Doing the Whitewash?

(Re-posting because for some reason I could not access on the site. Originally posted May 10th.)

During the last two weeks, I saw some articles that look like folks were trying to capitalize on current trends that might help burnish their image.

One was an article about farming and bringing healthy food to people while enabling “making a living”. I thought I had saved the article in my Evernote but I guess not so I’m going to try to recall the essence of the article. Unless, my memory deceives me, the author was talking about a corporate program to support small farmers doing sustainable farming and to bring those goods at a reasonable price to people, especially poor people. It sounded like a really good program aimed at providing a living for farmers and bringing healthy food to folks who normally do not have access to it. Such a feel good program.

The funny thing was, the article was written by a Walmart executive. Granted the author may have good intentions but it is ironic to hear from a company more known for decimating small businesses and keeping overall wages down.

The second article was from Jack Welch and he talks about…doing what you love. There is that passion thing again. It is not normally a topic that I would expect from him. I regard him as part of the pack of leaders who drove the shareholder movement. He may not have been the one who first coined the concept (that was probably the CEO at Coke who is now deceased) but he is the face of it. Now he is talking about a soft, squishy subject of happiness, engagement and passions. He could be earnest about it but it is just weird.