In Robert Greene's book, The 48 Laws of Power, I remember reading one of his "laws of power" with a fair amount of ethical turbulence: Get other people to do all the work. Take all the credit. Needless to say, I was rightfully uncomfortable at the idea that I would get someone else to do what I could do, and then turn around and stamp my name on it. I imagine my first line of thought was, "Do people actually do this?" My discovery: people do it, ethically, all the time.
In it's most basic context, this is such a self serving rule. It almost seems to promote ruthless behavior. Whatever happened to humility, or giving someone their due? I'm sure even now, righteous people are picking up stones to throw at Greene for even thinking such a thought. But Greene isn't unethical - he's smart. As one of his laws of power, he describes the basic idea around outsourcing. Think about it: you can spend your time and money a number of ways. So, you decide to spend your time and your money capitalizing on someone elses talent.
Let's take for example that you have the desire to have an immaculate home. Let us say, your desire is that at any given moment, anybody, from your boss to your family, could drop by and they would find themselves amidst the middle of a Pottery Barn catalog. I know for me, I'd really dig it if I had a master bachelor pad. You come to my house, I want it to be like you step into Christian Troy's apartment from Nip/Tuck. What would it take to make our housing dreams a reality? Well for one, it would take a kick ass interior designer. I have good taste, as I'm sure so do you - but I don't decorate houses for a living. They do. Let someone who knows what their doing turn my house into a gem. Number two, I'm gonna need someone to clean that bitch. I'm sure things would be a lot more "sparkly" if I committed to hiring a maid. I'm generally clean, but come on - we could all benefit from a maid - especially if we're intent on showcasing our home. I don't need to get into all the other services one could hire to make their "immaculate home" a reality. When you have guests over to this "immaculate home", when they voice, "I just love what you've done with your place", do you think it's appropriate to harp on the process of getting that home in order? ( Heck no!) Nobody wants to hear about what goes into the pretty picture. This is the basic idea behind outsourcing. Other people do the work, sometimes remaining completely invisible, and other people who had the work done for them, take all the credit.
As I said, people do it all the time. Currently, I work for a company who specializes in outsourcing. When this company obtains a client, the service they provide to this client is that they generate a human resource department. As a general rule, companies keep human resource departments to manage the employees; this department oversees health benefits (like visits to your local std clinic), finances (like paychecks - gotta have money to party with), leaves of absence (like trips to Ft. Lauderdale and time spent pushing kids out of your vagina ), and of course employee relations (see: how to get your boss fired.) The company I work for stays invisible - most of the employees of our clients have no idea we exist as their human resource department. We do all the work, our clients take all the credit. This is Greene's law in full effect.
It is important to note that the most powerful people on the planet are masters at outsourcing. This week alone, I have seen Oprah attach her name to Mitch Albom's For One More Day (a fantastic book that was made into a so-so primetime tv movie), Barack Obama's campaign for presidency, and Denzel Washington's new directorial/acting masterpiece The Great Debaters. This woman is f**ing brilliant - she basically outsources her name. These are other people's projects - and generally, they're well-produced, emotionally-evoking projects - but they weren't built to serve as a platform for the big O. With some invested time and money into each project, she somehow manages to attach her name to these projects, and in a sense, walks away with a major piece of the credit. In some light, that could be morally and ethically wrong, but in the right light - not only is it smart for Oprah, it's smart for each project. Oprah isn't the only one getting by on someone elses credit. Obama is getting by on Oprah's credibility (and hopefully it'll be enough to convince people he's worth truly considering for presidency). The movie The Great Debaters is Denzel's Washington's second directorial work. Even for the great Denzel, it sure doesn't hurt to throw in, "Oprah produced it". And for Mitch Albom (also the author of The Five People You Meet In Heaven), it's not like his book sales are hurting, but then again, it's not like riding on the coat tails of Harpo Productions does any damage either. All of it is a game: who gets credit for whom and who utilizes whom for what . (say that three times fast).
So I think it best to keep an open minded about things that come off immoral and unethical. You never know, one day, if you become a boss (wo)man, and you can afford a CRIB (reference to MTV), and a guest at an event you throw says, "I love your place" - you might find yourself chuckling to yourself, "Thank God for outsourcing."
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