April 29, 2010
 I, like most of America, could not help but tune in the Goldman Sachs senatorial hearing yesterday. Now, it’s not a regular practice of mine to engage in political discourse, or ethical debate for that matter (I’ll save that for the cable news anchors with great hair), but amidst the rather theatrical spectacle yesterday was a rather imperative social question in my opinion.
When did Integrity become the great adversary of business? I was under the impression that Integrity was the catalyst for good business? I must have missed that memo I guess.
Goldman Sachs is chalk full of smart people, and Llyod Blankfein for that matter, is clearly a bright guy. The mental gymnastics he displayed yesterday, while dodging four letter words from a senate committee hell-bent on laying groundwork for midterm elections, was nothing short of impressive. I’m no econ whiz, and default-credit-swapping-liquid-synthetic-banana investments might as well be pig latin to me. But with that understood, it still seems clear to me that the appropriate reaction here should have been shame, embarrassment, remorse possibly? Did you see that, because I sure didn’t.
What I saw, was not just a watershed moment in the slow decay of business ethics; but more frighteningly, how far the deterioration of the general ethical fabric that once bound us together has unraveled. If a merchant in 1835 sold you 30 lbs of flour, you expected to get 30lbs of flour. Not 22lbs of flower with an option to get the other 8lbs if the price of flour dropped below the original strike price, blah blah blah. 
How we’ve come to this point, I have no idea. Is reform needed? It certainly seems so. Is this the government’s job? Sure, partially. But will that solve this calamity? I think not. It seems glaringly apparent that the solution lies with each one of us. It is you and I, the entrepreneurs, that must restore faith and trust in each other. To renew the fabric of collective progress, to revive that sense of responsibility. It begins with having business interactions, instead of just transactions. Whether it be for $5, $50 or $50 million dollars; when respect given, it is returned.
Let the reformation begin with US.
“When written in Chinese, the word “crisis” is composed of two characters. One represents danger, the other opportunity.”
-John F. Kennedy
All my best,
Jay Kubassek
Don't be stingy, share with your friends!
Posted: April 29, 2010
Filed under: Jays' Letters
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Great article Jay. I especially like the quote by JFK at the end.
Goldman Sachs think they are a priveleged community of special business leaders
In college they majored in Stupidity, Graft and Corruption
Hey Jay,
I’m with you 100%.
Integrity is.
Integrity either exists within a business entity, or it doesn’t. There’s no middle of the road.
And with that said, integrity must exist within the Congress of the United States of America, in order for “we the people” to have any sort of confidence in their actions. Given their actions recently, evidently they believe that we’re incompetent, uneducated, and incapable of making decisions for ourselves.
Our elected officials within the Congress of our great nation, have continually shown in the past four years, that they believe that we are totally incompetent. They have shown there is no honor among thieves, given their recent, unabashed passage of the health care reform bill. Are we so daft that we can’t see what they’re doing to generations of Americans down the road?
If I contract with you to buy 30 pounds of flour, at an agreed upon price, I don’t want to pay thousands of dollars in the future to store that flour, to deliver that flour, and especially to use that flour to make baked good for resale.
It’s not the government’s job to determine the how’s and why’s of the fulfillment of our contract to buy flour. It’s not in the Constitution of the United States of America, and it’s certainly not within the purview of career politicians attempting to highjack our freedoms and liberties!
Your assertion that WE are the solution, that the remedy for the woes of this integrity-less society lies with us, the entrepreneurs of the world, is exactly correct! WE need to position ourselves as the standard-bearers of integrity in this world, to establish the guidelines that will govern the rules of business in the coming decades.
That is the beauty of CarbonCopy Pro and the Community that you have established! We have the opportunity to have a positive impact on the business community, the people of the world, and the lawmakers in our great country! Winston Churchill said, “Never, never, never give up! I will persist until I succeed! Long live capitalism!
Dear Jay:
You are RIGHT ON! I came here from Canada (like you) 25 years ago, at the age of 38. I became a U.S. citizen; was elected to public office 6 times; and have seen this erosion of character and integrity from the “inside”. You are so right — if this trend is going to be reversed, it HAS to start with us. We must exhibit true leadership by serving and helping and encouraging others. I am so honored to be part of this caring community of entrepreneurs ….. thank you for setting the bar high for all of us. Grateful!
Bob Crosthwaite
CCPro Member since Nov. ‘09
Small business can only last with integrity.
