Remember that COE that cut his salary to pay his employees 70k a year? ---

[packman]

[panader0]

1. Gravity Payments should be a business model.

https://gravitypayments.com/

[niyad]

2. Thank you so much for sharing this.

[highplainsdem]

3. Kudos to Dan Price! And thank you for posting this!

[colorado_ufo]

4. Dan, you are The Man!

This brought me a terrific feeling of hope and joy!

[TryLogic]

5. Stunning, and wonderful.

Oops, vaccine (below).

[nature-lover]

6. My business signed on with Gravity after this press announcement and some research.

They have been wonderful! Our credit card processing fees became significantly lower and their customer service is awesome.

[Ferrets are Cool]

7. Just imagine an America if every CEO did this.

[Bengus81]

8. But..but...this can't be true! McConnell and Graham always say raises are inflationary.

[sdfernando]

15. aahhh......but they will find a way to explain it so it fits there model

....you see, it really wasn't a raise because the CEO cut his salary to make up the difference...you see it was a wash.

for the impaired.

I'm sure that's how they will describe this.

[yardwork]

9. Why aren't business schools studying this?

I think I know the answer. Business schools and their faculty make a lot of money off consulting fees and executive programs paid by corporations that don't want to share the wealth.

Business schools have a strong interest in keeping the prevailing paradigms propped up.

[Hortensis]

18. This is not a new idea or application. Societies go through

different eras. Ours was liberalism-dominated for 70 years, good times for the working classes. Then the societal mood swung to conservative domination for the last 40, and our nation has declined into the sewer one would expect after that long.

I've actually been looking for a new liberal wave to rise for the past 20, but hopefully it's finally happening now. The new centimillionaire and billionaire classes have used the dangerous amount of power that wealth gives them to hold it back.

There are signs, like the new statement of purpose for corporations adopted by 181 CEOs of the Business Roundtable.

Statement on the Purpose of a Corporation

Americans deserve an economy that allows each person to succeed through hard work and creativity and to lead a life of meaning and dignity. We believe the free-market system is the best means of generating good jobs, a strong and sustainable economy, innovation, a healthy environment and economic opportunity for all.

Businesses play a vital role in the economy by creating jobs, fostering innovation and providing essential goods and services. Businesses make and sell consumer products; manufacture equipment and vehicles; support the national defense; grow and produce food; provide health care; generate and deliver energy; and offer financial, communications and other services that underpin economic growth.

While each of our individual companies serves its own corporate purpose, we share a fundamental commitment to all of our stakeholders. We commit to:

* Delivering value to our customers. We will further the tradition of American companies leading the way in meeting or exceeding customer expectations.

* Investing in our employees. This starts with compensating them fairly and providing important benefits.

* It also includes supporting them through training and education that help develop new skills for a rapidly changing world. We foster diversity and inclusion, dignity and respect.

* Dealing fairly and ethically with our suppliers. We are dedicated to serving as good partners to the other companies, large and small, that help us meet our missions.

* Supporting the communities in which we work. We respect the people in our communities and protect the environment by embracing sustainable practices across our businesses.

* Generating long-term value for shareholders, who provide the capital that allows companies to invest, grow and innovate. We are committed to transparency and effective engagement with shareholders.

Each of our stakeholders is essential. We commit to deliver value to all of them, for the future success of our companies, our communities and our country.

[smirkymonkey]

40. +1000

[Redleg]

47. Thank you for posting that-

I was impressed by the Business Roundtable statement when it came out, and am hopeful that it will guide our business people and business educators. I had my students read it and discuss it in class. They seemed to appreciate it and felt that it would be a way to help ensure more shared prosperity across the country.

[Hortensis]

51. It's unquestionably a sign of change, and so glad to hear it's

being discussed in schools.

We've let this decline go on too long. "They" didn't do anything to us that voters didn't obligingly enable, and I'm hoping America is finally shocked into admitting how much of what our parents left us we've let be taken away.

Your students are young and of course don't remember the pre-reaganism era, but many older voters grew up in the liberal New Deal era that ended around 1980. In those days for most working a full-time job meant being able to support oneself, a better job meant discretionary income and benefits, and upward social mobility often happened whether actually planned for or not, just part of being a competent working contributor in a wealthy nation. I feel so bad for how different it is now for so many.

Our nation as a whole is literally a few times wealthier now, x4 at least, than in 1980 because of technological advances... It should be entirely different for them.

[paleotn]

24. Have been for years.....

but greed, the worst human frailty, gets in the way. The richer leadership gets, the more out of tune with reality they become, perpetuating the cycle. Goes back to the "I built this" meme in the Obama years. They think THEY built the entire enterprise single handedly. They may have come up with the idea, but it was their employees, lenders, vendors, customers, etc. who built the business. Otherwise, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak would have kept inefficiently building home computers in a garage. Yea, they built that, for as much as it's worth. Great idea, but you're still in a freaking garage. For the rest, they needed a hell of a lot of help.

