Welcome back to another episode of the corporate Cowboys podcast I’m your host Alex this is season seven episode four of the corporate Cowboys podcast and we continue reading the naked Corporation how the age of transparency will revolutionize business the authors of this are Don tapscotts and David T Cole
Now chapter four is inside of uh part two of this book you see this book is divided into parts right I don’t know maybe they wanted to be extra fancy but uh part one was chapters one through three part two with chapters four through eight and part three are
Chapters nine and ten now we’re going to begin with chapter two oh and if I didn’t mention yes the book was published 2002 by Free Press and eyes and as I read I will be providing some commentary but I’m trying to I will try not to make it as um
Try not to make it too intrusive as you will so the book will flow and uh this audiobook is worthwhile to you otherwise it’ll just be me ranting about how Corporate is uh is either as naked as this book makes it out to seem or still veiled wearing I don’t
Know lingerie something sexy now chapter four begins and the title of this is called well part two was called when stakeholders can see when stakeholders can see chapter four is titled whistleblowers and other employees sounds interesting let’s begin transparency for employees has long has come a long way
Especially compared with the days after World War II conflict between management and labor soared the 12-month period after VJ Day saw 4630 work stoppages involving 5 million Strikers and 120 million days of lost work one of the more memorable management to labor confrontations the largest in U.S
History was the 1945 strike by 320 000 members of the United Auto Workers that’s UAW against the nation’s biggest company General Motors UAW leader Walter Ruther insisted that GM could afford to increase wages without increasing prices and demanded it be more transparent about its finances he challenged GM to quote open the books
And prove him wrong this audacious behavior from a mainstream Union incensed GM management it means they got him mad it means it ticked them off the ground to their gears GM vice president Harry W Anderson told UAW negotiators that’s under no circumstances would the corporation reveal its records he exclaimed we don’t
Even open our books to our stockholders exclamation points essentially he’s telling them to take his message of opening books and transparency and shove it the next little subheading here is called the knowledge worker today’s open Enterprises provide employees access to a vast amount of information about the firm and its
Management they build trust with employees through openness and ethical values transparency and values begin at home the surest indicator of how a firm treats customers shareholders partners and other stakeholders is how it treats its employees wearing your employee hat you now have unprecedented access to information about your employer some of this you
Don’t need to know such as the love life salary or work behavior of someone else’s boss I mean it helps side note it helps the sooner you learn people the sooner you learn to navigate corporate I mean some folks call it office politics some folks claim it’s kissing ass and
Ass grabbing right but if you have to kiss ass too much if you have to grab ass too much you’re doing too much corporate isn’t all about that and people can see right through your intentions when you do it too much it becomes uh it becomes unprofessional it really does and it shows
Now a plethora of irrelevance albeit juicy information previously inaccessible is now readily available at the speed of Lights due to email and other technological innovations lots of useful information is available too you can evaluate your job security by investigating your company’s financial position the current performance of your group or your own
Performance and most firms make this information available you can strengthen your bargaining power and salary negotiations by knowing more about what your peers both within and outside of the company are making you can decide if your company is a good place to invest your intellectual Capital by evaluating corporate values and Senior Management
Behavior it is in your company’s interest to be open with you about many things the idea of transparency in the workplace is relatively new social scientists organizational learning aficionados and Human Resource Management experts have mused for decades about how new work models require openness and freely flowing information
Um I would be classified in that category of social scientists and aficionados and experts as far as human resource management goes uh I actually majored in undergrad uh for organizational studies essentially learning the Dynamics of hierarchical structures of hierarchical formation and how power and information travels to and
From layers and hierarchies and across hierarchies I always found that’s to be a very interesting and intriguing uh appeal of corporate and it made me it made me want to study it made me learn more about why corporations some corporations are perceived to be slow moving whales when
It comes to information and innovation in markets and others seem to be so agile so quick and so Nimble to uh to affect the change across their organization and their culture it’s it really is something to uh to Marvel at but [ __ ] I might just be a nerd right continuing the modern Corporation
Requires internal transparency because it is essential for Effective knowledge work employees must share and use new knowledge must be empowered to take responsibility for it and must be self-motivated most firms need highly visible values strategy business processes and operations for workers to collaborate and work effectively the next little subheading here is
Transparency and knowledge work in the old Corporation information flowed vertically people were separated into two groups the governors and the governed the Supreme Commander was at one end of the spectrum and the permanently governed at the other information flowed imperfectly at best from top to bottom in the old industrial economy the vast
Majority of those who worked for large vertically integrated companies contributed Brawn not brained management invested in big factories with production processes and sophisticated Machinery that required little decision making or operator skill employees were extension of the machine immigrants workers in Ford factories spoke 50 different languages and had little
Education they were expected to follow orders and not to take much initiative if any theirs was not to question why management was based on mistrust command and control and its decision processes were totally opaque to employees yeah this is true this is very true and a lot of modern day managers really believe
Themselves to be bosses really believe that they don’t need their employees to be knowledgeable that they don’t need their employees to be intellectual that they don’t need their employees to be smart to be active to take initiative but when you move from the industrial setting what is the factory what is the
Assembly line right when you move from that and you involve more people more aspects of human interaction like sales like service like account management right business to business uh uh enterprising that and that that involves more human interaction in the equation so when the requirement for information
And it’s access it’s it’s sharing it’s distribution and collaboration when that becomes priority management doesn’t need to know that it’s a priority it is a priority it behooves management to be competent enough to recognize this as a priority and not hamstring the employees not not tie the labor force
Not tie their hands not tie the labor forces hands behind their back not handcuff them uh unduly not uh not restrain them prematurely because because you’d be surprised if you inform your Workforce with a common goal a a productive Vision something sustainable something worthwhile something righteous you could
It doesn’t matter how many different languages they speak what type of culture they come from but if you can establish Common Ground that’s 50 different markets you open up continuing things weren’t much better in the white collar world the goal was to climb the ladder and acquire more direct reports
For those outside management the incentive was salary the work goals were established higher up this was the world of the organization man by contrast modern companies are fluid and supple many workers change their processes often and must continuously learn and adapt as they work consider a
Job as mundane as working in a call center every hour customers raise new questions and issues the flexible corporate structure is more effective but it also means that yesterday’s yes no decisions have become multiple choice questions to do their jobs effectively workers require knowledge Google as a private Corporation can
Share more information with employees than a publicly traded firm including financials deals in the making and ongoing problems says CEO Eric Schmidt quote most companies use employees most companies use employee portals as an HR mechanism here are your benefits here are your vacation days and so forth that
Is the classic view and it is the wrong View the right view is how you can spread information within the company that causes employees to solve problems without any Executives needing to deal with them sort of a work minimization strategy for executives they’re happier and I’m happier end quote
See when you uh when you give your employees a little more agency a little more knowledge on how the business run on how to take care of business business takes care of itself it’s obvious it’s it’s almost a logical no-brainer almost and yet still some modern day managers and Executives they
Hold on to every bit of power every bit of information the knowledge they they hold it uh they not they not only withhold it from the employees but they hold it over them they lured it over them I don’t know if it’s an ego trip if
They let the power get to their heads or what have you but it isn’t power it is not power if you’re the only one that can exercise it why why because then you bottleneck business you bottleneck business only to you as a point of contact and so the business won’t grow
And the stress will Mount you will not be able to handle every aspect every angle of business that comes your way and then you dig yourself a hole you paint yourself into a corner believing the delusion believing rationalizing that your employees are stupid they don’t get anything done and
They quote only bring you problems they never come up with Solutions I I’ve heard it all before I’ve heard it all before especially when managers who really think they’re hot [ __ ] they say don’t bring me problems bring me Solutions [ __ ] all that noise man continuing
Consider it says uh oh no no the end quote here that they’re happier and I’m happier and it says rather than knowledge management Google’s practice is more akin to knowledge Liberation the release of previously secret information to all employees consider how modern corporations deal with something as seemingly impotent as
Product knowledge the IBM Mainframe salesperson Circa 1970 knew about the features and functions of the company’s products in great detail but almost nothing about the firm’s product strategy IBM never quotes pre-announced products the IBM account representative’s job was to sell existing products the more the better and keep the competition out the
Salesperson had no more knowledge about where the company was headed than did the customer nor did he need to technology was stable and fundamental changes to product strategy were rare customer requirements were generally straightforward the salesperson delivered 85 percent gross margins on Mainframe sales enabling IBM to bundle
Extensive service and support with the product today by contrast the sales person Works in a volatile environment where customers have access to information about any competitor technology changes daily as does the customer organization the account manager needs to thoroughly understand IBM’s business strategy future directions and views on emerging technology architectures to help
Customers plan and Implement sophisticated technology applications today IBM is far more candid in discussing these critical issues with employees who in turn release this information to the marketplace though competitors know more about the company’s strategy the gain from empowering its own employees is worth it to IBM
The new salesperson needs much more than product information because he will not have a specific answer for every question he needs a deep comprehension of IBM’s architectural directions philosophy and principles often tricky issues arise regarding partnering with competitors politics within the customer firm media comments about IBM and stakeholder actions
Against it or recent corporate disclosures the salesperson needs to have the company’s philosophy and values in his bones to say and do the right thing no policy manual can cover every contingency yeah it makes sense I mean when you inform your employees you make soldiers out of them you make agents they’re not
Free agents they’re your agents and they’re informed they’re soldiers they become mercenaries damn near they become independent contractors without being independent contractors and they have that trust as employees they have that trust in you as a manager as a leader of the organization and they’ll call you boss they will call