I think you are right. My business was accredited by the Better Business Bureau. This is for honisty, integrity, trust, transparency, custimer service and truth in business. It is a great award and we earned it but has business princles gone so bad and that far south that we give awards for doing the right thing and treat custimers like we would like to be treated. Change is needed. In my business, we value two main principles
1) A satified custimer is a happy custimer (Also a repeat custimer)
2) We thank every custimer for the opportunity to EARN THEIR TRUST and business
KJ Keefe
Sadly, that kind of business behavior seems to be everywhere these days. For example, everything you purchase is getting smaller, yet costs the same, or even more – no doubt the result of business schools around the world emphasizing profit over all else. “If you reduce the amount of beans in this can and add more water, it will weigh the same and costs us less!” – or – “If you put 21 M&M’s in this packet instead of 23, it will save the company $5 million over the next year!” If only colleges would emphasize their “Business Ethics” classes more, but unfortunately, that seems to be less and less important.
But, you are right! The quote by JFK is perfect. As unemployment escalates, so do new business opportunities. And these new entrepreneurs can set new standards for good business practices, just like our entrepreneurial ancestors did. That’s how they all started – Mr. Kodak, Mr. Johnson, Mr. Kroger, Mr. Ford, Mr. Macy, and on and on. These companies would not be where they are today without showing respect to their customers over 100 years ago. It just goes to show, you can never fail by doing the right thing.
Restoring trust and confidence in our dealing will keep our industry intact and well respected. So I agree with you that things should start with entrepreneurs themselves, and not the Government.
Thank you for the information!
It’s not only the US that is watching as the Goldman-Sachs case develops. To quote Matt Taibbi from the The Guardian (UK), published also in Australian papers several days ago:
“Much of America is going to reflexively insist that Goldman’s only crime was being better at making money than IKB and ABN-Amro, and that the meddling government… should get off Goldman’s Armani-clad back. Another side is going to argue that Goldman winning this case would be a rebuke to the whole idea of civilisation – which, after all, is really just a collective decision by all of us not to screw each other over even when we can.
It’s an important moment in the history of modern global capitalism: whether or not to move forward into a world of greed without limits.”
You have put it so well in your letter Jay, it is up to us both as a community of entrepreneurs and as individuals to resist this decay.
Jay-
Thanks you for sharing. Some people may read this and be concerned with doom and gloom however for us we see rainbows and sunshine because it is opening the door for leaders and entrepreneurs to build a brighter and better future based off of sound principles of honesty & integrity.
Jordan Crouter
Direct 949.310.6998
jordan@jordancrouter.com
I couldn’t explain it any better. Thank you Jay!
I am pleased leaders such as yourself are tsking this stance. Interestingly before the econmic crisis I always referred to myself as a social entrepreneur taking Richard Branson as a model.
My definition of social entrepreneur is to leave the world a better place through your business activities. That’s what the US railroad pioneers and other industrial greats did. The rot set in the 80’s when Margaret Thatcher in the UK said, “There is no such thing as society”, the begining of ‘individualism’ or ‘I’m OK Jack and I don’t care about you’.
A very good and brave post, showing true leadership to our community.
Coming from Canada I have heard through the years that our Banking System is boring. When our Banks wanted to expand like the US, our Govt said No and made regulations to safe guard our banks and the people who use them. While the US banks went under and needed tax dollars to bail them out, the Boring Canadian Banks made Great Profits. NO BANK SHOULD BE ABLE TO GAMBLE AWAY OUR MONEY SO THEY CAN MAKE A HUGE PROFITS. NO BANK SHOULD BE ABLE TO COMMIT FRAUD ON THEIR OWN CUSTOMERS. THE US BANKS HAVE LOST ALL INTEGRITY AND SHOULD BE REPLACED BY HONEST AND RESPECTED BUSINESSES.
these people at goldman sachs are obviously very intelligent people, and their brains work very swiftly. Allowing them to come up with any kind of story to throw you off.
Jay:
Thank you for sharing this important message. What are we going to do about it as a community?
Great piece, Jay. I loved your insight and suggestion that part of the needed correction just might be driven by new age entrepreneurs, with CCP entrepreneurs leading the pack.
I appreciate more with every passing day the direction you and Aaron are taking the company (the movement), and am so thankful I found you guys (via Aniko) when I did. It has given this “retirement on hold” guy a way to make the paradigm shift away from (Get a good education => Get a good job => Work hard => Be a good company man => and the rest will take care of itself) to (Train and grow the entrepreneurial spirit => Lean new relevant skills (the Internet) => Unbeatable products (I love the WMI products) => True financial independence => Helping others do the same.
Progress towards my goals has not been as fast as I would like while still holding down a demanding 50+ hour a week JOB, but I am “persistant” and I WILL achieve my goals. For me the paradigm shift process is not a sprint, it’s more like a marathon, and it’s the CCP Community led by you and Aaron that keeps this old Dude going. Thank you