With All the Brains in the Room, that’s the strategy I advised Asian audiences to follow at the turn of the century. Now, Trump wants to make worker and shareholder voices illegal. It’s time to kick corporate governance and worker rights up a notch. Sing it loud! Make it democratically! No, it ain’t rock and roll, and I don’t have Taylor Swift’s email, so I had to go with my folksy roots using lessons from my NIMH fellowship, early speeches on the Pacific Rim, and an everyday ballad style.
With All the Brains in the Room
Go ahead; turn up the volume and sing along!
[Verse 1]
At the turn of the century, I crossed the ocean wide,
They asked how trust is built again, how capital decides.
I said, Let workers shape the work, let owners share the say—
Democracy’s not charity; it’s how firms earn their pay.”
[Verse 2]
The evidence is settled, though the bosses still pretend:
Control doesn’t buy efficiency; participation wins.
When judgment stays close to the work, when voices aren’t entombed,
Productivity rises with all the brains in the room.
[Chorus, Call & Response]
Leader: You don’t build wealth by climbing higher—
Crowd: Pulling ladders out of sight!
Leader: You build it when the people
Crowd: Have a voice, vote, and rights!
Leader: From the shop floor to the ballot—
Crowd: From the break room to the boardroom!
All: The future’s made by sharing power,
With all the brains in the room!
[Verse 3]
All the Brains in the Room AI
Shareholders aren’t day-traders rolling dice and walking fast,
They’re long-term owners asking questions built to last.
Rule 14a-8 puts standards on the floor:
Count the real costs, treat workers right, don’t dump them anymore.
One proposal, one small voice, can change what boards assume—
That’s democracy at work with all the brains in the room.
[Chorus, Short Call & Response]
Leader: Markets work when costs are counted—
Crowd: Not when harm is shipped away!
Leader: When workers speak and owners vote—
Crowd: That’s how value learns to stay!
All: Share the power, share the say,
Use all the brains in the room!
[Verse 4]
Now here come Trump and Musk, prea
Musk, First Trillionaire
ching “freedom” from on high,
But it’s freedom for the billionaires, and silence for the rest in line.
They call worker voice a threat, call shareholder rights “woke,”
They want kings, not accountability—
Markets run by smoke and jokes.
[Verse 5]
Trump told the SEC to muzzle owners on the floor,
Musk fires workers, trashes rules, then asks for billions more.
Not defending labor, not defending fair returns—
They’re defending autocrats and rents that never burn.
[Final Chorus, Big Call & Response]
Leader: You don’t save markets by breaking them—
Crowd: By crowning CEOs as kings!
SRI ESG Democratize the Workplace
Leader: You don’t grow value by attacking
Crowd: Votes and voices—human things!
Leader: America was built on shared authority—
Crowd: Democracy, not doom!
All (slow, strong):
Turn away from that, you lose the future—
You lose all the brains in the room.
[Outro, Spoken → Sung]
Spoken (Leader):
Workers vote.
Shareholders propose.
Standards rise.
Sung (All):
That’s how corporations serve the people—
With all the brains in the room
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