September 15, 2008
The Party of Sound Business Principles
Thank God we have one, is all I can say. The bourgeois virtues of business are unexciting, and easy to ridicule by overeducated and flighty elitists over their wine and tapas tidbits, but they are admirable and the bedrock of America's strength.
Live within your means. Neither Wasilla, AK, nor the state of California, nor the nation should run its government on deficits and borrowing for a quick hit of fun spending.
[Note: the California budget forced on the state by its Republican legislative minority, enabled by a Republican governor who as far as I know has never mentioned taxes and services in the same speech, sets a new record in crippling the economic and social future of the state with fiscal fakery, smoke, and mirrors.]
Your word is your bond. The most important quality of a businessman is honesty and square dealing. (Do I even need a link for this?)
Fiduciary responsibility. A government manages resources taken from people by force; a businessman manages resources entrusted to him by investors. Both of these situations impose the greatest moral duty to serve the people and the shareholders, not your personal interests or comfort. For example, your subordinates must be the best qualified people for their jobs, not your relatives; you may not damage the enterprise by firing competent people on personal whim.
Loyalty to the enterprise. Business decisions are made for the good of the business, within a strict code of ethical, open, accountable practice. Even with buckets of money sloshing around, great industries like energy and oil maintain a culture in which temptations to sell out the organization for sex, drugs, or plain bribes are proudly resisted. This spotless behavior can raise the morals of every government institution that engages with these noble monuments to our business culture.
Respect for facts. Real leadership entrusts a nation or an enterprise with the truth because it builds strength and character; eyewash is never tolerated.
Rewards follow achievement. Communists believe people should be paid according to their need; Republicans know people should be compensated only according to the real value they create. Remember, it's not who you are, it's what you do.
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