Week 38: Limitation and Doubt Walk Down the Street in the City of Business-as-Usual

Dear all,

Limitation and Doubt walk down the street in the city of Business-as-Usual. Just below the hills of the mountain Growth, there is a valley called Short-term. Many strange and unique species inhabit the valley: ROI, EBITA, OCF, ROIC, DSO, EPS, Gross Margin, Net Profit Margin, and some less prominent, let alone less important species like Long-term, Sustainability, Responsibility, and Accountability.

From time to time, at the well of the river called Capitalism, where they all drink, all the species meet and sort of come together at the dawn of yet another evening. Even predators get thirsty from time to time. Flocks of fossil hyenas, dozens of banking lizards, and one or two political rats try to stay away from lobby anacondas. It is a spectacle people travel from around the world to witness and experience in real time. A myriad of species, where deals—albeit bloodstained—are made and broken.

Over the years, people have been enchanted by MMA-style wrestling matches between ROI and Sustainability. Hard, rough, bloody, and almost primal, these fights leave few spectators tranquil, despite the rather dull entertainment. ROI wins most of the fights, and even though Sustainability occasionally scores a victory, mostly with the audience’s support, it always seems to end the same way. A referee utters some kind of win-win decision. The audience collectively sighs and usually moves on to the more entertaining knife-fight between Accountability and the banking lizards. Sharp blades with pointy edges. Far riskier, far more entertaining.

Over the years, rats have tried—and failed—to change the rules of this fight several times. One of the main obstacles, as you can imagine, is the lobby anacondas, hired by the lizards for petty fodder, arguing that changing the rules would endanger the mountain of Growth. As it happens, Accountability gets stabbed. There’s nothing mortal about it—just small stabs, creating surface wounds—leaving Accountability unfit for any further fights.

Above the sky stands the mountain of all mountains, Growth, looking down on the spectacle in the valley of Short-term, expecting—almost demanding—unconditional obedience. People come and go, but the mountain remains, as does the valley, the river, and the predators. Limitation and Doubt walk down the street of the city of Business-as-Usual, holding hands to signal that, together, they are so much stronger.