Dignity isn't a privilege. It's a worker's right
-
0:01 - 0:04Of all the characters
in all the Disney films -
0:04 - 0:07the one I love the most
is Jiminy Cricket from "Pinocchio." -
0:08 - 0:10My favorite scene in the movie
-
0:10 - 0:13is when the blue fairy
is saying to Pinocchio, -
0:13 - 0:15"Always let your conscience
be your guide." -
0:16 - 0:18Pinocchio asks, "What are conscience?"
-
0:18 - 0:20and Jiminy Cricket
is scandalized by the question. -
0:20 - 0:22"What are conscience!
-
0:22 - 0:23What are conscience!
-
0:23 - 0:27Conscience is that still, small voice
that people won't listen to. -
0:27 - 0:30That's just the trouble
with the world today." -
0:31 - 0:34I love the way Jiminy Cricket
is always there -
0:34 - 0:37with a nerdy, ethical thing
-
0:37 - 0:41just as Pinocchio's coming up
with some kind of good plan. -
0:41 - 0:44I think of him as speaking
truth to puppet. -
0:44 - 0:47I always wondered what it was
about Jiminy Cricket -
0:47 - 0:48that made me love him so much
-
0:48 - 0:49and one day it hit me.
-
0:49 - 0:52It was because he sounds
like my grandfather. -
0:53 - 0:56My grandfather was
a very sweet and cuddly man, -
0:56 - 0:58and I loved him to the moon and back.
-
0:59 - 1:02But I shared him with a big, wide world.
-
1:02 - 1:04His name was Roy O. Disney,
-
1:04 - 1:07and together with his younger
brother Walt Disney, -
1:07 - 1:10he came from a very humble
upbringing in Kansas -
1:10 - 1:15and started and ran one of the most
iconic businesses in the world. -
1:16 - 1:19Two things I remember the best
about going to Disneyland -
1:19 - 1:20with my grandfather.
-
1:20 - 1:24The first thing was
he always gave me a stern warning -
1:24 - 1:26that if I ever sassed
anybody who worked there, -
1:26 - 1:29I was in deep doo-doo when we got home.
-
1:30 - 1:32He said, "these people work really hard --
-
1:32 - 1:34harder than you can imagine,
-
1:34 - 1:36and they deserve your respect."
-
1:37 - 1:41The other is that he never
walked by a piece of garbage, -
1:41 - 1:43inside of Disneyland or anywhere else,
-
1:43 - 1:45where he didn't bend over to pick it up.
-
1:45 - 1:49He said, "no one's too good
to pick up a piece of garbage." -
1:50 - 1:51In Grandpa's day,
-
1:51 - 1:54a job at Disneyland was not a gig.
-
1:55 - 1:57A person could expect to own a home,
-
1:57 - 1:59raise a family,
-
1:59 - 2:01access decent health care,
-
2:01 - 2:05retire in some security without worrying
-
2:05 - 2:08on just what he earned there at the park.
-
2:08 - 2:11Mind you, Grandpa fought the unions,
-
2:11 - 2:12and he fought them hard.
-
2:13 - 2:15He said he didn't like to be forced
-
2:15 - 2:17to do something
he wanted to do voluntarily. -
2:17 - 2:22That was rank paternalism of course
and maybe even a tiny bit of BS. -
2:22 - 2:23He wasn't an angel,
-
2:24 - 2:27and everyone wasn't well
and fairly treated across the company, -
2:27 - 2:29something that's well-known.
-
2:30 - 2:35But I think in his core
he had a very deep commitment -
2:35 - 2:40to the idea that he had a moral obligation
to every human being that worked for him. -
2:40 - 2:45That actually wasn't such an uncommon
attitude for CEOs of the day. -
2:46 - 2:49But when my grandfather died in 1971,
-
2:49 - 2:52a new mindset was beginning to take hold
-
2:52 - 2:55of the American and eventually
the global imagination. -
2:56 - 3:00Jiminy Cricket got shown the door
by economist Milton Friedman, -
3:00 - 3:01among others,
-
3:01 - 3:04who popularized the idea
of shareholder primacy. -
3:05 - 3:10Now, shareholder primacy is a pretty
reasonable idea when you think about it. -
3:11 - 3:13Shareholders own the company,
-
3:13 - 3:17shareholders want profits and growth,
-
3:17 - 3:21so therefore you prioritize
profits and growth. -
3:21 - 3:22Very sensible.
-
3:22 - 3:27But unfortunately, shareholder primacy
was an idea that became a mindset -
3:27 - 3:30and then that mindset jumped the rails,
-
3:30 - 3:33and it came to fundamentally
alter everything -
3:33 - 3:35about the way companies
and even governments -
3:35 - 3:37were led and managed.
-
3:38 - 3:42Milton Friedman's pivotal op-ed
in the "New York Times" -
3:42 - 3:48was followed by decades
of concerted organizing and lobbying -
3:48 - 3:50by business-focused activists
-
3:50 - 3:54along with a sustained assault
on every law and regulation -
3:54 - 3:59that had once held businesses'
worst impulses in check. -
4:00 - 4:01And soon enough,
-
4:01 - 4:05this new mindset had taken hold
across every business school -
4:05 - 4:06and across every sector.
