Bill, Amanda wrote:
> Dear Ken,
> Please don't be offended. Obviously I didn't make Thrift's point clear. He doesn't say the passionate ethos of management had anything to do with greed - in fact he suggests the opposite. He's saying that a Romantic 'passionate' individualism was a 'way of being' that supported the growth of new financial markets, because it allowed managers and teams to take risks and feel they should enjoy the economic processes of creative destruction.
The banking "barrow boys" who drove the markets and come up with clever
ideas for new kinds of debt were all hard working, intelligent, creative
and I'm sure passionate about their work. But I don't think we can blame
passion.
Their failure was down to the lack of a strong ethical framework and a
lack of historical perspective. I know more than one person who worked
for a bank in the past and was repelled by the assumptions in the
business and the tasks they were given (to persuade people to buy things
they didn't need and might harm them). Those people decided that their
talents would be better used elsewhere.
I've heard it said more than once that the ethical failure started in
the business schools. Maybe we are sowing the seeds of similar ethical
disasters in design?
very best
Chris
*********************
Professor Chris Rust FDRS
Head of Art and Design Research Centre
Sheffield Hallam University, S1 2NU, UK
+44 114 225 6772 (direct)
+44 114 225 6740 (admin)
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Every time I see an adult on a bicycle, I no longer despair for the
future of the human race. - H. G. Wells
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