cated than one might think. The slightest ossibility of a conflict of interest ha > be carefully scrutinized and, needless to say, scrupulously avoided.

What is required of a participating firm? First, the position it makes available must be at an appropriate level of responsibility and one in which the interchange executive can make a genuine contribution. The firm also should provide opportunities for the executive to obtain a comprehensive view of the firm's organization and decision-making process and of the function of departments or divisions other than his own. Financially, the firm is required only to match the executive's government salary and to provide time and travel for the program's educational activities.

The firm's executive who enters government for a year in Washington will be paid by the government at a salary matching his previous compensation, up to the government ceiling (currently $36,000). The firm guarantees that it will re-employ its nominee at the end of his or her government assignment, with no loss in status.

should be noted that the program does not require a direct job-swap. A firm can place one of its executives in the program without any obligation to find room for a government executive, and vice versa.

April 8, 1974

What does the individual executive get out of the program? Perhaps the greatest beneût is in the sheer broadening of an executive's vision, not only in the area of new management techniques but in his overall grasp of the way this country works. Part of this broadening consists of seeing business from the other side of the shop. Part of it, too, comes from the extensive educational program organized by the Commission, which exposes executives to national leaders and issues and the forces which affect the policymaking process.

During a typical program year, executives from the private sector will meet personally with a dozen or more Senators and Representatives, two or three Cabinet members, most major executive agency and bureau chiefs and other key figures in government, labor, consumer and public interest organizations, the press and the world of diplomacy. The educational program also includes an intensive week-long "orientation to government" session by the Brookings Institution and a number of carefully planned field trips to study particular aspects of the business-government relationship. The net result was described by one business executive as "a balanced view of government-from the pit up, as seen through the eyes of the job, and from the top

down, as seen through the commission's program."

This year, in several citics, participating firms have joined forces to provide similar educational and cultural opportunities for executives from government during their year away from Washington. And in both sectors, executives are encouraged to make the program a family experience. Special programs are arranged for wives, particularly in Washington, so the whole family experiences a year of personal growth and widening horizons. To date, I haven't met a single executive or spouse who has said the experience wasn't worth the inconveniences of moving their household for a year.

What does the taxpayer get out of all this? To begin with, business executives in the program have implemented or recommended specific technical or procedural changes in government operations which alone could realize savings of many millions of dollars. They have also been responsible for numerous organizational and administrative changes to help make the machinery of government run more efficiently. On the other side, government executives have helped business understand and implement policies in the fields of equal employment opportunity, training, environmental issues-and new concepts Continued on Page 10

Interchange

Continued From Page 9

in such areas as procurement, contract administration and project control.

To discuss this kind of tangible, however, is to digress somewhat from the real intent and, I believe, the greater value of the program. This lies in the ongoing development of a realistic dialogue between government and business, especially at the levels of management where practical decisions get made which can impact on the quality of our life and on the ability of our industry to function effectively. It comes down to a matter of attitudes and mutual respect and this depends very much on the level of knowledge of and exposure to the opposite sector. More government executives need

to

rstand the real world of business and more business executives need to understand the reality of government. In both cases, far too many myths still persist-and some of them can be dangerous.

Former colleagues of mine in the Department of Commerce and the Price Commission who had been drawn, like myself, from the worlds of business or academe, were dismayed to discover how limited was the knowledge of many business leaders in such matters as the interaction of the legislative and executives branches of government, how problems are surfaced, where the decisions get made, the actual processes by which a public need is articulated and translated into legislative or regulatory actions. In the past, this may have seemed largely unnecessary. You could always write your Congressman or hire a Washington lawyer. But the pace is quickening. With each new day the need for well informed and well attuned business leaders grows more evident.

TH now seems to be fairly general agree. nt that business must try to improve its ability to gauge the sense of the nation and more accurately assess both the need and the demand for change. If business were involved ear

For further information on the Executive Interchange Program, write to Jay I. Leanse, Executive Director, President's Commission on Personnel Interchange, 1900 E St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20415, or telephone (202) 632-6834.

lier in the informational process, then the range of government options could be expanded and the public purpose better served.

