This is an excellent article. It captures much of what I have found to be frustrating on the part of corporate behavior, not just in chemicals/plastics. The offer to create a "generative" solution is also welcome and really should be more of a common sense approach. Companies really don't seem to learn from past mistakes which, in the case of trying to sell solutions like chemical recycling, seriously undercut their credibility with the public. The same is true with industry associations. Their complete and utter tone-deafness to anything other than the profitability of their members (and therefore association dues) renders their opinion 1-sided and not credible in the eyes of the public.
Going one step further - and offering another analogy to the Catholic Church - we could look to South Africa's "Truth and Reconciliation" process as a model for achieving generative solutions. I'm sure the legalese would be brutal, but it might offer a starting point.
I think completely new board members and leaders are required in some situations.
I left a fluoropolymer company because it was just such a mess. Part of that is because everything is global. If you have a Chinese CEO they don’t give 2 cents about foreign public people. And if visa versa.
Profitable companies is necessary. But constant profit growth is evil in itself too.
Not sure what the answer is or if I even help. But I do feel there are some people out there asking questions that work in the industry. One day those people will be the leaders and we will figure it out. Then a new challenge will arise and younger generations will figure that out too!
This is an excellent article. It captures much of what I have found to be frustrating on the part of corporate behavior, not just in chemicals/plastics. The offer to create a "generative" solution is also welcome and really should be more of a common sense approach. Companies really don't seem to learn from past mistakes which, in the case of trying to sell solutions like chemical recycling, seriously undercut their credibility with the public. The same is true with industry associations. Their complete and utter tone-deafness to anything other than the profitability of their members (and therefore association dues) renders their opinion 1-sided and not credible in the eyes of the public.
Going one step further - and offering another analogy to the Catholic Church - we could look to South Africa's "Truth and Reconciliation" process as a model for achieving generative solutions. I'm sure the legalese would be brutal, but it might offer a starting point.
Boeing is a great example as well.
I think completely new board members and leaders are required in some situations.
I left a fluoropolymer company because it was just such a mess. Part of that is because everything is global. If you have a Chinese CEO they don’t give 2 cents about foreign public people. And if visa versa.
Profitable companies is necessary. But constant profit growth is evil in itself too.
Not sure what the answer is or if I even help. But I do feel there are some people out there asking questions that work in the industry. One day those people will be the leaders and we will figure it out. Then a new challenge will arise and younger generations will figure that out too!
I sure hope that this future comes to pass
An earlier version wrongly attributed "better living through chemistry," to Dow.
It was originally developed for DuPont.