It was a cry. It was a verb.
Now it is simply a statement of fact. It is a noun.
Free Libyan people.
This is what happens when people rise up against the worst odds. It’s people who make nations come together, even the ones that don’t like each other.
Miracles happen.
Cancer will be cured.
Fresh water will be man-made, cheaply.
Power will be supplied by something plentiful and inexpensive.
And, if someone doesn’t corner the market on that, then the water and power will raise everyone’s boat.
Wars will cease.
Good healthcare will raise the quality of everyone’s lives.
People who applaud the death of rights to others will be scorned.
The one percent won’t be able to pay for a voice louder than they are due, which is one percent of the sound and fury that 6 billion plus people make.
Children’s birthday parties won’t mean ponies for some and another day of hunger for others.
Access to the cloud will be a right.
What does this have to do with business and jobs?
The last four people I hired all cried during their job interviews. That kind of burst out crying, the kind that comes when you don’t expect to get what you need, much less what you deserve. Some people I haven’t been able to hire cried too, when I said let me see who I can refer you to, because you are surely a good fit for another company.
The willful indifference paid to regular people and their families is destroying the fragile patina of sanity that maintains a civilization.
You and I know that all the miracles we need to be cancer free, war free, poverty free, and every other kind of good free can only come when people are paid to think and create. When managers have great administrative staff, enough colleagues to really get the job done, and real people who answer phones or otherwise represent companies in all the small ways that make us want to do business rather than loathe trying to order a product or get service.
People who work in markets: real markets that sell food and the small farmers who grow food, should be at least as important as people who speculate in markets like oil and gold that they never touch.
So why are we letting individuals who are all about firing and not hiring control what happens in business and thus on the planet?
Why are we giving up the right to care and share?
How did we elect or let rule the despots who are hoarding or stonewalling financial resources that should be used to put regular people back to work doing great things that only people can do?
Investments don’t cure cancer. Off shore accounts don’t buy toasters. Polluting one area of the world to make a battery one dime cheaper isn’t creating consumers able to purchase one.
It’s time to join forces with like-minded people, make a drum circle or a phone tree or however it is you feel like you can organize to be heard. Collect voices to create a greater impact for your cause. If you are a #OWS, then tell the rest of us what you need to keep dry or warm or just going.
Take some small action every day. Call your bank and say if you charge me and people like me $5 to use our debit cards, then loan the gargantuan profits to small businesses that can hire us.
My personal brand leverages the facts that I am a capitalist and a business owner. That same brand platform demands I say aloud: I don’t want companies to make record profits and still have people cry in my conference room because they got a job.
We helped free Libyan people against all odds after decades of enslavement. Now is the time to free us all to contribute and prosper.
Make jobs not war on the working class.
