Grayling Blog

Corporate Humility

Posted on 7.06.2010 by Unknown User

Last month I commented upon BP’s ability to search deep to find those core values that drove it to re-image itself as a company with authentic values, and that was unafraid to imagine a world where it’s primary product was no longer central to its existence. Further it imagined making genuine efforts to bring about that changed world.

My premise was that if it could locate those values and if they were indeed authentically arrived upon, then BP could weather this tragedy and marshal the will and the resources and the leadership to save the company and save the Gulf.

Much more has occurred in the Gulf these past four weeks than most, certainly me, could have imagined. There is now evidence that many saw this even back then for the unstoppable calamity that it has turned out to be. This has created some unfortunate politics that have not been conducive to a collective national response to mitigate the problem.

The political chattering class and TV commentators fumble to say something meaningful about a situation that few are qualified to make cogent statements upon. Comments about how the President of the United States has mismanaged the crisis by failing to get demonstrably angry at BP and hold them accountable, are as untrue as they are misguided. The result is that politics now indicate that President Obama must make statements regarding looking about for “ass to kick.” The President’s political opponents have had freedom to blame the President for a situation not of his making, nor for which can he bring to an immediate end. The President is in the awkward position of proving that no one can be madder than he and that BP is being held accountable, when there’s no way to show an end to a crisis that really has just begun.

Since misery tends to love company, some at BP may be relieved to see the President politically in the soup with them, but there is an opportunity to help themselves by helping the President, and that would help BP demonstrate its true values.

As angry as Americans are, and as much as they want a guarantee that the companies involved will be fully accountable for damages and clean up, there’s a limit to our ability to sit back knowing that someone will be held accountable for the catastrophe that continues to grow. We naturally are inclined to do something and BP should make it possible for the American people to help. Now is the moment for BP to humbly lay prostrate before the American people and admit that this problem is bigger than BP. Although BP may be the fourth largest corporation in the world, this problem is of a magnitude that a greater force must be called into action, the power of the American people to give of themselves to undo a disaster that was not of their doing.

Tens of thousands of Americans, and especially young graduates, could be organised into a modern day Civilian Conservation Corps all completely funded by BP and perhaps the other corporations implicated in the event. The President could call for this all to be organized through the Corporation for National Service and put his own signature on it. BP could write the check and assure Americans that it is fulfilling its responsibilities as the liable party, but admit that this matter is bigger than BP. The people of the Gulf Coast and the ecosystems from which so much life and commercial activity flows forth, is far more important than BP and far bigger than BP’s resources alone to fix.

Whether BP is sufficiently publicly flogged by an angry President may matter in the November elections, but the Gulf Coast and its people are going to be no less spoiled nor remediated by such tongue lashing. Humility goes a long way towards bringing your adversary into acceptance that a person or corporation are all just part of the equally flawed human condition. BP must continue to drill into August to finally stop the leaks, but they should consider how they could give the President and the American people something that we can all work on together.