Terminator meets the matrix – Are we building a corporate skynet?

Kevan Hall, CEO of Global Integration, shares his experiences.

I got very rude comment on one of my YouTube videos calling me a NWO @&£@&@£. When I clicked through on the commenter’s profile, it was a very well armed American lady. I had to look up NWO (New World Order) as I hadn’t realised that was what I was 🙂

This happened to coincide with the trailers for the release of the latest terminator movie in the UK so I spent an (admittedly quite short) period contemplating whether making organizations operate more effectively globally was inevitably creating a new world order where corporations ride roughshod over rights and freedoms.

I guess if you are a conspiracy theorist this makes complete sense to you, however here are my thoughts;

I have spent 30 years plus working with multinationals, in that time I haven’t met many managers who I would trust less than most politicians. There have clearly been serious abuses of trust within some industries in recent years, but regulation is addressing this. How do you regulate corruption or deceit in politics when they control the regulators?

Large corporations are much more accountable to customers, employees and local regulators and stakeholders than politicians are to their electorate who (from the UK perspective at least) occasionally have the chance every few years to replace them with other similar members of the political class.

Despite occasional problems, globalisation over the last 30 years has lifted hundreds of millions of people out of poverty, encouraged the rule of law and provided enormous benefits to consumers and employees (if not to local vested interests who would prefer to protect their higher costs or prices at the expense of the consumer).

I think my conscience is clear, I don’t think we are building a corporate skynet to end the world but an efficient and effective way of serving customers and creating good quality jobs. But I would say that wouldn’t I?

P.s. if you are reading this from the future and planning to call at my house to save me from a future assassin – please drop me an email first and don’t arrive naked.[banner heading=”Contact us” link=”https://www.global-integration.com/contact-us/” icon=”coffee” anchor=”Get in touch” align= “left”] We help organizations cut through the complexities of virtual, matrix and global working. [/banner]

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