On 12 Dec 99, at 9:17, briangordon@mindspring.com wrote:
> Robert Bacal made the point that:
>
> >If one is going to suggest that this change, then it seems to me,
> >that to be coherent, one would have to describe how a society NOT
> >based on profit would work. And so far, the best minds of the world have
> >not been able to make those descriptions into reality.
>
> I am not suggesting a radical shift to socialism. (As an aside, I don't
> think that humanity generally is mature enough - meaning selfless and
> assertive enough - to make socialism work effectively yet.) To me,
> Southwest Airlines is an example of a company to which profit is important
> and which has done extremely well over a 20+ year period of time -
> financially and in other measures. However, to Southwest, profit is not
> the main objective. Providing inexpensive airfares so that more people
> can afford to fly is what drives the company.
I'm still not clear about what you are saying here. Generally, I feel
(again it's a personal opinion) that whatever my personal opinion, the
world is the way it is, and while I can try to change what is my immediate
purview, that commenting about the negative impact of profit motive is
like commenting about the negative impact of hurricanes.
I'm sure we would all agree that many things in the world could be better
(including the weather), but trying to get companies to move off of profit
motivation is about as useful as asking the hurricans to please not come
to Florida.
It also seems to me that many companies understand the system links
between things like service, community contributions, success, profit,
reputation, etc, and function on multiple levels.
But since our system IS based on profit motive, and that profit motive
drives almost everything, railing against it seems a bit pointless without
offering alternatives.
..and that's what I would like to see here, alternatives that are real and
practical for companies who are "stuck" in a pure profit motive mentality.
...and how you would get them to get unstuck.
Visit the work911.com supersite at http://www.work911.com for work related articles, or to find almost anything including lists
Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com>
Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>