Going back to…
…the 50’s.
In 1948, my dad started a job at Bank of America fresh out of high school. 42 years later, he retired from Bank of America after having a career that included VP of operations in Korea, Okinawa, Hong Kong, Taipei and Manila and then back to the US in 1984. He’s 92 and still asks about BofA. He never did get a college degree.
I bring this up because Walmart set a goal of hiring 50,000 employees by the end of April. They are positioning themselves as a place where you can have a career, get trained and grow professionally. A real bona fide career – talk about going back in time. But they still can’t find enough workers. The Chief People Officer for Walmart stated “The goal is to make Walmart a place where people feel they can build a long-term career”. I mention this (again – see previous Reports) because this highlights the efforts companies are making to attract workers, using benefits, work/life balance, training and – gasp – a career focus to get workers committed to their organization. This is what your company is competing with for employees, so stay sharp. Nothing says you care about your employees more than providing them avenues to improve themselves. Well, that and a $5,000 bonus, but that’s just a short-term retention technique.
Two Things (among many) that are Long Term
The first is China
China has been trying for some time to be the world market leader in pretty much everything.
Two things happened in the last two years to slow that down:
Covid in Wuhan; and
Getting buddy-buddy with Putin a month before he goes psycho.
You know how people say “Hang out with the folks you want to be like?” Well, that was a complete fail, and President Xi is now paying for that.
It’s kind of like waking up from a bad hangover and wondering about your decision-making skills the night before.
Well, third time’s the charm. They are entering a deal with Saudi Arabia for purchases of oil (not sure what else would it be for)
No big deal, except they are trying to talk Saudi Arabia into accepting Yuan as payment. This is the continuation of efforts to be a dominant player in the financial markets and remove the US Dollar as the international currency of choice.
Virtually all financial markets utilize the USD as the currency of trade; oil, gold and other commodities are quoted in US Dollars.
This could be an issue down the road for the US as well as for businesses that do business with or in China.
How? I’m not really sure, but I just feel that the US needs to make sure it stays the financial leader.
The second is the SEC – the Securities & Exchange Commission
These guys regulate, in theory, how public companies disclose pertinent issues that could impact the company.
Just to be clear, public companies are companies that have issued stock that you or I can buy on the stock market. Consequently, the publicly traded companies have to be open and honest about their financial performance and about any issues that could impact their financial performance. This would impact the price of the stock that you and I invest in.
The idea is that a public company should not bamboozle investors by either lying or omitting information. The SEC is the watchdog for that. Think Theranos.
I mention this because the SEC has put in another layer of scrutiny into reporting requirements. They have put in a requirement that public companies must now disclose climate risks and the impact that their operations, as well as their products, have on the earth’s environment.
Regardless of how you feel about carbon emissions and the climate, this puts another layer (think back to Sarbanes-Oxley) of reporting on businesses. OK, so what?
Well, it may have the opposite effect, causing public companies to go private and private companies to stay private. By going private, this will limit all disclosures, keeping the hedge funds and private equity folks in charge of American business.
It will also limit the number of companies that John Q. Public can invest in.
Just think about what your 401k, mutual fund or IRA would look like if Amazon, Google and Apple had never gone public.
I guess Elon Musk (or Ford or GM or Fiskar) is going to have to figure out how to disclose the impact all of the spent batteries will have on the environment; I wonder what the present value of that clean-up is?
Or, all of the sub-contractors for Amazon deliveries will have to report to Amazon their own carbon emissions so that Amazon can report it’s global carbon emissions on its 401k.
Yep, that’s your company that you have with 8 trucks and 10 drivers and now you could, emphasis on could, have to hire another consultant to help you determine your impact on the climate.
Add that consultant to the consultant list of HR, OSHA, AQMD, EDD etc. etc. etc. Sigh.
The impact won’t happen tomorrow or a year from now, but you will start seeing the impact down the road. Keep it in the back of your mind as you make your long-term plans for your business. Oh, and you could let your congressional representatives know your thoughts. Click HERE.
FWIW
For those of you with kids that rolled their eyes when you asked them what FWIW means, here you are: “For What It’s Worth”.
I generally get 9 to 15 “out-of-office” notifications on any given week. This previous week of the 14th , there was only 1 out-of-office bounce back. That is on 358 recipients.
On the 21st, we were back to normal. Perhaps the lesson here is that most decision makers are in the office the week of St. Patrick’s Day. Business owners and sales people, make a note of that. You might have a higher rate of success with your outreach.
Next week is April Fools, and the end of the first quarter. If you missed your goals and don’t know why, Friday is for you. If you do know why, that means you have a plan in place: congratulations. Now make adjustments.
