GE made it official. It will move its Fairfield, CT headquarters to Boston. I think about all the Connecticut families that will be affected. At least this move has been in the rumor mill for a year. With hope GE treats its employees as kindly as Pfizer did when it relocated some of its Southeastern, CT operations a few years ago. Nonetheless, all those who have spent a career being loyal to a corporation will soon emotionally discover what they intellectually understood:corporate leaders have a mandate to do what is in the best interest of maximizing the financial health of the corporation, not the best interest of the employees of the corporation.
This is not an anti-corporate or anti-capitalism rant. My father worked for a large corporation for nearly 40 years. The money they paid him enabled me to attend college and the pension they provide him means he’ll never run out of money. Corporations, as an example of bloodless capitalism, however, are indifferent to people. Having studied political economies, I’ll steal Churchill’s famous quote about democracy and note that “capitalism is the worst economic system ever created, except for all the others.”
The challenge for the individuals at GE whose lives have just been upended is that they now need to either search for a job or move to Boston (if asked).
The opportunity for these individuals is to take control of their careers so that a corporate decision does not put their lives in chaos ever again.
This is not an anti-corporate or anti-capitalism rant. My father worked for a large corporation for nearly 40 years. The money they paid him enabled me to attend college and the pension they provide him means he’ll never run out of money. Corporations, as an example of bloodless capitalism, however, are indifferent to people. Having studied political economies, I’ll steal Churchill’s famous quote about democracy and note that “capitalism is the worst economic system ever created, except for all the others.”
The challenge for the individuals at GE whose lives have just been upended is that they now need to either search for a job or move to Boston (if asked).
The opportunity for these individuals is to take control of their careers so that a corporate decision does not put their lives in chaos ever again.