Posts Tagged ‘zeitgeist’

April 22nd, 2010 Earth Day

I just read a short retrospective of the original Earth Day 40 years ago. I did not fully realize that it spurred on events that culminated in the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act and the Endangered Species Act. Fast forward to 2010, and a couple days ago the front page of the Seattle Times ran a story about a beached whale. The story reported what they found in the whale’s stomach: 20 plastic bags, a pair of sweat pants, etc. The writer said the whale took seriously the mantra to eat locally.
A whale is dead and someone is making a joke about it. That makes me sick.
‘Nuf said.

November 2nd, 2009 United Professionals

(from the UP homepage) ~  America’s white collar professionals have long since lost the job security and middle class status that were supposed to go with a college education and hard work.

    My career is often morphing and presenting me with opportunities, decision points and slack times. I am constantly seeking a point of reference from which I can feel confident that those who interpret the corporate zeitgeist are doing so accurately and with useful insight. So, I was pleased last summer when I found United Professionals. This Web site is the brainchild of Barbara Ehrenreich, a writer who always grabs my attention with her observations about popular culture.

    Looking over the board of directors and their work, I came across excerpts from R. William Holland’s book Are there any good jobs left: Career management in the age of the disposable worker.

Here is a sampling:

1. “…the ability to create value is the personal currency for career advancement. That in turn relies heavily on the ability to keep one’s skills updated and adaptable to new circumstances.”
2. “The lack of corporate sponsored career development is a substantial threat to traditionally trained middle managers who now may neither understand nor be ready for the new employee value propositions in place today. Their jobs are less secure than at any time in their careers and their mind sets and skill sets are about to atrophy.”
3. “Controlling costs is rational behavior, as is managing individual career opportunities. For individuals this means they should treat their employment opportunities rationally against the backdrop of their personal brand in the marketplace. Companies are often careful not to act callously toward workers for fear of doing damage to their employment brand. Likewise, individuals who develop reputations for being unreliable complicate their chances for re-employment. Accepting or not accepting new opportunities that come along is more a question of brand management than of ethics, and the ability to recognize the differences is an essential first step in the mind-shift process.”

    Consider excerpts #1 and #2. I understand that keeping up with new knowledge is an unavoidable requirement, and that more than likely, if I need to acquire additional skills, it is up to me and at my expense. However, is the goal of capitalism inherently different now? Driving dollars straight to the bottom line is still the goal as far as I know, so which new employee value proposition is any “traditionally trained middle manager” not going to understand or be ready for? Skill sets may atrophy but mindsets become outdated and occasionally irrelevant. Insecurity in one’s job can come from people, places, and actions about which you may know nothing.

    Then consider excerpt #3. The idea that all this shucking and jiving is to protect a company or individual “brand” is cruelly absurd. Since when are companies careful not to act callously toward workers? Ever known someone who had to figure out what to do when a job offer was rescinded? So much for career management at that point, my friend. What is the definition of treating an employment opportunity “rationally”?

    And now for a little reality check. Many people who are lumped into the class known as support staff are painfully aware that they are seen as little more than a necessary evil, simply a cost to the corporation. No matter how good their skills or institutional knowledge, they can be cut at any time without notice when the billable hours or units sold etc. dips below the comfort level of the principals. All your resolute propositions of value to the company can be summarily erased when the strategies of say, Kerry Killinger, of Washington Mutual infamy, come back to roost and destroy a once reputable firm. Greed? Poor decisions? Perhaps, but let’s not forget all that was in keeping with brand management, too.

    So now we are left with our ever developing number of skills and if we’re lucky, our sense of self still intact. I am to believe that the question before me is one of brand management and not ethics, when any corporation I join is very likely to be unethical in ways in which I have never dreamed.