c. 2008 Religion News Service

(UNDATED) For years now, our putative “best and brightest” have been going into business and finance.

Graduates of the finest colleges and universities, whose resumes are litanies of preparation for leadership, have sought employment in banking, business consulting, corporate law and technology.

It’s where the money is _ seven-figure salaries, as opposed to $35,000 to teach children. It’s where to find exciting challenges like creating an enterprise from scratch. It’s where a determined leader can make a difference.

Why, then, is our economy such a mess? Why can’t General Motors produce reliable cars that people want to buy? Why can’t old-line enterprises read the winds of change and respond in a timely manner? Why can’t businesses succeed without resorting to the cheap trick of mergers and massive layoffs? Why can’t energy companies provide sustainable supplies of renewable energy?

Why can’t financial managers earn their lofty salaries by providing a reliable, trustworthy flow of capital without preying on weak-willed consumers, taking foolish risks and seeking the protection of politicians? Why is the technology sector wasting so much of its amazing creativity on games and entertainment? With all of our advantages, why can’t we compete more effectively in the global economy?

I’m not questioning the virtues of free-market capitalism. Nor am I saying that excellence is totally absent; many enterprises are doing well. I just think it’s time we sounded a call for competence.

With all the educational energy and lavish compensation that our society has devoted to producing leaders, we should be getting more. We shouldn’t be discovering so many short-sighted decisions, so much half-examined risk, so much systemic corruption.

Yes, I know we are a fallen breed, and the same depravity that dumped toxic waste into streams is polluting our lives now with shoddy merchandise, half-tested drugs and government bailouts. But insulating systems from depravity is just another business challenge, like balancing risk and assessing global competition. Do we lack the will to keep greed and folly away from the helm?

I also know that any human system is never far from jungle rules. Business thrives on competition, as it should. But we don’t seem to evolve. Today’s mansions-and-Prada culture shows little advancement from the Gilded Age, which almost wrecked the Republic. We should know by now that unrestrained jousting and personal excess inevitably lead to recession or depression.

We should know that the global economic landscape has changed, and we can no longer expect to compete well just by showing up.

There’s no single answer, of course. But the vast majority of us who depend on the probity and competence of leaders need to ask why we aren’t getting our money’s worth from the financial incentives we shower upon our business elites. And why so much subsidized and tax-sheltered education doesn’t produce more capability. And why our trust and respect have been abused so blithely by connivers.

My sense is that, in the years of postwar expansion, we were just lucky. Then luck stopped being enough. Determined competitors emerged, and we drifted into an entitlement phase where credentials mattered more than performance. Success came too easily. Instead of learning from our failures, we blamed and punished.

As an ethical issue, incompetence isn’t as easily addressed as, say, other people’s sexuality. But in my opinion, it’s the underlying issue in our political campaigns and in our economy’s distress. Until we address it, our jobs, our assets and our nation will remain in shaky hands.

(Tom Ehrich is a writer, church consultant and Episcopal priest based in New York. He is the author of “Just Wondering, Jesus,” and the founder of the Church Wellness Project, http://www.churchwellness.com. His Web site is http://www.morningwalkmedia.com.)

KRE/PH END EHRICH

650 words

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