You boss out of respect continuing frequent and erratic shifts in core strategy have gone the way of the.com Dodo but thanks to continuing rapid Pace Technology Innovation and the pressure to entice ever more fickle cost consumers competitive product Cycles are as demanding as they have ever been managers must make more difficult
Decisions in less time a decade ago automakers took five to six years to bring a new car to market now it’s usually three years sometimes less than two and soon one rather than stockpile cars on dealer Lots automakers want to build a car within a week to a buyer’s
Specifications and deliver it to her driveway in consumer electronics product Cycles are measured in months even in the food industry the pace continues to pick up have you checked out the Tomato section of your local grocery lately let alone frozen pizzas producers of virtually all consumer goods and services face the twin threats
Of compressed development time and shorter shelf life Peter sangi of no oops Peter sangi was right when he argued that an organization remains competitive only if it learns faster than its competitors any firm can have the same technology as another any product can be copied competitive Advantage is ephemeral as
Firms constantly seek new ways to create value Marketplace success hinges on the knowledge and creative genius of product strategists developers and marketers General Electric General Electric General Electric General Electric sorry I fumbled that so I gotta I got a [ __ ] I gotta pronounce it correctly right I gotta enunciate every little
Syllable and consonant General Electric takes knowledge sharing seriously applying unique ways to encourage this Behavior Steve Kerr ge’s former Chief knowledge Officer says that many 1990s company meetings began with a round-the-table discussion where every attendee was asked to share something important he or she had learned quote
You would be fired if you took company assets like money and hoarded them in your personal bank account similarly if you hoarded information or ideas in your personal bank account you could be fired as well hoarding information is an Integrity violation that’s nice that’s that’s nice what’s up with the
100 what with the hundred miles of the gallon carburetor where the [ __ ] did that go why is that not in the marketplace like like we could have just innovate on gasoline instead of [ __ ] pumping up the price right [ __ ] the next subheading transparency and executives corporate Secrets occur when Executives
Know something that employees don’t blind spots occur when employees know something that Executives don’t knowledge Liberation is about making the Unknown Known to both Executives and employees microsoft.com general manager Tim Sinclair supports an open Enterprise since 1994 he has held one of the most challenging jobs anywhere running the
Third largest website in the world when he started out the entire site ran on a single server that handled A million hits a day as the internet expanded more groups at Microsoft added content today more than 500 writers and developers in more than 70 locations around the world provide information for the Microsoft
Website five data centers manage its online traffic microsoft.com is the only corporate web presence in the top 100 boasting 20 million page views per day and 5.5 million users per day along with the sites of the CIA and the FBI it is one of the top targets for
Hackers they itch to crack its security and embarrass the world’s largest software company incredibly Sinclair has managed to sorry incredibly Sinclair has managed a reliability score consistently in the top three on the web today 99.78 uptime when asked how he orchestrates the human capital to achieve such success his
Mantra is transparency quote when there is good news everyone knows when there is bad news tell everyone if there is a problem with the system if Tim has made a mistake if his team is not performing well rather than keep it a secret he lets appropriate people in
Microsoft outside his group know about it including his boss when I open up this is in quotes when I open up with the bad news I get the support and resources I need Tim says that at first this was counter-intuitive and it made his division look weak yet
Quote rather than making me vulnerable this philosophy of transparency strengthens me and my organization people trust us because they know we’re open and determined to deliver I can appreciate that just a side note I can appreciate that if you’re open if you’re open with uh the vulnerabilities
That exist not just in your division but how it relates to the entire organization I mean bro the squeaky wheel gets the grease right you will get the resources you will get the support necessary in order to bolster your division to rectify those vulnerabilities and create opportunities from perceived weakness right and it
Makes the team stronger it makes the entire organization better for it Tim is not alone continuing Tim is not alone firms like Johnson and Johnson and Seagate have adopted open book management policies where they share in real time the company’s scorecard with employees and engage them in its
Development and in the attainment of its goals any employee of Seagate systems can use the corporate intranet to see CEO Bill Watkins objectives and how he is performing to achieve them IBM has a scorecard on its intranet which captures internal metrics and how employees and departments measure up it
Receives more traffic than any other part of the Intranet the next little subheading here reads transparency and Trust within the firm open Enterprises Foster employee trust toward the firm they also Foster trust within the firm among employees Samuel Johnson said where secrecy or Mystery Begins Vice or rogury is not far
Off damn this Samuel this Samuel Johnson guy sounds bass as [ __ ] wait I’m going to repeat that again where secrecy or Mystery Begins Vice or rogury is not far off I like that I really do knowledge workers by definition are not stupid they know that the fewer Secrets
Executives have the more likely they can be trusted firms cannot be transparent unless they are trustworthy or openness will harm them firms that are trustworthy can and should be transparent because openness helps stakeholders verify honesty reliability and consideration opacity causes dysfunctional Behavior within firms a Xerox manager told us of
An expression prevalent in the company in the early 1990s called quote grin [ __ ] grin [ __ ] when certain mistrusted Executives said that said things that subordinates thought were wrong or even ridiculous rather than openly challenged the statements employees just grinned back peer Executives often treated one another the same way that’s just being a
Yes man really I mean if you don’t have the [ __ ] balls and backbone to stand up to your executive to your manager when they’re [ __ ] the bed right you just smile and Nod right and [ __ ] smile and Nod and that’s what that means grin [ __ ] yeah you’re [ __ ] them
Back by grinning right it’s like you’re you’re metaphorically sucking them off just by grinning and and agreeing with them right if you don’t have the the muster to do that I mean you’re gonna be in for a very bumpy ride and uh they’re gonna be not riding their coattails as much as
Them dragging you along so [ __ ] buckle up right strap in all right continuing in 1998 Arthur Anderson told senior audit Partners to implement its 2x strategy that’s bring in twice as much revenue from non-audit as from audit Services then the firm increased the power of local office managing Partners each with his own
Revenue targets and balance sheets it’s eviscerated the central Professional Standards group a panel of internal experts who handled tricky accounting questions moving many of its members to local offices the goal was to make it harder for Auditors to deter clients from pushing the envelope on Accounting Standards Enron became Anderson’s most
Powerful clients for both audit and Consulting Services I’m laughing because I mean Anderson today um I mean is really eaten eating out the gutter not not literally but figuratively I mean they’re still trying to recuperate their image trying to rehabilitate their image from having uh slept in enron’s
Bed right actually having laid out made out and Ron’s bed and they slept in it together that’s funny as [ __ ] if you don’t know about uh Enron I mean I’m not gonna waste your time explaining it you have the power of the internet literally
Uh if if not in your hand it could be in your [ __ ] brain at this point I mean we’re in 2023. I know uh what’s his face is doing what’s that thing by putting that thing in your brain but I mean just just use the net use the net look it up
You’ll see what I’m talking about when it comes to Enron and Anderson Enron became Anderson’s most powerful clients for both Audits and Consulting Services a Houston based member of the Professional Standards group Carl Bass complained in a December 1999 email to a colleague in Chicago that his advice
That Enron take a 30 million to 50 million dollar accounting charge for a specific transaction was being ignored four months later he was removed from his Enron oversight role in response to complaints by enron’s Chief accounting officer at the time Richard A Causey one former Anderson employee told us
That in classes at the Anderson training facility in Chicago if a student raise the problem or failing of Anderson in the past teachers were known to reply the past does not exist discussing problems from the past was prohibited a big problem as those who failed to learn from history are
Destined to repeat it well continuing continuing I mean that’s just too funny that’s that’s uh Poetic Justice if you will in both Xerox and Anderson a culture of uniformity and opacity undermined open discussion free thinking and challenges to the status quo a disastrous result with with disastrous results when opacity Reigns organizational cultures
Include negatism negativism negativism withdrawal Conformity low commitment risk aversion lack of learning organizational politics defensiveness and other symptoms not rooted in positive values conversely in open Enterprises employees are engaged there is greater loyalty and lower turnover and employees are more likely to do the right thing employees and open and trusted firms are
Better motivated knowledge workers need to be fully motivated to succeed unlike an assembly line where one can turn up the speed managements can’t simply demand 15 more bright ideas per month but if we list the factors motivating workers money is not the most important it is Concepts like Mutual trust respect
Learning ability to contribute and to see the big picture I’m telling you I’m [ __ ] telling you these little side comments where I’m [ __ ] telling you inform your employees the right way right you allow them to contribute to collaborate right to pitch a little insight to take the
Initiative and they’ll treat you like a boss you won’t have to [ __ ] claim it you won’t have to Proclaim like a self-proclaimed boss and you’re just a [ __ ] piece of [ __ ] with delusions of grandeur right no they’ll call you and they’ll shout you out they’ll shout you out as a boss you just
Have to act apart continuing Michael rice is working hard to create an open Enterprise as executive director of the private clients group at Prudential Securities he is responsible for most of the company’s business in 2000 the company shut down its institutional and Equity markets businesses today all its
Research is on behalf of private clients eliminating the conflict of interest problems that other Securities firms face the 8 000 people in Rice’s group generates two billion dollars in annual revenue from more than 2 million clients and manage 120 billion dollars of assets Prudential has constructed a quote transparency architecture to ensure an
Open Spirits with stakeholders from clients to Regulators to stock exchanges rice says they seek to quote live by the spirit not just by the letter of the law the company quote opens the kimono completely to employees providing financial advisors FAS completes access to information about company strategies financials and operations this is done
Via the corporate intranet and other Communications tools and also through an fa advisory Council consisting of two FAS from each of 10 regions at fa meetings rice reviews Financial results in detail and discusses any issue as first as it as as so this is a typo
Okay I was about to say yo it might happen a stroke at first it was a food fight he says but soon people realized that we were serious about being open now we know more about the company our problems why we do things how we make decisions than I could have ever imagined
The process was extended to a branch manager advisory Council that discusses issues ranging from strategy and operating style to Communications and products the branches went from being outposts to being actively engaged in the company the transparency architecture resulted in engagement and loyalty rice says that in every organization he’s seen most
Employees think the home office doesn’t get it this was a situation at Prudential in the early 1990s with a member of severe with a number with a number of severe problems the company had completely fractured trust today he says we have a culture of trust and that
Pays off the firm is aligned around a clear strategy that employees co-create loyalty has shot up prior to January of 2000 the firm’s annual attrition rate was 23 percent God damn that’s high that’s [ __ ] revolving door in 2002 it was 11 okay dropping at a time when the firm Cuts fa
Compensation twice laid off thousands of people and reduced costs by 250 million dollars in order to stay alive people knew our financial situation this is in quotes people knew our financial situations we were always very upfront about it his advice is quote tell the truth tell the whole story answer any question
