JANUARY 30, 2004

By Christopher Kenton
Christopher Kenton is president of the marketing agency Cymbic

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KENTON'S CORNER
By Christopher Kenton


The Truth, No Matter What
I can't pen a column, especially about the global economy, without abusive letters pouring in. Sorry, critics, but you have more to gripe about

Now that we're a month into the New Year, I can finally move beyond my stalled resolutions for 2004. I haven't increased my exercise regimen, I haven't lightened my work load to enjoy life a little more, and I haven't accelerated my writing schedule to complete the next business best-seller. So much for high expectations.


There is one resolution, though, that I'm working hard to keep. Actually, it's not so much a resolution as a discovery, and in an important way, you readers are involved. It was the challenge of a number of readers who have responded to this column that made me realize I wasn't being completely honest in what I write about here, or in explaining the reasoning behind the positions I take.

The most direct challenges came after my last column on outsourcing (see BW Online, 1/5/04, "The Changing Face of Offshore Programming"). I signed off with a casually optimistic comment about how I thought a global economy would benefit my 2-year-old son when he grew up, but I didn't say why I held that belief. Instead, I left people to assume I'd give them the old Free Market stump speech, when in fact my personal view doesn't support such an easy assumption.

AMERICAN VALUES.  Most of the responses were expected. Any time I write anything about outsourcing or a global economy, I get a wave of abusive e-mail -- people label me a traitor for selling out American jobs in the greedy pursuit of corporate profits. It's depressing how far from rational debate public discourse has plummeted. No one pursues dialog anymore; instead, we listen only for the cues that signify enemies and allies. Instead of exploring ideas and assumptions, we just shore up our arsenal of arguments to support predetermined conclusions.

A few readers probed more deeply, however. Instead of slamming me with insults and accusations, three readers asked the same question: Why are you optimistic? Then, a surprising dialog began. Not because the ideas were new, but because I realized for the first time how much my public writing is dominated by an expedient silence. It's as if the price for having an honest opinion just isn't worth it anymore, not when mainstream views will get you by without effort.

So the resolution I'm vowing to keep this year is to find my real voice on the issues that matter most to me. There are plenty of business issues to write about -- outsourcing, marketing, and technology -- and I'll continue to address them. But at the root of all of these issues, each of us makes choices about what we will believe and how we will conduct our business. My beliefs are based on how I balance my business life and my spiritual life, and I want to look more deeply at that.

If that sounds like code for writing a morality column, let me disabuse you of that notion right off the bat. I'm talking about addressing in one breath two of the principal conceits that define being an American -- the ability to achieve material and spiritual success -- along with the cavernous contradictions and mountainous hypocrisies that abound when the two are joined in one system of belief.

LAND OF OPPORTUNITY.  As a point of departure, let's start with the global economy. I've been accused of greedily promoting outsourcing, typically by people who cite a litany of doomsday scenarios in which my actions and beliefs will lead to a crumbling of the American way of life. Well, I don't disagree. I think it's entirely possible that we could lose our standard of living, though I haven't yet seen the crystal ball so many people seem so willing to believe in. Still, I'm optimistic.

Continued on next page>>  | 1 | 2



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