BP: Lessons about Government and Business
July 16th, 2010 . by iVote
For nearly three months we have all been watching plumes of oil gushing from the BP oil operation in the Gulf of Mexico.
Yesterday, July 15, 2010, with cautious optimism, BP announced that indeed the leak had been capped and that testing would begin to ensure the long term viability of their solution.
The BP debacle, however maddening, became for me a laboratory where I could learn lessons about the effectiveness of business versus that of government.
Despite the tragedy and its ensuing ecological and economic damage to the Gulf region, a picture has emerged that demonstrates how the real world of business works and how the real world of government pretends to work.
THE REAL WORLD OF GOVERNMENT
Throughout the entire BP episode we were treated (for lack of a better word) to a real world lesson about how government and business deal with and solve problems. In this case, monumental and catastrophic problems. The BP oil spill was indeed the ultimate reality show.
It is indeed interesting to see how the Obama administration began to posture itself from “day one” and to politicize the issue. Officials were paraded before cameras declaring that our government was on top of the situation. They weren’t.
When Bobby Jindal (R), Governor of Louisiana, petitioned Washington for support of his action plans to save the coast line from the consequences of the oil spill he was met with red tape, resistance and ultimately rejection.
All the while, Barack Obama and his minions were hitting the airways proclaiming their competencies while slapping BP upside their corporate head and painting a picture in the minds of Americans of a greedy, self-serving corporate monster.
Now that the leak is capped we will hear more from Obama Land about “oversight” and “being on top” of the BP tragedy. We will hear about the dangerous risks businesses take and how corporate recklessness can destroy our lives.
But what, if anything, did government actually do to help end the crisis? What particular skills did the President and his underlings bring to the table to actually contain the leak? Did our government create the carefully engineered designs for the cap? Was the Washington machine hands-on in any way whatsoever?
Were any of the bureaucrats actually involved in turning any wrenches? Did anyone from inside the beltway operate the joystick and computerized controls involved in the operation of BP’s submersible robots that performed their duties at more than 5,000 feet below the surface?
NO…NO…and, finally, NO! In fact, it could be argued that our government was part of the problem and that the bureaucratic red tape prevented the protection of the precious Gulf beaches and estuaries and contributed to the disaster.
THE REAL WORLD OF BUSINESS
There is no doubt that in the post explosion aftermath BP blundered and did so big time. The BP public relations were a nightmare and only served to further fuel the animosity building in the Gulf.
Businesses, unlike scripted bureaucrats, are not always good at the microphone or the teleprompter.
It became obvious that BP had a monster on the loose. But what is remarkable is the fact that BP appears to have accomplished what businesses always accomplish…solutions.
What is also apparent is the motivation behind BP’s action…survival. In the final analysis, no one could save BP except BP. Herein is my point. Solutions and survival mean different things to government than they do to business people and this was never more obvious to me than during this crisis.
Government regulates, stipulates and postulates; always attempting to tilt the playing field to its advantage. In the case of government, solutions are created in the vacuum of politics where there the line between winning and losing is carefully drawn, moved and misaligned.
Government doesn’t have to solve problems associated with oil spills and other disasters; government can only pontificate and create illusions with respect to its role in our lives amidst tragedies like the oil spill.
In contrast to the role and actions of big government, businesses, driven almost entirely by survival instincts (aka “profit motives”), must actually solve problems in measurable and demonstrable ways. Solutions and survival become a zero sum game to any business facing challenges like the BP oil spill.
Unlike big government’s spin machine, at the end of BP’s day there would be little, if any, wiggle room. Everything is on the line and that is what business is all about and what capitalism is all about. There are no back doors or escape hatches.
Shutting off the plume is a measurable outcome resulting from real world problem solving and a huge amount of actual capital. That is precisely what business does; risks capital to solve problems and provide solutions.
Unlike Barack Obama posturing and warning that he was going to “kick ass” (his words), business people have to plug their leaks everyday and put themselves on the line as they face the risk of potential and ultimate failure.
Plugging leaks is something Barack Obama doesn’t understand, at least not from the standpoint of having actually operated a business, met payroll or created profitable solutions that pay the bills, send kids to college, pay for health care and finance a summer vacation.
There are some lessons we can learn from the BP oil disaster and most of them show us the difference between how most business people live and solve problems and how government pretends to help while it feigns expertise.
The tragedy of the Gulf oil spill will be with us for many years. But I am wondering what situation we might be facing today if Washington D.C., Barak Obama and his legions of bureaucrats were left alone to plug the leak.
The entire event forces us to ask a basic question about whether we believe the nine-to-five bureaucrats possess the same will, fortitude, creativity and discipline to solve problems that the BP management and employees and the thousands of Gulf residents displayed throughout the crises?
The BP oil spill is filled with lessons about our government’s inability to be in charge of our lives at any level.
The BP oil spill is once again filled with lessons about the power of individual people to solve problems, giant problems in ways that government never can.
The BP oil spill has been horrible but there is something important we can learn about the difference between how government pretends to solve our problems and how we the people, when allowed to do so, can and do solve our own problems.
