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Strategies & Market Trends : The New Economy and its Winners -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Bill Harmond who wrote (13325)	8/5/2002 4:43:47 PM
From: stockman_scott	Respond to of 57684

The bottom line is personal ethics By DEBORAH MATHIS SYNDICATED COLUMNIST Sunday, August 4, 2002 WASHINGTON -- The fallout from WorldCom's bankruptcy goes beyond the employees, stockholders and the local economy in Jackson, Miss., the telecommunications giant's home base. Other companies that did business with WorldCom are hurting too. My best friend works for one such corporation. Since they haven't been paid in some time -- and we're talking many millions in uncollected payments -- my friend's company is embarking on another round of layoffs. The Corner Offices are also demanding cutbacks in expenditures by those who get to keep their jobs. In one division, I'm told, the entire staff has agreed to surrender one week's pay in order to help the company out. Such thoughtfulness and generosity by the rank and file are reminiscent of what happened at the long-gone Washington Star. Back in the 1970s, when the newspaper was in extremis, the staff voluntarily went to four-day workweeks to save money. It wasn't enough, but the gesture proved the employees were loyal to more than just a paycheck. Same goes for my friend's company, apparently. But there's a hitch. It doesn't appear that the corporate big shots are leading the charge, only ordering it. The fancy corporate jets, the chauffeured limos, the elaborate corporate offices, the multimillion-dollar salaries, retirement plans and stock options have not been -- what's the word? -- downsized. Perhaps we should find a new term for men and women at the fore of the Fortune 500 who are in it only for the good times but, when things get tough -- on their watch, no less -- they leap overboard. They aren't "captains of industry." True captains steer through the storm and, if all else fails, evacuate the ship and, if anyone goes down with the vessel, it's them. Too many of the folks at the helm of major American corporations not only abandon ship, they hoard all the lifeboats. And what plush little dinghies they are. Many times, they're better off after the capsize than before. The brand new corporate responsibility law signed Tuesday will, ostensibly, punish executives who cook the books, or let them be cooked, and otherwise skirt banking and securities laws. That ought to get the crooks. But nothing can be done about greed that is the root of corporate corruption. And so far, there's no law that says an executive who orders cutbacks or layoffs on account of financial straits has to cut back or lay off on his own high-flying. Given our adoration for and dependence on capitalism and the more-is-more philosophy that underlies it, no such law will ever see the light. Besides, the loopholes that would inevitably be embedded in any proposal of the kind would be big enough to put a skyscraper through. Maybe there ought not be a law, but there should be an ethic -- a personal bit of character that says, I'm the head of this company and if anyone is going to hurt, it's going to be me. The fact is, no official law, policy, regulation or set of ethics can beat one's own personal ethics. If a man or woman doesn't have the character to be a leader, he or she can't acquire one in business school, can't catch it in the executive suite and won't be won over by a new corporate reform act. A dog is a dog and a greedy coward is a greedy coward whether in Levis or Brooks Brothers. --------------------------------------------------------- Deborah Mathis is a columnist with Tribune Media Services. Copyright 2002 Tribune Media Services. seattlepi.nwsource.com