The New York Times asks 'Are profits hurting capitalism?'

These are the kinds of headlines we need to see more of! Headlines that really catch the eye and make people put down their morning coffee, gaze out the window, and ask…“what the hell is going on?” 

Profits. Capitalism. Most people understandably think that the whole purpose of capitalism is to turn a profit. So how can the success of making profits hurt the system that created them?

There is this small problem.

People who live in a democratic society have a right and an obligation to question what the “system” is producing and for whom. This editorial in the Times raises the questions, although I am not in full agreement with the prescriptions.

So what does that have to do with us?

I think the headline and possible solutions are extremely relevant in our world at Kaiser Permanente and in the Labor-Management Partnership.

At KP and the LMP, we have embarked on a great social experiment. We have launched a more than decade-old dialogue-- let’s call it a “social dialogue” -- that places the interests of everyone in the organization, the interests of the patients and members, and the interests of the future all on the same table.

We have chosen a courageous path. We are beginning to place mutually agreed upon interests above self-interest. I have been convinced for some time that at least one of the reasons so many in our KP/LMP world are inspired to attempt this very different approach is because they believe we can become a model for the nation. A model not just in terms of showing how to deliver the best health care  at an affordable cost, but to also show that a different dialogue is possible, that mutual interests are more important in the long-run.

We are the exception

The op-ed from the recent  New York Times recognizes that U.S. corporations have not invested profits in productive and socially beneficial economic growth, but instead in short-term gain. That is the point of the film, the Case for Change. Our country has evolved from a society based on security to a society based on “you’re on your own.” We know that this evolution didn’t happen by itself “like the weather.”  Rather, choices corporations made without a public or “social dialogue” to demand anything different brought us to the brink.

Time’s up, and has been for a long time now. The question is this: how can the need for reinvestment in the social infrastructure of our nation happen? 

It’s up to us

That’s where we and others can help. Our model of partnership is based on a commitment to making decisions based on mutual interest, or at the very least, not allowing narrow self-interest to overwhelm the respective missions of management and labor. In the 80s and 90s, self interest overwhelmed mutual interest, but KP and the Union Coalition chose a different path.

Our nation must change its path. We need a “social dialogue” that includes the nature of profit and what should be done with it. Some call this regulation, with all its negative connotations. No.

It is time for big business, small business, labor, academia, and others to come together and, as President Roosevelt did in his last inaugural address in 1944, call for a “second bill of rights,” economic and social rights that will benefit everyone.

It might be hard to create a “social dialogue” in a society so large and so polarized, and seemingly so angry. But I believe this is all hype and “in-the-moment” media driven nonsense.  Everyone knows we can’t keep going the way we are.

Stop. Listen to one another. We can identify mutual interests and find solutions to our problems. 

We call our experiment a “partnership,” and we’re doing it in one of the largest organizations in American society. We will succeed, and as we do, others will want to join in.