Transatlantic Zeppelin: Yet another controversy at Columbia

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May 18, 2005

Yet another controversy at Columbia

Seeing a controversy at Columbia in the press is a daily event, but usually they don’t affect the Business School. The undergrads do not visit us often, so we’re not covered in the Spectator, and therefore what happens in the business school tends to stay here. That’s generally a good thing, since CEOs come speak on campus almost every day. Sometimes the things they say are a bit saucy, like when Jack Welch said that Human Resources Departments at most companies are “a dumping ground for losers.” But by and large, business leaders come here and expect to be off-the-record, allowing them to speak freely their minds.

Powerline picked up on a controversy where the CFO of PepsiCo spoke on Sunday to the graduating class at Madison Square Garden. Graduation speeches are notoriously hard to write; most of what there is to say has been said many times over. In trying to be original, Pepsi’s Indra Nooyi said a few things that sound a bit ridiculous, such as how the US is a big middle finger that flicks-off the rest of the world.

Because the U.S. – the middle finger – sticks out so much, we can send the wrong message unintentionally. Unfortunately, I think this is how the rest of the world looks at the U.S. right now. Not as part of the hand – giving strength and purpose to the rest of the fingers – but, instead, scratching our nose and sending a far different signal.

And there was this unnecessary put-down of Africa:

First, let’s consider our little finger. Think of this finger as Africa. Africa is the little finger not because of Africa’s size, but because of its place on the world’s stage. From an economic standpoint, Africa has yet to catch up with her sister continents. And yet, when our little finger hurts, it affects the whole hand.

From here it went to a discussion of US businesspeople and Chinese loos, the typical stories of offensive Americans overseas that any experienced traveler can tell in spades.

Nooyi’s speech reminds me of people in Indiana who innocently display lawn jockeys, not realizing that the world around them has changed since the lawn jockey was used to signal Underground Railroad stops. Nooyi misses the reality that we conservatives have learned how to enforce political correctness. We learned it from the Democrats, who have countless conservative heads on pikes mounted at the gates of their headquarters. It's no secret that in today’s political correctness, speaking ill of America is a big no-no, though apparently not everyone has received the memo. After hearing liberals disparage this country and blame America for 9/11, it’s reasonable that many people would be sick of hearing about what’s wrong with America, no matter how well-intentioned. I think Nooyi tried to convince people at the speech to make America a better place, but the outdated hand analogy was not the right way to say it in today’s polticially-correct world.

It’s worth appreciating the role that business leaders play at Columbia Business School. When they say they meant no harm, they’re probably right, and we should thank them and hope they return.

UPDATE: The Big Trunk has posted a long compilation of replies on the topic, most written by better writers than me. I have trouble writing effectively when the topic is just something sophomoric that never should have been said in the first place and when it has more or less been retracted by its source.

Posted by adrianjo at May 18, 2005 06:19 PM