A
man was on the board of a Fortune 500 company where one of the unions
was on strike. At the board meeting, the directors discussed the strike
‑‑ how difficult the union was, how difficult the work rules were, how
they felt that to be competitive, they had to bring the wage scales more
into line. Someone mentioned the three‑year contract that the company
was trying to negotiate with the union, a contract which cut out all
cost of living and some other wage increases. The man asked, "If the
union signs and ends the strike and there is some degree of inflation
during that three‑year period, is it likely that they will be worse off
than they were when they signed the contract?" The management of the
company said, "Yes, that is likely."
The man knew the rules of
the game in board meetings, but this time he couldn't help showing his
feelings. He said, "I think it is so short‑sighted and so wrong that
you give such exquisite concern to your executives. What do you think
happens to people who work in the plant? Do you think that because of
the color of their collars, they are different as people, that morale is
no longer important, or that their lives are no longer important. You
have such a total difference in perspective in dealing with these two
groups of people. I can't help but feel that American management is
smart about money and stupid about people."
After he had said
his piece, the man shut up. Management and the other directors were
nervous and defensive in response to what he had said, but they did not
change their position. After the meeting, another board member ‑‑ a
much younger man who was tough, smart, and one of the country's most
successful masters of multi-billion dollar mergers and acquisitions ‑‑
approached the man who had spoken out. "You were wrong about the way
that you put that," he said. "It isn't that they are smart about money
and stupid about people. They are not smart about money either. The
difference is they care about money, and they don't care about people.
From personal files, 1998
