Celebrate the Dream!
08/12/02
Are you as tired as I am with all the business bashing going on in our country? Winston Churchill would have been! Winston Churchill may not have been referring to America, but he knew the importance of private enterprise in any free republic when he said: "Some regard private enterprise as if it were a predatory tiger to be shot. Others look upon it as a cow that they can milk. Only a handful see it for what it really is--the strong horse that pulls the whole cart."
Unfortunately, an appreciation for the positive role of private enterprise in America has been undermined in recent years. And now, because of recent events, the criticism is growing into a crescendo that is beginning to undermine the very foundations of free enterprise in our country.
Culture is passed through stories, and the stories of our age have not been kind to business. For years now, with the loss of the Soviet Union as our evil empire, Hollywood writers have targeted business executives as the enemy of choice in most of their movies. As Don Lavoie and Emily Chamlee-Wright report: "The negative portrayal of businesspeople has grown over the years. In the late 1950 and early 1960s, businesspeople were three times more likely to exhibit characteristics of rampant greed that were other characters in identifiable occupations. In the 1980s business characters were 10 times more likely to exhibit greedy behavior than were other characters. ... Not only are businesspeople in the world of television and film inherently corrupt, profit itself is put on trial. In a follow-up study for television in the 1990s, Lichter and his colleagues found that 81 percent of the shows that turned on the question of whether business dealings were honest and honorable or unfair and corrupt portrayed business as dishonest and corrupt." In the past our culture was built on celebrating the spirit of enterprise. We told stories about the American Dream and the heroes that lived that dream. Unfortunately, the stories we tell and the heroes we admire are no longer the same.
Now, thanks to scandals by the likes of Enron and WorldCom, everyone is clamoring for more regulations and rules to curtail abuse.... Certainly, we support legislation to tighten accountability, to put the abusers in jail, and to bring more oversight and power to corporate boards. But it is time that we demand balance in our media's coverage of business. Stories of abuse should be balanced with a few of the thousands of stories of excellence in innovation, community service, ethics, and productivity. It's time for some positive gossip about your neighbors, your companies, your local businesses that provide products and services in a quality manner for a fair price.
In 1992, former President Ronald Reagan said something that rings true today for leaders at all levels who are called on to be hope merchants: "I appealed to your best hopes, not your worst fears, to your confidence not your doubts." Let's claim that hope and stir a bit more confidence by doing a little more applauding the American leaders, workers and corporations that for years have proved that they are some of the best the world has to offer.
MONDAY'S MIRTHFUL MOMENT
This week's short mirthful moment comes compliments of Eilene Green. Kids do say the darndest things. Hope you laughed like I did:
While working for an organization that delivers lunches to elderly shut-ins, I used to take my four-year-old daughter on my afternoon rounds. She was unfailingly intrigued by the various appliances of old age, particularly the canes, walkers and wheelchairs. One day I found her staring at a pair of false teeth soaking in a glass. As I braced myself for the inevitable barrage of questions, she merely turned and whispered, "The tooth fairy will never believe this!"
When you keep your eyes open for mirth, you just may find it! Hope this kicks off your morning and helps get your mood adjusted for the week. Now, get busy MAKING CHANGE WORK and have some fun along the way!...