Ten years ago, when the United States signed but then refused to ratify The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change—better known as the Kyoto Protocol, for the city in which it was negotiated—the U.S. was vilified as a bully, the world’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases that refused to even consider reducing its output.
In 1992, one of Bill Clinton’s campaign managers summed up the key issue of that year’s presidential election in just four words: “It’s the economy, stupid.”
Fast-forward to 2007, and ask most any politician: What’s the biggest issue facing U.S. manufacturing today?
“People are our most important asset.”
So managers used to say, back in the day when corporations paid consultants to help them develop mission statements and other such management “essentials.”
Don’t get me wrong—a lot of companies still have mission statements and some even use them as guidelines for overall company management and operations.
