Seeking Advice and Sharing the Wealth

Today's headlines are full of stories of GREEDY executives, politicians and even clergy that appear to have the "ME and ONLY ME" perspective. Their major mission is to increase personal wealth and power at expense of all the other key stakeholders, which includes: investors, stockholders, employees, government and even customers.

These "self serving executives "( I can't call them leaders" since they often manipulate the books, create incomprehensible programs and are willing to harvest or sell of the assets if they benefit. Some go to jail, but unfortunately many walk away with hundreds of millions of personal wealth at the expense of everyone else.)

Thoughout history and even today there are examples of true leaders that are willing to take the opposite course of action and sacrifice their own wealth and comfort for others.

In my most recent book: The Secret to GE's Success, I describe two great leaders of General Electric, who are excellent examples of individuals that were both willing to seek the advice of others but to share the wealth.

These two individuals are Gerard Swope and Owen Young. Swope and Young led GE from 1923 to 1939. This was a period of extreme contrasts. In the early period from 1923 to 1929, the United States and the world was in a period of euphoria. Wealth was created and almost everyone benefited from it...then came the GREAT DEPRESSION and major unemployment and poverty.

Unlike many of their contemporary executives Swope and Young took several steps to share the burden and wealth. These are some of the key strategies and actions:

• Unionization- Unlike the auto, steel, transportation giant companies, Swope and Young INVITED the IUE to organize its workers. Swope wanted to have the average workers perspective and inputs and thought that this was the best way to do it.
• Trusted Pensions- they established a trust to provide and protect the pensions of their employees.
• ELFUN society was formed to get the input of the senior management outside the organizational structure and it established one of the FIRST MUTUAL FUNDS to enable GE managers and professionals to grow their wealth outside the GE stock.
• Creator of Social Security- Gerard Swope was an advisor to President Roosevelt and was the architect of the social security program. (However, his model was like the GE model and called for a separate TRUST that could not be manipulated and pillaged by the politicans and not the version that was enabled by Roosevelt.)

Unlike most companies, GE has had only 10 CEOs in its 127 years and each of them has been ready, willing and able to seek advice and share the wealth.

Wouldn't be nice if other CEOs and Government officials could learn from this success and be willing to set aside their own personal egos, power and wealth and share it....

If you want to learn more about these two great leaders and other GE leader, take a look at my book (The Secret to GE's Success, McGraw-Hill, 2007) .. it is available on AMAZON...and in all bookstores.

I encourage you to respond and start a dialog....Bill Rothschild