Business is Brutal; but, what is the alternative?

The Milton Report

Business is Brutal: But, what is the alternative?

November 18, 2009

Volume 13: issue 6

According to Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary, brutal is defined as grossly ruthless or unfeeling.

Is there any better way to describe the state of business and the behavior of corporations in America today? If there is, I’d like to know.

I was informed a former colleague of mine, whom I’ll refer to as John, was laid off yesterday. When I heard the news, I was not surprised. It had nothing to do with my personal perception of my former colleague’s work or the motives and ability of his management. I have been involved in enough business relationships to know that the quality of an individual’s work is not always at issue. The motives and abilities of management are another story. Management serves the interests of the corporation first with consideration also given to personal motives and goals. I don’t know the specifics of John’s circumstance. However, what I do know is that today’s marketplace suggests that when you get hired into a new position, the corporation’s internal clock starts ticking on your career. Similar to what happens regularly in professional sports with coaches, the only thing you can be certain of when you get the job, is that one day you will have to leave. You will either get fired (i.e., “laid off”) or you will take the initiative and find another job or career endeavor. Coaches get fired all of the time. Employees do too. O.J. Simpson was once vilified because he made a comment that suggested that “people die everyday”, which suggested that he had no remorse or feeling about his “alleged” double murder. His comments were taken as brutal and callous. I believe the collective mindset of corporations in America today is that people get hired and fired everyday. It is part of the cycle of business. Therefore, one should not be surprised when it happens. You will find another place in the maze to practice your craft. Will you actually be able to navigate the maze to its magical end of retirement? It’s possible, but the odds are against you.

Business is brutal, but what is the alternative?

John now joins the ranks of millions as another statistic in a business climate that will always favor profits over people. That’s just the way it is. The late Milton Friedman, an acclaimed scholar in the world of economics, spoke of corporations not being socially responsible to provide jobs. Corporations are guided by the goal to produce profits and appease their shareholders. They are not in the business of providing jobs as a social service. I heard that many years ago. I have often repeated those words in a manner that would make one think I was a capitalist robot towing the party line. The reality was that I repeated those words as a means of recognizing that the job I held at the time was not really mine and I could become a statistic at any time. The job belonged to the corporation. I simply filled a spot out of a need – either real or perceived. When the need no longer exists, again either real or perceived, the corporation will sever the relationship. You will get fired. It will not be personal. It will just be business and it may even come across a bit brutal.

I have been involved in some aspect of corporate America since I was 17 years old. I was 18 years old when I experienced my first true “layoff”. The difference then was that working for an automobile manufacturer in Michigan meant I was protected by a labor union relationship that spilled over into the ranks of the salaried employees and I was given the option to actually get re-employed with the company in another capacity. Layoff meant laid off as a temporary condition. It did not mean you were fired. Times were different then and America had a different place in the global marketplace. One could argue that in the late 70’s and early 80’s, America was the global market. Change was on the horizon, however.

I grew up during a time when the possibility of working for a corporation until retirement was still a reality, albeit a remote one. Then, the notion that companies were not designed to provide jobs was a foreign concept to me. When I first was exposed and considered the discourse of Milton Friedman, I can honestly state that companies not being in the business of providing jobs did not make sense to me. Many jobs, over twenty years in corporate America, and several layoffs later, I think I understand of what Mr. Friedman spoke. This is why I am currently struggling with the notion that the government will provide jobs. Don’t people in government study economics?

If business provides jobs and that is considered part of the model of capitalism, then what is it when the government provides jobs?

I had grown up thinking that companies needed to provide jobs to ensure their flow of goods and/or services to the marketplace. America is different now. Companies still don’t offer jobs as a social service. I don’t expect companies will ever do that; but, in the interest of profits and satisfying their shareholders (i.e., make the stock price rise), companies are doing whatever it takes to reduce costs. Exporting jobs overseas is part of that equation. The global market that was once America is now truly on a world scale. The job that was exclusively an American job is now a “World” job. If you don’t believe that, research the number of companies that have offices in Bangalore. Trace the phone call you make to obtain assistance for upgrading your software, or programming your remote control, or extending your warranty. When I consider some of these things, layoffs don’t come as a surprise to me anymore. It is part of the cycle of business in America, where capitalism is king and anything that hints of social welfare is looked upon as a watered-down form of socialism or communism. This may begin to sound like a very anti-capitalist, pro liberal rant. That is not my intent. I have never received a job offer from someone with no money. I don’t expect to in the future, unless it is possibly the government. There is, however, a certain brutality to business that must be addressed. I don’t think you have to be anti-capitalism to note that.

I don’t know if there is an alternative. The cliché, “It is what it is” comes to mind. The economic system in America will likely not change in my lifetime, unless the next generation truly believes wealth redistribution is a viable economic system. I am still looking for someone to explain to me how taking money from someone who works for it and giving it to someone who does not, is a system that makes sense. Is that considered economic justice? Business may appear to be brutal, but at least I have the façade of upward mobility. I have an opportunity to develop my personal brand, improve my skills, and make them available to the market place. I don’t have to use them to get a job. I could go into business for myself. That is possible. But, if I get a job from the government through the magic formula of wealth redistribution, what is possible then?

Business may be brutal, but what is the alternative?

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“It is calming to know that when the final trumpet sounds,

My life will not have ended in vain.

I will run out of time before I run out of words. God has given me the gift of my thoughts.

He has given me the gift of the pen.

I need to use them both to show His will does win….” 1

(1) Excerpt from the poem “ The Things That Matter” –

Included in Voices Inside My Head – Poetry Inspired By God To Heal Pain

Copyright © 2009 Milton A. Brown