The New Normal!

Two snippets by great writers stirred me this morning. Robert Bly wrote, “How much sadness we feel because we have given up expecting truth. Every moment of our live we exchange comfort or discomfort for statements we know are lies, or mostly lies, in gatherings with our parents, or at speeches, or watching a movie. How abandoned our truth receiver is: a bag-man, who spends the day without hope.”

As I read his words, I felt a sadness I’ve been unwilling to honor rise. I listen to our political process and know that we have all abandoned any hope that truth will be present. The role of a political campaign, with its abundant rhetoric, is to distort our perceptions so that the speaker can persuade us to accept their agenda, which is never truthfully revealed.

Our ability to discern truth withers from disuse and despair. There are candidates who speak what they believe is true. Ron Paul continues to stir a small segment of the population. Ralph Nader has done the same in the past. This truth-telling isn’t what we want. Rather, we follow someone who encourages us to HOPE. Hope they have the key to a better life.

We know what they are saying doesn’t feel right, and we override our perfect gift of discernment to feed the needs of our emotional nature. Only to once again feel deluded. We express cries of anger at being misled, never wondering, even for a moment, if perhaps the anger is misplaced.

So accustomed are we to look without to find the cause of our pain that we overlook a common thread that is easily revealed if we allow the truth to penetrate the fortress of our false reality. William Gass wrote, “we are accustomed to the slum our consciousness has become.” We take no accountability for this predicament and are in constant search of a villain.

I have bad news. The culprit is much closer at hand than we realize. In fact, we saw them just his morning as we looked into the bathroom mirror. I don’t like this fact much of the time. It sure seems that it would be great to blame someone else for what I don’t like about the world.

Blaming others is the new normal. I remember talking with my grandparents about the great depression. They certainly witnessed the dire consequences of this bleak economic time. Rather than have despair about this experience, they were determined. Determined that they would not experience this again. They knew the responsibility for their lives working out was their own.

Over time, we have slipped into a belief that others are responsible for how we feel, whether we have a job, the weather or the national debt. Nope… that’s not true. No matter how many believe it.

I was listening to a report on NPR yesterday from Dubai. The skyline of Abu Dhabi has been filled with construction cranes and the streets filled with the usual busyness of new building. Once again, the enthusiasm of the local government that their prosperity would go on indefinitely met the truth of economics (or life for that matter), nothing is permanent except change.

The new normal is that the good times will continue unabated. Throughout most of the 90s, we believed that they technology revolution, particularly the part fueled by the Internet, would continue as far into the future as we could see. Everyone wanted a piece of this explosion. Yet in 2000, this enthusiasm came tumbling down.

This same myopia transfixed most of us when we considered housing values. We traded up to the new and bigger house because we could. We were encouraged to buy more house than we could afford today because it would increase in value so quickly, we would soon profit from our risk.

The new normal is to ignore what is true, so that it doesn’t interfere with what I want. Want has driven so much of my life that it drowns out need. I have been examining what I need and find that my wants can be traced to inner insecurities rather than what is necessary to live a full, rich life.

The cost of the new normal can result in a shock that has the experience of the recession that went into full swing in 2008 look insignificant. I encourage you to re-establish your relationship with your intuition. It’s a powerful “truth receiver”, if we allow it to be heard. The more I listen, the less complicated life becomes, and the more the unnecessary falls away. What’s left is more than I could have dreamed.

What do you Really Believe?

One of our projects today was to put a deer fence around my wife’s half-acre garden. You see the deer have been freely walking through and seem to like the leaves of everything from sunflowers to soybeans. With all the hard work that goes into tilling and growing, this is not a welcome development.

My wife and I were in our local Tractor Supply looking for twine to tie the deer fencing to the posts we were installing. We had reached the point where our seemingly endless ball of twine had been used up. We made our way to the rope section and found that all the rope and twine were products of a company whose values we don’t support.

We were faced with the dilemma of the convenience of buying what we needed right now or walking away. We didn’t think long about it. We decided we would scavenge twine from other parts of the garden until we could find twine from another company.