Honestly and candidly do what you say you will this is what builds trust and good will rice says that today the only gap between the field and home office is a geographical one when the firm begins to grow again he believes that a reputation of openness will attract the best and brightest
I can’t express the power of transparency he says well I mean yeah I mean when you’re open and transparent folks have trust in you right so much so much so that folks will also try to take advantage of your openness of your trust right now now
There is a past episode that I call the first half of self-sabotage and I believe it’s in season three it might be season three or two it’s the first half of self-sabotage the goal in life in corporate as a corporate cowboy regardless of what projects you got going on regardless of what your
Objectives what your pipe dreams might be the the goal the motivation should be to set yourself up as if you were setting yourself up let me repeat that the goal the mission is to set yourself up as if you were setting yourself up and you’ll recognize that you’re never
Done right but that’s the goal it’s to set yourself up as if you were setting yourself up what I mean by that is make yourself look good make yourself look good not in The Superficial sense right Matt’s in uh the the the The Superficial sense that’s
Only you know skin deep and paper thin right don’t do that you want your network your network to be founded on trust to the point that should the second half of self-sabotage take effect it won’t be and and it’s not by your hand because I mean this [ __ ] happens you uh
Garner too much attention you gain too much Limelight right too much favor in some people’s eyes there’s there’s always going to be snakes there’s always going to be somebody bigger somebody better you do what you can you be the fittest right you do what you can to become the fittest but
Somebody’s always gonna try and snake your ass right when that happens though you want your network to react for you you don’t even have to make a move you want people asking you I mean if you’re still around right if you’re still kicking you want people asking you
Alex you want me to take them out see that’s trust that’s power doesn’t matter how much money you make numerous studies I mean that is the power of transparency numerous studies continuing numerous Studies have shown that collegial trust and Social Capital are crucial for high performance a culture of openness and Trust drops
Internal transaction costs in three areas first an open culture reduces search costs the costs of finding the right people and resources recommendations are often are made more often recommendations are made more often and considered more carefully among trusted parties yeah when you trust somebody you’ll take their word
For for some things you’ll you’ll come to them because you trust them and you will take their word for some things second an open culture reduces coordination and collaboration costs as trust is the foundation of effective collaboration teams that lack trust are usually ineffective trust oils the mechanisms of collaboration the mechanisms for
Collaboration reducing friction or breakdown third trust reduces Contracting costs eliminating the need for formal agreements contracts and resolutions slash litigation procedures a handshake even a wink can speak volumes more than more than an elaborate document a handshake even a wink can speak volumes more than an elaborate document and few
Documents anticipate all possible permutations of a relationship yeah yeah man it’s uh it’s it’s something to to to reckon with really it’s it’s something to behold the power that comes from trust that comes from transparency that comes from uh from social knowledge essentially it’s being a professional it’s it’s being a
Corporate Cowboy where you can communicate with others through a handshake through just the look through a wink like the book says it’s it’s awesome it’s something to behold conversely continuing conversely office politics Turf battles and other games people play that undermine performance proliferates in a culture of mistrust
Openness is the antibiotic for such bacteria as far back as 1990 Peter sang wrote In The Fifth Discipline that transparency can reduce office politics and game playing and here’s a block quote from that a non-political climate demands quote openness both the norm of speaking openly and honestly about Imports and
Issues and the capacity to continually challenge one’s own thinking the first might be called the participative openness the second reflective openness without openness it is generally impossible to break down the game playing that is deeply embedded in most organizations and a side aside common here I would
I would venture to Guess that uh this culture of mistrust continues I mean why else would we be in a corporate War why else would corporate War even be a thing if there wasn’t two sides to this coin there’s the openness side and then there’s the opaque the opacity side
There’s a transparency in the opacity sides and they both play on each other I mean all things are fair in Love and War am I right games continuing games real games that is can reveal a lot about the games people play in life we have been advising a startup that has developed an
Online game called office politics that simulates and satirizes the antics of employees who try to climb the executive ladder the game provides players with various devices and tools to quote kiss ass backstab hire and fire your way to the top since it’s only a game with few real world consequences and online players
Who don’t necessarily even know each other personally you might expect that nasty underhanded Behavior would prevail on the contrary one Winner’s description of a secret to success is typical making friends and alliances and playing a relatively clean game transparency and Trust within the organ let me just a side comment on that game
Right because I think this is the only time it [ __ ] it even talks about it but that game the game of Life this corporate game this corporate War climbing the corporate ladder being a corporate cowboy is essentially that it’s incorporating other associates making alliances and playing a relatively clean game right
There’s a pretty popular quote out there floating around I know who said it I mean it comes from a movie and if uh you’re listening to this podcast more than likely you’ve seen Scarface it’s I’ve never [ __ ] anyone in my life who did it haven’t come into them what that means essentially
Is someone who has it coming to them then you ought to give it to them you must you must give it to them right if they’re a snake to you first you don’t wait to get fired you don’t wait to feel the heat to feel the consequences you take them out completely
I mean you know politically corporately professionally transparency continuing transparency and Trust within the workplace also change the customer experience at Prudential secured at Prudential Securities in one minute an fa might be asked to explain the tricky issues regarding disclosure and conflict of interest in his industry and Company
He might need to explain the rationale for prudentials controversial decision to withdraw from Investment Banking the next minute a client might wonder why Prudential has a national account Center for small accounts 25 000 or less asking if this is a step toward elimination of its branches and when an
Important client asks why his niece was forced to deal with the national account Center the fa has the knowledge of corporate strategy on wealth management and The Savvy to rectify the situation on the spot as with all stakeholders transparency if handled right leads to trust that leads to relationships and value
Every year since 1983 the great place to work Institute has cataloged the top 100 Employers in the United States the program is so popular that the Institute now collaborates with various Publications to produce lists of more than eight lists for more than eight countries and as of 2003 identified the
Best companies in each of 15 European Union countries as well The Institute defines a great place to work as one where you trust the people you work for have pride in what you do and enjoy the people you work with The Institute argues that corporations should strive to be great places to work
Not because of some warm and fuzzy notion of employees being happy and coddled but because this is the surest way for a company to be as profitable as possible Institute research shows that companies that are a great sorry Institute research shows that companies that are great to work for
Capture a host of competitive advantages a mutual fund comprising only com companies from the institute’s great place to work list would consistently and substantially outperform the market these companies benefit from factors such as lower turnover lower health care premiums and more job applications any company with more than one thousand
Employees that has been in business for more than seven years can apply to be designated as a great place to work in 2002 a total of 279 applied and hundreds of employees in each firm filled out questionnaires about their feelings toward the company sample statements sample statements oh sample statements employees were
Asked to agree or disagree with were and these are the sample statements I’ll list them off for you the first is management keeps me informed about important issues and changes the second is people around here are given a lot of responsibility the third statement management involves people in decisions that affect their
Jobs or work environments and the fourth statement I am offering training oh I am offered I am offered training and development to further myself professionally that last one sounds like a dream come true I mean if if corporate if management went out of its way to develop you professionally
It’s because they want you on long term it’s because they’re investing in you not just as a human but as something more it’s as a person The Institute says that trust between managers and employees is the most telling characteristics of the best workplaces to assess a company’s level
Of trust The Institute looks at three dimensions credibility respect and fairness credibility credit credibility concerns and employees perceptions of management communication practices competence and integrity respect examines the support collaboration and caring employees see expressed by Management’s actions toward them fairness concerns the equity and partiality and Justice employees
Perceive in the workplace the final two dimensions in the institute’s model relates to workplace relationships between employees and their job or company that’s pride and among employees or other employees that’s camaraderie pride is the feelings employees have toward the job team or work group and Company and camaraderie is the quality
Of hospitality intimacy and Community within the workplace great places to work retain their luster even during bad times in quote how to cut pay lay off 8 000 people and still have workers who love you an article accompanying the 2002 list of best companies to work for fortune discuss the remarkable loyalty employees
Showed toward Agilent during a stressful period the high-tech Hewlett-Packard spin-off that builds measurements testing and Communications equipment placed 31st on the list of 100 best companies at its peak in November 2000 Agilent employed 47 000 people 12 percent more than the year before then came the 2001 economic downturn
Compounded by the events of September 11. agilents sales plunged despite Valiant efforts to let to avoid layoffs despite Valiant efforts to avoid layoffs such as the across the board 10 salary reductions in the end the company terminated 8 000 full-time employees and 5 000 temporary workers about a quarter of its payroll
Management worked incessantly to make the downsizing process as transparent as possible Constant Contact through email intranets and meetings both group and one-on-one capped employees informed as the process unfolded Agilent CEO Ned barnholt would frequently speak directly to employees through public address systems built into its facilities around the world as
A result employees remained tenaciously loyal and supportive of management quote I knew that downsizing wasn’t part of the HP way and it’s not what bill and Dave that’s Hewlett and Packard would have wanted one employee told Fortune but if they were faced with the same situation they would have had to do the
Exact same thing uh just a side comment yeah I really like this having having uh the courage I think it’s courage and having the confidence really to address employees as individuals as professionals keeping them in the loop about what what their Fortune about what their um what their fate will be at an
Organization right not only does it give them a cushion to you know be shooting out applications and interviewing in case their their position goes up on the Block on The Chopping Block right to be terminated to be laid off but it it increases the respect that they have in
The face of being fired right that’s that’s not Burning Bridges if anything that’s keeping Bridges open because economic downturns happen so when there’s an upswing they remain viable connections they remain viable the nodes in your network professionals you can turn to later in the future continuing continuing employee morale is essential to
Agilent’s survival companies today must nurture knowledge workers and provide the environment for Extraordinary thinking problem solving innovating and executing complex business functions if agilent’s employees became if agilent’s employees became angry bitter or Afflicted with guilt sentiments that often arise after large layoffs then the company’s capacity for Innovation and
