Perhaps the BEST B1G Forum anywhere, here at College Football Fan Site, CFB51!!!

You have zero clue how many business owners I know, and you know absolutely nothing about business and how they are run. I do.

Any good business owner - large or small - knows that employees are everything. Without employees, there is no business.

Maybe he should move to Beijing/Moscow/Hanoi while he still knows it all and take a crash course in their finance

what he was saying was pretty much accurate for publicly traded Fortune 500-1000 multi-national US based companies. Because the way Wall Street has corrupted everything- the ONLY thing these psychopaths that run a lot of these companies care about is their stock price- and in order to keep that stock price going up up up up- they have to show profitability/growth somehow.

Those are a different breed than most businesses. Most businesses are small to medium, and private. His mistake as usual- was generalizing.

I'm not saying that these large companies aren't extremely focused on profitability and growth. 

I'm saying that it's not universal, potentially not even altogether common, that those execs will deliberately choose an unethical course of action to make their profits. 

I work for a company in the upper half of the Fortune 500 that has been on this list 3 years running, I believe: https://www.worldsmostethicalcompanies.com/honorees/

That fact is CONSTANTLY highlighted by our execs as something they're very proud of. I've undergone all sorts of trainings on ethics, and it's been repeatedly stressed that the company would rather forego business than win it in an unethical way. 

Granted, part of that may be CYA. Many of the unethical practices are also illegal, and would not only open the company up to liability, they stress that it would open the involved employees themselves that there would be liability. And part of it is PR. But they walk the walk too. 

Are there bad actors and unethical companies in the Fortune 500? I'm sure. But it's not universal.

My company worked hard to create a warm and fuzzy corporate image.  They spent a LOT on PR.  I think the company was reasonably ethical, considering, but individuals within the company often were not, and I suspect that is common.  

I was directly involved in one such PR project, the company said they spent $80 million on it.  It related to composting and plastics.  The issue, which was never a real issue, magically went away at one point, and so did the project.  It was an interesting project technically, I had some neat ideas, but the reality was we were pissing up a rope.

That was $80 million for nothing but imagery, and the lady VP in charge was promoted.

You have zero clue how many business owners I know, and you know absolutely nothing about business and how they are run. I do.

Any good business owner - large or small - knows that employees are everything. Without employees, there is no business.

When you were busy being offended, you completely missed the point.  FFS, you guys are special.

I've heard nothing bad about that company.

Many, but not all of them. Lots of those places are named "best places to work" consistently.

Please......honest-to-god, pretty-please take me down the path you traveled to get from "huge companies, when faced with picking one or the other, choose profits over ethics" to nothing bad being said about a company or would not be named a "best place to work."

Several of you are acting like I said all big companies shit everywhere and hate everyone and are basically movie villains just to make an extra dollar.  Nope, sorry.  
You guys paint quite a caricature of what I say.  And you do it almost perpetually.  It's not fun.

If a business owner goes without earning money, their business isn't very successful.  My dad did it for years.  Working 90 hours a week for scraps.  It was idiotic and probably took years off his life.  It's not an effort issue.  It's not a 'heart in the right place' issue.  It's a pride issue and/or stubbornness and/or being unwilling to accept the reality of the situation.

Badge's quote makes my argument for me:  "Most of us would rather die than fail in business".......exactly. 

The problem with the private sector (at least the big companies) is that every time there's a decision to be made between profits and ethics, profits always wins.  Even when the ethical route is chosen, it's because of long-term profits. 

Perpetual, quarterly growth is not sustainable. 

Okay, let's compare and contrast...

Please......honest-to-god, pretty-please take me down the path you traveled to get from "huge companies, when faced with picking one or the other, choose profits over ethics" to nothing bad being said about a company or would not be named a "best place to work."

Several of you are acting like I said all big companies shit everywhere and hate everyone and are basically movie villains just to make an extra dollar.  Nope, sorry. 
You guys paint quite a caricature of what I say.  And you do it almost perpetually.  It's not fun.

Look at what I bolded above. Look at the limited context of what you said. Look at the absolute statements that you're using. Heck, in relationship therapy they tell people not to use "always" "never" type statements because it naturally makes the opposite party defensive. 

• "The problem" meaning there's only one or one main problem?
• "every time" and
• "always" basically forcing someone into finding a counterexample, BUT
• "even when" means you won't accept any counterexample because obviously it's about long-term profits

Maybe the fact that people respond badly to you is because you're a bad communicator. You throw out bombastic statements that get an emotional response and when called on it cry "that's not what I meant! you keep twisting my words! "

Several of you are acting like I said all big companies shit everywhere and hate everyone and are basically movie villains just to make an extra dollar.

That's the emotional tone of what you said, yes. If you can't see that, then you need to figure out how to communicate better.