The New Road

Art Community Metaphor

Here is an extended metaphor for what I see as going on the valley.

You have a small but thriving arts community. They make enough money to get by, but they aren't millionaires. One day an investor comes by and is so impressed he gives some of the artists some money and starts a little company. The promises are great, we will take your fine art and show it to the world!

The presence of a new shop starts a ripple and soon all of the artists are now working for little shops. The little shops start to compete in the marketplace and soon more art is required. So the artists need to work a longer for the same money. What looks good from the outside (productivity is up) is hell on the inside (long hours, lots of stress, flat salary).

But that isn't enough. The companies, now gone public, are looking for better numbers on the street. So they supplement the artists (now called resources) with external resources off shore who work for pennies. Again, the numbers go up, investors and happy, the CEOs are rich, and the resources are even more unhappy because they know their jobs are in jeopardy.

Management catches wise that the local resources are overpaid so they lay them all off and go strictly overseas.

Which brings us to the end of the story. The thriving arts community which created unique crafts and was a pleasant and peaceful home to a culture of creativity has now been replaced with a bunch of stores selling cookie-cutter art made in other countries. The land value went up so much that the original artists have all gone. Worse yet, few continued with the practice of art since it became such a pressure cooker that they lost all interest in it as a creative activity.

A few CEOs have become rich by plundering a community of people. The community is gone, the CEOs are rich, and so the American Dream continues.

There needs to be a balance. As investors, where do we think the productivity numbers are coming from? If a company makes more product without extending it's payroll it has either; hired external consultants, had the existing employees work more hours, or found a better way to do things. I would like to think it's the latter, but in my experience it has always been hiring consultants and working longer hours. Especially in the valley where "executive indecision = engineering long hours".

The whole country needs to learn the work/life balance. And we have to stop this consumer culture of keeping up with the Joneses. We work harder because our investors want the numbers to relentlessly increase. But we are the investors. And we want our investments to do well because we have to keep up with the Joneses. We have made our own hell.

That being said. Bush is not making matters any easier. His exclusively pro-business policies have set a precedent that all of this is ok, or even desirable.

And it all comes around to the Americans have been getting a lot fatter in the past two years thread. Why? McDonalds has been super-sizing fries, sodas and shakes for years. So it can't be that. The problem is the overwork. If you have to work longer because you are doing the work of three because two other people got laid off, then you are probably going to have to give somewhere else in your life. And that will often be diet and exercise. McDonalds is just an enabler. It's not the culprit.

I saw a 60 Minutes where the talked with the CEO of SAP who said that he was keeping his company private because he didn't want to live under the pressure of the street. I can see exactly what he means. We need to focus on how to create sustainable companies that have a healthy workplace and workforce. That is how you have a thriving economy and country.