The Good Old Days
Billy Joel sings that “the good old days weren’t all that good, and tomorrow ain’t as bad as it seems.”
I had an interesting chat this morning with a very good guy, successful consultant, who asked if I thought that the executives I was dealing with early in my career were more caring, ethical, and focused on customers than the apparently more venal group running things today, at least as the politicians and press depict them.
As I thought about it, I realized that the good old days weren’t all that good. I remember work places where women and minorities were openly discriminated against or rigidly stereotyped. (Prudential had a “Miss Prudential” contest, with secretaries in bathing suits on a runway being judged by the senior executives, I kid you not.) Most managers smoked like chimneys and a multi-drink lunch was de rigueur. People who were incapacitated or disabled were not readily accommodated as employees or customers.
People cheated and stole, often in the name of the company and not themselves, but cheated and stole nonetheless. Customers were often “marks” or “food.” Conferences and meetings quickly transmogrified into bacchanalia.
Today, there are more watchdogs and regulators in place, drinking at lunch is frowned upon (and not reimbursed by the IRS to any serious extent), smoking is verboten, women and minorities are increasingly moving up and often taking over. The Americans with Disabilities Act has made a substantial difference. The private clubs are largely gone, the school you went to makes less of a difference, and the Internet has created vast egalitarianism.
There are still the crooks and bottom feeders who create an Enron and Tyko, but they are notable because they are so rare amongst all the firms doing business. The workplace and corporate America (and I suspect elsewhere to a large extent) are much more open, environmentally sensitive, and welcoming than ever, I would guess.
That is just my experience and merely my observations. I think the workplace is more open and accommodating today than ever before. But it’s also demanding better educations and higher skills than ever before, and therein is the rub.
When I was young, the primary and secondary schools were educating students. Today, they’re just employing teachers. But, that’s another column.
© Alan Weiss 2008. All rights reserved.
