Like many of my baby boomer peers, I have been thinking lately about my eventual retirement and hoping that the company I have been building for 40 years can endure beyond me.
In planning for succession I have come to think differently about a few things political and economic, the relevance of which never struck me before. One issue in particular is economic inequality – not so much the grand scheme of the distribution of income and wealth within our society as much as concern workers aren't sharing sufficiently in the growth of our economy to maintain their critical role as consumers.
In a consumer economy like ours, I fear this could become unsustainable if it continues on its rather severe trajectory. I already see symptoms like the very slow growth in recovery from the recession, persistent unemployment, and even social unrest. The "Occupy" movement, restaurant worker revolts and even other troubling demonstrations are rooted in inequality. My conservative friends attribute such events to other things, such as a breakdown in our culture or morality. I don't think so.
This conclusion has led me to institute open-book management, a form of profit sharing, at our firm. We also have tried as best we could to improve productivity while raising wages.
But ours is a labor intensive and very competitive industry, so we can't do this alone. No organization can. It is something I have come to believe we must all do together. I think we can and should. •