The Politics of Endearment:

My friends David Wolfe and Raj Sisodia gave me the honor of working with them on the recent book Firms of Endearment, How World Class Companies Profit from Passion and Purpose. The experience of working with these two extremely intelligent writers has influenced the way I look at the world. Much of progress is counter-intuitive. How do companies provide outsized returns for shareholders? Focus on long-term relationships with stakeholders not on “increasing shareholder value”. I was thinking of this notion of what David and Raj call Ironic Management (which is loosely defined as doing the opposite of the conventional wisdom as a way to success), this morning as I got my weekly dose of Meet the Press. David Gregory smirked at Valerie Jarrett as she suggested the President meant it when he said he doesn’t think about Sarah Palin. That he actually thinks about what the American people need and not about his next election. Smirk if you will, but please try to pay attention here: Successful politicians are those who, at least are able to convince the electorate that politics is not the important thing. Take care of the people, make their lives better, tell them how you did it and forget about the politics…the politics will then take care of themselves. Put another way, the only person worthy of the job of President is the one who can convince us that he or she really doesn’t want the job…those who will be willing to commit “political suicide” in order to do what they truly believe is right for the country.