Creating value would suffer you see I’m telling you I’m telling you if they leave bitter it’ll be known and your reputation will spread and your capacity for Innovation is going to [ __ ] fall off because folks that come if folks apply to you and come to work for you they’re just
Going to show up for the check and they’re going to do much else continuing this last piece unlike industrial corporations of yesteryear Agilent doesn’t have mechanical assembly lines that ensure employees contribute regardless of their Mood by handling crises in a matter by handling crises in a manner that doesn’t undermine workers
Faith in management Agilent leaders safeguarded the company’s capacity to compete that folks is how you take care of business and business takes care of you okay next heading when trust breaks down colon whistle blowing this is this one is about whistleblowing when companies violate trust the consequences can be disastrous bad
Behavior not only undermines motivation loyalty and productivity it makes companies vulnerable to problematic Behavior such as whistleblowing or Rebellion yeah that’s problematic behavior all right sure Sharon Watkins and Ron’s vice presidents for corporate development was an eight-year veteran of the company Margaret sassani or yeah Connie yeah maybe second your sasani
It’s two C’s c-e-c-o-n-i sasani was a deal originator in the Enron Energy Services Group and had been with the company less than a year like many employees they knew about the questionable practices in the company’s finance department and had raised the issue with their bosses but unlike others when they got no response
They blew the whistle they could have gone to the Houston Chronicle or the Washington Post but instead Watkins and sasani wrote letters to the CEO Kenneth lay warning him of the impending of the pending sorry of the pending implosion of accounting scandals that could devastate the company and the lives of its employees
Little did they know that their letter would set the stage for a who knew what and when platform from which the seventh largest company in the United States would take its death plunge Watkins became a celebrity after a congressional subcommittee released her letter and took her testimony on
National Television she quit her job and joined the lecture circuit speaking about the roots of enron’s collapse talking about ethics at some of the nation’s most prestigious Business Schools she met with presidents George W bush she met with President George W bush and published a book on the Enron
Collapse in December 2002 Time magazine named Watkins Colleen Raleigh of the FBI and Cynthia Cooper of Worldcom as its Persons Of The Year Raleigh had written a memo to FBI director Robert Mueller about how the bureau rejected requests from her field office to investigate South Korea’s mausawi subsequently indicted as a September 11
Co-conspirator Cynthia Cooper blew the whistle on Worldcom when she informed its board that the company had covered up 3.8 billion dollars in losses with phony bookkeeping observed time this is a quote from the time no from Time Time Magazine quote their jobs their health their privacy their sanity they risked all of
Them to bring us badly needed word of trouble inside crucial institutions the fate of most other whistleblowers is far less glamorous in February 1999 three years before the world watched Worldcom drop to its knees Geraldine Kelly a cost management analyst working for the company in London saw the writing on the wall
Frustrated by worldcom’s apathy regarding her concerns she quit her job and spoke to the city of London and spoke to the city of London fraud Squad oh she quit her job and spoke to the city of London fraud Squad and the department of trade and Industry her claims were deemed unfounded
In Richardson Texas 22 months later Worldcom budgets and financial analyst kimif Kim e myth blew the whistle on an internal policy change that he knew to be fraud quote pure and simple when he got no response from his superiors he began moving up the hierarchy eventually reaching the chief operating officer who
Told him quote on behalf of myself and corporate accounting I want to thank you for making us aware of this rest assured your Nev your name has never been mentioned he was fired 10 weeks later it’s hard to be the small guy and try to
Get to the world and try to get and try to get the world to listen that this is headed in the wrong direction says Janet emef his wife yeah I mean it’s true when when the entire world is abiding by the status quo is working in
The type of Paradigm where they say you know it’s always been done this way or if it ain’t broke don’t fix it even though it it is broken it’s just a broken cycle and they’re waiting to see um they’re waiting to experience the end stage of the cycle it’s like they know
What the [ __ ] is happening but they and what I mean they is just corrupt [ __ ] at the top corrupt [ __ ] at the top have this sick addiction to the rush they get from it like a gambler like a gambling addict they really believe that they can’t lose
That they can get out at the top it’s like buying low selling high they think they can get out at the top and that the mouse trap won’t snap shut on them like the [ __ ] rats they are all right continuing continuing whistleblowing came to prominence as a
Phenomenon in the 1999 movie The Insider when Jeffrey wingen wig wig Nat winget Wing wig wig end when Jeffrey wigand yeah The Insider when Jeffrey wiganth played by Russell Crowe made huge personal sacrifices to expose the brown and Williamson tobacco company and the entire tobacco industry for spiking cigarettes with nicotine
Whistleblowers have popped up at hundreds of companies not just such Infamous cases such as Arthur Anderson Quorum Health Services Xerox more in Theo coal Halliburton Smith Barney Global Crossing Tycho and Duke Energy it’s funny that Halliburton is mentioned here because uh I did mention in the past episode I believe it
Was uh episode two yeah I think it was episode two season seven episode two I recommend the book confessions of an economic Hitman by John Perkins and I recommend it because that gentleman worked closely with halliburn with the likes with the likes not with Halliburton but with the likes of Halliburton and Bechtel
So go ahead and Google them if you would like otherwise Go download the confessions of an economic Hitman book it’s available everywhere online not everywhere you do have to go look for it maybe it’s being scrubbed as we speak but it’s uh as of this date 2023
It’s still available as an ebook PDF the federal government was the first U.S organization to safeguard whistleblowing furious at unscrupulous suppliers saddling his soldiers with broken rifles and lame horses during the Civil War Abraham Lincoln persuaded Congress in 1863 to pass the false claims act also known as the Lincoln act or informers
Act Lincoln was experiencing firsthand what Benjamin Franklin averred a century prior there is no kind of dishonesty into which otherwise good people more easily and frequently fall than to that of defrauding the government the law encouraged citizens to blow the whistle on companies swindling the public purse not only could diligent
Citizens feel good about helping their country they also got 50 percent of the money recovered or damages won the Law’s major failing however was That’s The Whistleblower had to personally take the swindler to court in order to get the reward for this reason few citizens actually blew the whistle you wonder why
Because [ __ ] get knocked off they wake up with no family they wake up with no life they wake up lifeless five score and 18 years later of in 1981 the general Accounting Office estimated the federal government was built tens of billions of dollars annually the Department of Justice estimated that
Fraud consumed up to 10 percent of government expenditures in response to the perception of rampant illegality Congress strengthened the rewards for whistleblowing in 1986. it protected employees from reprisal by their employer and gave the Whistleblower 15 to 20 percent of the funds recovered if the government took the swindler to
Court Congress noted at the time that quote if the government can pass a law that will increase the resources available to confront fraud against the government without paying for it with taxpayers money we are all better off this is precisely what the false claims Act is intended to do deputize ready and
Able people who have knowledge of fraud against the government to play an active and constructive role through their Council to bring to Justice those contractors who Overture charge the government and this brings us back to the ideal of public corporations public companies companies or corporations entities any organization that is chartered
By the United States government and governments of the people for the People by the people right they are chartered meaning that they are indebted forever to the government so so to commit fraud against the government necessarily ought to mean that it’s fraud against the people but I mean we’ve Twisted the
Notion of governance in so many different directions it’s like folks don’t recognize that these people are not leaders the people we elect are not leaders they are Representatives they are our equals actually when they volunteer to run because folks voluntarily run they choose to put their
Names to throw their names in the hats to be elected right to throw their names in the ring to be elected right but they are elected to be public servants so it so if folks to be public servants to be less than us people who elect them that’s supposed to be how the
Game is played right this quote-unquote game of life they choose to take up being elected to be a representative and serve others serve the people that elected them they’re not leaders they’re not better than us maybe more noble but they’re not noble men that they’re not royalty they aren’t they aren’t Citizens continuing citizens responded enthusiastically more than 3 600 lawsuits have been filed since the 1986 revisions in the 2000 2001 fiscal year the governments recovered nearly 1.2 billion dollars with more than 210 million dollars awarded to individuals who disclosed the frauds the general Accounting Office maintains a quote fraud net website where citizens
Can submit examples of Fraud and Abuse of government funds with so much money flowing to Citizens blowing the whistle on companies trying to fleece the government it’s no surprise A Small industry has grown up to encourage the practice dozens of websites typically run by law firms beckon potential whistleblowers with offers of comfort
And guidance the www whistleblowerfirm.com site says it’s block quote the block quote’s next it says if you have found this website then you have taken a significant First Step our clients are current and former employees of companies that do business with the government either directly or indirectly they are highly skilled
Ethical and have already tried to bring the fraud to their superiors attention almost always they are told in some fashion to mind their own business we understand what you have gone through or continue to go through this is a pattern we have experience through our clients over and over again we also
Understand what it takes to file and prosecute a proper and responsible lawsuit give us a call we can help you both in and out of court all Communications are replied to promptly and in confidence now as idealistic as that sounds I actually uh commend some of these firms that take
It upon themselves to guide whistleblowers through the process and navigate them I don’t know what the help looks like in and out of court I don’t know maybe they set them up in a safe house of some kind maybe they Supply them with a new identity because
When you burn a corporation you burn your [ __ ] self this is Corporate War I mean do you blame them when when you Corner a rat the rat bites continuing such sites have such sites can be hugely comforting to a potential whistleblower to be a whistleblower writes see Fred Alford is to step
Outside of the great chain of being to join not just another religion but another world sometimes this other world I don’t know why that sounded so ominous all of a sudden but to join another world you mean the other world you mean the after World the afterlife you mean a
[ __ ] die because in some instances if you don’t do this [ __ ] right you’re committing more than just career suicide sometimes this other world the quote continues sometimes this other world is called the margins of society but to The Whistleblower it feels like outer space now that employees have such ready
Access to support mechanisms it’s not surprising that the number of whistleblowing incidents increase yearly when Time Magazine asked its Persons Of The Year whistleblowers if they have done anything if they would have done anything differently Watkins replied I wouldn’t not do it but what I really failed to grasp was
The seriousness of the emperor has no closed phenomenon the seriousness of the emperor has no clothes phenomenon I thought leaders were made in moments of Crisis and I naively thought that I would be handing and Ron chairman Kenley his leadership moment I honestly thought people would step up but I said he was
Naked and when he turned to the ministers around him they said they were sure he was clothed more than a decade Before Time Magazine declared these whistleblowers Heroes Congress was so taken with the idea of exposing misdeeds against the governments that it tried to expand the concept to misdeeds within the