One obvious way in which this process can be improved is through better working-level relationships between business and government-and it is here that the cumulative effect of the Executive Interchange Program may prove most beneficial. For when you are dealing with the magnitude of crises this country has been experiencing and they are by no means over -then it becomes increasingly evident that the traditional adversary relationship between government and business in this country is no longer a sensible way of conducting our affairs.

The booklet may be obtained by sending $2 to the NIC, 1776 F St., NW, Washington, D.C. 20006.

Lobbying Booklet
Published by NIC

The National Industrial Council has released a booklet, Synopses of State Lobbying Laws, which outlines the basic laws and rules governing legislative and regulatory lobbying in the 50

Profits

Continued from Page 7

not travel. It is a road darkened by a lack of public appreciation of what makes a person willing to risk his capital or to work harder than the next fellow. It is a road which leads to the dead end of excessive and irrational government regulation-and ultimately to the end of private enterprise.

This, I know, is not what the American people want. But this is what we will all get unless more understanding is gained of the importance of profit. Somehow, we must convince people, more people than we have already, that a corporation or any business for that matter-must first do well before it can do good. This is one of the reasons I stressed the need for broader economic education earlier in this talk. Better understanding of our business institutions won't just happen. We must make it a goal; we must make it happen.

The majority of Americans should come to realize that without profits, without sound management, and without sufficient freedom of action-all of which keep it healthy-the corporation will be of little use to anybody, least of all to society.

The basic reason for our existence as a corporation is to seek a profit in order to realize a fair return on our stockholders' investment, and in that striving to achieve a growth which our society still requires. This fundamental goal is true of all private enterprise, wherever it is practiced. The pursuit of profit provides management with a powerful incentive to increase the efficiency of its operations; I can think of no other incentive that could be universally relied upon to produce the same results. It has proved its merit to American and world society for centuries. But, obviously, it must be proved again and again, here in America and wherever men and women are still able to risk their capital and labor freely.

NAM Reports

Lois Kerkeslager spent her year's leave from AT&T on a "learning adventure" in Washington, D.C. She worked for the Office of Management and Budget in the executive office of the President of the United States.

"Working for OMB was a continual educational experience, I learned something new every day," says Ms. Kerkslager. financial supervisor-treasury. "The office does analysis of budget and management for the executive branch; our particular group concentrated on organizational problems. One day we'd be working with lawyers on preparing legislation and the next, attending a birthday party for the President."

Interchange Program Lois was a participant in the Presidential Interchange Program. The program began in 1971 as an effort and concern to promote better understanding between government and the private sector. Each year middlemanagement personnel from industry and persons of similar levels working for government agencies switch roles to gain a broader

perspective of each other's jobs. The Bell System has participated in the program since its beginning.

"It was the first time I had worked with government people on government problems. I got to see what they did and how they did it. I was pleasantly surprised with the quality of work they do," she says.

met

Builds Confidence As part of her job, Lois with several cabinet members, Pentagon officials, and representatives from other federal departments, Congress and the Supreme Court. She also took a trip to Brussels where she spoke with NATO commander General Alexander Haig and European economic experts.

"Leaving the Bell System to work with someone else after ten years here is quite an experience. I got to talk with people from other companies about their business and had a first hand look at government problems.

"I've found a wider world and a strong sense of confidence in my own experience through the Interchange Program," says Lois.

My year in

Government

By William H. Broach

My Interchange assignment was in Washington, a fascinating, dynamic city. The best indicator I've heard of the city's appeal is the term "Potomac Fever." It is, I can tell you, more than a journalist's tagline. When one is caught up in the whirl of Washington activities, one feels, inevitably, that this is the place— the hub of action for the country and the world. The Fever develops because there is a sense of participation and involvement in important issues and events, no matter how mundane the individual's actual job may be. It's a feeling of being at the center of events-a feeling based

The President's Executive Interchange Program enables people from the private and public sectors to spend a year experiencing life in their opposite numbers' world. Vice Chairman Herman L. Weiss has served as Chairman of the President's Commission on Executive Interchange and remains a Commissioner. GE's strong support extends, as the following reports make clear, both to hosting government executives and to posting GE people in government assignments.

