A Reminder

Watching a video about Flint Michigan drinking water and as they step back to discuss history talk about how the automobile industry left the area when they could find cheaper labor in Mexico and overseas, after Michigan and the city of Flint made huge concessions and even paid incentives for them to stay.

And it gave me pause, because I'm an MBA and understand that if this was my business, I might make that decision too. We have to remember - there are smart people and hard working people everywhere - as much as we'd like to tout our national pride, there are people in every country who can do what we do. Economics drives business to the cheapest sources of labor.

So at the risk of repeating myself (and I will, because the message needs to be clearly understood) - Business works within the economic and legal framework. Not a moral code. Not an emotional code. It works within regulations and economic rules.

So as a business person, I would look at the laws around labor and move where I could legally move. And that's where we need to understand - our laws need to protect jobs.

Republicans can trumpet concern for the common man, while pushing "right to work" laws that prevent collective bargaining and you can understand - they are saying one thing and doing another. "Right to work" is all about their ability to shift work force without legal challenge. So they can call themselves the jobs party, but the reality is, those jobs could be pushed anywhere at the drop of a hat.

We cannot count on business being good community citizens (it's great when they are) - because it's not always in their self interest. We need to legislate protections for communities and employees. It needs the rule of law.

And yes - some businesses will choose to go elsewhere because of that. But while we have no monopoly on smart people, our economy is still 25% of the world economy. We have resources and we have the market. If we legislate now, we keep that and jobs. If we don't we lose it to China, India and the middle east, where there is a great deal of capital.

That's right - you want the low risk and high yield the American economy generates, you employ our people. We allow collective bargaining so that companies that need access to our markets have to work in ways that benefit our communities and workers.

Trump says he's protecting American jobs, while all the while his administration is disabling the protections we have in place for the American people. Incent business - sure - but also build the legal structure to negotiate - not to make the rich richer, but to maintain the working class and narrow the gap.

Even the most honorable business will always do what's best for it, within legal guidelines. Economics requires it. Capitalism requires it. Setting the legal guidelines - regulation - to protect both businesses and communities is the way we get to the reasonable balance. Not by removing those protections, but by working hard to make them workable and allow balance and counterbalance.

Out current congress, save a few, cannot. They are owned by interests that would have to reform. We need new representation that will work for fair regulation, work for their constituents. Our elections are ever more important, if we are to move to a model that is sustainable for everyone.

America First?

When my family moved to a new residence in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, I was 5 years old and while the adults were busy taking care of the move, I had important business of my own. I went next door to see if there were kids I could play with. Indeed there were - Todd and Lisa were 6 and 4 respectively and immediately we start to play together. Our ideas in collaboration were grand - we had a band - I already was playing guitar and a set of boxes provided a drum. We built forts. We rode bikes. We ate at each others houses, we walked to school together.

It's natural for us to collaborate, to share. We are more than the sum of our parts when we do. And there's value beyond the immediacy of the moment. I have not seen Todd or Lisa for many years - life took us down different paths, but I still value the interaction, the collaboration, the sharing.

Throughout that, I never starved because i was sharing. I never suffered for it - scarcity mentality was unknown to me and I was taught to share, to help others, to collaborate, to discuss. My folks were at least moderate intellectuals and they taught me a lot about interacting with others.

That's why this idea of "America First" is so troubling. Yes - we always make sure we keep our own health and interests in mind - but not to the exclusion of others. If I gave a neighbor half my peanut butter sandwich, I wasn't expecting anything in return, except, perhaps, goodwill.

Since WWII we've been a leader of the world, understanding that if we help others achieve their goals, we achieve our goals - we get where we are going by helping others too. The very idea that we would abandon our leadership role, because we "aren't getting anything" from others is ludicrous. As we retreat, we give up leadership in economic markets, in technology, in business services, in design and engineering. And instead, we replace it with greed and avarice, like a spoiled child saying "the toy is mine. It's mine, not yours".

Propaganda is put out to support the position supposing that we are giving money to other countries and that is what is keeping us from treating our veterans or our poor well - when in reality, we can and need to do both. We can help others in need both here and outside of the country.

We are a country of immigrants and yet we are closing our doors to the tired, the hungry and the poor - just like our Grandparents were when they came here? When I see us pulling out of Climate accords, when we talk about leaving the United Nations or berating our NATO allies in public, I see this selfishness. If we need others to rise to a challenge, we need to coach and mentor, negotiate in good faith.

America First is really code for "It is all mine". And that spoiled, greedy child cannot thrive. We need to embrace others. We need to compete, yes, but also be collaborators, philanthropists and most importantly, support our fellow humans. It is not through selfishness we rise. It is through the giving of ourselves. Take care of ourselves, yes. But that doesn't have to happen at the exclusion of others. It's not all or nothing.

We not only succeed with our fellow humans, but we succeed because they succeed (and vice versa). That deep friendship, dependence and integration make us stronger, not weaker. Is it harder? Sometimes, because you have to negotiate not dictate. Collaborate, not demand.

Good leaders know, you don't succeed by thinking your the smartest and telling people what to do. You hire good people and work together to achieve. Leadership is supporting those you lead and helping remove obstacles. Not in demanding.

We can do both. We can look after our interests and collaborate and help others. We never stop keeping our own interests in mind, we just don't do it to the exclusion of others interests. That's how we win. That's how we all, as a world, win.