[JI7]

39. Business schools are the biggest waste of money in "education".

I know there are some who will disagree and went to some good ones but those are the exception.

[Redleg]

46. You are painting with a very broad brush...

I am a professor in a B-school so I admit to having some bias but I also have first-hand experience. I am a management professor and specialize in organizational behavior. Organizational behavior is the study of behavior in organizations, at the individual, team, and organizational levels of analysis. My field, and closely related fields such as Industrial/Organizational Psychology and Industrial Sociology, have done much to make B-School education more humane towards employees. We have collectively advocated for more ethical treatment of employees, taking into account their rights and aspects of distributive and procedural justice. We have pushed for greater practice of workplace democracy and employee involvement in decision-making. We have pushed for more meaningful work, more job security, and higher pay for employees. We have advocated for corporate social responsibility that extends to all stakeholders instead of just shareholders. As a discipline we believe that businesses have a responsibility to provide workplaces safe from harassment and discrimination based on protected classes. These are just some of the areas that our work addresses.

Now, speaking for other disciplines within the B-school, don't you think business should provide education to students who want to be accountants, or finance professionals, or marketing professionals, or managers and leaders? Or do you think the work of these people is so intuitive that you can hire anyone off the street to do it? I can't speak for all the B-schools out there, or for all the businesses, but speaking from what I know, I think we are doing a pretty good job teaching students the things they will need as business people, including business ethics and positive, humane treatment of employees.

[JI7]

49. As I said, these are the exception .

[Redleg]

48. Have you been to business school lately?

Most of the faculty that I work with don't have time for much consulting- they are too busy teaching, conducting research, and doing committee work. As for executive programs, this differs across schools. It may be a big part of some of the elite universities but seems to be a very small part of the regular state school. It is a way to bring in revenue since states and universities have reduced funding for educational programs.

[Stuart G]

10. Thank You for posting this...K and R

[Caliman73]

11. This is anecdotal but makes sense economically.

If you give people more money, they will do more with it. If you hoard money at the top, it will just sit there. I would bet good money that honest, objective research on this business model would show consistent results like this.

If wealthy people don't want confiscatory taxes, they should adopt this model and spread the wealth to their employees and reinvest in the work environment. They will have happier, longer serving employees and a better overall company.

[Tommymac]

27. But what about the fabulous 1000' Yacht or the new Super fast luxury Jet?

Fucking let the peons eat cake.

[Nitram]

12. Enlightened capitalism works for everybody. Rare as hen's teeth, though.

[Tommymac]

28. Capitalism doesn't work for everyone ever.

But so far it was the best we could do...paradigms like Galaxy are exploring ways to break the mold.

By mid Century I hope the next generations come up with a more equitable and fair system. I'll be long gone.

Until then heavy regulations are the only way Capitalism will benefit society.

BTW - Capitalism works with Authoritarian Governments the best .... see China. That is why we are seeing the shitshow in DC play out the way it is .... $$$ loves Trump.

[Nitram]

36. Who loses in the case of this company?

And I'm not so sure about China's example. Their economy has slowed way down and shows signs of trouble, there has been enormous waste, entire villages have been razed to make room for factories and new hydroelectric dams, and the environmental toll has been huge.

[SWBTATTReg]

13. This is how tickle down economic policies should work!

[El Mimbreno]

16. More like trickle UP! nt

[Hermit-The-Prog]

42. All money trickles up.

[PatSeg]

14. And in the end,

it benefited his business and him. What he did was basically good business, as well as the right thing to do as a human being.

[Captain Zero]

50. Some of his employees can probably afford to live in the same neighborhood he does.

now.

[keithbvadu2]

19. Damn socialist!

Damn socialist!

?

[lastlib]

21. Socialist my ass!

He's an outright Communist!

Why, if other companies' employees find out about this, THEY'll be wanting the same thing!! What'll happen to PROFITS??!? And it might cut into the executives' yacht funds! There's no END to what the peopns will want next! Maybe even *gasp!* Health insurance! and retirement benefits! and FREE stuff!



( )

[dlk]

20. More empirical evidence greed is not good

What would happen if most American businesses adopted this paradigm?

[Blue Owl]

22. K&R for visibility

[Dustlawyer]

23. My ex-boss got $450,000 in COVID money, laid off 50% of staff and cut pay 20%.

For department heads and attorneys (salary employees) the 20% cut was on top of an already 30% from 2010. All this while he spent 2020 at either his houses in Cabo, lake house he built 5 years ago, nearby beach cabin, or his mansion in town. He took delivery on two new corvettes as well.

