It was not extremely devastating, but it was one of those February days I will probably never forget. Months away from [foolishly] walking towards financial enhancements for us personally, the organization I work with was on a downward spiral. There are numerous reasons for the decline that were both internal and external, and I will leave out the specific details. But the main point of this memory is when I picked up my cell phone on that Friday to check the balance of my bank account; ensuring that my direct deposit cleared. I was almost speechless when the automated voice told me that my balance was half of what I expected. Because I have been in 'bank balance shock' before, I didn't panic. Instead, I attempted to review the reason for the decrease with the human resources department and my superiors; but to no avail. To this day, I can only assume that this sudden change had to do with an announcement I received a couple weeks earlier that every one's salary was going to be cut 5% and that salaries would not be able to go above a certain dollar amount (my salary was actually cut 50%). Our ground-level staff received real documentation about this change and the date of the change. And because I was only told about the change and did not receive the same documentation my employees did I was somewhat confused about the date the salary adjustments were to be implemented. And even though my questions about this never were answered, I clearly understood why it had to be done.
If you've seen the email or Facebook post about what former government officials' current salaries are you probably can empathize with the sickening feeling I had looking at that info. Along with that, you may have felt feelings of outrage about how this is even happening; and you may agree with me that something different needs to be done. My thought comes from the little for-profit organizational experience (and some scriptural references) I have--everything starts at the top. Everything; meaning the companies' successes and failures, achievements and lack thereof. To that point, a large reason that ruling families and governments get overthrown by smaller, inadequately equipped rebels is because of some major dysfunction at the head. This doesn't mean that ownership actually does everything (or anything in some instances), but it does mean that the ideologies, philosophies, and practices that are developed within ownership impart its influence in every part of their organization--especially for businesses.
The United States of America, a for-profit business, is not different. However, the U.S. is unique in that the organizational methods of America affect the entire world because financially, the U.S.A. is at the top. Subsequently, the American financial crisis is tremendously lending to and leading the global financial crisis. And although this notion is well known, there is (or is expected to be) little change at the top.
Speaking as a leader who has had his salary sliced for the betterment of the company, you know what I would like to see instead of Elephant and Donkey squabbles over the debt ceiling and other national financial matters? I would love to see President Obama get on television and say something to the tune of "beginning today, I'm cutting my salary 20%. I feel it's necessary to set the tone for cutting back, being as frugal as possible, and living within our means as a country. And though this is not mandatory, I strongly encourage my fellow colleagues on both sides of the aisle to consider doing this as well." Imagine the shock waves that would send through a stubborn Washington who would rather sling mud than solve problems? Think of how those being considered to challenge Obama would react--in sheer amazement and possibly disgust. But something else would more than likely happen.
The leader of the free world would have just acknowledged that he (or more appropriately his position) represents what is financially wrong with America; and because of that he's starting with the man in the mirror. The influence of this unbelievable act of sacrifice would at the least ignite the attention of every employee of big or medium business in America, if not the world, to demand accountability of finance from the owners of their companies. And maybe then some would make adjustments also.
Ahhh....what goes on in my head...
Peace
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