Good post from David Pogue on December 15th about what he learned while teaching a course at Columbia Business School.  He was amazed at the complete lack of business understanding by the so-called best and brightest at Columbia’s B-school, one of the top schools in the nation.

After over twenty years in business, in private and public corporations and in non-profits and NGOs, I’m not surprised in the least.  I’ve seen the customer and employees of public companies sacrificed at the altar of Wall Street to enrich a few top executives. I’ve seen private corporations take care of their employees while going through recessions.  And I’ve seen NGOs and non-profits actually change the world for the better.

What are you (yes, you) going to do in 2012? How will you go beyond just maximizing profit for the next 90 days?

Maybe pure shareholder maximization isn’t the key.  Will “for benefit” corporations add some sanity and a counterpoint to bottom-line, quarterly earnings driven management?