'Do something real' -Lesson from Lehman's Bankruptcy

Recently, I watched a YouTube video about ex-employees of the Lehman Brothers. Unfortunately, the video was removed from the YouTube soon after I watched it. I remember it was one of a series of The Economist's short online video, 'Daily Watch'.

As you know, the Lehman Brothers went bankrupt in 2008. However, the aftermath has been serious since Lehman's bankruptcy. For instance, the US, Europe, and Japan have struggled with long-term recession.

In the video I watched, 5-7 ex-employees appeared and shared their stories of lives after leaving Lehman. Some still work in financial firms, others changed their jobs. Ms. X in one of them. She opens an Italian pizza shop with her fiance.

She recalled her days at Lehman that she was a daydreamer. She could make money by doing intangible tasks -just dealing with numbers. However, on Sept 15, 2008, everything in her life was drastically changed -including her labor philosophy.

Now, she said to her, 'Do something real'. It was a lesson from her experience of Lehman. We tend to lose a sense of reality as we're living in the 'virtual world'. The virtual world does not necessarily mean virtual reality, a computer technology. Almost all intellectual workers would live in the virtual world. They tend to overlook happenings in the real world and make wrong judgments and decisions.

Again, her remark, 'Do something real', is impressive and appealing to me.

The Photo: Brooking Institution