Yesterday's Chicago Tribune shared the thoughts former Baxter CEO Harry Kraemer Jr. had on leadership, and specifically how he thinks government shouldn't necessarily be run like traditional businesses.  One of the reasons he points to is that governmental units must consider the many competing needs of its various stakeholders.

While this is true, you might go a step further and say maybe American businesses need to be run a little more like government.

Isn't that an ironic thought!

Many of today's organizations do not consider all of its various stakeholders when making business decisions, those constiuencies (and issues) beyond the shareholders like employees, vendors, diversity issues, environmental or green issues, ethics, etc...  No one is arguing that corporations should not make money, but shouldn't that zest be tempered by the affect that goal has throughout the organization and society.

Companies add employees and then drop them without regard to the affect that decision has on their lives, or their families.  Vendor payments are stretched out to the maximum, and then even further, without regard to their cashflow needs, especially the smaller companies.  And the list goes on.

Every decision a business leader makes affects every person and business involved with the company, multiplied by a factor of 4.  That four includes the person, their spouse, and an average of two family dependents whether children or seniors.  Add in all of the employees for your vendors and even your clients, and that is a significant number of people dependent on your decisions.

Shouldn't the impact on them be a part of your decision making process?