When we were back in the garden, I got to thinking about how, each day, we are faced with the choice of whether we support businesses whose values are not consistent with ours. On the one hand many people I know are quick to share an opinion about how badly these companies treat their employees, subvert the political process for their own gain, undermine unions, etc. They say they believe this is wrong. Yet, when they are faced with spending their money with the companies they vilify they have some rationalizing story that soothes their conscious and overrides what they say. To my way of thinking the only way to know what someone truly believe is to observe their actions.

I’m no saint. There are times when I don’t pay attention to the company behind the products I buy. My wife is much more attuned to this and helps me steer clear of obvious situations like she did at Tractor Supply today.

Many who read this post believe we need to reform corporate values. The only way this change is going to happen is for you and I to vote our values with our purchases. Companies can’t exist without customers. Customers who buy from their values will impact company values. For one of the key principles of all corporations is survival. If changing the values of a company can impact its survival, that change may well happen.

My invitation is for you to join me in exercising greater vigilance in spending your money. FInd out about the companies behind the goods and services you buy. Never compromise for the sake of convenience. It’s just not worth it.

Is a Promise always a Promise?

I was scurrying around this afternoon making strawberry ice cream that I’d promised our four-year old. My day had several unexpected turns. Friends came for breakfast and morning turned into afternoon. That wasn’t a problem by itself. It did however create some inner turmoil about how to have time to write and make ice cream.  You know, the kind of dilemma we face every day.

Which is why I’m asking the question, “Is a promise always a promise?” Let me digress a minute from my strawberry ice cream making. When I say to a friend, “I’ll call you for lunch soon” is that a promise? If it is do I know when I make it that our lunch probably won’t happen? Is it a promise, when I say to my son, I’ll make strawberry ice cream this afternoon and things change? Can I just give him a good story about why it won’t work out today and believe he will understand?

This simple question, “when is a promise a promise?” seems to be at the root of a great deal of suffering in our lives. If I treat every promise as a promise (here’s where it gets tricky), then am I out of integrity when I don’t do all I can to fulfill the promises I make? Now you may say that “I’ll call you for lunch soon” isn’t really a promise. Then why speak like it’s one?

Whenever I speak in a way that sounds  to the other person like I’m making a promise, I probably am. It’s important to be aware of everything I say. Did you ever notice how much you say that you don’t realize you’ve said? I suspect, if I had a video camera running during my day, I would see many promises I make that I’m unaware of. There will also be some that I don’t want to acknowledge. I suspect some of you have similar behavior.

Which gets me back to strawberry ice cream. I have the strawberry syrup chilling in the refrigerator as I write. The promise to my son, Gabriel, is one that I know I made and I don’t want to teach him that my promises to him aren’t important. I notice when I believe I don’t have enough time to do everything, I ask my family to accommodate my need to take care of promises to others first, sending them the message they aren’t as important. This certainly doesn’t make a pleasant self-reflection.

The answer to my question then is a promise is always a promise. To be in integrity calls me to be aware of the promises I’m making. It means that when I make new promises, I consider the implications of these promises on my existing promises. If there is a conflict, I will move to resolve it to the satisfaction of all.

This all requires daily diligence and a commitment to not let anything slide. I am sure that the freedom and peace of living in integrity is worth it.

What is Enough Accountability?

Yesterday, I wrote on the the question, “What is Enough?” As I was walking with my wife among the wild peppermint and bee balm hearing our bees industriously gathering pollen around us, I realized there are many other viewpoints from which to consider this question.

As I sat back at my desk to write, I remembered a conversation I had with someone who works with leaders of large corporations. I said, “I believe it’s vital to strive to absolute accountability within businesses.” He pushed back saying, “That is too much. People will become disillusioned if you set the standard too high. We should be satisfied with improvement over the current state.”

What is enough accountability? Over the past few days, I have read comments from Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase, about the $2B trading loss they incurred. Today several people who were directly responsible for the loss resigned. This is a typical outcome when something big goes wrong. A few people get the ax and the beat goes on.

What about the people who are accountable for the business culture that fostered this situation? What about the board of directors, who have oversight accountability? They all seem to be saying, “OK, we made errors, let’s learn from them and move on.” I’m not certain that real learning is possible unless everyone who is accountable has a consequence. I’m not suggesting that a bunch of people be fired. What I’m saying is that there should be a consequence that is public and clear.

