Photo: youtube.com
A Common Good Message for Matthias Müller, VW’s new chief executive
A well functioning capitalism, business, politics, or indeed anything else in life cannot operate without trust, a trust that has been destroyed by neo-liberalism that values everything else, but trust.
“If only everything in life was as reliable as a Volkswagen” ran the slogan of one of VW’s most iconic ad campaigns: Volkswagen Golf - Squeaky Earring - UK Advert - YouTube
It is sad to see a great company, much trusted by all, falls, like many others before it, to greed and neo-liberal capitalism, where nothing but profit maximisation, cost minimisation, lies, dishonesty, huge bonuses, salaries and suchlike are valued and prized.
The behaviour of these individuals, companies and businesses, led by their “good” looking CEOs, wearing Armani suits and flashing golden Swiss watches, with brilliant hair cuts, whitened teeth and manicured nails, holding MBAs and PhDs from this so-called top university or that business school have brought the world of business, finance, banking, commerce, politics, education and everything else in life into total disrepute and disaster.
Many books, 1000s of articles, billions of words have already been written on why such scandals have taken place, on what has gone wrong, or what can be done to put things right. Most of them agree on the role of one vital element: dishonesty fuelled by greed. We forget at our own peril that honesty and greed are essentially spiritual and moral issues.
Enacting laws, increasing the need for more governance will help, but more is needed.
To be good and trustworthy, to act good and take action in the interest of the common good, can not be legislated for. These come from somewhere else.
Volkswagen’s new boss, Matthias Mueller, said upon his appointment that the company faced “unprecedented challenges” in winning back trust: “My most urgent task is to win back trust for the Volkswagen Group"
To see more on these issues and what the new VW’s CEO needs to reflect upon carefully in “winning back trust”, see the Open Letter I had written to the Founder of Davos Forum in January 2015 :
An Open Letter to Prof. Klaus Schwab, WEF, Davos
To address and solve the long running corruption and scandals in our world today which has so adversely affected all aspects of our lives, all over the world, is not a complex issue to tackle, if there is a will to do so.
The key that will unlock the door to a corrupt-free world is EDUCATION, the one that is moral, ethical and spiritual, a education that is for the common good, as simple as that. Let me explain: