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Executive Times |
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Volume
10, Issue 3 |
March2008 |
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Note
re: links---certain hyperlinks assume that you are registered as a subscriber
to the site. If you are not a subscriber to certain sites, the links will
fail. If you register, the links should work. Also, certain hyperlinks expire
and may not be available when you try to go to the site. Invisibility
Most executives can handle any
pitch thrown at them (is anyone thinking about spring training?). We see an
issue, and deal with it, hit or miss. Trouble often arises with what hasn’t
been seen, or with what was observed and overlooked. Most successful
executives have mastered ways of uncovering those pockets of concern that
could lead to crisis if not addressed. Sometimes, it’s a matter of finding
the missing pieces. One executive referred to the biggest challenge as that
of managing the white spaces on the organizational chart: finding those
things for which responsibility and accountability have not been identified
or clarified. Leaking natural gas could lead to disaster if not detected
promptly, so a foul smell is added to what would otherwise be both invisible
and odorless. As you read the stories in this issue, think of what you can do
in the coming weeks to detect something invisible or odorless in your
organization, but if not being done properly could lead to disaster, or at
least a big stink, for you or your organization. You can add real value when
you fill in those missing pieces. Fifteen
new books are rated in this issue, beginning on page 5. For the first time,
all 15 books are recommended with three-star ratings, which either means that
there was nothing really good on this list, or nothing sufficiently annoying
to lose a star or two. Visit our current bookshelf at http://www.hopkinsandcompany.com/2008books.html and see the rating table
explained as well as explore links to all 225 books read or those being
considered this year, including 30 that were added to the list in February.
If there’s something missing from the bookshelf that you think we should be
considering or if there’s a book lingering on the Shelf of Possibility that
you think we should read and review sooner rather than later, let us know by
sending a message to books@hopkinsandcompany.com.
You can also check out all the books we’ve ever listed at http://www.hopkinsandcompany.com/All
Books.html. Hubris The
world press has been saturated with stories of the way the actions of Jérôme Kerviel, a low-level trader at
Société Générale, led the bank to
lose €4.9 billion. We read in the International
Herald Tribune (2/5) (http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/02/05/business/05bank.php)
that Pascal Decque of Natxis, an analyst who covers Société
Générale, commented, ‘“Socgen
was brilliant in their achievement, they were the world leader in
derivatives. Maybe when you are that good, you think you will never fail.’ …
In meetings with investors in recent days, Société Générale's chief
executive, Daniel Bouton, has
admitted his bank's internal systems did not keep up with the pace of growth
in the derivatives business. ‘He told them while our derivatives business was
going 130 miles an hour, risk control was only going 80,’ according to one
analyst who covers Société Générale but insisted on anonymity. He added that
with traders making so much money, the analyst added, ‘they were untouchable;
they had the power.’”
A preliminary report on the investigation into the huge trading loss may send
chills up the spines of many executives. You can read the detailed report in
French from a link at http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/02/20/business/socgen.php.
We read in The Wall Street Journal
(2/21) (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120353823417080689.html),
“The
report said most of the people in the back office who were processing Mr.
Kerviel's trades had adequately fulfilled their job descriptions. But they
didn't go beyond. ‘Only in a few cases did employees fail to perform their
jobs,’ the 22-page internal report said. ‘The required controls were
performed, but they didn't trigger alarms that were loud enough or persistent
enough.’ The report said, for example, that officials in the back office
often didn't inform their supervisors when they noticed irregularities in Mr.
Kerviel's transactions, even when the trades involved abnormally high
amounts, ‘because this was not specifically part of their job description.’” One employee who initiated an
investigation about a trade apologized to Kerviel for using excessive zeal in
carrying out his job. The Tribune
noted, “The
derivatives group started in the 1980s as a small team of highly trained and
highly regarded engineers and mathematicians from the best schools. They
quickly became known as ‘les moines-soldats,’ the soldier-monks. And as their
importance inside the bank grew, their confidence, even arrogance, grew with
it. Like the devout and disciplined fighters they were named for — the monks
who fought in the Crusades — the soldier-monks of Société Générale prided
themselves on rising above the passions that moved the masses. Similarly,
Société Générale's soldier-monks believed that they could manage both the
risk inherent in betting on the markets — through complex computer models —
and the ardor of their regular traders, through controls.” When the investigators apologize
to the traders for asking annoying questions, the controls are unlikely to
work. Is there a group within your
organization that operates “above the law?” Do you and others overlook some
of their actions because their contributions to your success appear to be
strong? Is there some area in which you are confident that you could never
fail? When was the last time you looked for weaknesses there? Blasé What signs of boredom have you
observed in your organization? Are you relying on the skills of successful
people who would rather be doing something else? Have the procedures become
so routine that the meaning of the work is no longer understood? What can you
do to keep the workplace stimulating for all?
Gratification Whether
they are mowing the lawn or shoveling the snow outside your office building, chances
are the maintenance workers have more job satisfaction than the cubicle
workers inside, according to Jared
Sandberg’s Cubicle Culture column in the 2/19 edition of The Wall Street Journal (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120338000214975633.html).
“In
the information age, so much is worked on in a day at the office but so
little gets done. In the past, people could see the fruits of their labor immediately:
a chair made or a ball bearing produced. But it can be hard to find
gratification from work that is largely invisible, or from delivering goods
that are often metaphorical. You can't even leave your mark on a document in
increasingly paperless offices. It can be even harder trying to measure it
all. That may explain why to-do listers write down tasks they've already
completed just to be able to cross them off. ‘Not only is work harder to
measure but it's also harder to define success,’ says Homa Bahrami, a senior lecturer in Organizational Behavior and
Industrial Relations at UC Berkeley's
Haas School of Business. ‘The work is intangible or invisible, and a lot
of work gets done in teams so it's difficult to pinpoint individual
productivity.’ … Employees have to wait for the gratification that comes with
seeing a goal finally realized. ‘The average delay is much, much longer for
the average worker today,’ says Robert
Frank, a professor at Cornell's
Johnson Graduate School of Management. And behavioral science notes we
have difficulty with a reward delayed.”
One suggestion for addressing this problem is to set more meaningful short
term measures of success. Good luck. How do you define success for you and for those
who work with you? When you can’t see the tangible results of your work
efforts, what provides you and others with job satisfaction? Do those who
report to you consider that the measures of success you use don’t reflect
what is meaningful or important or gratifying to them? How do you measure
individual productivity? Concealment Most
effective executives have become reconciled to the notion of living in a
fishbowl where almost everything they do and say can be observed and judged.
What can be surprising is that some executives seem to forget this lack of
privacy when it comes to e-mail or text messages and cell phone calls. We
read about this in a Chicago Tribune
(2/24) (http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/lifestyle/q/chi-0224_honesty_d_k_nfeb24,0,947741.story)
article titled, “In
the Era of No Privacy, the Secret is Honesty.” According to the Tribune, “…a 2006 study by University of Newcastle researchers
in England showed people are much more likely to be honest when they think
someone is watching. Detroit Mayor Kwame
Kilpatrick recently found himself on the receiving end of that lesson.
His affair with his chief of staff is documented in text messages they sent
to each other on city-owned equipment. If they had used their personal cell
phones instead of the fancy Skytel network, their secret might have been
safe. Instead, the messages ended up as part of a legal case that gave
Detroit a $9 million bill. … With all the ways that our lives can be tracked,
it pays to be honest, because you'll get caught if you're not.” The article goes on to
describe how hard drives shot with guns or tossed into lakes have had data
recovered; how GPS in cell phones can pinpoint our whereabouts; and the
ubiquity of cameras in public places document everyone who comes and goes.
There’s no advice on how to get the shouters of confidential information into
cell phones to shut up. Nor is there a way to alert those executives who talk
about confidential issues with each other on planes or in restaurants and
expect that no one is paying attention. Maybe they think they have a cone of
invisibility that protects them from being seen or heard. How alert are you to matters of
privacy? Do you pay attention to who might be in earshot when you are
speaking or when you are listening to someone else? Have you reconciled
yourself to the reality that the cell phone in your pocket reveals where you
are, and all of your electronic messages may be retained for posterity? Follow-up Here’s
an update on stories covered in prior issues of Executive
Times: Ø All of the articles in the March
2004 issue of Executive Times
dealt with talent management. Readers with strong interest in that topic
should check out Talent Management
magazine. You can read the current issue at http://www.talentmgt.com/current_issue.php.
Here’s one interesting perspective from this issue: “What happens
to relationships when someone leaves to move on to another opportunity or
retires from the workforce? How can organizations continue to maintain,
cultivate and mine these relationships and the associated institutional
knowledge for business value? The solution: Build lifelong relationships with
employees to ensure an ongoing dialogue and connection that can be leveraged
even after they have left. Many organizations have viewed the employee life
cycle as "hire to fire" — a typical variance on sourcing,
recruiting, hiring, on-boarding and development, ending with eventual
off-boarding. But attitudes have come full circle. Brick-and-mortar companies
first encouraged lifelong employment. Later, as business models evolved, they
moved toward a model of just-in-time employment and the hire-to-fire cycle.
Today's organizations rely on knowledge workers rather than on bricks and
mortar to build value, and thus must focus on lifelong relationships with their
employees — in many cases this is similar to their customer approach — rather
than lifelong employment or the hire-to-fire modality.” Ø In many issues of Executive Times, there have been quotes from
executives who may have preferred that their words had not been taken out of
context. Those who want to avoid this problem may benefit from an article in
the 2/19 edition of the Financial Times,
which said, in part, “There
are lessons for anyone who speaks to the public. First, what you say will be
summarised, so provide a clear conclusion, such as ‘on one thing there can be
no compromise: we are all subject to British law’ and repeat it at every
opportunity. Second, think about how your words can be used, whether by
journalists looking for a story or by your opponents. If you say the
Republicans had good ideas, insert ‘not that I agree with them’. Finally, if
you are speaking a language other than your own, make sure someone is ready
to jump in to correct you the moment you say something embarrassing.” (http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/27228772-de91-11dc-9de3-0000779fd2ac.html)
Legacy
Creativity Latest
Books Read and Reviewed: (Note: readers of the web version of Executive Times can click on the book covers to
order copies directly from amazon.com.
When you order through these links, Hopkins & Company receives a
small payment from amazon.com. Click
on the title to read the review or visit our 2008 bookshelf at http://www.hopkinsandcompany.com/2008books.html).
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Hopkins & Company, call Steve Hopkins at 708-466-4650 or visit www.hopkinsandcompany.com. |
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