Inflexibility - How Will We Survive?

How many times have you tried to accomplish something at work and run smack into a solid wall of institutional inertia?

I have experienced instances where it took over a month to get a one-page letter to customers approved by 7 different departments. Being somewhat of an efficiency expert, this was particularly disturbing, so I wondered if there wasn't a better way. It seems as though the larger a company gets, the harder it is to get it to respond to change, but that is not so surprising when psychologists tell us that over 80% of the population prefers to stay comfortably within their status quo. Please, no change for me, is the mantra of these 80%ers. So it falls to those of us in the remaining 20% to convince the other 80% that change will only hurt a little while, just like the doctor tells you when he gives you a shot. You would think that with change being such a constant in life, that more people would be able to embrace change and learn how to adapt quickly. Sadly, that is definitely not the case in the American corporation or government, for that matter.

California's politicians have allowed the state to run into a financial brick wall that is $21.3 billion-high. They have squabbled constantly for years having only been able to approve a state budget on time once in 10 years. They know California's tax system is irretrievably broken and does not provide enough cash flow during the summer and fall to pay for all the state's operating expenses; so every year they borrow and borrow big. Until this year, there were always large financial institutions to help California borrow the money buy guaranteeing the loans, but now only the federal government remains in position to do so. I don't know how taxpayers in Kansas or Ohio are going to feel about spending money to support California...

California, much like the federal government, suffers from the fact that its government is held hostage by two political parties in polar opposition, both of which want to spend as much money as possible to keep their contributors and constituents happy. Unfortunately, this means all Californians have to pay to keep this system going. As long as neither political party in California is willing to step up and say enough is enough, we have to cut spending and streamline government operations, California will not recover.

We cannot even cut the salaries of these elected officials during this crisis because they enacted a law that prevented any pay cuts from happening during the middle of an elected term. Even while the governor puts all state workers on mandatory furloughs and has cut numerous positions, the elected officials do not have to share the pain.

The media has uncovered many examples of appointed officials milking the system to pay for commuting expenses between Southern California and Sacramento, just because they did not want to live in Sacramento. Most corporate employees do not get that luxury, so why should political appointees be able to feed at the public trough at the taxpayers' expense? If someones accept a position in government, why can't they find a place to live where they are going to be working or find a way to telecommute, so we don't have to pay for their commute? I wouldn't expect you to pay for my commute to work, so why do we have pay theirs?

To me, this all falls under the heading of arrogance, an arrogance that is virulent amongst many of those who have chosen to run for elected office or have chosen to run corporations. There are exceptions, but there are also too many examples of individuals who decided to put their interests ahead of the common good. We must improve our vigilance and we must decide that we have had enough of self-serving leaders.

We need more leaders willing to share the benefits of prosperity a lot more equally with those who have helped create the properity. Hard-working employees create value by being efficient and providing good customer service, so they do contribute to profitability. Why not share more of the profits with them instead of concentrating so much of them in the corporate leadership?

We have a long way to dig ourselves out the financial hole we have slipped into, so why don't we start by agreeing to share the wealth at least a little more equitably from now on. This means more people on the payroll and more people contributing to strengthening America. We also need to realize each of us has to be more responsible in our spending and saving, so that as we progress we do not create another potential disaster.