Bring Back the Guilds...

Bring Back the Guilds…


On NPR today, the subject of retirement for the ‘baby boomer’ generation came up and the consensus was that there would be a high percentage of job openings that would not be filled.


To make matters worse, it was also realized by some in human resources and management, that there would be a wealth of talent that will no longer be available to draw upon once this generation retires.

Really? And this is a surprise? Let’s cut back to the late 80’s and early 90’s,
At that time, it seemed as if every possible merger or acquisition possibility was exhausted, with it being unreported that many American jobs were lost through foreign acquisition and take-over.

We didn’t hear about the owners complaining about lost talent and expertise then.
At that time, business was about one thing: Increasing profits. Only, recently did we learn that these gurus may have only half-reported the truth. As we’ve since learned, much of those purported “profits” actually found their way into Golden Parachutes and other benefits for top executives.

In the corporate trimming that went on in the 80’s, we heard a lot about “corporate downsizing,” the euphemism of the day. After all, if you were going to drop much of your management team, it was nice to put a smiley face on it.

Here’s the straight facts: At the time, I didn’t know any senior executive who was not encouraged or threatened to take early retirement. One might posit the question: What happened to that reservoir of knowledge that was eclipsed? Mainly, it was lost in the rush to computers and Internet technology husbanded by twenty-five year olds who thought they knew everything.

At the time, there was all too much faith in process rather than the intimate knowledge of how things worked. And it backfired! The twenty five year olds discovered that maybe they didn’t know as much as they thought. . That was especially evident during the short-lived Internet boom where bright eyed Stanford graduates and their ilk discovered that through their ignorance of business practices and their lack of specific business expertise, they were turning off senior level buyers and other executives. No, computer expertise was hardly enough to keep the economy growing; and when that reality showed up, those same companies found themselves in a spiral.

Nonetheless, an entire generation of management had evanesced in a flash. In the course of a very short time frame, the geeks had taken over. .

So, what happened?

A lot of companies failed because they didn’t have access to the wealth of expertise that resided in those folks sent out to pasture before their time foundered.. That’s the whole wicked truth. And it makes one amazingly cynical to think that the industry is going wholesale through the process of seeking redemption. Maybe they should have thought about that before they merged or “outsourced” (another damn euphemism) all of their good jobs overseas.

No, folks, the Greening of America concept that starting this whole thing off wasn’t quite honest and I suspect it was financed by a lot of wealthy business owners who really just wanted an excuse to send the jobs overseas so that they could fatten their own wallets.

For those, however, leaving the field who really want to leave a legacy they might start thinking about something old that could be something new and very relevant to other workers who before had no one standing in their corner. In other words, we may be on the cusp of an opportunity to bring people back into the equation.

What I am hinting at is the resurrection of the amazingly successful Feudal Guilds that brought the professionals together with tyros allowing them to pass their talents down to those who were best qualified to take their places.

The concept might very well lend itself to technology and manufacturing as well as crafts giving a shot in the arm to Americans who would be eager to get back to work in quality jobs.

At the very least, such an arrangement would give labor the edge again over
Management and provide the kind of balance between management and the worker that we have not seen for generations… It is something for the Unions to think about if they ever hope to make a comeback and it would be salubrious for American enterprise and constitute perhaps a new beginning…. Overall, it might just be the win-win labor has needed for the last twenty years…

And the need for a new beginning—along with new thinking—are very much the order of the day in a country that has seen all of its quality jobs disappearing overseas on the pretense that it is good for America.

Wouldn’t it be interesting to see an old concept revitalized to fit the needs and challenges of today, a concept that could restore good jobs to America and help us to shine again in international markets. Made in America. It has such a nice lilt.

Les Aaron