Do you believe in Fairy Tales?

When the melody and lyrics of “Young at Heart” were first pressed into vinyl by Frank Sinatra in 1953 they quickly became a best-selling, million-dollar hit.  The song was later recorded by at least a dozen other greats of the time and, in our era, Canadian troubadour Michael Bublé is keeping its memory alive.



Employees listening to Arthur T. Demoulas  (Steven Senne/AP)

Would you agree with the lyrics of that tune’s opening stanza:  “Fairy tales can come true, it can happen to you, if you’re young at heart.  For it’s hard, you will find, to be narrow of mind if you’re young at heart . . . . ?

What if you were asked to apply those words to corporate America?  Would you believe such a thing could happen within that environment?
 
Suppose you were made aware that nearly 25,000 employees in three states walked off their jobs overnight this July; closed down the operations of 71 supermarkets as tight as a bug in a rug; and, in doing so, tens of thousands of that chain’s customers supported them in their walkout.  Would you believe that?

To top it off, what if you found out that the immediate causal factor that led to this massive walkout is that the CEO of the chain was fired?  What?  Employees jeopardizing their jobs en masse merely because a rich CEO gets canned?
 
That makes no sense, because it’s like turning the corporate power structure on its head – an inversion of who is in charge.  Who would put themselves at such peril, especially in this fragile economy where finding a job can be like looking for hen’s teeth.