Beyond Leadership: Balancing Economics, Ethics and Ecology, Revised Edition

Commonality of Purpose

It is true to say that for a long time now, with the gap widening between labor and capital, we have been talking past, rather than listening to, one another. So the time has come to brush aside the misconceptions and rhetoric and start debating and discussing our common purposes. To this end, a place of work can be likened to a fountain of water from which both parties drink. If one party puts in poison or drinks too much, the other party may die or do without. It is a prerequisite to both parties' survival that the water fountain continues to produce clean and pure water, and therefore that we start focusing on our commonality of interests, albeit from different perspectives. These common interests are highlighted in the following sections.

Scrapping discrimination at the work-place

Surely it stands to reason that if in a freer Second or Third World human rights and dignity of the individual are restored, we have to reject any system which discriminates on that basis. No democracy can exist in a system which is coercive or dictatorial, and we have to renounce the exploitation of advantages as provided for under antiquated laws. This applies to all other forms of discrimination, sexual or racial, structural or political. All people within an enterprise should be treated equally, and promotions based on competence, merit, and capability. Any employee who feels uncomfortable with such an approach will either have to change or look for another employer. Favoritism ...