I know when my young boys act in a way that is inconsistent with our agreements, they experience a consequence. They might lose access to television or treats for a period of time. I know if I don’t apply a consequence immediately and uniformly, they don’t learn.

Accountability is absolute. We are either accountable for what happens, or we are not. I know if someone is being accountable if there is a consequence for their accountability. This isn’t a matter of blame. It’s simply an outcome that is directly connected to accountability.

My accountability to you as readers is to write what I feel is true and do it when I promise. If I don’t do that, I’m not going to be punished. There is a consequence. It’s lowered trust, which may mean you tune out. On the other hand, if I do what I promise, trust increases and the number of readers grows. It’s really simple.

So Who is The Customer We Serve?

I was struck by a headline last week in the Wall Street Journal that read, “Bank of America Weighs Fee Revamp” . With the bank struggling to regain its footing after mistakes and outright illegal activity, they now want to pass the bill to their customers.

The situation has me wonder if we have two very different realities going on. In Reality Number One, there is a “customer” who is someone we serve. We offer them goods and services that enhance their life and provide them something of true value. We treat this reality’s customer with respect.

In Reality Number Two, there is a “customer” who is someone who can help us make money no matter how badly we treat them. We believe this reality’s customer is someone we can dupe through clever marketing programs and scare tactics.

I scratch my head and ask myself if the general population has become so desensitized that they simply allow a high level of abuse because “it’s just the way things are.”

I suggest that Reality Number One is the only way to create a world that is truly prosperous for all. Is there an action to take here? You bet. Move your money to a credit union or local community bank. They are living in Reality Number One every day. I think you would love the experience. I do.

Until Later,

Thomas

BP, Gulf Oil Spill and Accountability

I was reading a Facebook posting this morning in which an acquaintance was forcefully suggesting that the CEO of BP be jailed because of the Gulf oil spill. At first I thought his comments were a bit harsh. After all, how could the CEO be responsible for such a tragedy?

I then remembered teaching about accountability several weeks ago. I asked the following question of all the people who work in a health care company, “who is accountable for the success of your company?” After some discussion, they all agreed that each of them is accountable for the success of the business.

Why were these people so clear about accountability and CEOs of company’s such as BP don’t seem to have this same sense? Before I attempt to answer that question, it might be useful to explore what accountability is. Having contemplated this topic for many years, I have arrived at a simple definition of accountability. Accountability is accepting responsibility for the consequence of my thoughts, words and actions. Where I find people start shying away from this definition of accountability is when they consider the notion of consequences.

Let’s take accountability for the gulf oil spill, for instance. The CEO of BP recently reported to the press and shareholders that he doesn’t expect BP to pay any more than $3B as an outcome of the spill. First, how could he possibly know that, but I will not engage that question. What is most telling is that his concerns are in terms of money. He recently assured his shareholders that their dividends will be uninterrupted. Uninterrupted flow of money to the shareholders of a company that has impacted millions of people along the gulf coast at this point. We have no idea the ultimate impact on our eco-system, yet the CEO of BP is assuring shareholders that their dividends are intact.

This is a major aversion of accountability in my book. First of all the shareholders of the company are, at present, not accepting any accountability for the gulf spill. You may ask, “how could they?” Good question, with what I believe is a good answer.

The shareholders of any natural resource company know, even if they don’t admit it even to themselves, that exploration and transportation of substances such as oil or gas or coal has risks. In our pursuit of oil, for instance, we are drilling and extracting oil at ocean depths where we don’t know the consequences or risks. It is mostly uncharted territory.

The shareholders can find out, if they are interested, how much BP spends in research of the impact of their drilling and extraction on the offshore environment. The answer to this question is woefully small. So BP’s leadership chooses to embark on a venture for which they did not understand the risks. If they had look at this from the cold eye of science, they would have understood that the kind of disaster we are experiencing was inevitable. It was only a matter of when and to whom.

This very high form of Russian Roulette is risking the livelihood of so many not to mention the, at least, temporary destruction of parts of the ocean. I know some feel that they ocean is so big, how could one little spill matter. Just watch and find out. Everything on this planet is connect in seen and unseen ways. We won’t know for some time the consequence of this spill.

