Journeys: Maximizing Shareholder Value

If I sound a little too passionate about this subject, it's because I am.

Maximizing shareholder value has been taught in virtually all investment and finance related courses in school. The notion of maximizing shareholder value by cutting cost, reducing head count, increasing revenue, etc have been practiced and awarded in the corporate world. Manager bonuses are based on it, worker productivity is driven by it, and investor selection is reliant on it... However, is this the right thing to do for us as human beings? Has it become a sickness and maybe an obsession for us as managers, workers, and investors to maximize shareholder value?

The West Virginia mine that recently killed 29 people was operated by Massey Energy company. The company violated safety standards and was cited repeatedly by regulators due to safety concerns. Instead of spending money to correct the safety violations, the company fought the citations and ignored the high injury rate of the mineworkers. This kind of attitude eventually led to 29 deaths in 2010. Due to lack of safety precautions, in 2005, BP's accident at the refinery in Texas killed 15 people and injured 170. The oil spill today not only caused tremendous environmental damage, it also killed 11 workers. These are preventable 'accidents' that killed not just workers, but humans, one of us.

You and I will never hold a gun to someone's head and pull the trigger. If we did, we'd be arrested as murderers. We will never detonate an explosive to kill or injure anyone. If we did, we'd be hunted as terrorists. So, why is it acceptable for us as managers, workers, and investors to take others' lives in the name of maximizing shareholder value?

My favorite quotes

"If you're really listening. If you're awake to the poignant beauty of the world, your heart breaks regularly. In fact, your heart is made to break, it's purpose is to burst open again and again so that it can hold evermore wonder"- Andrew Harvey

"The greatest happiness you can have is knowing that you do not necessarily require happiness" - William Saroyan

"We never touch people so lightly that we do not leave a trace" - Peggy Tabor Millin

"Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great." - Mark Twain

"The good is the enemy of the best" - Voltaire

"The biggest adventure you can ever take is to live the life of your dreams" - Oprah Winfrey

"A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new" - Albert Einstein

"To be without some of the things you want is an indispensable part of happiness" - Bertrand Russell

"Let us so live that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry" - Mark Twain

"When you can make the average Great, your dreams can become a reality" - Suze Orman

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others" - Marianne Williamson

"Be the change you want to see in the world" - Mahatma Gandhi

"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results" - Albert Einstein

"I believe that [everyone] is the keeper of a dream - and by tuning into one another's secret hopes, we can become better friends, better partners, better parents, and better lovers" - Oprah Winfrey

"The only normal people are the ones you don't know very well" - Joe Ancis

1 comment:

Unknown said...: It sounds like you need to stroll on down to corp gov and have a chat with them regarding how Corporate Responsibility should be incorporated into a company's corporate goverance and the impact it can have on shareowner value. Oh, but they use the term shareowner - a change that (I believe) Mark Anson was responsible for.; May 22, 2010 at 11:48 AM