Government and granted protection to government employees who exposed wrongdoing inside the executive the executive branch damn I mean you talk about corporate War man when you combine corporate and just pure politics what you get is is this Cutthroat communism dog all right yeah the unanimously passed whistleblower protection act of 1989
Forbade reprisals against bureaucrats who revealed illegality mismanagement abuse of authority gross waste and substantial and specific danger to Public Health or safety subsequent Court decisions undermined much of the protection that Congress promised bureaucrats so in 1994 Congress re-passed the law again unanimously with tougher Provisions however the Department of Homeland Security
Legislation Exempted its employees from the whistleblowing protection enjoyed by other civil service my other civil servants and if you didn’t know the Department of Homeland Security was I think it was instituted in 2001 with the passing of the Patriot Act uh or alongside the Patriot Act after the um these quote terrorist
Attacks in 2001 so if the Department of Homeland Security has Exempted itself and they supposedly work in counter-terrorism counter-terror Pro counter-terror Intel that sort of thing rest assured if they’re breaking laws and uh they’ve got witnesses they’re not leaving Witnesses so they they either exempt themselves from liability or they exempt themselves from
Liability with Force all right unfortunately the impact of The Whistleblower protection act has been limited the executive branch is not keen on publicizing misdeeds or incompetence within its ranks you don’t [ __ ] say mismanagement or gross waste is often in the eye of the beholder mismanagement or gross waste do you mean
Like the mismanagement and gross waste the day before September 11 by the Pentagon not surprisingly the bureaucracy prefers to deal with such matters quietly away from the media Spotlight and in a manner that doesn’t reflect on the current Administration yeah I mean you’ve got spin you’ve got to deflection you’ve got misdirection disinformation
Misinformation this all goes hand in hand with governmentis that is to rule the brain govern to rule and then meant the brain all right the executive branches mismanagement not surprisingly the bureaucracy prefers to deal with such matters quietly away from the media Spotlight and in a manner that doesn’t reflect on the current
Administration taxpayer Watchdog groups decry the way Court decisions and executive branch Behavior have gutted the intent of the Whistleblower protection act in a letter to President George W bush the government’s accountability project lamented that’s quote unless the Whistleblower is a celebrity through media exposure like the FBI’s Colleen Raleigh the
Bureaucracy routinely ignores harasses or silences The Messengers through career execution more like prob it’s probably more like actual execution but you know what’s two bullets to the back of the head and made it look like a suicide you know most frequently it says by yanking their security clearances and
Branding them unfit to see classified information I mean that just sounds like standard [ __ ] standard like a standard disciplinary action right they’re not going to do all that if you blow the whistle they’re not going to be like oh your clearance is revoked it’s going to be more like oh you’re [ __ ]
Your brake lines got clipped if whistleblower is continuing if whistleblower still do not have the protections that Congress has tried to Grant private sector whistleblowers have even less you know why because now you’re [ __ ] with corporate now you’re [ __ ] with people who don’t need badges who don’t need to
Follow the law I mean to an extent right that is transparently when you uh when you take an oath right and you get issued a badge and a gun you are supposed to uphold it’s like you ought to uphold the law but when you don’t
Have that I mean do you really need to follow the law as long as they don’t know what’s going on employees are protected from employer reprisals only in relatively few circumstances and industries such as disclosures involving Airline safety or violations at nuclear power plants quote we need to understand in this land
Of the free and Home of the Brave that most people are scared to death Dr Alford said about 50 of all whistleblowers lose their jobs about half of those lose their homes and half of those people lose their families damn they straight up kill their families I’m joking lose their families probably
Because they lose their jobs and lose their homes and lose a way to sustain a family but you know either way I think I think if you expose enough dirt on the government you could say bye to your family but make no mistake continuing whistleblowing will not go away corporate whistleblowers are typically
Young and often women they are not a homogeneous group some have strong values that conflict with the behavior of management others see a personal risk to themselves in Management’s behavior and make a calculated choice to whistleblow in order to protect themselves some Financial managers for example have been
Asked to sign statements that they know to be fraudulent and have chosen to whistleblow rather than risk professional or criminal sanctions some no doubt are troubled individuals who have been isolated from the corporation others have less lofty motives such as Revenge what’s wrong with Revenge Revenge is [ __ ] delicious cold it’s
Like cold pizza and a cold crispy beer after night out digging holes under a group known as whistleblowers Australia uses the internet to encourage citizens to speak out about corruption dangers to the public and other social issues by encouraging self-help and mutual help among whistleblowers I
Wonder what kind of self-help is it like this podcast or something more Square the organization provides articles and leaflets ah so just literature and pamphlets to whistleblowers and publishes a newsletter how cute it also holds meetings of whistleblowers and supporters and provides contacts with like-minded individuals and groups uh
Yeah but more than likely they’ve got [ __ ] plants and spies and agents in them Splinter cells where if you come out into the where if you come out into a group imagine a group of like six seven individuals and they’re treating each other like they’re in some kind of
Witness Protection Program because they because they blew the whistle and now they had to [ __ ] run for their life right and uh you know you’re joining this group and and you’re detailing the events of your your careers demise and then the six of them right because
You’re the seventh the six of them turn to you and they’re all agents and you’re [ __ ] I wouldn’t doubt that that happens I wouldn’t doubt it’s happened before uh down under it says the organization provides articles it holds meetings that’s funny I mean I’m not Downing whistleblers I’m not outright bagging
And [ __ ] on them like what they’ve done right because in order for I guess government in order for society in order for Western Civilization to continue running with an air of legitimacy some of the [ __ ] has got to be exposed and what I mean by
Expose it some of this has to be aired like the hope that whistleblowing is always successful has to be put out there why because it provides a semblance of Hope for some people uh something to have faith in which is the Constitution which is our Declaration of
Independence something that we can do as as a nation but if it’s not something we can do as a nation that’s why this podcast was made so it’s something it’s something you can do as an individual as a corporate Cowboy you don’t need to blow the whistle what
You’ve got to do is shake shake hold on hold on say shake hands but you only do that if you’re dual wielding shake your hand at people you don’t even have to shake a finger you just gotta squeeze lightly it’s less than four pounds laughs all right but making a mistake what’s
The blowing’s not going away where did it go where did it go uh continuing corporations pay a heavy price for opacity and for reprisals against whistleblowers if employees suffer an injustice and feel that they have no place to turn or that the mechanisms supposedly in place are ineffectual and
If they blow the whistle word spreads like wildfire if they are still not taken seriously morale will suffer throughout the organization the upshot is that some companies are turning to third parties to operate confidential telephone hotlines or intranet sites that employees can turn to if they want to blow the whistle on
Improper Behavior some companies let me just read that again because that’s the funniest [ __ ] I’ve I’ve considered I’ve contemplated that’s the funniest [ __ ] I’ve had to consider so far in this book and I’ve laughed that a lot right I I love to laugh the upshot it says the upshot
There’s uh there’s there’s a silver lining but I think it’s a silver lining for companies because it says here some companies are turning to third parties to operate confidential telephone hotlines or intranet sites that employees can turn to if they want to blow the whistle on improper Behavior so
This is like a service that employees could call into hmm thinking that they’re blowing the whistle that’s the points they’re J they’re just thinking they’re doing something right meanwhile what this third party uh this third party uh fake whistleblowing service is just going to inform on the employee back to
Management and before you know it the employee gets clipped the import the employee gets uh terminated uh it’s the employee that suffers at the end I I mean it doesn’t get any more ironic than that when an employee doesn’t know how to think for themselves doesn’t know when the employee is uneducated
They never [ __ ] see it coming they’re too naive they’re too innocent it’s sad sometimes it is yet I still laugh the goal of these Services is to make employees competent that an indifference management won’t brush their complaints aside that’s it really National hotline services and the network each has
Hundreds of corporate clients they provide a safe outlet for employees to raise ethical concerns ranging from allegations of sexual harassment fraud and kickbacks to safety violations better still of course are companies that create cultures of trust where we’ll where whistleblowing is unnecessary yet every company needs to offer employees and alms budman
This guy yet every company needs to offer employees an ombudsman Ombudsman is like a uh it’s like a company representative that serves as a uh as a conduit of communication to and from management so if any uh if any grievances or complaints have to be submitted to the company the
Ombudsman has enough knowledge has enough clout within the organization to either make some changes or make suggestions but um budsman they’re not as popular I think they could be popularized further I think uh there could be more of them but you know it’s it’s not as widely practiced uh legally
As it could be uh yet every company needs to offer employees and Ombudsman telephone hotline or other procedure to voice their concerns that is easy to use well-known and demonstrably free from retaliation demonstrably demonstrably free like the company’s got to set up this trap looking device right this trap
Looking mechanism this trap looking process and yet and then convince the employee that it’s not a trap right like why else it’s like in today’s day and age 2023 hiring another company to do this type of work that requires an employee to really trust the system and
Really trust that this impr that this information this particular sensitive piece of information that could bury the corporation doesn’t make it back to the corporation no I’m not gambling on that I’m not even beginning to gamble on that [ __ ] all of that I’d rather take it into my own
Hands because that way I know it can be handled and if it can’t be handled it’s like the like the like the phrase goes it’s suddenly not my problem anymore all right continuing continuing uh mistrust is infectious and travels fast that was the uh the last line of that paragraph the next subheading
Corporate character how can companies improvise no how can companies improve their cultures through active transparency social scientists and business researchers have argued that high trust societies more easily spawn large corporations Francis fukuyama notes that societies with associations based on family or kinship religious or governmental ties but lacking generalized trust such as China
Hong Kong Taiwan France and Italy have tended to create smaller less successful Enterprises High trust societies like Japan Germany and the United States have been more successful in building large-scale Enterprises yet corporate cultures vary dramatically among and within Japan Germany and the United States we’ve spent over a decade
Showing how focused networked firms perform better than traditional vertically integrated corporations in such firms as Kroger HP that’s Hewlett-Packard Johnson and Johnson Herman Miller Google and Progressive bonds of informal trust become more important than formal bonds or hierarchy command and control models typical in Japan and Germany tend to be less
Effective than the empowerments models of the United States Canada and Scandinavia trust is critical to distributed knowledge work but the trust of U.S workers and their employers has soured since the economic downturn began in 2000. and the upbeat can-do attitude of the 90s the 1990s has largely evaporated
Workers are depressed by the weak economy and high profile bankruptcies such as Enron and Worldcom and the lavish compensation packages many senior Executives have enjoyed a New York Times slash CB CBS News poll found in October 2002 that U.S workers were more anxious about the economy than at any time since 1993.
