When did we forget the end for the means?
When did we start focusing solely on the means?
When did companies start focusing on income? Or worse: growth?
Even philosophers seem to agree that companies are vaults of money, independent from morality. I don’t agree. Like software is part of the team, I consider companies as parts of the society. They have too many relationships with society to be ignored, most of which have nothing to do with money: employees, consumers, providers, families, time, values, ethics, energy, power, voice, physical and mental health… If you start a company to have the biggest (income, growth, headcount…), that’s a psychiatric issue. Fix that before being the boss of people.
So companies have goals? I think they do, they always have, and it’s never been about money… Except for the vast majority of mentals out there.
Oh, and of course I’m talking about the actual company’s goal, not the stated one. The difference can be zero to infinity.
Growth is useful, because that’s what allows to pay back investments. Investing is useful for creating value by means you don’t have access to. Creating value is useful to reach the company’s goal. That’s all! Growth is not a goal in itself, it’s a means.
When did politicians start focusing solely on elections?
Politics means managing the life of the city. It doesn’t mean rating high in surveys. Surveys mean trust, which is a powerful tool for changing things. Being elected is necessary to have the power to change things. But these are means to an end. Show me how you manage when you’re elected, not how you rate in surveys.
When did employees start focusing solely on climbing the food chain?
This one is probably more complex, because
- It’s related to the company’s goal. If the company’s goal is as stupid as stacking money, everything is consistent.
- Money is involved, again. For some weird reason, your position in the food chain correlates very well with you salary.
- The goal of managing is widely different between companies.
From my point of view, workers do, therefore management is a necessary overhead. It is here to lubricate the wheels. It serves the workers helping the company reaching its goal. That’s far from being a goal in itself, or even desirable. So where did we loose it to a cocaine race?
When did we started focusing solely on output?
…
I think you see what I mean.
Oh I think I get it. So we made the world an ugly nonsense because it was easier? Are you sure?
AAAgile 