But for the growing cadre of workers, call them "knowledge workers" if you must, whose basic task is to share ideas and to meet customers' needs, the gulf between their company's best interests and their own can be vast.
President Donald Trump took sides in the deep rift in the Arab world on Tuesday, praising Middle East countries' actions against Qatar, but later spoke by phone with Saudi King Salman and stressed the need for Gulf unity.
"I expect that Mr. Dudley will take a much more cooperative and open approach to answering our questions and responding to the needs of the gulf region.
By 2020, according to the Department of Energy, domestic oil producers will be meeting less than a third of United States needs, and the Gulf countries will be supplying up to two-thirds of the world's oil.
A deputy secretary of the central committee of Mr. Abbas' Al Fatah movement and former head of Palestinian security, Mr. Rajoub needs to reassure Gulf states who worry about the fact that he has close personal ties to Hamas leaders should he want to succeed Mr. Abbas as head of the Palestinian Authority.
But because this is not at the core of our interests, we need to get a UN mandate; we need Europeans and Gulf countries to be actively involved in the coalition; we will apply the military capabilities that are unique to us, but we expect others to carry their weight.
Domestic workers in the Gulf need clear, strong, and enforceable contracts now -- not at some indeterminate point in the future.
If the Six Nations needs to understand the gulf between it and the Rugby Championship then look no further than Argentina.
In a reflection of the gulf that needs to be bridged before any settlement, the company has responded to criticism of Windows XP by repeatedly requesting that Judge Kollar-Kotelly narrow the list of potential penalties it may face.
Whether or not one believes that the U.S. needs more scientists, this gulf is a potentially serious problem, and it will continue to widen unless a diligent effort is made to bridge it.
