Societal views on business are cyclical

Prior to the 1970s, the American spot-light was on the successful, stable company and the loyal managers who supervised them. To work as a manager at Sears or General Motors was the dream job. You were the grease which made the machine go, and without which the engine would grind to a halt. There was meaning, stability, and certainty you’d retire well off as a long-standing employee of one of these stable firms (Micklethwait).

Beginning in the early 70s and stretching until the beginning of the 21st century, the managerial dream job began to lose its appeal. First, Japanese companies like Toyota out-managed respected American companies like General Motors. In order to survive, American companies had to lay off much of their workforce and lobby for tariffs to limit outside competition. Second, a wave of scandal tarnished the prestige of managerial work by sowing doubt in their motives. Darling companies such as Enron shocked investors with its underhanded accounting and corrupt leadership. Third, technology closed the gap between a company and its nearest competition. The competitive advantage of a large company with a great deal of managerial oversight could be whittled away by a series of agile start-ups who didn’t have the bureaucracy and didn’t require the infrastructure.

At this stage in history, technological entrepreneurism seems center-stage. The companies in the media spotlight, Google, Facebook, Apple, are all remembered as start-ups. Each are fairly new companies that have disrupted the status quo, not only with their technology, but with their breaks from the past. Google for example pays its employees to spend 20% of their time on entrepreneurial projects; many new tech entrepreneurs have left Google to begin their own start-ups. Andrew Seija, the CEO of kCura (the company I work for) celebrates when an employee leaves kCura to pursue another lucrative opportunity. Now it’s the successful, stable technologically savvy company that attracts attention.

History often repeats itself. There have been irreversible changes, globalization, the Internet, etc. but perspectives on business may be more cyclical. We remain in a period of disillusionment about the corporation for a while, but the failures of past business fades from our memory and we again favor the company.

This long-range view of business is helpful as I consider my place in this changeable environment. These are times when business is seen in a suspicious light, and it can seem like that’s the way it always is. The limelight has also shifted to the technology world, and other industries may feel left in the dark. But I expect in time this attitude will change, the light will shine in a new place, and we’ll probably have another collapse.

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