Changing Corporate
Purpose To Maximize Human Potential
According to
former Harvard Medical School professor, Martha
Stout, 4% of the global population—that is over 12 million Americans or 200,000
Singaporeans—are sociopaths;
they have no conscious empathy for human or animal life. This characteristic
permeates through our current political climate and economic institutions. It
trickles down into media outlets and impacts the market by way of blind
consumerism and corporate greed.
Although many
aspects of capitalism are beneficial and healthy, there is a lack of
accountability and morality, especially in U.S. markets and in how large
corporations handle their operations. Corporations inherently set out to maximize
shareholder value above all else. This focus on monetary value creates an
indifference towards moral behavior rooted in basic human value. Greed and
power only come to light when individuals like Bernie Madoff are finally
arrested for copiously unique financial scandals. This greed mentality is a
downward spiral without escape because the ultimate goal does not include human
necessity and environmental responsibility.
HOW WE DEFINE
SUCCESS MUST CHANGE
How we measure
success also contributes to the sociopath mindset. When success is measured by
monetary value alone, there is no room for development in the things that are
truly sustainable to human life – education, personal accountability, social welfare
or the pursuit of happiness because the goal is simply more money. This may
have worked for the last 3 decades, however, we must change the way we currently
define success because it is no longer sustainable. This concentration on
monetary success has permeated the depths of our society, including our
education systems; educators and families raise children with this current
measure of success and it is contributing to the moral breakdown of the human
psyche.
GLOBALIZATION AND
ITS INFLUENCE ON MARKET MORALITY
Globalization has
further compounded this money-centric view through the exploitation of
third-world labor by outsourcing and moving jobs in locations where human life
is further degraded. On July 1, 1997, the release of Hong Kong from British rule
accompanied a new era of accelerated globalization and international business
and the moving of manufacturing jobs overseas in order to lower consumer
prices. At the time, it was thought to add a healthy international scope to and
boost the world global economies. In reality, what we have now is the twisted,
ugly stepsister that is the foundation of the economic volatility and
geopolitical crisis we see today. Consumers are stoking the fires because they
increasingly demand low prices for low quality products. These are the
consequences of the sociopathic thought processes that consider profits before
people.
GEOPOLITICAL
IMPACT OF CORPORATE GREED
In Bangladesh,
American companies capitalize on cheap labor for manufacturing the clothes we
buy from Wal-Mart, H&M Clothing, The Gap and J.C. Penney to name a few.
Just in the last few months, several factory explosions in Bangladesh have exposed
the brutal reality of the trillion dollar garment industry. One of these
factories, in the Rana Plaza complex in Dhaka, collapsed and killed 1,000
workers in April 2013. It is the country’s worst industrial disaster.
In Africa, the
consumer demand for diamonds has created a volatile situation in the Congo.
Those diamond profits pass through the black market into the hands of warlords
– contributing to global geopolitical instability.
Both the U.S. and
Singapore have a lot in common when it comes to characteristics of sociopathic
indifference. Singapore, also one of world’s wealthiest nations, shares a
similar apathy to corporate greed and its impact on our global citizens. In
October of 2011, the Occupy Wall Street movement spread globally with several
demonstrations across Europe and Asia. Singapore – one of the wealthiest
nations had no turnout and touted “What’s
missing in this picture?” in the next morning’s paper referencing a photo
of the rally spot where only 3 policemen stood.
WHERE DO WE GO
FROM HERE?
It is difficult to
say how we, as a society can resolve this. It’s obvious that we need to
fundamentally shift our thinking away from monetary gain toward basic humanity
and the welfare of our environment. We must instill in our children the value
of sustainability and those with a conscious must focus their efforts in
becoming engaged citizens, protecting the environment and change the flow of
our pocketbooks toward investing in our future sustainability on all economic
levels. And finally, we need to abolish corporate dogma from “maximize
shareholder value” to “maximize human potential”.
Maxime Rieman is a
writer for NerdWallet, a financial literacy site that provides consumers with
information ranging from finding car
insurance comparisons to fighting corporate greed.
SOURCES
4% of our
population are sociopaths - http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2012/08/as-many-as-12-million-americans-are-sociopaths.html
Maximize
shareholder value - http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/research/files/papers/2012/6/18%20corporate%20stout/stout_corporate%20issues.pdf
Bernie Madoff - http://www.forbes.com/2010/11/19/sociopath-boss-work-forbes-woman-leadership-office-evil.html
Release of Hong
Kong from British rule - http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0630.html#article
$1 trillion dollar
garment industry - http://moneymorning.com/2013/04/29/bangladesh-tragedy-exposes-real-cost-of-corporate-greed/
Worst industrial
disaster - http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-05-09/fire-at-bangladesh-garment-factory-kills-at-least-7-people.html
Diamond Profits - http://moneymorning.com/2013/04/29/bangladesh-tragedy-exposes-real-cost-of-corporate-greed/
“What’s missing in
this picture?” - http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/16/us-protests-asia-idUSTRE79F08O20111016
Shop with a
Conscious - http://www.sweatfree.org/docs/Shopwithconscience-bifold.pdf
The Problem of
Corporate Purpose - http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/research/files/papers/2012/6/18%20corporate%20stout/stout_corporate%20issues.pdf
