If the stock market expects balance and reason, what will Barack Obama offer investors? What we expect of him is what we should anticipate from corporate leadership.
Obviously, we don’t want executives to be driven by self-doubt or self-aggrandizement. In my opinion, we prefer to reward them for their innovation and creative solutions. Whatever the technology or product, we do not permit corporations or government to violate the earth’s resources. Nor do we expect corporate leadership to raid the bank for the few while starving the many.
Corporate leadership requires commitment to new products, new services, new ideas. Companies that lose their way, their mission or purpose, must renew themselves with new leadership. A Board of Directors possesses this power at the corporate level, as voters do nationally. Throwing the bum-out works in America at all levels (even marriages).
The stock market expects and rewards companies who understand their market, solve problems, and provide responsible leadership. This means they must balance corporate resolve with responsible solutions that do not damage families living in this age or any age. The farther we get from the powers of nature, the natural elements of growth and healing, the more dangerous our solutions become.
When we move away from our grandmother’s influence, the more we may be inclined toward self-aggrandizing behavior and turmoil. Barack Obama’s trip to visit his grandmother was more than a political ploy. His action, in my opinion, confirms his roots. Mother’s and grandmother’s shape their children for good or evil. Forgetting what they taught us creates a moral vacuum no company or country can endure.
It’s not likely we’ll ever eradicate destructive forces. Our jails, white collar and otherwise, are crammed with men and women who gave up core values for personal achievement. Our legislators, from Federal to local, often demean and ridicule their call to duty and service.
The vigilance of our press, the work of our centers of faith, exceptional teachers, and family cohesion will counter the powers of those who mislead and abuse. Of course, we can only hope and pray these community forces do not lose a grip on their moral imperatives.
Every citizen must demand responsible action from corporate leadership. Of course, we all have to decide on some reasonable basis or principle for what we require. Whether Kant’s “categorical imperative†or Jesus’, “Do unto others as you would have others do to youâ€, we all are guided by essential core values.
Determining whether I am right or you are wrong is not something America needs to debate. America still remains at the “center†of moral values. Those to the far right and the far left should be pushed to the margins. When the center shifts, the debate shifts.
Every generation will have to determine what works for them, and subsequently accept responsibility for choices made and expressed. Corporations that survive understand you cannot market to the few; you must market to the many.
So what does this mean for the President-elect? He faces what may become the most seismic shifts in American history. One observation is certain. He seems to understand the burden. His demeanor has changed, the weight of governing is on his shoulders, and the swagger of a campaign is now the gate toward hard work. His success is ours. Our stock in him and bond to him comes from our balanced optimism and reasonable expectations.
Look at the countenance of the President-elect; perhaps he understands the perplexing serious issues of his and our future. Whether you voted for Barack Obama or not, take a moment to read and contemplate this young leader’s acceptance speech. Investors hope that president-elect Obama and his economic team will bring change to stocks and bonds too.