-
4:07 - 4:11Profits were to be pursued
by any means necessary, -
4:11 - 4:13unions were kneecapped,
-
4:13 - 4:15taxes were slashed,
-
4:15 - 4:16and with the same machete,
-
4:16 - 4:18so was the safety net.
-
4:18 - 4:20I don't need to tell you
about the inequality -
4:20 - 4:22that's been the result of these shifts.
-
4:23 - 4:25We all know the story well.
-
4:25 - 4:29The bottom line is that everything
that turns a gig into a livelihood -
4:29 - 4:32was stripped away from an American worker.
-
4:32 - 4:33Job security,
-
4:33 - 4:35paid sick days,
-
4:35 - 4:36vacation time --
-
4:36 - 4:37all of that went away
-
4:37 - 4:43even as the wealthy saw their net worths
bloat to unprecedented, -
4:43 - 4:45and yes, unusable levels.
-
4:45 - 4:49Although if you're Scrooge McDuck
you could change it all into gold coins -
4:49 - 4:50and backstroke through it.
-
4:51 - 4:54So let me just address
the Dumbo in the room. -
4:55 - 4:58Yes, I am criticizing the company
that bears my family's name. -
5:00 - 5:02Yes, I think Disney can do better.
-
5:02 - 5:07And I believe that many of the thousands
of magnificent people -
5:07 - 5:09who work at the Walt Disney Company
-
5:09 - 5:12wish that it would do better
just as much as I do. -
5:13 - 5:15For almost a century,
-
5:15 - 5:17Disney has turned a pretty profit
-
5:17 - 5:21on the idea that families
are a kind of magic, -
5:21 - 5:23that love is important,
-
5:23 - 5:25that imaginations matter.
-
5:25 - 5:27That's why it turns
your stomach a little bit -
5:27 - 5:31when I tell you that Cinderella
might be sleeping in her car. -
5:31 - 5:34But let's be very clear:
this is not just about Disney. -
5:35 - 5:38This is structural and this is systemic.
-
5:38 - 5:42No single CEO on his own is culpable
-
5:42 - 5:45and no single company
has the wherewithal to buck this. -
5:45 - 5:47The analysts, the pundits,
-
5:47 - 5:48the politicians,
-
5:48 - 5:51the business school curricula
and the social norms -
5:51 - 5:54drive the shape
of the contemporary economy. -
5:54 - 5:57Disney is just doing
what everybody else does, -
5:57 - 5:59and they're not even the worst offender.
-
5:59 - 6:04If I told you how bad it was for workers
at Amazon or McDonald's or Walmart, -
6:04 - 6:07or any one of a thousand other places
you've never heard of, -
6:07 - 6:12it's not going to hit you as viscerally
as if I tell you that 73 percent, -
6:12 - 6:15or three out of four of the people
who smile when you walk in, -
6:15 - 6:18who help you comfort that crying baby,
-
6:18 - 6:22who maybe help you have the best
vacation you ever have, -
6:22 - 6:24can't consistently put food on the table.
-
6:25 - 6:27It's supposed to be
the happiest place on earth. -
6:29 - 6:32And the people who work there
take incredible pride -
6:32 - 6:35that they pursue a higher purpose.
-
6:35 - 6:36It's a higher purpose
-
6:36 - 6:40that both my grandfather
and great-uncle very intentionally built -
6:40 - 6:44when they made it a place that honors
an interaction over a transaction. -
6:46 - 6:49Now, I know that a word like magic
makes you wonder -
6:49 - 6:50if I've taken leave of my senses.
-
6:51 - 6:55I know it's hard to imagine
that something as ephemeral as love -
6:55 - 6:58can support a brand as big as Disney,
-
6:58 - 7:00and I know that it's hard to imagine
-
7:00 - 7:05that things as unquantifiable
as moral obligations -
7:05 - 7:07should have any call on us
-
7:07 - 7:10when we seek to deliver
value to our investors. -
7:11 - 7:15But accounting and finance
don't run the world. -
7:16 - 7:17Beliefs,
-
7:17 - 7:19mindsets --
-
7:19 - 7:21those are what drive business ethics.
-
7:21 - 7:25And if we're going to change
those mindsets and belief systems, -
7:25 - 7:28we're going to have to use the most
Disney superpower out there. -
7:28 - 7:30We're going to have to use
our imaginations. -
7:30 - 7:34You're going to have to invite
Jiminy Cricket back to the party. -
7:35 - 7:38Now, Jiminy Cricket might start
with some low-hanging fruit, -
7:39 - 7:42like, greed is not good,
-
7:42 - 7:46like the world is not divided
into makers and takers, -
7:46 - 7:47and that nobody ever,
-
7:47 - 7:49without any help,
-
7:49 - 7:51pulled themselves up
by their own bootstraps -- -
7:51 - 7:54if you know anything about physics
you'll understand why that is. -
7:55 - 7:59Jiminy might remind us that every
single person who works for us, -
7:59 - 8:01without exception,
-
8:01 - 8:03whether they fill out the spreadsheets
-
8:03 - 8:05or change the bedsheets,
-
8:05 - 8:09deserves the respect
and dignity of living wage. -
8:09 - 8:10It's as simple as that.