My year in

Business

By Paul T. O'Day

The British writer Ronald Knox had insomnia at the age of four, and when a family friend asked how he managed to occupy his time at night he replied, "I lie awake and think of the past." Looking back at the end of a year as a Presidential Interchange Executive gives rise to impressions as jammed up as those that must have beset young Knox. But I can start at the beginning and try to piece it all together.

"Business has no conscience." "Government is insensitive." "Corporations help themselves. not the country.” “The bureaucracy is wastefui and inefficient." We were listening to committee reports at the end of the opening week's orientation conference for the 60 new business and government PIES (the inevitable Washington alphabet-soup shorthand for the Presidential Interchange Executives). Committees of government participants about to enter corporations for their year's assignments had been

hats for a year

on the reality that Federal agencies develop programs and policies that impact all Americans. Developing, operating and influencing these activities is important work and can be extremely satisfying. I could see why people who come to Washington to stay for two years or so wind up becoming permanent residentsPotomac Fever has struck.

In my case, I was given ample opportunity to contract the Fever. An important element in the Interchange program is the educational phase that complements the actual work assignment. The Commission's educational program is geared to give Interchange people a broad exposure to government-related activities in Washington. Generally, weekly sessions were scheduled, and these enabled us to meet with cabinet officials, Senators, Representatives, officials in federal agencies, labor leaders, lobbyists, journalists and others. We also met with

the staffs of several foreign embassies.

In addition, three seminars were held during the year. The first was in September, when we attended a week-long series of meetings organized by the Brookings Institution. Federal and private-sector people participated jointly during the first three days. Then the government execs went to Boston to hear presentations to orient them to the business world, while those of us from the private sector remained in Washington to complete our orientation to the city and the Federal government.

For the second seminar, in February, the whole Interchange group got together again for a week in Brussels. There we participated in examining the European Economic Community, NATO and the constructive role that multinational corporations can play in Europe's economic development. We met with EEC officials, the Commander of NATO and officers of (continued next page)

asked to identify the most significant problems facing business. A similar request to identify government's problems was given to committees of business executives who were about to start their year with Federal agencies.

The results were hard lines indeed, on both sides. Little was resolved in the discussions, but the reports were preserved for the wrap-up conference that would be held at year's end.

Then the arrival at our temporary new home. An exhausting move after seven years in the same place, four excited children and the most confused miniature schnauzer you have ever seen, all nearly lost in the big house we were fortunate to find available for rent. Trees and birds everywhere, and a huge lawn to be mowed, and firewood to be cut, and, and, and ... Our garbage is all over the driveway on the second morning-what Washington suburbanite would think to guard against raccoons? One by one, the neighbors stop by, and my wife Nancy and I and the children begin friendships that will last long after we leave. All of us slip with unexpected ease into the normal rhythms of family life in our new setting. We agree on our good fortune. It is an enchanted place.

The Interchange assignment at General Electric's new headquarters, as consultant to Robert M. Estes (Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary), starts predictably enough. A pleasant office, friendly introductions, read this, what's your opinion on that, meetings, discussions, a few short papers requested, and I eventually start on a review of the contemporary corporate social responsibility setting for the Company-for which my associates provide enormous amounts of relevant literature.

I decide to concentrate on a review of the Company's own social responsibility projects. Swamped again. I select an area not often reviewed in the literature-serving new social needs markets. The variety of the results is stunning: energy-saving heat pumps; quieter pollution-controlled turbines; new waste treatment equipment; Lucalox street lamps with Lexan protective coverings; and on and on. The diversity continues at the community level: direct support for charities; aid to schools and students; and health campaigns. When I look at one city in depth (Philadelphia), the Company's local educational and (continued next page)