Now back to accountability and the oil spill. Its complicated and simple. At the most simple, we are all responsible. I have written about this approach to accountability on many occasions. Let me explain why I say, “we are all responsible.”

The force that drives BP to take such risks is our insatiable desire for oil and its by products. This desire is not just for more, it is for more that is cheap. The second desire, cheap oil, is going to come crashing down soon and the leadership at BP know this. When that happens the desire for oil at any price will arise, which will mean extraordinary profits for companies such as BP.

Because of this demand and the worry of oil folks that we are getting at the end of production of many of their existing oil fields, BP and others are spending great sums of money in extremely risky ventures such as oil extraction at over 1 mile in ocean depth.

This accountability chain also includes the leadership of BP. They are rewarded by their shareholders for taking risk. Their hands are slapped if they get caught, like in the case of the oil spill. Yet the leadership is left in place and their boards extend confidence in them. The only meaning I can make of this is that they approve of the course they have taken in the past and expect them to continue on this course in the future. The current problem is just a small detail to be managed.

Which takes me to back to the shareholders. The board of directors ostensibly represent the values and concerns of the shareholders. If that is true, the shareholder’s primary concerns are how much money they can make from being BP owners. This focus has at its core significant consequences. The primary of which is that it motivates the BP leadership to take actions to satisfy their owners that can be disastrous for all of us.

In listening to many environmentalist over the past few weeks, I find a common thread. They are hopeful that we can learn from the gulf coast spill and prevent future disasters. I am hopeful as well, but believe the lessons lie in changing the basic motivation of humans. This would mean that we substantially change our economic system from one that rewards financial results above all else to one that rewards doing the right thing for everyone.

This may sound myopic or polyannish. I don’t think so. There are plenty of resources for us all to have a rich life. We will all be robbed of this possibility if we continue on the path of money rules. Remember money doesn’t follow us to the grave. Money won’t give us great relationships or fill our life with joy. Doing the right thing can give us all this and more.

Think about it as you make your choices today.

Whose watching over us?

I have often wondered about the need in this country for consumers to be protected by our federal government. We have a number of regulatory agencies that want to take care of the unsuspecting consumer so that unscrupulous companies can’t take advantage of us.

We have the Food and Drug Administration, Federal Trade Commission, and the Consumer Product Safety Commission that are augmented with non-profit organizations like the Better Business Bureau, National Consumer League, the Consumers Union and the Consumer Federation of America. All these groups are watching out for my safety.

All this protection has me a bit nervous. For one thing, I wonder why they are protecting me. In this day of almost unlimited information, what is it that I need protecting from. Sure a few companies might sell some stuff that is substandard, but if I check the web before I buy, I will know about these folks. It’s almost like I have acquired a new parent. Someone who has decided what is in my best interest and because they know better than me they will make sure I am not taken advantage of.

One of the problems with this way of thinking is that these organizations assume they know what’s right for me. I believe that for the most part they have good intention, But I wonder how they can know what’s best for me. Particularly, when I haven’t talked directly to any of these organizations. So what are they basing their criteria for what’s best on? Is there a belief that we can homogenize our needs as humans to the extent where a set of standards will fit everyone? So when someone decides for me what’s best, it might be good for me to know how they reached their decisions. Otherwise, I become a tranquilized couch potato that has lost touch with my world.

Now I can delegate my decisions to others if I like. That seems to be a bit contrary though to having a strong country of informed and accountable citizens.

The second thing that bothers me about all this protection is that it doesn’t seem to work in some important areas. For instance, who protected all those folks who got sub-prime loans whose interest rates skyrocketed after the first year? Or who has protected consumers from high bank charges or escalating interest rates on credit cards or consumer check cashing offices that effectively charge 300% interest? Or how about the rush to get H1N1 vaccine to market only to have hundreds of thousands of doses recalled?

It seems that the best protection for me and you is to be well-informed and acting deliberately. I have a good idea about I want, why its valuable to me and what I am willing to pay in terms of money and safety to get it. I am not advocating a time of letting everyone fend for themselves. I think guidelines are great and that standards are fine as long as there is transparency in the standard setting process and we only apply standardization for high risk public safety concerns.

This week’s Business Matters program on raw milk had me wonder why it was so important for the FDA to take care of me when I can make an informed decision about this product. I appreciate their input and accept a requirement for consumer labeling, but if public safety is the FDA’s concern why don’t they focus on alcoholism and tobacco addition?

