Vulnerability in Business: What's Good for the Goose...

Perhaps you watch Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks, on "Dancing with the Stars." If you don't, you probably find the plugs on his corporate blog pretty annoying. He does, however, offer some interesting thoughts to ponder. He recently initiated a conversation about the media's tendency to look for vulnerabilities to exploit.

The post was probably inspired by his personal experience with public scrutiny. "Mock Mark" has a field day poking fun at Cuban on his blog, and although he's not making money since he moved the site, he used to make some through AdSense -- and may again down the road. Whether Mock Mark makes money or not, isn't it a tad hypocritical to take it personally when business itself depends on the exploitation of vulnerabilities? Finding a competitor's weakness and capitalizing on that; identifying the consumer's wants and fears, and striking where they're deepest -- doesn't it all come down to exploiting vulnerability in the end?

(Mark Cuban image by sdbj)