bmans of the world are media creations on a par with the cast of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. Corporate Purpose But a supple distortion behind the headline scandals is even more damaging in its ordinariness. Many business leaders, and their watch- dogs, seem to have forgotten why public companies exist. Surely it is to create wealth, but not solely for companies' so-called owners. As business philosopher Charles Handy observed, there's a big difference between providing the financial backing for a company and "owning" it in the original meaning of the word. Further, he says that the idea that a company is a "piece of property" is an equally antiquated "hang- Tough Calls over from earlier times." Rather, corporations are "communities, cre- ated with common purpose."ro That purpose, binds together not only a business's founders but also their successors; their employees, who contribute their energy and intellect; investors, who supply capital; the communities that pro- vide a supportive environment within which the enterprise can pros- per; and even their customers, who make purchases trusting that they will receive value in return. Corporations exist to create wealth for all who provide their re- sources and bear the risks of their failure. Such wealth comes in the form of dividends, rising stock prices, jobs, careers, healthier commu- nities, and valuable products and services. Sadly, many business lead- ers have myopically focused on one expression of wealth, an ever- rising stock price, and on a small subsegment whose fortunes rise and fall with the stock tables, professional money managers. As in AT&T's case, such single-mindedness inevitably leads one to consider the company's shares as just one more form of "currency" to be used in the kind of financial engineering favored by investment bankers and deal lawyers. In time, even a hundred-plus-year-old com- pany can lose sight of the broader publics who have a stake in it-its investors, customers, employees, and the communities in which they live and work. T