The taking of opportunities, sometimes regardless of principles… that’s in the definition of the word ‘opportunism.’
It might might bring ‘opportunism’ to mind, hearing the CEO of a major entertainment business suggest that entertainment industry writers, actors and many others, who are on strike right now, might have unrealistic expectations,
Considering what writers, actors, and all, bring to the industry… the creativity, energy and skills that make an industry… entertainment, in this case… the people who’ve made the industry what it is today.
To suggest workers’ expectations might be unrealistic struck me as words stored somewhere on shelves where words used in PR messaging and rhetoric are kept, so they can be used as necessary.
There’s plenty of opportunism all around, and the resulting fallout probably are evident in the wealth gap, to cite just one example.
In business, people in charge of big companies convince those they need to convince, of their worth.
This is not intended to diminish the worth of individuals climbing the corporate ladder to the very top. But are they worth the multi-millions in their management contracts?
Even when they screw up and get fired, they leave with bundles of money and plenty of other benefits.
And the same situation, in politics.
If there’s one thing various — not all, but various — politicians have mastered, it’s tapping into opportunistic opportunities. Using, perhaps professed, strongly-held religious beliefs to — what do they call it in politics — push agendas? Like maybe engineering what’s been happening lately with women’s health and reproductive rights?
This isn’t meant to diminish concerns about terminating pregnancies and such, but, rather to suggest that perhaps feigned ‘strongly-held’ religious beliefs are being rolled out by some politicians, opportunistically?
Can we imagine that? Opportunistic politicians?
And opportunistic business executives?
Taking opportunities… sometimes regardless of principles?
Harvey Radin is former senior vice president in charge of corporate communications and media relations, Bank of America Western Region. He makes his home in Redwood City, CA.