Getting without Giving Caused This Recession and the Great Depression

Napoleon knew what caused the Great Depression - getting without giving and the continuous drive to be the one getting more and giving less. It is pretty much the same thing that has caused this latest recession. Everyone has a role in this, at least everyone that has or had money or a job.

The pre-Depression method of doing business was through power and fear with capital and labor representing themselves as foes in a battle. This was the approach that "has taken the soul out of men", "driven men as if they were pieces of cold machinery" as quoted from "Think and Grow Rich". There are plenty of examples of disgraceful behavior on all sides but the output was a Great Depression where everyone lost out and no one won.

After the Great Depression Napoleon envisioned a future of cooperation between labor and management. He saw that business was in need of reform, everyone in it was trying to get without giving. He thought the shock of the Depression marked the end of one age of doing business exploitatively and the beginning of a more enlightened one of cooperation and sharing. His faith in men was great.

Unfortunately for us all he was wrong then, but not incorrect. His ideas are still valid, just not yet applied in any large scale. Maybe after seeing (again) what the approach of greed and fear does we can move on to a more intelligent approach to business. Maybe now we can remember the sickness hidden behind sycophantic articles in newspapers and business magazines drooling over huge remuneration or riches.

There is no way one person can take a billion dollars or a hundred million dollars out of a company without depriving others of their share in some way. It was not possible 70 years ago, it was not possible in the last 15 years either

There are some companies trying to take a more enlightened approach. I will examine a couple of them in the next post.
- Po