IT’s a bird…IT’s a plane…IT’s a gigantic pickle!

Stewardship is the corporate action that will shape the future of businesses globally.  It is a buzz word that encompasses a myriad of ideals and expectations.  It is hard to measure and harder still to execute.

The importance of stewardship is linked to nearly every aspect of business imaginable.  It has implications ethically, environmentally, financially, relationally, personally, and morally.  Because implications can be positive or negative, your stewardship can be deemed “good” or “bad”.  A good steward acts above reproach, exercising calculated and mature behavior.  A bad steward doesn’t.  Simple as that.

Now let me tie it together with an illustration…

Every business works hard and spends money hoping to make money. Most have learned that there is no get rich quick plan – I won’t deny the accumulating power of every dollar saved, but there is no magic pixie dust.  Small and big companies alike have discovered tempting shortcuts in the business world.  Unfortunately, the glowing opportunity which entices them is not a friendly flame.  Yielding to such temptation brings into question the quality of your stewardship and even your character.  These decisions impact the mindset of current and future clients, put a damper on trust, and devastate the branding reputation that you have worked so hard to engrave in the minds of your target market.  This bad taste lingers in customer’s mouth even after they devour the most “curiously strong mints” that a PR expert can provide.

Let’s take a closer look at national events of late and how stewardship comes into the picture.  Surface level you see a failing mortgage broker.  What I see are the greed-glazed eyes of a bank that over-gambled with someone else’s money.  What you see are people living the “American Dream.”  What I see is financial disillusionment seated on the posts of that white picket fence and seeds of impatience sown in the front planters.  If you don’t like the way I see it, we could put it in the words penned by Robert Buckland and Citigroup’s global strategy team. “Easy money encouraged many to buy a bigger house, a bigger car or a bigger speculative position.  But now, any behavior that relied upon continued access to easy money is being dramatically reassessed.  Leveraged banks must lend less, leveraged consumers must consume less, leveraged companies must acquire or invest less, and leveraged speculators must speculate less.”

As it turns out, a pickle is not just something you eat with your sandwich.  It is a sticky situation that we a nation, as business owners, and as consumers have gotten ourselves in.  Tomorrow’s stewardship is a not going to fix today’s problems.  However, developing and demanding an environment that prizes stewardship is going to progress us pro-actively toward a new end.  Personal accountability and professional responsibility are where IT needs to start.

IT matters.