An old saw says that in Washington DC politics is in the water; if that’s true, than technology is in the water in and around Silicon Valley. I lived there from 1977 to 2003 and just as DC media focuses exhaustively on Federal politics our media delved into the technology world, especially at two ends of the spectrum—startups and iconic brands.

Hewlett Packard is beyond iconic—it’s legendary—and dissecting what was happening and why was a media constant.

That hasn’t changed since I left; the latest being the Hurd fiasco. I followed the stories from the original news flash, not all of them but enough to understand what happened and some analysis, but I still felt something was missing.

I kept thinking that if Hurd was really terminated for the reasons stated then he was terminated for cause, which would mean no 40-50 million dollar severance package, but instead he was allowed to resign.

Something didn’t smell right or maybe I was just suspicious because the little I knew about Hurd didn’t impress me, but, then, who am I to disagree with all the experts who raved about his turn around of HP.

A Joe Nocera’s column Friday in the NY Times offered up a more logical reason for his ouster; one that makes far more sense to me.

According to Anthony Bianco, author of The Big Lie: Spying, Scandal and Ethical Collapse at Hewlett-Packard, “There was a residue of mistrust because of the pretexting scandal. I conclude in the book that he lacks the moral character to be C.E.O.”

Then there were the company’s employees. The consensus in Silicon Valley is that Mr. Hurd was despised at H.P., not just by the rank and file, but even by H.P.’s top executives.

Worse, Hurd gutted R&D, selling HP’s future for the short-term gains that Wall Street loves.

In the final look, the people who must be trusted to do the right thing in the running of large companies is the Board, but HP’s Board has proven over and over that it lacks what it takes.

On the other hand, putting up dazzling short-term numbers that have the effect of enriching himself while robbing H.P.’s future — isn’t that what a C.E.O. should be fired for? Firing Mr. Hurd for that reason, however, would have taken courage, something that has always been in short supply on the H.P. board.

What do you think? Read the column, come back and share your thoughts.

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No matter the medium you use to follow the news a large proportion of the stories have a trust angle—most with a negative look at who/how/why it was broken.

I tend to trust people with good diction because I can hear what they say; others trust people because of perceived commonality—the same place of worship, similar political stances, the same schools, military service, mutual connections, etc.

When you see it written down like that the idiocy of any commonality as a basis for trust is apparent, but on any day you can find stories about broken trust that was based on these and similar ephemeral reasons (such as diction). Possibly one of the dumbest is the trust based on some form of online friendship at places such as Facebook.

Even trust in introductions made by long time friends can be misplaced as the experience of my friend Kelly shows. Briefly, her friend arranged a blind date for Kelly with a guy she knew. She didn’t mention that she had only chatted for a few minutes with him during a conference; she thought he was cute and that Kelly would like him. Fortunately for Kelly he was arrested two days before their date—charged with attempted rape. Her friend was shocked because he was well dressed and it was a professional conference, so she assumed he was OK.

There are thousands of similar stories out there; many with much worse endings.

So how do you know who to trust?

When I was looking for quotes about trust for yesterday’s post I found an anonymous one that offers some excellent guidance.

“The key is to get to know people and trust them to be who they are. Instead, we trust people to be who we want them to be- and when they’re not, we cry.”

Getting to know someone takes time, but you can pursue a dual track by giving the people the benefit of the doubt if your guts says yes, while maintaining a vigilant watch to make sure that their actions are consistent with their expressed MAP (mindset, attitude, philosophy™) and being ruthless in not rationalizing away the inconsistencies.

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See all mY generation posts here.

Since several of next weeks posts involve the idea of trust in one form or another, I thought it would be a good topic for today’s quotes.

I tried to find some that weren’t the typical popular wisdom, such as, “Trust is like a vase… once it’s broken, though you can fix it the vase will never be same again.” Well, duh, never would have thought it, would you.

Then there are the silly ones, such as Pat Boone’s classic, “Don’t trust anyone over 30” or Henry David Thoreau’s “Distrust any enterprise that requires new clothes.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Self-trust is the first secret of success,” and Golda Meir elaborated on the idea when she said, “Trust yourself. Create the kind of self that you will be happy to live with all your life. Make the most of yourself by fanning the tiny, inner sparks of possibility into flames of achievement.” But as you follow this advice always remember what a wise person once said, “I don’t believe you have to be better than everybody else. I believe you have to be better than you ever thought you could be.” And most of all, as Duane Michals says, “Trust that little voice in your head that says “Wouldn’t it be interesting if..”; And then do it.”

Nobody will argue that to grow we need to learn and trust plays a large role in that, but not necessarily in the most obvious way.

It’s not just about who we trust, but about others trusting us or, as T.S. Eliot said, “Those who trust us educate us.”

Trust is a constant in any kind of management discussions. John Akers understood that and offers a short guide for managerial success, “Set your expectations high; find men and women whose integrity and values you respect; get their agreement on a course of action; and give them your ultimate trust.” But, as is often the case the best advice is anonymous, “Trust each other again and again. When the trust level gets high enough, people transcend apparent limits, discovering new and awesome abilities for which they were previously unaware.”

Leaders in positions of power are constantly invoking trust, which is really ridiculous, considering how often the abuse it. This has been remarked on many times throughout history, among them were

• “No man is wise enough, nor good enough, to be trusted with unlimited power.” –Charles Caleb Colton
• “The truth is that all men having power ought to be mistrusted.” –James Madison
• “You can’t trust anybody with power” –Newt Gingrich

I find Gingrich’s comment the most interesting considering his love affair with the halls of power and his personal pursuit of it.

So the next time you find yourself wondering if you should trust someone because they are in a certain position or espouse a similar philosophy remember the words of the elephant in Narnia, as written by C.S. Lewis,

““Smelling isn’t everything” said the Elephant.”Why,” said the Bulldog, “if a fellow can’t trust his nose, what is he to trust?” “Well, his brains perhaps,” she replied mildly.”

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Whether you consider your boss, or yourself, a leader or a manager you should find today’s offerings of interest.

Most of you know that I firmly believe that good managers must also be leaders, and vice versa, in order to get the best from today’s uber-savvy workforce, but that doesn’t always happen. This interview with Randy Komisar, who has been launching startups for 25 years, both as an entrepreneur and a VC, talks about the difference and what needs to be done.

Next is an interview with Aaron Levie, co-founder and C.E.O. of Box.net. Levie talks about how he manages, leads, hires and his company’s culture.

Our third interview today is with executive coach Liz Wiseman, Co-author of Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter, discussing the difference between ‘multiplier’ and ‘diminishers’ (I sure hope you work for the former!)

In a great column, Bill Taylor, co-founder of Fast Company and co-author of Mavericks at Work, considers the idea of corporate heroes from a different point of view—not are there any left, but rather how do we recognize one in today’s business climate.

Finally another look at Mark Hurd—two, actually.

The first, from Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Harvard Business School professor and the author of Confidence and SuperCorp, considers a question we’ve all been asking: “How can very smart, accomplished people do such stupid things?” The second, from Stanford professor Jeffrey Pfeffer, the Thomas D. Dee II Professor of Organizational Behavior and author of a new book, Power: Why Some People Have It and Others Don’t, sees Hurd as a teaching moment on the subject of power.

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What’s your attitude to Friday the 13^th?

My attitude is perverse—it’s usually a lucky or, at the least, neutral day for me.

My sister says I was born perverse (as in contrary), which I cannot deny. It’s not intentional; I don’t think about it; it’s just the way I am.

For the heck of it I looked Friday the 13^th up on Wikipedia and learned that it’s relatively modern, with no references before the 1800s, in spite of what you saw in The Da Vinci Code.

Did you know that if the first day of a month falls on Sunday it will contain a Friday the 13^th?

Good things happen to me on Friday the 13^th; for instance,

• I closed the three largest deals I’ve ever done on Friday the 13^th in two different years of a previous 13 year career.
• I found two of the three houses I’ve owned on Friday the 13^th.