The survey found that 56 percent considered the economy fairly bad or very bad 39 said they thought the economy would get worse and only 13 predicted it could get better the times noted that in a strong departure from the 1990s when CEOs were often hailed as Heroes
Workers are voicing a sense of anger even betrayal toward top Executives among experts in Human Resources a sharp debate is underway about whether workers commitments to their employers has waned in response to corporate downsizing and a sense that many top Executives have betrayed workers and investors according to a Rutgers University of
Connecticut poll 58 of workers think that most top executives are interested only in looking out for themselves even if it harms their company for the first time in two decades most workers surveyed said that they would join a union if they could seeing this as a path to Greater job security
They don’t know [ __ ] about unions they don’t know [ __ ] about hierarchy they don’t know [ __ ] about organizations because those [ __ ] at the top of the Union like at the top rungs of the ladder of a union are just the same [ __ ] they probably golf with CEOs [Laughter] unions are capitalizing on this
Receptive mood and using Technologies such as the web to speak directly to workers in ways that were not possible previously America’s non-hierarchical businesses feed on trust and relatedly are most vulnerable to crises of trust traditional corporate hierarchies have stronger mechanisms for control in Japan for example there is reverence for
Authority obedience fear of punishment and Status based purely on rank help ensure stability many individuals have enjoyed lifetime employment at one company promotion has often been based on seniority rather than on Merit employees work in the offices of their corporation and rarely remotely or at home in networked distributed firms such
As those in the United States trust is more implicit and not as formally baked into an organizational structure such it is fragile corporate cultures are more Merit meritocratic meritocratic corporate cultures are more meritocratic yeah for the large part I would say I think you do a good job if you do a
Better job in in some firms in the United States typically meritocracy has rained right it’s not but it’s not standard practice keep in mind I mean some folks kiss ass suck dick and grab ass and in order to get promotions but uh for the most part meritocracy
Wins wins for the most part I mean sometimes meritocracy looks dirty sometimes meritocracy looks um extra legal but uh for the most part actually I want to say always it verges on always winning meritocracy meritocracy almost always wins the first half of self-sabotage like I’m telling you it really is
In networked distributed firms like the United States corporate cultures it says are more meritocratic nice trust is based on the tacit understanding that if you play by the rules and perform well you will succeed when trust breaks down the results are typically disastrous and Swift Today businesses face a clear and present
Danger a decline of generalized trust in society combined with behavior that undermines trust in the workplace people who performed well in many failing companies nonetheless lost everything some who failed to perform made out like Bandits and some were Bandits I mean I would consider those to be the gambling
Academics the the gamblers the gambling addicts the top who got out at the top right who got out at the peak before the mouse trap shut firms need to be of good character not unlike people when we re when we think of individuals having character we conjure up traits like honesty
Reliability benevolence and integrity persons of good character are forthright straight shooting [ __ ] yeah like a corporate Cowboy shoot straight with both hands and open in their interactions with others they abide by their commitments they conduct their lives on the basis of ethical values these are the same traits that characterize the open Enterprise
The people in a firm determine its character but a firm can also shape the character of its people most assume that a person’s character is formed long before that person becomes an adult and enters the workforce some economists might even argue that work and competition bring out the self-interest
In people and that the influence of the workplace on character is somehow negative but Ralph Larson CEO of Johnson Johnson argues that work in the modern firm can be a character building experience there’s a block quote I contend that the influence does not have to be negative indeed our corporations and free
Enterprise system are surely in Jeopardy if it is on the contrary it is our experience that the modern workplace can be an extraordinarily powerful and positive character building institution I feel that character both personal and corporate is a company’s most valuable resource and attribute end quote in the 1930s during the Great Depression
Johnson Johnson CEO Robert Wood Johnson wrote try reality a pamphlet that asked business to adopt a new industrial philosophy he said quote industry only has the right to succeed where it performs a real economic service and is a true social asset damn this this guy Robert Wood Johnson sounds like um sounds uh
It sounds chill man he went on to order the responsibilities a company has he went on to order the responsibilities yeah I guess to order he went on to order the responsibilities a company has to its various stakeholders Johnson believed that if companies were going to be allowed by governments you see going
To when they’re chartered it’s because they are they’re calling them into existence when they are chartered they are allowed by governments and Society to operate in a free market system continuing unencumbered by burdensome laws and regulations then they need to act in socially responsible ways a few years
Later he expanded this view into the J and J Credo of course corporate character is not defined by a document it is defined by the actions of people no documents can foresee all the choices that employees face in an increasingly complex and transparent World values need to be in
The DNA of a firm Johnson and Johnson awkwardly but aptly calls this credoization A salesperson is invited to a competitor’s suite at a trade show a manager must lay off someone and the lowest performer is usually is and the lowest performer is the only woman in his group uh what
Hold on a salesperson is invited to a competitor’s suite at a trade show a manager must lay off someone and the lowest performer is the only woman maybe I’m not understanding and the lowest performer is the only is this supposed to be sexist or something a trade show
A manager must lay off someone and the lowest performer is the only women in his group an employee receives a funny but sexually explicit email from a colleague an executive can increase share price and short-term investor confidence by deeply cutting head count what is this a client manager has an
Opportunity to overcharge a customer and make his bonus A salesperson is asked by a government’s official for a quote favor a manager is congratulated by the CEO for someone else’s accomplishments a freshly hired MBA is explaining disappointing quarterly results to an Institutional shareholder a purchasing agent gets offered courtside seats by a
Key vendor what the [ __ ] was the point of that whole paragraph this sounds like business as usual which is a lot of [ __ ] but still this is like business as usual When J J employees face such dilemmas it says The Credo provides a guide to do the right thing according to
Larson it helps good people be the best they can be in this sense it is a character builder okay I mean maybe I’m understanding maybe I am understanding correctly where Larson Larson maybe viewed the employee as a child of the corporation award a ward of the corporation because they got taken
In from the wild right where they could have been independent contractors and brought them in from the cold where they became employees that’s a pretty app analogy if I might say I just pulled that out my ass I just pulled that out the top of my head but you’re pulling in
What could have been independent contractors and you are raising them uh cultivating them nurturing them the developing them into employees and so this Credo this Credo that is supposedly in the DNA of the corporation you can then inculcate your employees to act a certain way for the benefit of the corporation in
Addition to benefit them like you’re raising kids so when uh in a sense this is a character builder it builds character nice increasingly in a transparent World such corporate character is critical to business success says Larson quote we have learned that principled action is not only the moral thing it is the
Correct business decision with each right decision we we make we reinforce the trust people have in our products and us and conversely which with each transgression we erode the special characters so critical to Our Success yeah I would venture to guess I would venture to say yes that’s absolutely right
It can take years to build trust even between people even between friends and it could take an instant to break that trust and have you not trust somebody it could be again it could be a look it could be a word it could be an action to not trust somebody ever again
I mean it could be something as small as a 22 round [Laughter] a transparent World okay I already read that uh when tylenol’s integrity was violated by the 1982 lid tampering Scandal Johnson and Johnson stock immediately dropped 18 but it recovered quickly Larson reflects on the experience quote it has been my
Experience that people who make it a habit to work at making the correct ethical decisions in the countless small choices we face in life are most often those same people who can be counted on to make the ethical correct decisions on the big things when a crisis hits and the pressure is on
The character of an open Enterprise starts with the CEO Tony comper is the CEO of the [ __ ] Financial Group a financial services organization with 250 billion dollars in assets and 33 000 employees Illuminati confirmed [ __ ] provides a broad range of retail banking wealth management and Investment Banking products and Solutions in Canada and
Through chicago-based Harris Bank the United States as in any company tricky situations arise continuously continually continually arise copper handles these differently than many CEOs when information comes to lights that might embarrass the bank his staff reports they’ve never heard a mask how do we get out of this mess rather he poses the
Question what’s the right thing to do here this is now part of the bank’s folklore a culture of doing the right thing has developed it seems to make small short-term business sense to turn off the credits app to small businesses during the 2001-2002 downturn but copper decided to be loyal to small business
And take some short-term risks doing the right thing in this case meant standing by customers through tough times the results [ __ ] has more than doubled it’s market share damn imagine that who would have thought who would have thought standing for the small guy standing for the small person right not just
Throwing money by going woke and then going broke right but actually standing for the small guy would get you somewhere right and sometimes it’s a small guy that’s got to stand for themselves inside or outside of the government inside or outside of the corporation if you’re out in the
Cold you got to learn to make fire you got to carry that [ __ ] fire with you and not get caught lacking on some corporate Cowboy [ __ ] though persons persons other than a CEO can of course influence a firm’s character Mahatma Gandhi said quote you must be
