to break down an explanation, littered with finger pointing. I learned as a small boy, that when we point a finger at another, there are three fingers pointing back at ourselves. My point is; everyone who is trying now to explain the financial crisis has either been fully aware of it or in the middle of it for years.
I personally have worked for a multi-billion dollar company and watched the golden parachute club take a viable company into bankruptcy. I was in middle management and my efforts to push back against their inexperienced agendas only resulted in a monthly threat to be replaced. I had seen it happen previously to smaller companies and I learned from those lessons. When I was in the middle of the corporate financial Russian roulette in a forty billion dollar company, I was steadfast to teach the corp. officers that their plans would not work. The fact was, their risky direction was secondary to their own personal contract, which paid them tens of millions, succeed or fail. They had no incentive to be methodical and accurate in their business decisions.
At my level, I would bonus from reaching my MBO's – Manage By Objective! While the handful of executives were rewarded with unconceivable millions of dollars for failed profit results, my bonus was only achieved if I obtained the objectives in sales and profit that were planned prior to the new fiscal year. I achieved my financial objectives every year, year after year, as I endured a new CEO every two years after the previous CEO's contract expired and he left with tens of millions. Despite the constant threats of being fired for challenging my superiors and their insane decisions, I was never fired because I made them millions. Each time I thought I was close to being fired, the one who would send me walking would be fired first, and leave with a huge severance package. I finally had to leave on my own, as I could no longer support the corruption that was so prevalent.
It is no surprise so many large corporations are in financial hardship. These companies have been rowing the boat to the waterfall edge for years, and they simply arrived at the destination to which they were rowing. Anyone in our government that is now pointing the finger, and have not addressed this problem in the past either have zero understanding of business, or they have been on the receiving end of a piece of gold from those many parachutes. There is no easy or clean solution to this problem. While government involvement in corporate policy is wrong, the option of continued corruption is far worse. If a company is publicly owned, then there is no other choice but to have mandated regulations that require the corporate leaders to have some skin in the game, otherwise greed will persist. Their bonus must be linked to their performance, to an MBO, obtain their objectives and then receive a bonus. Fail and get nothing. Record false financial results and go to jail. The American dream should not result in a nightmare.