-
8:11 - 8:15And Jiminy might wonder
how managers and employees -
8:15 - 8:19could possibly have any kind
of empathy for each other -
8:19 - 8:23when their workplaces
have become so segregated -
8:23 - 8:25that it seems normal and natural
-
8:25 - 8:29that an executive needs
an especially swanky place to park -
8:29 - 8:31or eat or go to the bathroom
-
8:31 - 8:35or that an executive is too good
to pick up a piece of garbage. -
8:35 - 8:40We are, after all, just the one species
living together on just the one planet. -
8:41 - 8:46Jiminy might ask us
to question some of our dogma. -
8:46 - 8:51Does a CEO really need to be paid
as much or more than every other CEO -
8:51 - 8:53or is that just creating
a competitive dynamic -
8:53 - 8:55that's driving numbers
into the stratosphere? -
8:56 - 9:00He might wonder if boards really do know
all that they really need to know -
9:00 - 9:04when they don't have frontline workers
ever at their meetings. -
9:05 - 9:08He might ask if there's such a thing
as too much money. -
9:09 - 9:12Or he might wonder
if maybe we can make common cause -
9:12 - 9:14with consumers, with workers,
-
9:14 - 9:16with companies, with communities,
-
9:16 - 9:18for all of us to come together
-
9:18 - 9:22to redefine this incredibly narrow idea
-
9:22 - 9:25of what the purpose
of a company really is. -
9:26 - 9:31Jiminy would want us to remember
that nobody works in a vacuum, -
9:31 - 9:34that the men and women who run companies
-
9:34 - 9:38actively cocreate the reality
we all have to share. -
9:38 - 9:40And just like with global warming,
-
9:40 - 9:44we are, each of us, responsible
for the collective consequences -
9:44 - 9:47of our individual decisions and actions.
-
9:48 - 9:52I believe that the most profitable
business ecosystem -
9:52 - 9:53in the history of the world
-
9:53 - 9:54can do better.
-
9:54 - 9:58I believe we can take
just a little bit off of the upside, -
9:58 - 10:03take a tiny bit of pressure off
the speed at which things are happening. -
10:03 - 10:06I believe that everything
we lose in the short-term -
10:06 - 10:07will more than make up for itself
-
10:07 - 10:13in an expanded landscape of moral,
spiritual and financial prosperity. -
10:14 - 10:16I know what the cynics say, and it's true:
-
10:16 - 10:18you can't eat your principles.
-
10:18 - 10:21But you can't breathe
a basis point either, -
10:21 - 10:22and neither can your children.
-
10:23 - 10:27I know I idolized my grandfather
probably too much. -
10:27 - 10:29He worked in very different times
-
10:29 - 10:31and those are times
none of us want to go back to -
10:31 - 10:34for all kinds of good reasons.
-
10:34 - 10:37I know there are a lot of CEOs today
who are just as well-meaning -
10:37 - 10:40and just as decent as my grandfather was,
-
10:40 - 10:43but they're working at a time
with very different expectations -
10:43 - 10:45and much more cutthroat context.
-
10:46 - 10:48But here's the good news.
-
10:48 - 10:51Expectations and contexts are made
-
10:51 - 10:54and they can be unmade, too.
-
10:54 - 10:57There is so much to learn
from the simple integrity -
10:57 - 11:00of how my grandfather
understood his job as CEO. -
11:01 - 11:04Behind every theme park
and every stuffed animal, -
11:04 - 11:07a handful of principles
governed everything. -
11:08 - 11:12Every single person
deserves respect and dignity. -
11:13 - 11:17No one is too good
to pick up a piece of garbage, -
11:17 - 11:20and always let conscience be your guide.
-
11:21 - 11:25We could all do worse
than listen to Jiminy Cricket. -
11:25 - 11:26Thank you.
- Title:
- Dignity isn't a privilege. It's a worker's right
- Speaker:
- Abigail Disney
- Description:
-
What's the purpose of a company? In this bold talk, activist and filmmaker Abigail Disney imagines a world where companies have a moral obligation to place their workers above shareholders, calling on Disney (and all corporations) to offer respect, dignity and a living wage to everyone who works for them.
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDTalks
- Duration:
- 11:40
Erin Gregory edited English subtitles for Dignity isn't a privilege. It's a worker's right | ||
Erin Gregory approved English subtitles for Dignity isn't a privilege. It's a worker's right | ||
Erin Gregory edited English subtitles for Dignity isn't a privilege. It's a worker's right | ||
Erin Gregory edited English subtitles for Dignity isn't a privilege. It's a worker's right | ||
Joanna Pietrulewicz accepted English subtitles for Dignity isn't a privilege. It's a worker's right | ||
Joanna Pietrulewicz edited English subtitles for Dignity isn't a privilege. It's a worker's right | ||
Joanna Pietrulewicz edited English subtitles for Dignity isn't a privilege. It's a worker's right | ||
Leslie Gauthier edited English subtitles for Dignity isn't a privilege. It's a worker's right |