Consumer-Citizen Revolt

If you've ever picked up a copy of Business Week, you know that even its hardest-hitting stories about the dark side of corporate America barely scratch the surface and rarely provide meaningful discourse that's much different than something CNBC's Jim Cramer would throw at you in a spray of spittle.

So it's a little surprising to read a recent piece by Shoshana Zuboff, author of The Support Economy.

No one is spared in this blistering analysis, titled Obama's Victory: A Consumer-Citizen Revolt. Zuboff surmises that the recent landslide election was not just a wake-up call for our government, but for our business and corporate world too. In case you doubt her sincerity, here's her opening thoughts:

This column is dedicated to the top managers of American business whose policies and practices helped ensure Barack Obama's victory. The mandate for change that sounded across this country is not limited to our new President and Congress. That bell also tolls for you. Obama's triumph was ignited in part by your failure to understand and respect your own consumers, customers, employees, and end users. The despair that fueled America's yearning for change and hope grew to maturity in your garden.

Millions of Americans heard President-elect Obama painfully recall his sense of frustration, powerlessness, and outrage when his mother's health insurer refused to cover her cancer treatments. Worse still, every one of them knew exactly how he felt. That long-simmering indignation is by now the defining experience of every consumer of health care, mortgages, insurance, travel, and financial services—the list goes on.

Obama was elected not only because many Americans feel betrayed and abandoned by their government but because those feelings finally converged with their sense of betrayal at the hands of Corporate America. Their experiences as consumers and as citizens joined to create a wave of revolt against the status quo—as occurred in the American Revolution. Be wary of those who counsel business as usual. This post-election period is a turning point for the business community. It demands an attitude of sober reappraisal and a disposition toward fundamental reinvention. If you don't do it, someone else will.

Once she gets over her shyness, Zuboff really digs in, assailing corporate leadership for their terrible management practices, maltreatment of workers, and loss of trust among their customers. It's an excellent read, and in this arc of change, one that should be required for everyone.