Workplace Calisthenics: Market teaches humbling lesson on greed

Gordon Gecko, from the movie "Wall Street," taunted us with his bottom-line ethics: "Greed is good." With resounding, Midwestern, pulpit-thumping clarity, we responded, "Greed is evil."

This movie, with its easy, situational ethics, became the fodder for sanctimonious diatribes which usually ended with, "What is this generation coming to?"

That was, until we could buy Yahoo! for $32 a share and then ride its liquid-nitrogen-like ascent to $380.

I have come to the conclusion, in my senior years, that greed is only evil as long as I am not becoming filthy rich. As soon as I become a "player," my ethics change.

Have you noticed that many of us are not taking the letter opener to the monthly mutual fund portfolio reports? Have you noticed that the giddy laughter at coffee break about the "killing" you made last week with some IPO which has a "tech" somewhere in its name is gone? Have you noticed watching CNBC now requires electricity, a television and an airsick bag?

We are all reeling from very big minus numbers in our net worth and looking for someone to blame. Bill is always a good target. Come on, with all the other stuff spilling out of his closet, let's slap fiscal irresponsibility on the magnetic board of his presidency.

Hey, Greenspan is liable. Here is a guy who oozes wisdom and power. Maybe the Fed just missed it about six months ago and should have discounted the rates by a full percentage point. Yeah, he's the guy who put us in this mess.

Here's one about looking in the mirror!

That's right. How about a little, national reality test. Why not openly admit that greed ate our lunch. You can reduce this fiscal finger-pointing to an admission that, psychologically, we fueled an economy with perception, not reality.

When new companies were selling on The Street for 300 to 400 times their book value that was perception. We were calling our brokers and clicking online without any regard for profit-to-earnings ratios or seriously considering a company's debt load. Here is the epitaph to this sick economy: we bought, like crazy, on perception, not reality.

What have we learned from dog-paddling around in all this red ink? Well, here are three psychological principles you may want to remember the next time someone says, "it is too good to be true."

First, we all have "selective perception." That just means we see what we want to see, and we hear what we want to hear.

It does not matter your age, education or bank balance, you will bring a certain "agenda" to every consideration. This will color what you see and hear, especially when it comes to making or handling money.

Second, watch for "psychological set," which just means the people you hang around with will have a profound influence on your perception. Your neighbors, your place of worship, your workplace, your Friday night card group, your fishing buddies, your shopping pals all of them are silently crafting what you see and hear. Did you get into a certain stock or fund during the past two years because someone gave you a "hot tip"?

Third, our perception is crafted by "organization," or our knee-jerk response to putting people and issues into mental files. This is also called "concrete thinking" which reduces everything to black/white, right/wrong categories. This part of perception has been the death of more than one investor ("All tech funds are money-makers.")

Finally, "retention" will determine our perception. Even though your memory may be failing you on where your car keys and glasses may be, you will never forget the very good and the very bad in life. I'll bet those who can remember the Great Depression did not buy Amazon.com at $246 a share!

So what have we learned? We can tsk-tsk about Gecko's ethics until we look in the mirror. Greed is still alive and well in our sanctimonious, Midwestern world.

(Dr. Cal LeMon solves organizational problems with customized training and consulting. His company, The Executive Edge, can be contacted via the Business Journal at sbj@sbj.net.)