A business is a ‘machine’ designed to maximize ‘shareholder value’. It processes ‘time and materials’ (the business input) for a cost, to create products and services (the business output) which it sells to generate revenue.
The difference between the revenue and the cost, is the profit.
The larger the profit, the better the shareholder value.
Profit and thus ‘shareholder value’ is maximized by growing revenue and/or decreasing costs.
Revenue is grown by selling more products and services to a market.
Costs are reduced by increasingly doing more for less.
They say that life imitates art. In this particular case I would argue art is imitating life.
When the working day is through
And you’re waiting in the rain
For another overdue
Overcrowded railway train
And the movie poster screams
“It’s the best film ever seen!”
But it’s all a different world
To which you have never been
And you’re bored out of your mind
So you keep yourself amused
Reading the Financial Times
Of the fellow next to you
Then something in you snaps
And you shout with all your lungs
“We give and get nothing back!”
When the working day is done.”
Neil Hannon - Divine Comedy
Unfair - possibly, but Hannon / Divine Comedy has a history of social observation. In this particular case and entire double album on Office Politics. Wont it be grand when we no longer have to deal with them?
Those same organizations that use phrases like; ‘Share of Wallet’, ‘Attacking and Targeting a Market’ (that’s you and me folks) and breaking down those ‘Adoption Barriers’ are exactly the same organizations that say things like ‘Your Passion Is Our Satisfaction’, ‘Pleasing People Is Our Motto’ and ‘A Customer Is Always Right’.
Which language do you believe reflects the true nature of the corporation?
Me? I think what is said behind closed doors more often reflects the truth. What is broadcast in public is what they think we want to hear. It’s politics, not business, but isn’t that what happened to Mitt Romney?
This weeks newsletter explores corporate language and asks why have people just blindly adopted it without question? It doesn’t serve us - only the coorporation.
When Henry Blodget writes an opinion piece about the inequality in modern America … concluding with
“It’s time for a more balanced approach”
Henry Blodget
Then I guess it must be time!
On the click through– a good read, some informative images, and the fact that the whole things is sitting in the LinkedIN silo shouldn’t put you off. In particular he writes;
… the problem with the profit-maximization obsession is that it hurts the economy.
Henry Blodget
I have to say - I agree.
It’s pretty simple really .. and a central theme of mine. In fact, I go further. It’s bad for society.
The ‘graphic story’ I have in the works shows why. Don’t worry - it won’t be as complex as the Mueller one.
“Well, not so much, my job was a police photographer. When someone died, I took the photographs. I was very busy. Ten years .. every day … click click click … more death. Depressing. Soul ‘killing’’. I couldn’t make a life out of death.”
So different city, different country, different job?
“Yes. But same girl!”
“She said to me one day that she is coming here. To England. It seemed a good idea. Time for change.”
You didn’t want to do something in photography? Maybe scenery, weddings, commercial … put your skills to a different use?
“No.”
“My girl friend she is always changing. Me too. I wanted change. But Only one change. Change. Stop.”
So you have been here for ten years.
“Yes. And will be for another ten. My girlfriend she has had 15 jobs in the same time. Sometimes working 50 miles away. Always changing. Always chasing. But never arriving.”
“Me? I’ve arrived.”
Any journey is a series of events and one of those events is the destination. [efn_note] I was reminded of this story when I was sharing a bottle of wine with a friend recently. The wine was ‘own label’ - and on that label was a line … that he assured me was his, I haven’t found it anywhere else so let me attribute accordingly. [/efn_note]
“Yes - I have heard of it I replied. An African nation … right?”
African yes.
“I’m sorry, I can’t place exactly where in Africa - but, my memory tells me in the North .. near Ethiopia?”
You do indeed know my country. He gave me the biggest smile.
And then this young man from Eritrea launched into the story of his journey from Africa to San Francisco. Not harrowing … though if you know anything of that region, that is more surprising than if it was.
I won a scholarship to America. I am a musician. I came here ten years ago.
“Why San Francisco?”
My friend … anyone coming to the USA knows the San Francisco is where you should enter America.
“Because they are more accepting?”
I must have hit a nerve.
I came here legally. He stopped talking. Looking at me.
Legally.
“I know, I know, I’m sorry, I wasn’t suggesting anything else, I am just intrigued why San Francisco.”
I came here legally … with scholarship. I have always worked to earn money. I have always paid my taxes. I am not illegal immigrant. And no - not accepting. Look at me, 10 years after arriving in America I am here, my music I play for weddings 4, 5 times a year. I have qualified as accountant. But no work. I barely survive. No my friend I am not accepted. San Francisco is not accepting.
“Sorry - I understand, didn’t mean to imply, I am just interested in how you come to decide to arrive in San Francisco when you are living on the other side of the world. New York would have been closer. Easier?”
Aaaahhh my friend … the paperwork. San Francisco understands the paperwork. Speak to anyone coming to America, the stories you hear about other places. San Francisco undersdtands.
“Have you ever considered going back to Eritrea?”
One day. Maybe. I have family there . But even now, even with so called peace … it is hard. Too hard.
Working too much. Not applying his education to his job. Massively over qualified for what he does. Struggling to makes ends meet. Not following his dreams or passions. Rarely seeing his family.
And yet still this life is better than what he would have if he returned home.
Success has always been easy to measure. It is the distance between one’s origins and one’s final achievement.
”One aspect of work is creativity and related to that is an article by Om Malik published yesterday; ‘The Problem with Content’, which in turn referenced a piece written by Khoi Vinh ‘Writing Content vs. Writing Writing’ .. both talk about ‘content’, a topic I have written about; ‘Please do not call it content’ and ‘Owning your own work’ being a couple of recent examples.
This is an extract from a shortly to be published 4 Part series on Data. Not a deep analysis of data, but rather a simple ‘Exploration for the Common Man’ - ok andWoman, I tried how to blend the two more efficiently, its just that the word play on Copland just doesn’t flow as well.
Consider the fact: ‘Samuel Morse died : 02/04/72’
If I were brought up in America, I would know instantly that Samuel Morse died on the 4th February. If you are from the UK, based on that data point, you would correct me and let me know that he actually died on the 2nd April. The absolute truth of when he died, using only that single piece of data is at question, because we do not even have an agreed understanding of how dates get abbreviated. Not only that - was that 1972? 1872? 1772? … If you know who Samuel Morse is, you could surmise that the year was 1872, but you still don’t absolutely know that he wasn’t an old school friend of my father who died April 2nd, 1972 in the UK. And we wonder how it is that basic world facts can get so convoluted! To be absolutely accurate we need to know where he died - and the time. (Dying at 2 am on a Thursday in Germany means that you died late afternoon to early evening on the Wednesday in the USA ( can’t be specific because the US has six time zones - and without looking it up, had ‘the
clocks.changed’? It gets worse and I don’t intend to bore you with the many ways that this ‘gets complicated’ - as Facebook would have it, but as Steve used to say;
One More Thing
Global society has mostly agreed that the last two digits in the xx/yy/zz format is always ‘the year.’ We still can’t agree over day first or month first. Well, specifically most of us can - it is - once again the Americans that are at odds with the world. 02/04/72 is the 4th of February, 1972 in the USA and the 2nd of April, 1972 in most of the world. The US is the only country in the world that interprets the basic data this way.
To Conclude
Personally, left to my own devices China is the only country that has the date formatted that makes sense to me … year - month - date …. but that is another story and happy to discuss in the comments if someone raises the question.
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