Network Schools – Wayne Gerseny to https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/04/03/magazine/thomas-piketty-interview u w B l.html?h I’ll smid=url-share the Is for

Today’s NYTimes has a follow up article to a long form essay on the wages and working conditions at Amazon warehouses written by Jodi Kantor, Karen Weise, and Grace Ashford. In the article, after describing the reign of terror management style of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, they share this astonishing pledge he recently made: 

Mr. Bezos recently made startling concessions about the system he invented. In a letter to shareholders, he said the union effort in Alabama had shown that “we need a better vision for how we create value for employees — a vision for their success” — and vowed to become “Earth’s best employer.”

This brought to mind a similar pledge made in 2019 by Jamie Dimon, Chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Chairman of Business Roundtable. Speaking on behalf of his organization, Mr. Dimon stated:

“Major employers are investing in their workers and communities because they know it is the only way to be successful over the long term. These modernized principles reflect the business community’s unwavering commitment to continue to push for an economy that serves all Americans.”

These quotes brought to mind one of my favorite quotes from Stephen Covey: “You Can’t Talk Your Way Out of Problems You Behave Your Way Into”. I DO hope that Mr. Dimon and Mr. Bezos are sincere in their intentions, for it would mean that the notion of shareholder primacy and employee disempowerment are behind us and that the quality of the workplace and well-being of employees will be as important as the bottom line. But before their visions of being the “best employer on earth” and developing “an economy that serves all Americans” can come into being, they will need to change the culture of their Boards who came to power during a time when efficiency and profit were the dominant values.

In the end, Bezos and the Business Roundtable CEOs can only achieve their visions if they change their behavior…. because their actions to date speak louder than their words and their actions thus far make this blogger cynical.