Imagine running a race, and winning it only to watch the
metal being given to your sponsor. “To Coke, our victor.” In enabling a runner,
horse, or jockey to train, a sponsor is not the winner (for otherwise the sponsor
would be enabling itself). While it is understandable that wealth is highly
esteemed in the business sector, the imposing of this “top dog” in society
itself distorts non-business activities into the prism of commerce. In the
context of managerial capitalism, particularly where managers style themselves
as “coaches,” it is no accident that coaches and trainers in sports come to be
treated as ends rather than means—as the
winners rather than as facilitators on the sideline. It is important to
remember that Art Sherman was not on
the horse that won the Derby in 2014.
The essay is at WR - Business & Society: "Who Won the Kentucky Derby?"
