Dear fellow Business Owners
I attach with this e-mail a link to an article recently written by John Bogle, of which a op-ed essay also appeared in the The Wall Street Journal a few weeks ago. It is, in one word, excellent, and a definite must read.
The Culture That Gave Rise To The Current Financial Crisis
http://johncbogle.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/ncctempleton.pdf
Why do I send these e-mails? Why do I take the trouble to send this to people I don’t even know personally. Maybe because I am also “old fashioned” in the values I believe in. Maybe because I believe in the principle of “a good” society. The small number of people on this list are people who I believe have ethical values and is not scared to stand up and be heard in public. We need more of this in modern society. We need to change the belief of managements that they can do what they want without the consent or knowledge of shareholders, who are after all, the ultimate risk takers and true owners.
Culture will only change if society looks down on bad behavior. Name it and shame it, will always be effective, far better than more regulation, but then society as a whole must unite against such bad behavior. There needs to be more people who stand up at annual general meetings and challenge the decisions of management if the board does not do its job properly. The journalists and media then must not write articles to ridicule the actions of such activists, but support it, and then maybe, just maybe, we can start changing the culture, because managements and boards will only change if they think and see that society demands it.
But maybe I live in a dream world.