If you are reading this, you are most likely a member of a for-profit organization that creates employment. If you are a business owner, chances are your family has been set financially and even created generational wealth, yet you are still involved in creating more employment for the good of society. You’re wired and your very DNA has you not exiting to take your money and run with middle finger high in the air to those you’ve left behind. Nope … that’s not leadership and you, my friends, are leaders. 

My favorite quote that I redundantly reference is that of Art Laffler, economist extraordinaire of the Reagan administration, who offered: “You can’t love jobs and hate the job creators.” However, over the last decade, it seems that capitalism is responsible for all that is wrong in our society. You see, we are easy targets as is the success we have created, regardless of all the good you may do. 

I remember writing a previous column titled “In Defense of the Wealthy,” hardly the work of a kid whose early years were in Chicago Southside public housing due to a father who was disabled from war injuries. However, I chronicled the research funded by the generosity of the successful, which has led to longer life expectancy and lower infant mortality rates. From Carnegie Hall and the McArthur Foundation to the Morton Arboretum and the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry. How about the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation that has nearly eradicated malaria, the No. 1 killer in the world. While I could go on, and on, you get the picture. 

However, recently, it seems societies’ denunciation of capitalism has extended to the disdain of our CEOs. Here we are, public enemy No. 1! This manifested in the premeditated murder of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson. The culprit, oh let’s stop the woke agenda and just say “murderer,” was one Luigi Mangione. Not “allegedly,” but let me just simply call a murderer a murderer. He is apparently the modern-day Robin Hood, exacting revenge for the masses, the poor, the disadvantaged. 

In the course of my life, there are times I’ve not liked some people and perhaps even hated a politician or two, but I have never once wanted anyone killed. However, survey says, of those under the age of 40, a disconcerting 43% feel the killing of Brian Thompson was, get this … justified! Are you kidding me? In addition, more than three quarter of a million dollars in donations have been received for his legal support. Are you kidding me? Further, dozens of marriage proposals while he is in prison. Are you kidding me? 

Yet, Mr. Thompson leaves behind a wife and two teenage children; his memory and his story will unfortunately quickly fade to black while Mr. Mangione will live on for years to come in what ought to be infamy as opposed to rock star status. 

It takes a CEO mind, a leadership skill set and a management conviction to deliver hard decisions that are required for success. And here we are, a nation just 250 years of age, and we have more than 250 federal agencies. That’s right, we have created more than one new federal agency for every year our country has been in existence. The Federal Mediation and Conciliation Department has 60 employees in a nine-story D.C. building! Large offices complete with showers. Oil portraits, purchased from the director’s wife, punctuate the décor. Neither union or management would find this acceptable. You can’t make this stuff up. 

Our nation has 8th graders graduating with only one in every three reading “at grade level.” How would you and I be doing with a 66% failure rate? Yes, that puts a target on the over-bloated, politically charged, ineffective Department of Education. Note, not the teachers whom I respect, you see, as I am married to one, but rather the agency. 

What if a board or CEO asked you to simply provide five bullet points of what you have done for your organization? Why would anyone balk? You see, they don’t have an answer because they haven’t added value. It is finally time somebody is calling them out. The inefficiency and waste that have been reported over and over have surprised few, but the magnitude of the waste does. Now, if the DOGE cuts have gone too far and some hard-working people are collateral damage is a debate I will leave to the boardrooms and bars. 

Granted, while downsizing jobs and people put out of work in many cases is justified and long overdue, one should never punctuate by standing on a podium raising a chainsaw in celebration of lives you’ve just upended. United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson, in his final moments on Earth, was en route to an investment conference where he was going to proudly report $32.3 billion in earnings. However, what has emerged subsequently is that UHC denies one out of every three claims. 

The takeaway of this is, be aware that if you don’t bring value to an organization, watch your back. In addition, as a leader, be mindful that you need to respect people, no matter what the decision, or watch your back! But I punctuate that no killing is justified. 

In closing, returning popularity to the C-suite is an unrealistic goal but perhaps our value will be seen in a such a way that 40% of the people don’t want us dead. Seems reasonable to me.

“I woke up this morning determined to drink less, eat right and exercise. But that was four hours ago when I was younger and full of hope.”  — Unknown