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There is no Rule of Law in the business world, There is no moral compass

Yesterday’s Traditions and Tomorrow’s Innovations



I learned long ago that successful people build bridges between yesterday's traditions and tomorrow's innovations. They don’t tear down the wisdom yesterday built and they don’t block the progress brought by tomorrow’s dreams.

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The trick is being able to identify progress which must be worthy of traditions that will be lost – of the price paid to innovate. All too often, what some people think is progress is anything but. We seem to live in an era where up is down, lies are truth, and progressive is regressive. Our public schools today graduate too many young adults unable to read their diplomas. Kids graduating college cannot spell or write grammatically-correct sentences. According to research reports, college students who opt to be teachers represent the lowest 25 percent of SAT scores. Our policemen arrest criminals whose rights in our courtrooms outweigh those of victims. People made into heroes by the media are arrested for the most heinous of crimes – everything from gambling to drug and sexual abuse. Those deserving of the name “hero” never gain that public recognition because their deeds are ignored – all of which makes them even greater heroes. No one wants real heroes these days... just people who act like heroes and get a lot of publicity for briefly doing so. It doesn’t matter if it’s in a sports arena or in front of a movie camera. Reality is out. Let’s pretend is in. People want what they want, when they want it. They see no reason to pay the price (like responsibility, time, work, and saving) to get it. Business leaders sell worthless bonds to the public, rape our business institutions, build cars that use too much fuel, and manufacture tires that cause deadly accidents. Those “in the know” trade insider information for personal gain. There is no Rule of Law in the business world (or, is sometimes appears, any other). There is no moral compass. Because of taxation and high costs of living, both parents often work outside the home. They turn their kids over to those with the lowest 25 percent of SAT scores each day. Babies and young children are physically, mentally, and emotionally abused by parents, step-parents, day care centers, foster homes, and any other powerless person who preys on the physically weak to feel an undeserved sense of personal power. Nikita Kruschev once pounded his shoe on the podium at the United Nations, shouting that America would be defeated without the U.S.S.R. having to drop a single bomb. We thought our nation too strong to corrupt itself from the inside out. It was an arrogant reaction. They are complicated issues deserving of more in-depth attention than space allows. But a part of the answer came to me one day as I sat on the runway at a major Florida airport talking with my seat partner. He was a successful and affluent businessman. He owned several television stations and was on his way to Washington, D.C. to lobby for license renewals. He was a delightful guy. "I just attended my youngest child's graduation from college," he told me with a proud smile. "I had two families...you know, divorced, remarried, three children by each wife," he said. Strangers on airplanes often share personal information with one another... moments of this kind are truly two ships passing in the night. We talked a few more minutes as he explained how it had taken him until he was almost 35 to get his college degree. His family was poor, his father died when he was very young and he was the oldest of several children. I was 40 before I got my graduate degree, so I could sympathize. He had to keep leaving school to go home and put food on the family’s table. "I'm so relieved all of my children were able to complete their educations by the time they were 22 years old," he said. We talked a few minutes more. We were about the same age and discussed many of today’s problems, unseen in our youth. He made several comments about his children. They did not seem to have the same sense of respect for and commitment to family that he, as a young man, had. He compared their lives to his – to when he kept postponing his own education to ensure his loved ones had the necessities of life. As he spoke, an insight I never had before came to me. They were difficult words to say to a friend – let alone a stranger – but I thought they might give him some insight into a personal conflict that was obviously troubling him. "It sounds like you’re saying you made life as easy for your children as you could. You made things so easy, they had no opportunity to face challenges and develop character. Now you question their strength of character that overcoming challenges taught you... teaches all people." As I said, people on airplanes say things to one another that would normally not be socially accepted topics of conversation. In the first class section of a DC-10, it is very unlikely someone will hit you for making a statement not meant as an insult, but taken as one. He stared at me for the longest time. His eyes reflected first the perceived insult... that I was somehow telling him he had done the wrong thing. Then his look became thoughtful, and then questioning. He nodded his head. "I believe you may be right," he concluded. I have thought many times about that conversation. I learned a great deal from it – probably more than my seat partner. I believe one major reason a lot of American kids in the 1960s became unmanageable brats and teenagers was caused by battle weary soldiers as they stood on Europe’s war-torn shores. They awaited a ship to bring them home after WWII. They were so thankful to be alive, so grateful for the families or future families awaiting them. They made a promise: “My kids are never going to have to face the kind of hell I’ve just lived through. Things are going to be better for them.” Unfortunately, like my seat partner that day, they made life too easy for their children. It resulted in unchallenged kids and insecure, undisciplined youths. Kids need to be challenged. The only way to gain self-respect and a sense of self-reliance is to take a chance on yourself. You start with small victories (or defeats) and grow from there. I was eight when WWII ended. The generation of kids that came up right behind me was the one protesting at UC Berkeley and at Yale and Cornell... upper and upper-middle class young adults. Abbie Hoffman and I once sat in a New York restaurant discussing what motivated the behavior of 1960's students. Kids today are no different than we were. The only thing that has changed is the environment we allowed society to create for them. We were not raised thinking it was the world’s job to entertain and amuse us. During summer vacation, we took part in reading programs at the public library, we mowed lawns for cash (allowances were rare in the 50s). As family members we were expected to be responsible and productive members of the unit. Our boys were allowed to be boys with all male traits. We didn’t worry about whether they were sensitive to their feminine sides. We didn’t drug them to make them easier to control. They got rid of their energy through healthy competition with one another. That sometimes meant fights. Girls were allowed to be girls and were no more sensitive to male traits than the guys were to ours. We celebrated the difference. Our music was about love not hate and violence. Dancing was an art form rather than a sexual expression. Public education was free... but was available only if we performed to a defined level of quality and proper behavior. Education was a privilege, not a right. Dr. Spock was one of the earliest symptoms of what would happen to generations of our children with his “give them what they want when they want it” philosophy. Though before he died he said he was in error, in the 50s and 60s, most mothers did what Spock recommended. We are still paying the price for his erroneous application of very misguided, destructive child psychology. He thought he was progressive. Parents who held their kids to a higher standard in the 60s often think their parents didn’t cared about them because they gave them the opportunity to develop character. They weren’t pampered or allowed to avoid realities of life. Their friends were so something must be wrong with their parents. I know more people who are going through that experience right now and for just that reason! Americans did what my seat partner did. We created a risk-free society. Since capitalism is based on the ability to manage risk, it iced the rink for socialism and Americans began skating to The Blue Danube. Our children didn’t have to face challenges that removed their opportunity to develop character. Now, we don’t like the result… characterless leaders of an apathetic society. If the current generation of parents want to leave a positive legacy, they’d better learn to understand what our nation needs to keep America strong. It represents the Alpha and the Omega.


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Marilyn Barnewall -- Bio and Archives

Marilyn Barnewall received her graduate degree in Banking from the University of Colorado Graduate School of Business in 1978. She created the first wealth creation (credit-driven) private bank in America in the 1970s. Prior to her 21-year banking career, she was a newspaper reporter, advertising copywriter, public relations director, magazine editor, assistant to the publisher, singer, dog trainer, and an insurance salesperson and manager.


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