More Good American Jobs Requires a new Paradigm for Consumers

President Trump has stated that he wants to put 20% tariffs in place for all or most imports. I don't love this idea. I understand the thinking, but I don't think it addresses the actual problem which I believe is our collective consumerism and over emphasis of profit over employees and community development. Our consumerism drives investors, owners, and business leaders to be laser focused on profits at all costs. The solutions are to change how we think and to implement the balanced scorecard.

It is common knowledge that supply and demand are the two primary factors influencing markets. Therefore, when we consider the problem of American jobs being sent overseas, we must consider the supply side economics and the demand side. For example the company outsourcing labor to sell a car cheaply is no more the problem than the consumers that desperately want more car for less cost. We the consumers can not point the crooked finger at corporations thinking they bear all the blame. As Taylor Swift sings, "It's me, Hi!, I'm the problem. It's me." We the consumers (and to a lesser extent, we the investors in companies) tell companies by the way we spend and invest our money how they should operate. We are telling them to cut cost! Therefore, to bring back jobs to America, we the consumers need to change our thinking, our spending, and our investing. We must be willing to

• Intentionally look for made in America items
• Spend more per item and have less stuff
• Live more simply
• Invest in companies that invest in their people and communities
• Accept lower investment yields so that companies can put more money toward their people and communities.

In America we think about, dream about, and focus on growing profits. We are the most prosperous nation and expect to continually produce successful businesses. However, businesses that succumb to this pressure see people as resources instead of partners, causing them to look outside their communities for others who will accept less compensation to produce the same product. Making money is not wrong, but we who run businesses must be willing to

• Use the balanced scorecard to help us move from capitalism to compassionate capitalism.

The idea is the balanced scorecard which was developed by Robert S. Kaplan and David P. Norton to help businesses not focus on profits alone but to focus holistically on all parts of the business. The general idea is to define a small number of big goals that work for their business such as

• Make Profits
• Help the Environment
• Help the Employees
• Fulfill the business mission

The business then defines specific goals and metrics under each big goal. The business is then managed to accomplish the big goals in a way that their success is balanced among the big goals. At times trade-offs will have to be made when a conflict exists between big goals. But, if businesses would institute the balanced scorecard and include their employees wellbeing and local community development as one goal they would approach business strategy and human resources very differently.

Tariffs and tax breaks can have a small benefit to creating good jobs in America, but they are only band aids. Until we the people change our way of thinking, we will never see the job market and rising wages we say we want. Will we change our buying and investing habits and change the way we manage our businesses in order to benefit our neighbors and our country?