George orwell'd classic novel about a totali-tarian society, 1984, was published 56 years ago but still resonates with anybody familiar with American business today. Maybe we don't have an omnipotent Big Brother and his Thought Police watching our every move. But one of the dictator's skewed aphorisms sounds familiar: "Ignorance is strength." In the world of 1984, holding a minority opinion, no matter how sensible, is considered insane and subversive. Individualistic thinking is outlawed. Today groupthink is pervasive in society. For example, an exaggerated public suspicion of business and its leadership is creating an overly regulated American corporate landscape. Isolated misdeeds at places like WorldCom and HealthSouth have spawned this widespread furor. Now, few would argue against punishing wrongdoers. Yet why punish people with good intentions and make them watch their backs all the time when they should be devoting their energy to building great businesses?
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