In 1955, Charlie Wilson, then Chairman of General Motors, coined the famous phrase, “What is good for General Motors is good for America”.
How things have changed.
Today, this phrase has a certain cringe-inducing feeling about it and, in a way, its poor fit for a post-Great-Recession world represents both what we have lost,and what we long for.
In a phrase, we want our world back – the world where the aspirations of corporations and those of people are aligned – where what is good for the company is good for America.
This will require a deep rethink oforganizational beliefs and leadership style. To get our world back, we might consider making these “Eight Aspirations for 2011” our Corporate New Year Resolutions:
- Will what we plan be good for people, the planet and the bottom line?
- Will people LOVE our organization because of our actions?
- Will our strategies, policies and practices inspire?
- Will we set the standards that raises the bar for the rest?
- Will everything we write and say stand public scrutiny years from now?
- If WikiLeaks distributed our emails, would we be proud?
- Will the rest of the world copy our exemplary behavior?
- Will we be heroes to our children?
Let’s commit to living these “Eight Aspirations for 2011” during the twelve months ahead, and then meet again a year from now, knowing we progressed and helped the world become a better place – a world that is closer to the one we long for.
Given the latest news that our states are spending beyond there capacity to the point of losing their sustainability, within a year many states in the go old US will be in dire need.
It is important to heed these Corporate aspirations in our businesses and in our own lives. We must become our own responsibility now and into the future. We have, for too long, abdicated our responsibilies to others. To change a nation, to change a business, to be what America stands for, we must start with ourselves.