Sometimes it takes no more than plain speaking to show exactly where business is going wrong today. This article by Bill Taylor, titled “Times Change —The Questions Remain the Same” hits the nail squarely on the head:

How can people expect to perform great inside their company unless they understand what makes their company great in the first place? How can executives claim to be effective leaders if they can’t imbue everyone in their organization with a sense of mission and purpose? In other words, how can any business expect to create economic value if the people who make up the organization don’t share a set of values that gives their work meaning and creates a sense of satisfaction that goes beyond market share, return on capital, and even shareholder value?

Put even more simply, how can any business become great with a perspective that doesn’t extend beyond meeting next quarter’s figures; and executives who cannot see beyond the value of their own stock options?

There has never been greater need of a slow, long-term perspective. It was the opposite approach — the madness of unrestrained corporate greed and Hamburger Management — that created the mess of today. You don’t get out of a hole by following the same prescription that put you in it in the first place.

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