So let’s be more informed. Let’s reduce the need to be taken care of. I have a sense that we will all feel safer if we do.

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Move your Money!

These is a lot of talking about how mad we are that the big banks are paying out strongBillions/strong of strongDollars/strong in bonuses when they had their hands out just a year ago. Remember, they were telling us they needed the governments help to even survive. In fact, they were so convincing that they scared Congress into doing what they wanted with no strings attached.

Now a year later, they are telling us they made records profits and the executives deserve to be paid for their hard work. Now some folks are calling this one of the greatest frauds perpetrated on the US. Bill Black, a former government official during the Savings and Loan crisis laid this case out on the Business Matter’s program titled, “Cronie Capitalism” . Could be. But it doesn’t look like anyone in Washington is going to do anything substantive about this. Sure there’s hand wavering and lots of talk, but no real legislation and the dollars from Wall Street firms and big banks continue to flow in to the campaign coffers of both political parties.

But don’t despair. Maybe there’s something we can do about it. Something that doesn’t require the President or anyone in Congress to do anything. Something that can have a profound affect. What would that be, you may ask?

Over the holidays a group of people that included Ariana Huffington of the Huffingon Post were talking about what they could do about this clear inequity. They decided to start a campaign to recommend that people move their money from the large banks who has taken our taxpayer dollars to enrich themselves while failing to help homeowners or small businesses.

Take this money and move it to financial institutions that are part of the solution. The movement is called Move Your Money. It encourages people to move their money from the big banks to credit unions and community banks.

I know how convenient it is to have you account at Bank of America or Chase or Citibank, I was stuck in the convenience situation myself. But I realized that I am part of the problem unless I take action personally. So I did, I opened my personal and business accounts at a local community bank.

Some will ask are they safe? When you look at the problems of the financial crisis, you don’t find credit unions or community banks holding Credit Default Swaps or packaging up mortgages into securities and loosing contact with their customer. Sure profits may be down, but they still do business the old fashion way – face to face. They know you and you know them.

I am encouraging you to consider taking action. Find out more about this movement. Go to the moveyourmoney.info website and see what others are doing and saying. See if it this feels like the right thing for you to do. Remember that you can make a difference .

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Who is Accountable?

President Obama has often spoken about a new air of accountability in Washington. He has extolled business leaders to bring a sense of ethical responsibility to their activities. Yet……

It doesn’t seem that much is different. On Christmas Day Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab attempted to blow up a Northwest Airline jet as it was landing in Detroit. It is clear from all accounts that Abdulmutallab was someone whom the intelligence communities were aware held a potential threat to US security. Yet with no apparent difficulty, he was able to board a US airline flight in Amsterdam and almost succeed in creating another public drama.

What’s at the bottom of this failure. My sense is that it about lack of accountability. After 9/11, there was much made about the inefficiency of the US intelligence system. Often agencies within the government act as if they are competing with each other to get the best information. These turf wars were shown by several investigations to have kept the clear picture of terrorist plotting 9/11 obscured.

OK, we make mistakes, but we are hearing the same kind of stories about the Abdulmutallab situation that we heard after 9/11. The intelligence organizations who had parts of the puzzle didn’t talk effectively to each other. This is the case even after hundreds of millions of dollars were spent to redesign the intelligence structure even putting in a new cabinet level leader as the Director of National Intelligence.

So why did we not succeed in tearing down the walls that block the free flow of information? I see this problem often in the businesses I work with. Companies have a crisis of some sort – perhaps its a financial disaster or a creditability problem that’s onerous. The board (like Congress) steps in to fix the problem. The way they look at it is that they can fix the problem with a new structure, a new set of rules and maybe a new leader. Mostly this fails, just like the situation in Washington.

Why? Because the root cause of the problem has not been addressed. The root cause is often the internal behaviors that can’t be easily reshaped by rules. Iterative change won’t work. What is needed is from the ground up transformational change. To bring this about requires great leadership who lead by example and inspire everyone to act in a manner that fundamentally changes the organizations mindset.