The change you wish to see in the world I had one for that I had one for that um I had one for that nah that it’s it’s that slipped my mind but I had him for that be the change you want to see in the world that I had
Something for that that I was going to put on uh on the corporate Cowboys page but it’s all right uh considering this last sentence when individuals show character in a transparent World it can be infectious yeah it can when you show character in a transparent world it is infectious it changes the
Dynamic in a room in a conference room in a conference Hall in Congress the next subheading the power shift while increasingly essential to to business success transparency is a double-edged sword since it also creates an unprecedented power shift in favor of employees particularly those who are strong contributors this promises to
Shake the foundation of the corporation as much as the original Trade union movements of the early Industrial Corporation considering the tough job market and the huge increases in executive compensation over the past years it may seem that employees are losing ground but there’s more here than meets the eye transparency brings Market
Forces to bear on labor markets the friction in labor markets is melting as salaried Personnel have Newfound access to information about jobs and employers through companies such as vault.com and monster.com when unemployment is high as in the case of Silicon Valley today whoa hold up hold up because this was written in 2002
And Silicon Valley is going through a uh uh is going through layoffs right now in the tech sector that’s weird it’s almost like as if there’s a cycle right when unemployment is high as in the case of Silicon Valley today knowledge of Labor markets is less useful
You don’t say you don’t say but with normal markets sorry not sorry I misread that one but with normal levels of unemployment knowledge is power especially for people within demand capabilities CGI is a rapidly growing Information Technology Services firm with more than 21 000 employees worldwide and revenues of
More than two billion dollars more than 80 percent of employees which it calls members are shareholders members can change management behavior in various ways for example in each region there is an annual meeting slash dinner that all members attend there or here here they can challenge corporate management in what’s President Mike
Roach refers to as a Bear Pit session says roach quotes this is not just about management accountability but member accountability if you’re an owner of the company as most members are you have responsibility to provide leadership like many firms CGI surveys employee satisfaction each year the difference is that management compensation depends in
Parts on the results quotes if you treat employees as owners you have a higher responsibility to them and they have responsibility to you profit sharing encourages transparency says Roach IBM though generally viewed as one of the best employers and a leader of the digital revolution has experienced the
Effects of the shift to employee power it is closely scrutinized by a number of online employee groups who are worried about the company’s attempts to reduce pension and health care benefits in May 1999 IBM announced a move to plan a plan a plan to move from a traditional
Pension plan to a cash balance plan saying that only 30 000 employees near retirement age could remain with the older more generous scheme within months however the Giant’s computer was forced the giant computer I’m reading this [ __ ] backwards I’m I’m developing dyslexia within months however the computer giant
Was forced to more than double the number of employees who could remain with the traditional plan as angry workers organized via the Internet on Yahoo discussion groups and other websites dog that sounds low-key corny you mean nobody’s knees got [ __ ] broke nobody lost function in in one or both
Of their hands because of this that’s weird to me IBM to his credits faced a difficult problem and and I mean that in the best sense I mean when you do something wrong when you do something bad when you do something evil when you do something not righteous yeah you you
Ought to get your [ __ ] hands broke Idle Hands right Idle Hands IBM to its credits faced a difficult problem with its pension program where it needed to shift resources toward stock ownership in order to attract talented workers during the technology boom when it was clear that the new program wasn’t going
To fly IBM took the right approach in dealing with this crisis it engaged with the employees to address the situation says IBM executive John Iwata quote we focused on creating a dialogue we have a rich tradition established many decades ago to allow employees to express how they genuinely feel about
Things through many channels we have a speak up program we have the open door program different programs to allow employees to express how they genuinely feel about things to the very top of the business and believe me sometimes they utilize those channels to express grave dissatisfaction I like the use of grave here
Iwata today doesn’t view this as quote one that Management’s lost rather quote we think that to be consistent with our values and our relationship with our Workforce we needed to make the required adjustment McDonald’s is quickly learning the power of increased transparency to its workers and the general public until recently
The company was pretty much having transparency forced on it McDonald’s scattered structure has long frustrated attempts to unionize its Workforce often when a store is unionized the company retaliates by shutting it down but with the internet’s arrival McDonald’s employees can now contact one another share information and organize
In a manner that was previously undreamped of dog that [ __ ] ain’t happening look at 2023 they’re still trying to unionize [ __ ] Starbucks and Amazon that [ __ ] ain’t happening in 2002 that [ __ ] was not happening one of the best known employee sites is the McDonald’s workers resistance according to its website the resistance
Doesn’t have quote any leaders paid campaigns or anything like that we’re just crew members like you MWR will only be successful if workers keep getting involved that means you if every McDonald’s worker who reads this site and agreed with us got involved then together we would be able to do
Wonderful things we need your help and the reason I’m reading it like a [ __ ] square is because I said unions are just another form of hierarchy right I like the idea that they decentralized this communication and you know posted it on on a website but even that [ __ ]
Can get hijacked you could get plants and spies from McDonald’s corporate [ __ ] up the game and spreading disinformation and misinformation if you’re not educating your Workforce and just leaving it at that educate them make them corporate Cowboys have them learn to negotiate for themselves to Value themselves to to provide for
Themselves to be capable professionals otherwise you’re just going to have groups of sheep and and you’re gonna have to become a herder of the flock and and you’re gonna think you’re worth more because you’re doing it and really you’re not you’re just another professional managing professionals
Right so so you the thought that you ought to get that you ought to get paid more because you’re unionizing and I’m talking about this this idea of leadership right you can be a leader without pushing it on people right people just naturally follow Natural Born leaders I mean there’s a difference between
Charisma and Leadership being charismatic and being a leader there is a difference there is a difference where was I uh we need your help [ __ ] squares the oldest and most popular anti-mcdonalds website is mixed Spotlight operating since 1996 and offering more than 120 megabytes of the inside scoop on
McDonald’s operations it is designed for the general public not just employees yeah I mean I like sites like that right like if if you were to regionalize problems right like if there was a McDonald’s in some remotes part of the country in a state some in some states
Some city right and you know that this manager is [ __ ] weak they’re cutting Corners quality is dropping they’re really slipping up in life I don’t give a [ __ ] about what their stress level is right like they got [ __ ] mouths to feed so they’ve developed a a Coke habit or a gambling
Habit and they’re just an utter piece of [ __ ] so they take it out on their employees right [Laughter] well would it not be in the workers best interest to not have that manager what are you going to do instead you’re going to unionize for what what’s the [ __ ] point I mean the the CEO of McDonald’s to an extent I guess has deniability they’ve got plausible deniability to a
Degree right because they’re insulated in in that upper echelon of society where where they are where they live and I’ve said this before in a previous podcast that they could believe the CEO of McDonald’s the CEO of Burger King of Carl’s Jr of of whichever one [ __ ] pick one right they could really
Believe that they are feeding people nutritious meals at a great price and they might eat there every day right and it’s not impossible to imagine that it’s the CEO who’s getting [ __ ] over by middle management because middle management wants to turn a profit and so they pump up numbers
And so they doctor reports and so they tell the CEO that they are winning every quarter meanwhile they strike backroom deals meanwhile they’re union busting or whatever the [ __ ] meanwhile they’re out Contracting this mysterious pink slime to make patties with right that the CEO might not have a [ __ ] clue about and yet
And yet the CEO could could live happily ever after just being lied to by the next person down the [ __ ] vice presidents or whomever right so the [ __ ] we could begin one rung down or two rungs down or three rungs down are at the [ __ ] store level right it
Could it might not even be corporate Direction but what happens at the store level what happens on the ground level informs what happens up top well it’s corporate War what can I say other than go back to season one episode one and get cracking become a corporate
Cowboy today we need your help we want you to become a corporate cowboy the oldest and most popular Anton McDonald’s Spotlight mix Spotlight it is designed for the general public not just employees mixed Spotlight does more than could any Union I believe it yeah unions ain’t [ __ ] for the most part it created
The mick Information Network a UK based group drawing on volunteers from 22 countries on four continents the network is dedicated to quote compiling and disseminating factual accurate up-to-date information and encouraging debate about the workings policies and practices of the McDonald’s corporation and all they stand for the network also
Highlights opposition to McDonald’s and other transnational companies borrowing a page from the environmental movements McDonald’s protest websites encourage citizens to think globally and act locally I mean I guess that’s a good ideal think globally act locally think globally act locally think globally how maybe think universally and act locally like if you could
Uh because who who said if you if you it was a philosopher I’m [ __ ] forgetting said in a manner that if universalized would be better you feel me so like act in a way where if everyone acted the way you act everyone would be better off
And I forget what philosopher said it I know I probably [ __ ] butchered it but you know I regurgitate the best that best way I know how I Spit hot fire you feel me the oldest and most popular and I already read that borrowing a page from the environmental movement McDonald’s
