Mentoring and Hard Work in Business
Today I see a new problem developing that could delay our nation’s recovery and even our future leadership role in the world marketplace. It is the discarding of our most seasoned and experienced workers in an effort to maximize operating cost reductions. The void left by the departure of these workers is creating a serious corporate problem that astute CEOs are already beginning to detect and address. The lack of seasoned workers has left a void in two areas. The first is in passing on the corporate culture to the younger team members (new hires). These older workers have been the source of instruction and mentoring in the past. This mentoring helps the new workers become more productive members of the company team, thereby increasing their individual productivity and that of the team overall. The second area is in showing the younger team members the important role that hard work must play in the careers of successful workers. We joke about the younger generation having a sense of entitlement in their thinking. In business it is not a laughing matter. It is the cause of a very serious drop in productivity and it costs our companies a lot of money each year.
So where do we start to solve these problems? First, let’s take the displaced senior workers who have proven their abilities at mentoring people and put them to work helping employers teach their younger team members “the ropes.” Second, let’s find those displaced workers of any age who have a good idea for a new business and help them start that business. Both of these initiatives would be a better use of federal incentive money than many of the programs we are planning to subsidize. And the impact would have a far greater reaching, and longer lasting, impact than “cash for clunkers” and similar subsidies.
Harry J. Corbett
