I’m currently enrolled in a business class and we were having an online discussion about CEO’s and their ability to affect change as mouth pieces and captains of industry. One of my class mates posted some blog posts from the CEO of ULINE. ULINE is a company that provides business supplies (boxes, bubble wrap, equipment, tape, etc.) They are one of the leading business supplier in America and I can guarantee that there are businesses in town, including prominant ones (Co-op? I think they did a few years ago anyway). I will let you all check out the links and tell me what you think:
https://www.uline.com/Corporate/About_President
https://www.uline.com/images/en-US/Corporate/PDF_archive/DS_EnergyIndependence.pdf
https://www.uline.com/images/en-US/Corporate/PDF_archive/DZ_NaftaItsComplicated.pdf
http://gawker.com/uline-where-the-boss-wishes-employees-watched-more-fox-1782029287
a few thoughts
So many thoughts, so little time! : )
The first was, if I were an employee I’d probably take a sick pleasure in reading each of these as they come out. They are written very poorly and ripe for ridicule. For example, while mentioning her fear of homeless people she saw on the way to a Michael McDonald, she says he played Minute by Minute and What a Fool Believes “to name a few”. (No, you didn’t name a few. You named a couple.)
Second, I did not know this about their CEO. I’ve always enjoyed the catalog – it really does have just about everything an office could or would need (though I don’t think I’ve ever ordered anything) – but the politics of the owners didn’t creep in.
Third, knowing all this now changes how I think about the owners. You can’t unlearn something. I see no reason to support them in the future. I’ll always look for an alternative.
Fourth, throw them on the file of cruddy CEO’s and companies to not support. Line … AND…Walmart, Google, Facebook, Chick-fil-A…
To the question about CEO’s ability to affect change as mouth pieces and captions of industry, in this case the CEO seems to be trying to affect change within their employees. If she’s simply sharing her views with them, it is probably useful. Employees can “know” her better and decide if they like working for her. They know where she stands and can adjust themselves accordingly. In that way, she would be affecting change by putting some pressure on employees to conform to her worldview.
On the flip side, if she is telling employees that their views must be in line with her views to work there, or get promoted, it would be a lousy place to work.
Is she affecting change on a wider scale, as a captain of industry? Not if these are internal memos. But now that they are out, people will react, and things will change. Business may be impacted. Customers may disagree with the owners’ politics and decide to do business elsewhere. Competitors may arise to fill a void and provide politic-free office supplies.
A roommate once said that we can do whatever we want, but we can’t decide how others will react to what we do.
A woman who is a man dressed in drag
It isn’t that Uilhein doesn’t have a few good points of view. But clearly the overall personal views of “Dick & Liz” are severely weighted to conservative political philosophy. It’s another example of “owners” attempting to control and politicize employees to operate more than just workers, but for workers to enlarge the personal views of the owners.
Do all of her employees read and agree with her screeds? We’ll never know but her diet of harangues is force-fed and opportunistic.
What we have here in “Liz” is a perfect example of what I describe as a patriarchal conservative woman who is a man dressed in drag.
Out of Touch
Uihlein is out of touch with reality. She totally lacks empathy and compassion.
Plus, she’s misinformed. The 2 biggest “gateway drugs” are tobacco and alcohol, both of which have far bigger negatives for society than MJ.
(Ask any cop who he’d rather deal with at 2AM on a Saturday – a drunk or a pothead).)