Acculturation
By William Arthur Bruno, Guest Writer
Issue date: 5/1/09 Section: Perspectives
The Johnson School has changed your ethos. You have assimilated the culture of the School fostered by its administrators, professors, and students past and present. Work ethic, leadership, creativity, team building, problem solving, concern for society, and integrity have been woven into your fabric. Soon you will be coming down off the mountain (East Hill) and into a new culture.
The culture that you are about to enter will attempt to tear the fabric that has been woven so carefully from childhood through your days at Cornell. Will you be able to maintain the standards that have carried you this far, given the stress that will be applied? The weak economy, high unemployment, and woeful state of corporate and political governance will increase your vulnerability.
As a child, what was your answer to the question: What do you want to be when you grow up? I suspect that your answer was endearing - I want to be a doctor to cure people; I want to be a scientist or engineer to create inventions or solve social problems such as poverty or the environment; or I want to be a writer, musician or a teacher. You wanted to spend your lifetime contributing to society, albeit while earning a respectable living.
I have not known too many children who say they want to be management consultants or investment bankers. Not that there is anything wrong with these occupations - if, indeed, the goal is truly to help others who do not have management and financial expertise. Although employment in these jobs could have a sense of altruism, more often than not, the pursuit is simply to "make lots of money." Whenever the goal is to maximize personal wealth, there is increased risk for individuals to become parasitic.
The greed of many MBAs has taken a major toll on our economic system. Free market economics depends on the virtue of the participants. Our economic system can withstand a large, but limited, number of parasites. However, when they increase to an intolerable level, the host is jeopardized.
Many of you will be fortunate to enter companies with strong leadership and a high level of ethics in business conduct. Within these companies you will prosper. Others will find yourselves in a moral predicament when you find predation to be normative. Will your cloak be torn, or will your fabric withstand the assault? This may seem like an easy question today, but how about when you are supporting a family, paying a mortgage, and prospects are weak for other employment?
Business leadership must change for our free-market economy to be sustainable. We need individuals with high ethics and high ability to reach positions of leadership in business and government. The acculturation that you are about to experience will be far removed from that of East Hill. When you become investment bankers, management consultants, research analysts, corporate planners, accountants, and mutual fund/private equity/hedge fund managers, you must question the established norms.
Your generation of leadership has an opportunity to rid the corporate and political world of those who are parasitic. This will take extraordinary courage. You have all the tools to make a positive difference. And now the ball is in your court to ensure a sustainable corporate world.
Bill Bruno is a graduate of Cornell University (B.S.'69, MEng '71) and the Graduate School of Business at Stanford ( MBA '77). He worked in offices and boardrooms of major corporations for over 30 years. His primary interests are international energy security, sustainable development of energy, corporate governance and leadership ethics. His recently released book, The King Rat and His Court: Lessons in Corporate Greed, is available from BookSurge Publishing. Visit www.thekingrat.com for details.
The culture that you are about to enter will attempt to tear the fabric that has been woven so carefully from childhood through your days at Cornell. Will you be able to maintain the standards that have carried you this far, given the stress that will be applied? The weak economy, high unemployment, and woeful state of corporate and political governance will increase your vulnerability.
As a child, what was your answer to the question: What do you want to be when you grow up? I suspect that your answer was endearing - I want to be a doctor to cure people; I want to be a scientist or engineer to create inventions or solve social problems such as poverty or the environment; or I want to be a writer, musician or a teacher. You wanted to spend your lifetime contributing to society, albeit while earning a respectable living.
I have not known too many children who say they want to be management consultants or investment bankers. Not that there is anything wrong with these occupations - if, indeed, the goal is truly to help others who do not have management and financial expertise. Although employment in these jobs could have a sense of altruism, more often than not, the pursuit is simply to "make lots of money." Whenever the goal is to maximize personal wealth, there is increased risk for individuals to become parasitic.
The greed of many MBAs has taken a major toll on our economic system. Free market economics depends on the virtue of the participants. Our economic system can withstand a large, but limited, number of parasites. However, when they increase to an intolerable level, the host is jeopardized.
Many of you will be fortunate to enter companies with strong leadership and a high level of ethics in business conduct. Within these companies you will prosper. Others will find yourselves in a moral predicament when you find predation to be normative. Will your cloak be torn, or will your fabric withstand the assault? This may seem like an easy question today, but how about when you are supporting a family, paying a mortgage, and prospects are weak for other employment?
Business leadership must change for our free-market economy to be sustainable. We need individuals with high ethics and high ability to reach positions of leadership in business and government. The acculturation that you are about to experience will be far removed from that of East Hill. When you become investment bankers, management consultants, research analysts, corporate planners, accountants, and mutual fund/private equity/hedge fund managers, you must question the established norms.
Your generation of leadership has an opportunity to rid the corporate and political world of those who are parasitic. This will take extraordinary courage. You have all the tools to make a positive difference. And now the ball is in your court to ensure a sustainable corporate world.
Bill Bruno is a graduate of Cornell University (B.S.'69, MEng '71) and the Graduate School of Business at Stanford ( MBA '77). He worked in offices and boardrooms of major corporations for over 30 years. His primary interests are international energy security, sustainable development of energy, corporate governance and leadership ethics. His recently released book, The King Rat and His Court: Lessons in Corporate Greed, is available from BookSurge Publishing. Visit www.thekingrat.com for details.
Be the first to comment on this story