The Sad State of Corporate America's Leadership

I do:

"The Facebook"
"The Twitter"
and
"The Blog"

I draw the line at "Linkedin."

This is not to offend those of you who sent me "Linkedin" requests and like to have that fancy "badge" or "linkedin pictograph" made larger and more ornate signifying you're "linkedin-ness."  I just hands down refuse to do it because after joining it I realized what it was.  Another form of that hated and loathed and ULTIMATELY zero-economic-production value activity - networking.

I refuse to network intentionally because even at college I knew it was bullshit.

Yes, yes, I know, I know, business is all about "who you know" not "what you know" and rain-makers can make or break a company based on networking.  But I plain do not have the evil, let alone patience to sit there in networking event after networking event, with a fake smile on my face, acting like I give a crap about the people around me, all in the hopes of meeting that one person with a morsel of business, and magically having more charisma and charm than anybody else to win that tidbit of business.  Oh, and the fact everybody else is doing the exact same thing AND EVERYBODY KNOWS EVERYBODY KNOWS THIS FACT makes the whole thing the most hypocritical and fake exercise in the history of humanity.

I'm sorry, I have a soul, not to mention a life to live.

But what is really sad is not so much the futility and fakeness of networking, but that networking plays such a prominent role in "corporate strategy."  The fact something so fake, so unproductive, so labor-wasting and just outright deceitful is employed as a legitimate business tactic is testament to the sad state of corporate America, its lack of leadership and it's lack of future prospects.  But after thinking about it, I realized something else. "Networking" is (as far as I can tell) one of only four major "strategies" American business leaders seem able to employ and pursue today, and further testifies to the sad state of corporate America.  These four strategies are:

1.  Networking and Social Networking
2.  Foreign Sales
3.  "Going Green"/CSR
4.  Rent seeking/lobbying

Networking I've already gone over.  Not a cent of genuine economic production or wealth is produced by it.  And while corporate cogs will slave away at the art, in the end you get a dire and disasterous "black swan event" because of what I like to consider an "inbreeding effect."  Since you are hired, promoted, and advanced not on production, innovation or bold leadership, but rather you're ability to get along, kiss ass and "network," the corporate environment becomes a sort of "super-refinery" that refines and purifies employees into "super networkers" and "super ass kissers."  And instead of focusing on new and improved ways to increase profits, people are instead constantly pitted up against a perpetually stronger and stronger strain of conformist, SWPL, uber-soldat employees.  Making matters worse is the unemployment rate.  Most anybody can do the job, so the focus or onus is put on a person's intangible brown nosing..errr...."people/soft skills."  This means only the most purified extract of networker/ass-kisser/yes-man remain employed which only creates a spiraling effect, making the corporate environment that much more potent, purified and refined.  Soon, in theory, you will have a corporate slave class incapable of independent thought, leadership, and innovation...oh wait, you already do.

Foreign sales is another defeatist strategy employed by corporations.  Though legitimate (you should be targeting overseas markets) it does nothing to revolutionize or reinvent your business model or product.  It's simply doing the same thing over and over, but in a foreign land.  While US corporate sales overseas has remained steady around 46%, their foreign profits (as measured by tax rolls), however, have been increasing (from 45% to 61%) meaning they're likely to expand overseas, not here in the US.

"Going Green" and the whole Corporate Social Responsibility BS.

Do I even have to explain this?

It's a fad.  Not one corporate executive believes in this veritable religion.  But, unfortunately, millions of brainwashable sheeple do.  And thus, to get suckers to part with their precious dollars, all corporations have to do is parade false and bogus "green credentials" and lie right to your face about how they're "going green" and you morons are stupid enough to buy it.  And even if they aren't lying and are going green, you're still a fool to pay a 40% premium, 20% of which is just additional mark up.  A REAL corporate strategy would be to go "black" focusing only on profit and priding the company on focusing only on profit purposely and proudly ignoring their "carbon foot print."  But that would take some cajones, leadership, and the courage to point out the emperor has no clothes.  Regardless, the fact corporations throw so much resources and weight into the "CSR" efforts only shows how few new and legitimate business ideas they have.

And finally, rent seeking or lobbying.  I believe by the time you are willing to waste your shareholders' monies on bogus ad campaigns about going green and other such poppycock, it's only a fraction of an arcsecond of a degree to just go full out immoral and evil and bribe politicians to vote against the best interests of the people so your firm can get favorable treatment.  I love how GE is forcing us all to use lightbulbs we don't want.  I love how GM and the unions are getting pie in the sky retirement plans they should have never had.  And I love how practically ALL US solar companies were nothing more than fronts to have well-connected cronies play "make believe businessman" where they paid themselves fat salaries at the taxpayer's dime, all while never having an ounce of intention to produce a profit. 

Again, my distrust of the public sector is no secret.  I still to this day believe it is hands down the single largest threat to the country and the future of freedom.  But the private sector is in just as bad of shape, corrupted and dysfunctional.  But what makes this worse, if not, dire for the country is that EVERYTHING, including government revenue, MUST COME FROM THE PRIVATE SECTOR.  There is nothing the government can do to create economic production, that all hails from the private sector.  And since and our private sector has become so lame and desperate that it employs strategies like rent seeking, lobbying, networking, "Linkedin," and "going green" you can expect no solution to the country's financial and economic problems. 

Enjoy the decline!