Steadfast Finances
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Maybe Pacino was Right: Be Careful What Kind Of Leaders You’re Producing
Every now and then, I pull out a movie from the old DVD collection. Last night, Scent of a Woman caught my eye and I threw it in the DVD player.
Aside from marveling at the Oscar winning performance by Al Pacino, one particular phrase from his specialty “end-of-movie” tirade captured my attention with laser like focus.
As I came in here [the prestigious Baird prep school], I heard those words: Cradle of Leadership.
Well, when the bow breaks, the cradle will fall. And it has fallen here today. It has fallen.
Makers of men. Creators of leaders.
Be careful what kind of leaders you’re producing here.
These words are ringing somewhat louder now. Wouldn’t you say? In fact, one could argue that a substantial proportion of our current financial crisis is directly related to the poor management decisions of few key members of the business community and our all knowing politicians in Washington DC.
[video quote ~ 3:30 minute]
Masters of the Universe No More
- Elliot Spitzer – Former Governor of New York. Once considered by many in big business to be the most feared man in NY, gets taken down for nailing a high priced call girl with “fair market value” tattooed on her bikini line. Got to love two faced politicians.
- Rick Wagoner – Former CEO of General Motors. How bad do you have to be at your (private sector) job to be fired by the President? Too bad we couldn’t fire him on national TV in Donald Trump style.
- Congressmen Gramm, Leach and Bliley. The chief legislative architects behind the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Financial Services Modernization Act. In case you didn’t know, these three brainiacs got the Glass-Steagall Act repealed which prevented banks from excessive speculation. The irony is that Glass-Steagall was written in 1933 in response to excessive financial speculation that contributed to the stock market crash of 1929, which of course, led to the Great Depression. To be fair to the Republican side of the equation, Bill Clinton also signed off on this bill.
- John Thain – Former CEO of Merrill Lynch. Just days after a federal bailout with billions of taxpayer dollars on the line, this guy has the unbelievable irresponsibility to drop $1.2 million on office furniture. This guy may as well painted a bulls eye on his back considering he became the posterchild of corporate irresponsibility.
- Allan Schwartz – Former CEO of Bear Stearns. Schwartz actually had the cojones to give a CNBC interview saying his company was in no danger of bankruptcy, only to go belly up two days later. If he wasn’t outright lying, he was definitely labeled as grossly incompetent. Any captain who doesn’t know if his boat has a hole in it, doesn’t deserve the promotion.
I’m sure those of us who follow the business world have their favorite villains, but these are just a few that quickly came to mind when I think of leaders held in high reverence that are nothing but party punchlines now.
Given the chance, who would you like to see burned at the proverbial stake?
6 Comments
May 5, 20099:46 am
@ Joe
Sadly, you’re 100% correct. At the risk of sounding conspiratorial, I’m not sure the powers that be want us better informed.
If we were, we might actually hold them accountable for their shenanigans. What’s a little white lie here and there? Right?
May 12, 200911:06 pm
@Matt
If that statement paints you as a conspiracy theorist, then paint me up baby!
It’s utterly ridiculous to presume our “leaders” want us to be anything other than misinformed & clueless. If something to the contrary were remotely true, they would indeed be digging their own graves, which I confidently doubt to be a reality.
Your post echo’s my own thoughts of the deprivation of not only our current leadership, but more accurately of our entire modern culture and society.
So what is the answer?
Most assuredly, the answer is to return to fearing the God of the bible and obeying his word on a personal & individual level…starting with me. Nothing more, nothing less.
Solomon – the richest, wisest, most well respected man in the history of mankind – summed it up this way:
“Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.” Ecclesiastes 12:13
Your article addresses a very real and discouraging absoluteness. I suppose then I will continue to focus on being personally responsible for my own actions and work every day to make sure they reek of humility, honesty, and love for my God and my neighbor.
May 12, 200911:48 pm
@ Matt Jabs,
Very well written comment! No conspiracy here as the results are rather apparent. I tend to agree with Carl Icahn’s analogy that CEOs are well liked frat boys who are well liked by everyone, but once they make it to the top, they make sure not to promote anyone more popular (or smarter) than they are.
I’m not really into the faith thing, but I think a return to “God fearing” society and it’s reintegration into the boardroom has as good a chance as me watching American Idol. It could happen but it would take a massive upheaval of the unusual kind.
That said, there are some great lessons to be learned from the Bible. Proverbs would happen to be one of my personal favorites since it deals with the “debt is slavery” arguments.
At the end of the day, all you can really do is control your own destiny. If you’re lucky, a few people will tag along and follow your example.
May 13, 200912:01 am
According to bible prophesy, I think you presume correctly. No where in the pages of scripture do I see an focal shift toward bible ways in the end times when the world is dominated by global government (eye-ball into the near future).
Apparently we agree that we must needs simply focus on ourselves and our sphere of influence to make greatest impact possible.
It is hard enough for me to follow scripture personally, so it’s good if I focus my efforts there! Hopefully through my submission some good will come. Who knows, maybe even a solid leader somewhere down the line! ;-)
- Twitted by Matt_SF
9:26 am
If only the electorate was more informed, we could get rid of these wizards of smart in Washington D.C.. Unfortunately, most people are more interested with the Lindsay Lohan saga than what Gramm, Leach,Bliley,Chris Dodd, Barney Frank, Charles Wrangle et. al. are up to…