We’re going to have to take a new look at corporate Britain. While we’re still awaiting the full impact of the credit crisis, the result of the US presidential election gives us the hope of a new tomorrow. America has shown that it has the courage to change, and it’s a change that’s going to have a momentous impact on the rest of the world. The way we view things and do things will never be the same again, and it gives us the opportunity to look at how we can create a better business environment.
Over the last 10 years, corporate greed has brought us all to the edge of the precipice, and now the ordinary man on the street and the small business owners are left to pick up the pieces. Corporate Britain, or more specifically the bankers, had to receive a severe telling off by the prime minister and the chancellor. They had to be told it was unacceptable not to pass on the 1.5% interest rate cut, which is an indication that they still haven’t learnt that we now have a new society, where it isn’t just every man for himself, but about corporate responsibility.
I’d like to think that this is the start of the age when greed is over, and corporate Britain will have to take a much bigger role in sharing its wealth and success with the rest of the country, especially the small business owner – be that bankers, supermarkets or insurance companies. If you are one of these large FTSE companies that loved the glory in recent years, the way you’ll be measured in future will be on how you’re fulfilling your corporate responsibility.
Many small business owners are desperately trying to keep their companies from folding, and what would help them in this plight is the rest of corporate Britain not shutting the doors to them. When we get through this downturn, the corporate entities that lent a helping hand will be the ones that will stay on and prosper. Those who just thought of themselves will not succeed in the long term. They can’t behave like the bankers have done.
Think differently
As a black man in business, I spent most of my life thinking that being black was a curse, that no matter how hard you worked or how hard you tried there seemed to be a barrier which meant you couldn’t go any further. What this single victory has done – regardless of whether Obama makes a successful president or not – is to allow mainstream societies to view ethnic minorities differently.
In Europe, we used to pride ourselves on being more advanced than America in terms of our equality and integration. But with the election of Obama, in that one statement we look to be far behind.
His election is a wake-up call to politicians – and business. British businesses can do a lot more to give opportunities to ethnic minorities. I would like to think that this election has encouraged them to take a look at their own organisations.