I came across a statement I made in an article : The successful businessman is the Hero and the driver of our society.
If you are paying attention to the stock market, 2013 is proving this statement is true.
I don’t know what made me do it but on January 20th I turned on CNBC. That is about the time the stock market really started taking off. And I don’t know why I thought it but I thought – someone on Wall Street has decided to take over the economy and drive it. Someone has decided that Washington is dysfunctional, not going to do anything and so, they are taking matters into their own hands to end this recession. Someone is going out on a limb, with a balls-to-the-wall attitude. Someone thinks they have nothing to lose that the only other option is stagnation.
In the weeks that followed, that someone ignored all of the bears, nay-sayers, the multitude of critics and doom-and- gloom forecasters. They were successful – they made something happen. And as an added bonus the whole federal budget debate in Washington is negated.
With the economy doing well, the fiscal cliff is postponed from May to end of the summer? Into late fall? Sorry Republicans your side of the crisis is negated. Sorry Democrats, your side of the crisis is also negated – there is no need to raise taxes.
The Wall Street businessman is the Hero who saved our economy. And his reward is power!!
Ladies – this is an example we need to follow!!
Reading a lot of blog posts and discussion boards, it seems many women are waiting for companies to have that V-8 moment and say “We must hire and promote more women!” Or they believe Washington should pass more laws or regulate how women are treated in companies. There should be laws that somehow empower women by taking power from men. Some women believe government should pay women be stay at home mothers.
Ladies it ain’t gonna happen!
If you are waiting for other entities to promote and advance women you will waiting a very long time – we’ve been waiting 40 years and we should have the message by now that no one is going to rescue us. Life rewards those who take action on behalf of themselves.
Like it or not, think it’s fair or not, if women want to advance in society then we need to go out on a limb, with a boobs-to-the-wall attitude and make it happen! Our other option is stagnation – otherwise known as our current situation.
Advancing ourselves is about drive, risk taking and confidence. It is about remaining true to your course in the face of critics and opposition. These are not male characteristics. These are human characteristics that women possess. We can act and the time is now.
How many women out there are upset with Wall Street and/or the power of men? 2013 is going to be a year that advances them even further and leaves women further behind unless we do something – unless we take matters into our own hands and drive our interests.
Right now the Wall Street Hero/Villian is Jamie Dimon, CEO and Chairman of the Board of JP Morgan. There is controversy as to whether or not his two positions should be split – he is the only banker who holds both positions.
There are a lot of people who want to see him taken down a few notches. Yes, I will assume the man has a colossal ego but so what. He is obviously a great banker and businessman but he is still human and he has his share of mistakes that are well documented.
The desire to bring him down a few notches so…another man can rise up a few…is a male perspective. And like women so often do, instead of advancing our perspective we adopt men’s. This perspective translated to women is – men have to be brought down so women can advance. That will never happen.
We need to define and advance our own view. We need to go out on the limb, with a boobs-to-the-wall attitude and make our perspective powerful. No one will do it for us.
As a woman I don’t care that Dimon is CEO and Chairman. I don’t care that he is a billionaire. I don’t care that he rises to the stratosphere of the plutocracy. It has no meaning to me.
What do I care about?
As a woman, I care about my community. I care that he makes money honestly without taking advantage of my community. Without me as a woman, defending my community, my community will be taken advantage of. As a woman I want power so my community has power.
If he makes billions of dollars honestly then fine, I don’t need to tear him down in order to advance myself or my community. We will thrive based upon our strengths. We will be proud of what we accomplish with no need to compare and rank ourselves against others.
But just because the businessman has honestly climbed to the top of the plutocracy, he hasn’t earned my respect or the respect of my community. We are not in awe of him. We don’t think he is a Hero.
I go back to Teddy Roosevelt’s speech, Citizenship in a Republic. I admire anyone who goes into the arena but that is only the first level of respect.
the man…then piles up a great fortune, for the acquisition or retention of which he returns no corresponding benefit to the nation as a whole, should himself be made to feel that, so far from being desirable, he is an unworthy, citizen of the community: that he is to be neither admired nor envied; that his right-thinking fellow countrymen put him low in the scale of citizenship.
As a woman, for a businessman to be My Hero, he has to be a benefit to the community. Think about the movie Gladiator. Russell Crowe’s character is a Hero, not just because he is incredibly sexy, but because he fights on behalf of Rome, not himself. He puts Rome first.
As women, this is the idea of Hero that we need to empower. It is a Purple Zone definition of Hero that includes both men and women.
So let’s follow the example of business men – let’s get out there on the limb, drive change with a boobs-to-the-wall attitude. Let’s ignore critics and those who need to tear us down. Like the Wall Streeters who want to move the economy from stagnation, we need to move women from stagnation. Neither of us has anything to lose.
But our community has a lot to gain.
And as for Mr. Dimon, be CEO, be Chairman, if that makes you feel good. My question to you is: There is Carnegie Hall and Vanderbilt University, how are you going to fill in this blank: Dimon_______?
Empowered business women, like the businessman, can be Heroes!
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