How do you feel about Friday the 13^th?

What has happened to you on Friday the 13^th?

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What impact does a student’s graduation speech really have? 18 year old Justin Hudson’s had a giant impact on NYC Hunter College High School, Elena Kagan’s alma mater and the most prestigious high school in the country.

“More than anything else, I feel guilty,” Mr. Hudson, who is black and Hispanic, told his 183 fellow graduates. “I don’t deserve any of this. And neither do you.”

They had been labeled “gifted,” he told them, based on a test they passed “due to luck and circumstance.”

As a result, the third principal in five years resigned and shortly after a committee of Hunter High teachers publicly announced a no confidence notice to the president of Hunter College, who is the ultimate boss of the high school.

At issue is the entrance exam for the high school.

Mr. Collins [director of the Hunter College Campus Schools] acknowledged that the notoriously difficult test, which has math, English and essay sections and is given in the sixth grade, “isn’t a good indicator of giftedness, it is a good indicator of whether you will be successful at Hunter.”

Those who pass the test are typically from upper class families heavily focused on education and can afford extra tutoring as needed.

Luck and circumstance, as Justin Hudson pointed out.

But a lot of good things are happening across the educational board.

• Schools across the country are abolishing ‘D’ grades, leaving kids with the choice of earning a ‘C’ or flunking.
• New research from economists has proved the value of “great teachers and early childhood programs” on adult earning power.
• A new website lets kids bet on their future grades and pays off when they perform.
• Non-profit Teach Plus helps schools field teams of teachers willing to spend extra time mentoring and acting as leaders in school turn-arounds.

Of course, anytime Federal dollars are up for grabs the sharks circle and the money earmarked for education is no different— companies with no experience are touting their ability to change the course of education.

It would make a nice change if Washington wasn’t snookered by great presentations and white papers, but I’m not holding my breath.

Historically, Washington is  the place where rhetoric wins the game and smoke and mirrors gets you further than substance.

If you’ll excuse the pun, it’s par for the course.

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Pizzled is a cross between puzzled and pissed and it’s what people get when forced to work in a Triple A Culture.

RAT culture, on the other hand, leaves employees engaged, motivated and productive.

RAT means rational, authentic and transparent.

• Rational actions that make sense to your people and rational communication that doesn’t employ emotion to manipulate them.

• Authentic eliminates BS, yours and all those who report to you, and stays consistent, stabilizing everybody

• Transparent is saying clearly what you mean, doing what you say and holding everyone to the same standard—no exceptions.

RAT culture is always a top-down function imposed by any manager at any level on those who report directly or indirectly. Sadly, it is almost impossible to enable or enforce RAT culture up through the organization.

Assuming you have RAT MAP, RAT culture is satisfying to build, because it means

• doing what comes naturally;
• not having to remember what you said or did to stay consistent, because it was the truth;
• creating a working environment that’s full of sunshine instead of sh*t where people can grow and excel; and
• where fun, happy, productivity and success are the norm.

Finally, propagating RAT culture is profitable—not just for the company, because of high productivity, and your people, because of goals reached and dreams fulfilled, but for you as you’ll see from your reviews, the ease with which you hire and the pleasure you take in what you’ve accomplished.

So forget pizzled and go RAT, you won’t be disappointed.

Flickr image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zedbee/103147140/

I don’t know about you, but I am sick and tired of the amount of pure stupid going around.

Now it’s Mark Hurd, but he is just the latest in an epidemic of stupid.

I expect stupid from teens, after all, brain science has proved that teen brains are in a process of change and during that time the frontal cortex isn’t functioning.

Dr. Paul Thompson, UCLA School of Medicine: “As you get older, you don’t necessarily get more brain. The outer layer of the brain is actually thinning.”

Dr. Judy Rapaport, NIH: “You end up with a sort of leaner, meaner thinking machine by the time you’re an adult.”

But it seems that many aren’t thinking.

Call it Extreme Makeover: Career Edition and Ty Pennington just screamed, “Let’s do some demo!”

I think the brain research needs to be redone to account for regression after 40.

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