Commitment

It has been said that marriage and insanity have at least one thing in common: commitment. So why not spend a few minutes in exploring both phenomena. Marriage entails many more relationships than between two individuals. Employees are married to their employers, for instance, in that both need the other to exist and thrive. Similarly, our government needs constituents to function. So why is so much time spent to alienate the very folks needed the most?

Let’s start with the latest example of corporate dysfunction: the NBA. So far as we can tell, the owners are bad businesspeople and can’t make a profit. And the players, thought to be overpaid and molly-coddled, want more, too. So the lockout threatens the financial futures of all involved. The NFL is similarly embroiled in a contractual dispute. While professional athletes contribute mightily to the astronomical cash flows that their teams enjoy, their skill set is limited. As such, they’re in a tough spot seeking ever higher salaries for a job that is viewed as non-essential to our everyday life. And the owners, while perhaps enjoying other revenue streams, stand to lose, too.

The political polarization we see at just about every level of government also serves no productive purpose. Much like fiddling while Rome burns, both sides of the Congressional aisle flirt with disaster in delaying a solution to the raising of the national debt limit. Should the worst-case scenario come to pass, most, if not all, citizens will be affected. And they will take their wrath out on their elected representatives. Once again, everybody loses.

Negotiating has taken on a new cachet where no-blink, high stakes poker has replaced meaningful dialogue with a pragmatic realization that each side has much to lose. Historically, in such scenarios, a compromise where neither side is overjoyed yet finds some sunshine amid the clouds was to be expected. Today, though, we’re all in vehicles playing chicken with oncoming traffic. And that, I’d say, is insane.

Most of us know that such obstinacy in a domestic setting leads to certain disaster. Why then, do we refuse to acknowledge the same danger in the corporate or political arena? I’d suggest it’s due to the lack of commitment when it comes to matters outside the home. We hear “take this job and shove it”, but have you ever heard the same philosophy in personal relationships? True, at the end of a hopeless coupling words to that effect are said with great feeling, but no one says it earlier except in an attempt to speed up the arrival of that ill-fated day. But we hear it regularly elsewhere.

Perhaps if we added a pinch of commitment to our commercial and legislative dealings things would progress more smoothly. Perhaps, if we saw the bigger picture, including those dependent upon our best effort, would we move from the far corner to a point closer to the center of the room. Perhaps, if we got over ourselves, the glimmer of hope might grow into a flame. There are times when compromise is fruitless and discretion is no longer the better part of valor. But these times come upon reaching the end game. What we see now is an opening position of intransigence and no one is served by that behavior.

One need look no further than those that signed the Declaration of Independence: five were captured by the British and tortured before they died. Twelve lost their homes to looting and arson. Two lost sons in the Revolutionary army and two more had their sons captured. Nine fought and died in the Revolutionary War. These were men who saw the greater picture. They committed themselves to an ideal and suffered great personal loss as a result. Was their effort in vain?

Isn’t it time to refocus on a more distant point and find ways to recapture the spirit that brought us so far and so well? Shouldn’t CEO’s look beyond quarterly results? Shouldn’t politicians disregard lobbyists? How about recommitting to the relationship held between bosses and worker bees, representatives and constituents. And what better time than the 4th of July?