In this “Your Money” category of the blog, we discuss ways in which you can build wealth and how the actions of other individuals and organizations around the world effect your ability and potential to do so.
All individuals, including Purposeful Leaders, must become free of financial stress by fulfilling their desire for wealth, so they can focus on serving others. So, how can you become independently wealthy?
We will explore and discuss how anyone can accumulate a meaningful amount of wealth.
Reference: Masters of the Game – Reaching Beyond the Nexus to Success and Happiness.
http://purposefulaction.com/index.asp?mid=79&mid2=218&mid3=46
Is Maximization of corporate profit the mission or main purpose of a corporation? What are other “purposes” and obligations? Present an in-depth “Ethical Guidebook” for executives and managers in a large corporation. Give your comments or examples which supports this case.
This post will be end on 28th monday midnight. The leader of this post was Hema Madda.
The blog discussion was extented one more week upto 5th Monday Midnight.
With today’s economy, the confidence and trust in our business and government leaders have Americans putting their money under their mattresses. The “microwave-generation” mentality has Washington scrambling, putting pressure on companies to find ways to increase their profitability to appease shareholders, as power-hungry politicians manipulate to keep their jobs in the next term.
The outsourcing of cheap labor to foreign countries is one example of the strategies employed by U. S. companies seeking to survive or to increase profits. In particular these days in the outsourcing of customer service departments and manufacturing. Not that outsourcing is solely a product of an unhealthy economy.Even during times when the economy is booming, cheap labor has been used, supposedly out of greed or the need to fill jobs that Americans are unwilling perform.
Do you believe it is ethical for U. S. companies to outsource cheap labor to foreign countries, while unemployment is at 9.4% nationally and rising? In addition, do you believe such practices will shoe up customer confidence? Is this an issue of nationalism versus globalism? What are the implications of “free trade” on this issue?
[Unemployment percentage resources from The Bureau of Labor Statistics www.bls.gov]
This post was prepared by James Scott.
In Mangoland, where mangos were the currency of trade, a bushel of the golden beauties was equivalent to $1 million in our money. Johnny, an up-and-coming Mangoland executive, was desperate to use his skills and experience to acquire mangos – to consume and to hoard. The orchards were owned by Mangotycoons, Mangolords and Mangopreneurs. One night, as he dreamed of mangos, he had a vision. He did not realize that this vision was about to change his life.
A white-bearded man with a halo, asked in a soft echoing voice, “Do you want mangos?”
“Oh yes!” Johnny replied.
“Come,” said the man, transporting Johnny miraculously to a magnificent mango orchard.
“Wow!” Johnny gasped, taking in the endless acres of luscious fruits, hanging within reach.
“Start your journey by caring for this tree,” said the man, pointing to a sapling that bore the fruits of Johnny’s desires, “With your skills and commitment, it will grow to give you many delicious mangos. Then, you may be called upon to serve other trees that too will share their fruits with you.” With these words, the man disappeared as mysteriously as he had arrived.
Alone in the orchard, Johnny was trapped between commitment to care for the tree and his uncontrollable desire for mangos. Casting commitment and honor aside, he set upon harvesting the orchard, keeping a wary eye for the man. The man never appeared, and Johnny continued to build a heap of mangos large enough to lay on. Soon, exhausted and hungry, he started to devour the fruits of his labor. He ate and he ate, until he fell asleep. Even in his dreams, he was devouring mangos, crouching and hoping he was not being watched.
When he awoke, Johnny did not know how long he had slept. Reaching out for another mango, he shrieked in horror. The heap on which he lay had become a rotting, stinking, bug-infested mess, and there was no tree in site.
………………………
How does this parable shed light on Corporate Greed? Can you compare Johnny with executives who have ruined their firms by unethical practices – driven by taking rather than serving and giving. How does this story relate to life?
The Parable of the Mango Tree is an excerpt from “The Mango Tree,” a short story on purposeful action for children, by Prem Chopra, Brook of Life Press, Copyright 2009 by Prem Chopra, all rights reserved.
Many times in life we wish we had known earlier what we learn later from our experiences. Purposeful Wisdom is all about learning from the experiences of others and applying their wisdom in your own life. This does not mean that you automatically learn by reading, but you may learn through projecting the philosophy into your own life.
The book, Purposeful Wisdom, provides droplets of wisdom that will help you improve the flow of your life and find the way to the ocean where you may drink to your heart’s content, satisfying your spirit and experiencing the resonance you truly desire.
Read these wisdom tips and share your thoughts and experiences on this blog.
What can this book tell you about purposeful living?
Here is a discussion topic on strategy.
Assuming you are the CEO, and leader, of a well-known corporation of your choice, what strategy would you use to lead your company through the current economic crisis?
Explain, using examples and references, and relate your comments to the Four Principles for Purposeful Action.
This post was written by Margaux Ellis-Hall, who will lead the discussion for the week starting on March 10.
