Don Howell's Blog

The value in value

 "Are you a Republican or a Democrat?"

We find ourselves in a terrible situation these days trying to determine the value of any of our assets. And I'm not just talking about our financial assets. Indeed, the way we regard our trusted personal assets (that is, our trusted relationships) has largely gotten us to where we are today.

Once upon a time, there was only one accepted way to judge the worthiness of either an investment or a friendship; you needed to see its performance over time. Remember the adage ‘through thick and thin?" Well, I am of an age where I can still remember John Houseman grousing "...you earn it," speaking of the way Smith Barney made money for you. However, he could have been talking about trust of any kind,

We are currently looking for people to punish over the near economic collapse of the world's financial system. But in the words of an old saw "I have met the enemy and it is me."

I can't tell you how many times I have heard people ask (as their first question) "are you a Republican or a Democrat?"  It's as if the answer to that question would somehow reveal whether you are to be trusted or not as an individual. Alternatively, have you or anyone close to you ever uttered the words "I'm sorry, I don't pay much attention to politics?" We like our answers to be neat and simple, but are somehow angered now that the simple answers from the smooth talkers have led us astray.

This generation has embraced cheap and quick as a replacement for dependable and steady. Allowing a person or a company to earn anything over time (to give us time to make an adequate judgment) is, well, work. Whichever investment you are talking about (interpersonal or financial), we would have to wait longer and get less upfront. No, all we need is what we need at this moment. Novels take too long to unfold. So, we just TiVo our TV and watch a drama and the network news together in less than an hour.

Friendships, likewise, are work; better to have numerous acquaintances. They offer variety at virtually no expense.

The political side of this works the same way. Never mind that both parties have had their share of transcendent, great people or, sadly, crooks through the years. Never mind that a different party has been running things (corruptly and with a stranglehold) here in Massachusetts than in Washington (where things haven't exactly run splendidly either). Parties are a handy way of making an instant judgment without any effort needed to get to know the person running. Problem is, shorthand ideology tells you nothing about character or trust. Those are earned over time. And, did I mention, we don't have time for that?

So, we have developed techniques to allow us to minimize any downside to our shallowness. We hedge our "friendships" like we hedge our money. I find people with whom I have worked (and come to trust) over many years falling under this spell. How many times have you seen an important person (often a politician) showing up at a charitable event just for the photo opportunity? And how often have they received more attention and credibility than the organizers or the folks who have labored throughout the years for that charity? Even they have come to accept this phenomenon. After all, we wouldn't want to upset our celebrity "friend", would we? Indeed, from the picture, it looks like they directed the event. A picture is worth a thousand words, right? That all this turns out to be wrong is a tribute to the "me" generation.

It's like we believe can always count on the dependable, but we don't want to miss out on the glitzy. And we believe we can have them both (more or less like those risky investments we loved and then "hedged" to avoid any risk - that sure turned out well, huh?). But what would happen if the dependable were to go away only to be replaced by the shallow; the dependable pushed aside in favor of the empty suited celebrities?  

You know what happened to your investments in the former case. Now we are about to see how the latter group handles something that requires some attention. You know the ones; the people who look fabulous and say the right things; the ones who have never actually accomplished anything but have managed to take credit for the hard work of others. Indeed, we are about to find out, because I see very few real accomplished leaders (whether in politics or business) out there.

Of course, if you are one of the few who actually managed to read all the way to this point, you already knew that.