Protest websites encourages citizens to think globally and act locally by sharing experiences from around the world protesters realize that they are part of a much larger movement and that their local efforts matter if you want to stop in McDonald’s from being built in your neighborhood you can take heart
That hundreds of other neighborhoods in dozens of countries are doing the same to what does McDonald’s owe the pleasure of being the target of strident’s state of the Arts vigilante websites make Spotlight explains quote yes we appreciate that McDonald’s only sell hamburgers and loads of other corporations are just as bad but that’s
Not the point they have been used as a symbol of all multinationals and big business relentlessly pursuing their profits at the expense of anything that stands in their way again that could easily just be middle management like the CEO maybe doesn’t have a [ __ ] clue right I mean and it
Could be that it’s not even it’s not even corporate stores doing it could be franchisees doing it right McDonald’s McDonald’s I’m continuing quote McDonald’s were chosen for this dubious honor because a everyone’s heard of them B they’re bullies who threaten legal action on almost anyone who dares criticize them
See their stacks of in-depth information available about them thanks to the research that’s gone into the mick libel trial D the nature of their business means loads of contemporary issues are relevant e they pioneered various unwelcome practices which other companies have followed and F they take themselves far too seriously
No they don’t they’ve got a [ __ ] clown for a mascot facts more than one million visitors per month with no facet of the company’s operations left unexplored damn this site sounds uh interesting actually I might go check it out I’ve never been and yet I might go check it
Out just for the sake of organizational studies Yours Truly Alex let’s see here before the World Wide Web arrived most protesters measured success by the amount of media coverage they attracted much like the tree falling in the forest if a protest doesn’t get television time or column inches in a newspaper it
Didn’t really happen but increasingly protesters don’t care whether the local newspaper gives them publicity they can achieve exposure on their own that’s not that’s not really true in 2023 there’s huge protests occurring worldwide that are renouncing these mandates and these guidelines in 2023 that are being imposed by governments and regimes
But they don’t get any attention and a lot of folks stay sleep October 16 2002 I’m continuing October 16 2002 was the 18th Annual Worldwide anti-mcdonalds Day and mixed Spotlight claims it was the most successful so far I wonder how they’re doing today in 2023 probably more blocked and Shadow banned
Than ever for the first time it says the McDonald’s workers resistance encouraged employees to join the protests oh there was actual protos employees were asked to not show up for work or to go to work and sabotage operations sounds [ __ ] [ __ ] accordingly to the resistance website they had reports of local
Protests from Australia to Mexico Russia to South Africa Brazil and the United States and throughout eastern and western Europe including Ireland and the United Kingdom as described by the site and just real quick before I read this block quote the reason I don’t believe in these protests is because it artificially lowers
Standard of quality right where if you leave work thinking believing following the mass of [ __ ] sheep that are just out on the street bad bad batting right there I forget what the [ __ ] term is called uh what do sheep do I’ll look it up for you right now if you want what noise
Do sheep make it’s called um to use the word bad yeah bad but what’s the sound what’s the sound called bleat that’s right bleach b-l-e-a-t bleeding in the streets it sounds even funnier when you use it all right if you if you’re out there following the masses [ __ ] bleeding in
The streets right whining whinging and whining [ __ ] complaining crying bitching right if you’re out there in the streets and you’re not working you’re not doing anything productive when you could be getting better when you could be networking better you could be moving up actually cutting throats instead you believe you’re doing something cut
Throat but only because you’ve been ordered by somebody else by this this fake ass MC Union so you you for temporarily you lower you artificially lower the standard of quality of work the standard of performance so [ __ ] anybody who shows up to work and then you know later are labeled a scab
Just because they need money or they they’ll show up to work for the free [ __ ] McChicken that they get on their shift or whatever they just they just have to show up to work and they’re promoted and the next day you’re [ __ ] fired and then you go
Off and run and [ __ ] cry and whine well McDonald’s is anti-union they fired me no dog it’s because you’re not working period you could easily be out there cracking skulls not out there in there you could be in McDonald’s cracking schools making your way up the ladder right you signed the line you
Wanted to work at McDonald’s so if you became a McDonald’s rep you wear the you wear the McDonald’s shirt right so if management is [ __ ] it up for you they’re [ __ ] it up for McDonald’s right they brought you in from the cold they are quote unquote your family
Temporarily while you’ve agreed to work for them under terms of employment If your manager is [ __ ] it up you take the manager out hold on hold on in Minecraft relax I mean like a corporate Cowboy you do it right you do it professionally on October 16 the most successful
McDonald’s day or whatever the [ __ ] the block quote that’s right as described by the site on the day itself according to reports received action included strikes in stores in Paris and Norfolk a stoppage in Moscow an attempted strike at a store in Newton attempted an attempted strike really
Attempted strike at a store in New Zealand in London England a walk out and Nottingham collective resignations in Glasgow many acts of absenteeism Defiance and disruption by individuals and small groups of workers in many countries including the U.S Ireland Australia Canada Denmark Madrid and Germany in addition there were
Solidarity actions by protesters in support of McDonald’s workers in the north of Ireland Germany Australia Scotland Sweden Serbia and England and especially in Italy including a blockade in Milan I wonder why especially Italy why they gotta listen like that especially Italy like is Italy just more [ __ ] in six
Paris McDonald’s is controlled by CNT France they went on to strike around specific demands related to full-time employment and standardized pay rates they gathered at 10 A.M by the Fountain of Innocence at 3 pm they were due to meet with McDonald’s representatives and they arranged a public meeting in the
Evening in Norfolk a strike crippled the restaurants there was a picket that held for most of the day at one point a manager came out to moan pitifully why are you doing this read the leaflet I’m not reading that he raged ripping it up when McDonald’s head of office when when
McDonald’s is head office was asked why the store was virtually unstaffed they replied it was because of some sad individuals trying to take McDonald’s down I mean where’s the lie and then there was the Magnificent news from Moscow as far as we can understand they negotiated with a
Quote friendly manager to be allowed to stop work for a short time without the matter being taken further although Lackey hold on as far as we can understand they negotiated with a friendly manager to be allowed to stop work for a short time without the matter being taken further
Yo whoever this Moscow manager was sounds based as [ __ ] how funny how how funny is it that your manager tells you to take the time off don’t [ __ ] come to the store and they’re considered friendly there has to be some other motivating factor there maybe uh some you know some
Involvement by nefarious extra legal characters right because that is the equivalent of of let’s say a complaint right a complaint being sent to your department and you as the manager have to field this complaint and the person complaining really disventing and crying and and whining and uh just just griping about being
Disservice being dissatisfied about feeling bad about feeling sad or whatever the [ __ ] and then all you do is just hear them out tell them literally literally tell them to go take a walk and they thank you for it they call you friendly what a gangster although lacking much common language
The feeling of international solidarity as we talked on the phone was amazing and the block quote nice continuing you don’t need to form a workers movement to set up a website to criticize your boss some frustrated workers go ahead and do it themselves consider the battle between pharmaceutical firm wife Iris Canada Inc
And Lois fonoff the company’s former manager of training and development fanuf a single mom established a website to publicize her continuing efforts to receive long-term disability benefits because of chronic pain that she says started while employed at Wyeth ayerst their callous quote this is a quote their callous treatment of me during a
Time when I seriously when I was seriously ill makes for interesting and enlightening reading for anyone who has wife Ayers in mind for a career is using their products or is presently in their employee fanuf says on the site wire wife Ayers says such material causes irreparable harm and hurts its
Ability to Accra to attract new staff yo should I restart this paragraph because I I dropped the ball after that rant huh quote their callous treatment of me during a time when I was seriously ill makes for interesting and enlightening reading for anyone who has wife Ayers in
Mind for a career is using their products or is presently in their employ says on the site Wyeth aarist says such material causes irreparable harm and hurts its ability to attract new staff doubtless this is true if only because some visitors to the site believe where there’s smoke there’s fire
The drug company asked the Quebec Superior Court to shut the site down in order for newf to pay one hundred thousand dollars in Damages for slander and violating the privacy of Wyeth Ayers Executives by posting their email addresses the case was dismissed and if enough probably updated her website with
All the new material generated by the legal proceedings Savage you see this woman was a [ __ ] corporate Cowboy about it sure she aired it out to the public it’s not like uh she used it to leverage her way into another Corporation and beat Wyeth Ayers into the [ __ ] ground and bury it six
Feet but you know something is better than nothing the power shift is so pronounced that even unreasonable marginal employees can reach an audience and cause PR headaches perhaps sending a firm into a trust crisis if they could do it reasonable men and women can do much more oh yeah
Reasonable corporate Cowboys can do [ __ ] tons knowledge is power and employees have more of it a memo to managers get used to it this is ultimately a good thing no that sounds about as gangster as that fool in Moscow memo the managers get used to it this is ultimately a good thing
This is the same kind of power that drives Innovation and competitive Advantage rather than fights or flee engage and embrace that is the end of chapter four of the naked Corporation how the age of transparency will revolutionize business thank you very much for having joined me
Alex as I read to you and commented on what we read together I’ll catch you next time thanks again
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