In the accompanying post, we discuss the global distress resulting from the dramatic nosedive of world economies. The general belief is that this situation was brought about by greed and corruption in financial firms, while our government loosened regulations and oversight. Most of you will agree that the lack of integrity (excerpt from lecture in September 2007 (3:09): Make Integrity a Habit) is a major cause for this mess. But but is there more?
Has there been a lack of all five positive core values (integrity, commitment, persistence, teamwork and communication) in the actions of corporate executives and government?
Can you discuss this, citing examples?
We are all aware of the dramatic nosedive of the stock markets, which has eroded trillions of dollars from the value of US and foreign corporations, and is causing economic stress globally. A CNBC TV series suggests that a major cause for this situation, at least in this country, is American Greed. Others blame our government for loosening regulations and ignoring their role of oversight, as CEOs of now bankrupt Wall Street firms walked away with the hundreds of millions of dollars bankrolled by U.S. taxpayers. Listen to this excerpt from my lecture on quality improvement in September 2007 (4:09): Unjust Rewards: Compensation for Failure.
Is greed the only negative core value (of the five: lust, anger, greed, attachment/possessiveness, arrogance) that caused this crisis?
Can you discuss, with examples, how all five negative core values have played a role in creating this crisis?
My friend Raj Diwan, a retired DuPont scientist, and I were discussing over dinner this evening how a person would feel if he or she were to suddenly become wealthy. Being engineers, we stretched the hypothetical situation of this “blessed” person to the “limit” and asked what if this person were to own “everything” in this planet, if not the entire universe. We then surmised that since nobody else owned anything, they would in principle not exist. So now you have this individual who owns everything but is alone in the planet.
Can you see this person being happy? If so, how? If not, why?
Principle of the Golden Goose:
The Principle of the Golden Goose has been taught for over two decades in finance classes for engineering students. Many have applied this principle and accumulated wealth beyond their imagination. You too can start building your wealth today and achieve financial independence – in threee simple steps:
Step 1: Create flow—of money. Work purposefully and consistently, earning a fair reward. Be persistent.
Step 2: Let the flow work for you—grow your ‘golden goose’ by paying yourself regularly and investing the money wisely – if you can, save at least as much as you pay in taxes. Be disciplined. Save diligently.
Step 3: Go with the flow, don’t dip into it and do not eat the goose. Be patient.
Can you apply the Principle of the Golden Goose to your life over the next 25 to 30 years and figure out how much wealth you can accumulate?
Learn more about the Golden Goose: Masters of the Game – Reaching Beyond the Nexus to Success and Happiness
The following article is excerpted from a lecture by Prem Chopra at the University of Tennessee, Chattanooga in September 2006. The text of the entire lecture can be found in Masters of the Game: Reaching Beyond the Nexus to Success and Happiness.
Reinforcement with Tough Love
It is unwise to work for companies that have inequitable reward systems, or to tolerate such systems in companies you manage or lead. Let’s say one of your subordinates is incompetent, such as an office assistant who does sub-standard work, is lazy and uninterested in the assigned tasks. Despite receiving repeated training and warning, her performance and attendance is still unacceptable. What should you do? What if she’s a single mother with two kids, and it’s almost Christmas time. What would you do? If you were the manager, would you keep this person in the job or would you terminate her?
We had such a situation with an employee who reported to one of my managers. The manager told me that she should be fired, but he did not feel right doing it, particularly, since Christmas was coming. Our management team reviewed the company’s purpose, goals, staffing needs and our budget, and the manager re-confirmed that this employee did not fit in his organization, she would not improve, and there was no future for her in the company. But he still refused to fire her. So, here is the solution we came up with. I asked the manager to step into my office so we could talk in private. “Look,” I said, “This is how much you’re paid, and this is how much she is paid. If you feel so strongly about keeping her on, we will take this amount from your salary and use it to pay her. That way neither your wishes, nor the company’s objectives will be compromised”
Needless to say, the manager walked right out of the office and terminated the employee. You see, people do not think of the organization’s money as their own. If they did, they would make more prudent decisions. If you have true empathy for someone and you’re concerned about their financial welfare, then why not share some of your own money with them? Why use the company’s money to satisfy your personal conscience, when you are unwilling to spend your own for the same purpose? In the case of this assistant, we gave her a generous severance package.
The lesson here is: don’t reinforce negative behavior with positive rewards. When you are dealing with children, do you scold them when they misbehave and then bribe them with candy so they won’t do it again? Do you think the child remembers the short reprimand or the lingering sweetness of the candy? No, you don’t want to reinforce negative behavior. You don’t want to keep paying people to produce defective products, and you don’t want to pay executives for making the wrong and, sometimes, unethical decisions.
Fair and balanced corrective action, or tough love, is very important. Organizations fail when companies or individuals forget their purpose and their commitment to quality. Products must fulfill a certain quality standard, and we must perform all the necessary actions to fulfill those standards. Otherwise, the quality fails and the business fails. You must honestly apply whatever purposeful actions that are required to meet or exceed those quality standards. This is what customers expect. And, this is purposeful action