Political pundits say, “Bring those lost jobs back to America.”  They don’t get it. American leaders lost those jobs due to a self-serving – take care of me now mindset. It resulted in an export-oriented nation becoming an importer. The jobs were not taken. They were given. Cover Your Assets delves deeply into how this Greek Tragedy occurred and how it can be altered. Dr. Gene says a Cover Your Assets mentality is pervasive from Washington, DC to Wall Street, where a Hired Hand Syndrome dominates most executive suites. Too many leaders opt for an unspoken instant-gratification mantra where tomorrow is traded away for today. Landrum is convinced it was not an accident that America went from producing about 90% of mass consumer products in 1960 to about 10% a few decades later. How could that occur? It wasn’t low labor rates as Washington seems to think. Sony and Canon have done well and labor in Tokyo has been as high as in America for 25 years. It had far more to do with self-serving leadership with a Cover Your Assets mentality.   

When leaders adopt a take care of me now mentality the cost is huge. It can be likened to a cultural Ponzi scheme that trades future opportunities for today’s profits.  Sacrifice tomorrow for today and the future suffers. Landrum blames the West’s CYA mindset of Hired Hands. He believes there is a need zap the Yes Men in our heads – we all have them - and become like entrepreneurs who are not as afflicted with the CYA virus.

When America was landing on the moon, Japan was landing in American living rooms. One nation focused on the conquest of space; the other on the conquest of mass consumer markets. Moral? We get what we focus on! Landrum cites Market Myopia as a problem that cost trillions of dollars and millions of jobs. The chapter on the CYA Game is followed by one on Power, Bucks, Balls, Brains and Passion – offering insight into America’s fixation with instant-gratification to the detriment of long-term wins. CYA ends with an Epilogue for personal transformation from a self-serving mindset to an entrepreneurial one. Change demands behavior modification in American executive suites.  

Dr. Gene’s Credentials

Landrum once managed plants in America, Europe and Asia in mass consumer market industries where he became intrigued by the cultural nuances of the East and West. His doctoral work was on what makes the great tick. He is now a professor Emeritus at Hodges University where he teaches MBA’s the nuances of International Marketing, Organizational Behavior and Management.