The first step to this change is leadershipo that is both transparent and knows how to not be trapped by the adage, “That’s how we have always done it here”. This sentiment comes from the comfort zone of insiders who don’t really want much change. After all, if change was real, what would it mean to their personal power and relationships? So the leader has to listen with discernment. Listen with ears that let them understand what’s real and what’s just a story to keep things the way they are.

The second requirement for real change is to establish a set of standards for accountability. Now this is not as easy as it sounds. I have never found an organization that’s having problems where there is real accountability from top to bottom. Now the good news is that the change can simply start with the new leaders and their key people.

What does accountability mean? It means that I am responsible to do what I say when I say it in a way that provides value. This means that personal agendas have to be set aside for the overall health and vitality of the organization. Like I said, we all make mistakes, but what we can allow is these mistakes to continue. If someone doesn’t learn from their errors, they are clearly in the wrong role and perhaps the wrong organization.

The last requirement for real change is to instill meaning into the work of the organization. Let those who work there know why what they do is important to themselves, their colleagues those who buy their good or services and to their communities.

In this short space, I won’t go in to more detail. I will say that its clear that none of these three requirements for transformational change occurred in the US intelligence apparatus. So change was impossible. I hope the current lessons will lead to real change before a tragedy becomes us.

For Your Consideration

Recently I started a new segment on our Business Matters radio program. Its called, For Your Consideration. I offer a reflection that has attracted my interest and hope that it will be of value to you. Here is the segment from December the 4th. I invite you to send me feedback so that I can connect with you.

As we were putting together the Business Matters program on consumerism, I was reminded of the long history of activism here in the US. I think of activism as doing something intentionally to bring about social, political, economic or environmental change.

Over 200 years ago, people just like you and I felt that the system of government that was in place in the British colonies was one they could not support. Coming together in small towns and cities, they acted with courage and a level of determination that was uncommon. At the heart of this birth of the American system was vigorous public debate, an orientation for building consensus, and a commitment to strong action to bring about needed change.

Activism has many forms including civil disobedience, boycotts, culture jamming, peace marches, propaganda and strikes. Activism knows no boundaries of age or ethnicity or cultural orientation or economic condition. Activism often brings to its participants a sense of aliveness that they don’t feel at other times in their lives. It feels good to be committed to a cause that I believe in and have a sense that MY actions will make a difference.”

Kalle Lasn, one of our guests today and the founder of AdBusters, has been an activist for over 20 years. He challenges the impact that consumerism has on the economic, political and environmental sustainability of our plant. I asked him if the actions that are underway would alter the course of climate change and economic decline. He said he didn’t know. Maybe we will experience our worst fears and yet, there will be a future of some sort. What he was certain of is that the actions of activists today shape that future. This lesson is good to remember particularly for those of us who were involved in the 2008 Presidential campaign. Hope for a future with a new form of governance called forth activism in so many. As this promise seems elusive, a sense of despair is being felt. Yet, maybe these actions are what Kalle Lasn was referring to, maybe they are the seeds of our future..

I have considered for the whole tenure of this program what our role is. As I speak to you today, I am certain for perhaps the first time. Business Matters is about activism. Activism is a personal choice. It means that I am willing to speak out and act when I feel the need for change, without concern for the short-term impact these actions have on my income or comfort. Our activism is telling the stories of people, who through a passion for change, commitment to a purpose and deep courage, are doing something they believe will change systems that are not working.

One important aspect of activism is often overlooked. Best spoken by one of history’s great activists, Mohatmas Ghandi, ‘ Be the change you wish to see in the world.” For instance, if I feel that its important to reform the financial system and a great way to do this is to support community banks, do I put my money in these smaller institutions? If I feel that its vital to reversing climate-change by reducing greenhouse gases, do I consider the distance that my food travels when I purchase it? The examples are plentiful, you get the idea. I sometimes find myself in the category of well intentioned folks who either contribute money to a worthy cause or lend support to an organization involved in change, yet I don’t take time to make sure that all my actions are supportive of the change I am advocating.

In closing, I invite you to consider what you can do to improve your local community. It is often said that all politics is local. That is also true for activism. Find a place to start being involved. It doesn’t have to be huge or “earth changing”. Just have it be something that really matters to you. The experience may both surprise you and change your life along with the lives of others.

We will make a difference.