Change Too Late?
by Miki Saxon
As we saw yesterday, business is learning the hard way that walking their corporate responsibility talk is vital to their very survival.
They aren’t the only ones out of touch.
John C. Williams, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, said in a speech last month that “there is still time to avert this fate.” Moving inflation up and keeping it there could convince millennials, he said.
“In this case, it’s fortunate that the young are impressionable.”
“Fate” refers to the potential economic mayhem that could result from the high savings rate among Millennials looking to retire ASAP. “Impressionable?” I wonder how long it’s been since he actually knew any of the “young.”
Powerful men who have seen women as things to do with as they please are thinking twice in the wake of #metoo and Harvey Weinstein’s conviction. Hopefully that caution will trickle down to the rank and file bosses who still seem untouchable, although that’s unlikely.
Big Tech is no longer seen a solution to the world’s problems, but, in many cases, as their cause.
Startups are learning that public investors, whether knowledgeable or casual, are still hung up on mundane ideas like profit as opposed to their beloved EBITDA.
Founders, too, are rethinking their actions. Thanks to high profile cases, such as Travis Kalanick (Uber) and Adam Neumann (WeWork), and a much savvier workforce, visions and charisma are no longer enough.
One might look at all this and say, “the world is changing,” although a more realistic view could be summed up as “too little, too late.”
Image credit: CHRISTOPHER DOMBRES