He is a malignant narcissist like Trump and does not even realize how tone deaf this is or how unhappy and unmotivated his employees are. That is because he doesn’t care about them at all, only able to think how it affects him. It is never his fault and he is the victim who expects his people to be sympathetic to his travails.

Did I mention he is my ex-boss?

[paleotn]

26. And for the life of them, they can't figure out....

why their headcount churns at such a high rate. Dammit, they're spending a fortune on recruiting and training new heads! I've been there. It isn't pretty. Poster children for the Prisoner's Dilemma.

[Politicub]

25. Fairly-compensated and well-treated employees are more productive and loyal

They provide better customer service.

This has been studied and modeled. This arrangement is called the Service-Profit chain.

My best job was working at a company where the GM of our office was committed to this model (as much as he could be as part of a big corporation).

[wendyb-NC]

29. How amazing

This is a very hope inspiring business model. Rather than the fear laden "it'll never work" by the naysayers. At least study this kind of change can be implemented on a wider scale.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

30. This is awesome, and needs to be shoved in the faces of every 1% CEO.

👏🏽

[SeattleVet]

31. A small nonprofit group I am with tried to get a Gravity account.

They turned us down.

We had heard so much good stuff about them.

While communicating about the volume of sales expected at our two annual events they told us that our volume was too low to make it worth it...for us. They recommended that we use Square, which we now have been happy with for the past few years.

All I have to say is - Gravity Payments Rocks!!!

They sent us to a competitor - to save US money when they could have raked us over the coals and made a few bucks off of us.

If anyone ever had any doubts about this company, I can state from personal experience that they are an outstanding example of what a company SHOULD be.

[Silver Gaia]

32. I've loved this young man for years now (since 2015, when I first heard of him).

I follow him on Twitter because I am interested in what he has to say. If only more CEOs would follow his lead... we could be so much better. Dan Price is a wise young man.

[BobTheSubgenius]

33. Oh, sure. It sounds good.

But it could only happen in a Communist stronghold like Seattle.

[BobTheSubgenius]

34. I wonder if he and Nick Hanover ever talk.

If you don't know of NH, he will talk to just about anyone who will listen, it seems, and his message is "We HAVE TO make the playing field more level, if only for our self-interest."

There are many more reasons than that, but I guess that is the clincher he uses when someone just won't hear what he has to say.

"Better do it before the villagers show up at our gated homes with pitchforks and torches."

[Mr. Ected]

35. I own a small business, around 25 employees, and this is basically how I operate as well

I'll spare you all the details, but my staff rewards my human and economic generosity with one-of-a-kind service and loyalty, and our clients feel the vibe and I have no doubt that drives our success. And you know what? I'm immensely grateful for it all. I think that matters too.

[FakeNoose]

37. I don't know Dan Price

... but I have a feeling he never relied on venture capitalists to get his business started. It seems the corporate greed we're seeing today is mostly the result of venture capitalists having a say in how promising businesses are started. Or at least in how they get out of the garage and into the stock market. By that time they're all being managed by the greedy one-per-centers.

Somehow Dan Price/Gravity Payments was able to bypass that deal with the devil.

[a kennedy]

38. and this ladies and gentlemen is what the real "trickledown" theory REALLY MEANS.

[Joinfortmill]

41. Awesome

[58Sunliner]

43. Beautiful.

[OnlinePoker]

44. A tale of two brothers

His brother, co-founder and minority shareholder of the company, sued him in 2015/16 because of the pay raise and claimed Price was giving himself too much compensation and not giving the shareholders enough dividends. He lost.

https://www.geekwire.com/2016/dan-price-70k-ceo-prevails-suit-filed-brother-gravity-payments-co-owner/

That kind of reminded me of the Dodge Brothers suing Henry Ford who wanted to keep the cash in the company to build more plants, raise the pay of workers, and lower the price of the vehicle(s) being produced. Dodges wanted more dividends. They won.

[moondust]

45. But what about the poor investor

who wants to sit out on his yacht sipping fruity liqueurs while becoming the first trillionaire? Poor little guy.



Reminds me of the Swiss 1:12 referendum of 2013 that would have capped executive pay at 12 times that of the lowest paid employee in the firm. The referendum was decisively defeated I believe after executives opposed to it threatened to move elsewhere and take the jobs with them, etc.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/24/switzerland-votes-against-cap-executive-pay

That would probably work better than a one-size-fits-all minimum wage that can be hard for small companies while a joke for large corporations.

[Demovictory9]

52. thank you for update

[catrose]

53. Bravo