Saving the World at Work: What Companies and Individuals Can Do to Go Beyond Making a Profit to Making a Difference

think that the biggest problem is that the last bailout by the Bush administration has left many people suffering from what Tim Sanders, author of "Saving the World at Work," called a "backlash." In this book, the author talks about how "The law of the last mile" as being the hardest to complete, especially when an idea or initiative to boost employee morale gets a lot of enthusiasm -- and then fails to come to fruition. Then, the next time someone comes up with a similar idea, everyone "rolls their eyes' as if to say "here we go again." Sanders, whose book is primarily about how to compete in business in a changing world, has a lot of great ideas that Obama could use to either implement or make sure they are implemented in the companies he hopes to build or save. I have always held the belief that education is the only way businesses and communities will ever prosper. One of the companies mentioned in the book understood that unless the employees were educated that they would lack "imagination," something that would limit growth and development of quality products. And the problem of cost in communities where there were no high-school graduates, suppliers, businesses, etc. would cost the business more in the long run. In fact, that company took the initiative to offer college credits with courses that it offered to its employees. Those are just a couple of ideas that the book mentions aside from making the businesses more appealing to a new generation of "socially responsible" young people entering the work force who are looking at the company's quality of product and who are not willing to work for a company that doesn't think in terms of Eco-friendly products. In this objective, those companies that have put cost on a back burner to quality Eco-friendly products, stand more of a chance of finding willing educated employees. We all know that it takes a lot more to have a company full of happy employees today than it did 15 years ago. I think that goes for any educated person who has learned in recent studies in ethics courses or even in grade school that our world is in trouble if we don't stop the waste. This too is an important issue to everyone worried about where the money is going. We want accountability, not only in who is getting the money, but also in what will the standards of quality be in those jobs people are going to be getting? Will the governemnt mandate that the jobs pay well and offer benefits? And how will funding the restoration of schools help everyone? Especially, will funding for education be in the package in the form of retraining people throuhg offering grants or training through these new jobs that are eventually going to end. What then? Another question is: How is it fair that only people on unemployment get medicaid when many people are broke who were small business owners or who have already exhausted their unemployment? And when funding going to provide to both the employees; and how will it prevent more waste, the long run and the short run. Until he answers these questions, he might be as well be talking to himself. Once he takes these ideas into account, I know he can deliver as powerful a persuasive argument as the Thomas Paine speech was that may have been considered "The "last mile" in one of our most famous historical events. Compliments are in order for those who are willing to take a chance and pick up their gear to "get across" that last mile, so to speak. When republicans realize that the economy and the new "quality over output" is in dire need for our country to save money and our world ... now ... and in the long run, I think they will be more eager to sign the bill. Everybody wants to help and feel that they have done a good thing. Are they going to be doing a good thing when the sign the bill or not? That is the question the new generation of consumers wants to know when they buy nowadays, as Sanders suggests, these questions are what