“The bottom line, though, is I am sure there will be a lot of legalistic explanations pointing out that the president lied under oath. His [Livingston] situation was not under oath. The bottom line, though, is he still lied. He lied under a different oath, and that is the oath to his wife. So it’s got to be taken very, very seriously.”
“I think it would be much better for the country and for him [Livingston] personally (to resign). I come from the business side. If you had a chairman or president in the business world facing these allegations, he’d be gone.”
“What I find interesting is the story of David, and the way in which he fell mightily—fell in very, very significant ways, but then picked up the pieces and built from there.” (King David, who slept with Bathsheba, another man’s wife, had the husband killed, married the widow, but continued to ‘lead’.)
“Too many people in government seem to think they are above regular folks, and I said I would expect humility in the way each member of my team served—that they would recognize that the taxpayer is boss.”
“We as a party want to hold ourselves to high standards, period,”
I hope you’ll come back tomorrow as this conversation continues.
Oh what great examples are presented to kids these days.
Some of the worst types of hypocrites are thriving.
The first are all the ‘leaders’ who turn out to be crooks—Dennis Kowalski, Jeffrey Skilling, Bernie Madoff and a host of other hedge fund managers—to name a very few.
Then there are those who don’t practice what they preach; worse, they preach from very high profiles and at very loud levels.
I hate using political examples, but they’re the most prevalent.
One such is former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who acknowledged having an extramarital affair even as he led the charge against President Clinton over the Monica Lewinsky fiasco—which was also hypocritical.
But the bottom of the barrel are folks such as Senator John Ensign, a ‘leader’ of Promise Keepers, an organization which, among other things, promotes a teenage abstinence policy of education, who chose to screw around (pun intended).
Gone are the days when kids listened wide-eyed and respectful to the words flowing from political, business and parental lips.
These days the kids listen, and then check out the actions of the bodies attached to those lips, either directly or by Google.
It’s not about the sex; sex and power having gone together since time immemorial. And it’s not even about who lied when caught. Almost every human lies about sex, including the kids.
A few centuries ago when I was young there was a saying, “People in glass housed shouldn’t throw stones.”
So before you become a ‘leader’ for any cause or attitude, do make sure that your own actions conform to what’s expected of those who follow you.
But be warned; reasons, excuses and apologies don’t cut it with today’s cynical youth.
And if you’re thinking of following, Google the person and make sure that their actions conform to your own standards of ‘acceptable’.
(Be sure to check out Biz Levity’s irreverent look at the Ensign scandal.)
CEOs have been envied for decades; the pedestal kept getting higher and we all know that the higher the pedestal the further the fall. Things started changing in the eighties and now CEOs as a group are scorned and reviled as symbols of ego and greed who caused most of the problems we’re facing.
Certainly some do qualify for that title, but tarring all CEOs with that brush is plain stupid, as stupid as judging any group based on the actions of a tiny minority—no matter how high profile its is.
Today’s links offer up info on the folks in the corner office, whether they’re one of the vast majority who work hard and are getting a bad rap or one of the folks who screwed up.
First for the good guys.
The Milken Institute’s Global Conference 2009 offers a video discussion at their recent conference called CEO: How Will It Stop Being a Dirty Word?
And a new website offers a place where CEOs post stuff to show that Not All CEOs Are Jerks.
Do you apologize when you screw up? An article in Chief Executive says that an apology can improve performance; while Steve Pearlstein talks about an almost confession from a Wall Street bigwig—as he says, it’s a start.
Last is a bad guy; an interview with a jailed CEO courtesy of the BBC. Remember Dennis Kozlowski? He of the $600 shower curtain? Listen to what he has to say about himself and current events.
I’ve never been a lover of the MBA, its almost holy status, depending on the school, and especially its dominance on Wall Street,
In a recent post Justine Larbalestier said, “I was fascinated by Background Briefing’s recent documentary about the emergence of business schools and their effect on corporate culture and its relationship to the current crisis: MBA: Mostly Bloody Awful.”
I agree with Justine regarding the illogic of assuming that people can walk in and manage or advise a business of which they know little to nothing, especially with little to no experience.
It’s said that MBA can also stand for ‘Mediocre but Arrogant’ or ‘Management by Accident’; I would add Muddled by Ascendancy and Master Bull Artist.
The podcast by ABC Radio’s Stephen Crittenden is excellent. I hope you’ll take the time to listen and, hopefully, rethink some of your hiring assumptions.
Sometimes it seems as if the economic crisis is acting like an earthquake that’s turning over rock after rock and all kinds of icky things are crawling out much to our dismay. A few months ago I wrote about the mindset that seems to be so prevalent these days.
“These days” aren’t all that recent whereas the executive bonuses causing so much rage are just a blip.
Enron was eight years ago as was the phen-phen settlement rip-off, although the two lawyers were only convicted this week.
For decades, the Feds have been scamster heaven and that hasn’t changed, “about 32 percent of the combined monies paid out by Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security are fraudulent”—often enabled employees—and by 2007 more than $100 billion was spent on contractors for the Iraq war (you can outsource anything) and you can bet your bottom dollar there’s been plenty of fraud there. Just business as usual.
Of course lying, cheating and fraud aren’t new, but what’s depressing is that they seem to become more and more acceptable. Worse, all the signs are ignored until the situation blows up causing massive damage to thousands of people.
Maydoff and the other hedge fund scamsters operated for years with everybody ignoring the warning signs until the Wall Street bomb blew up and investors wanted their money back. At that point all those houses of cards came tumbling down.
Yet as recently as last August Congress was seriously considering turning over the private pension funds to these same people responsible for the financial crisis—even as those funds were crashing.
Remember when you were young and some boring older person told you that “if it seems too good to be true it probably is”? The problem is that as people grew up they tacked two words onto that phrase and those two words helped get us where we are today.
I hate leaving things on a down note, so here is something to raise your spirits and your skills.
Dan McCarthy over at Great Leadership hosts a terrific leadership carnival and the latest one just went live today. Click on over and check it out, I guarantee that there’s something there for everyone—and probably more than one something. Enjoy!
Today is all about innovation, so grab your coffee and settle in. Only one to read and the rest you can listen to or watch. Enjoy!
First, check out how Mark King, CEO of TaylorMade drives “relentless innovation” that has doubled revenue since 2003.
Now listen to Always On CEO Tony Perkins, Tim Draper, Founder and Managing Director of venture capital company Draper Fisher Jurvetson and founding partner of ThinkEquity and author of Finding the Next Starbucks talk about What is the Next Big Thing?
Then click over and explore the bonanza of innovation inspiration in the form of podcasts and videos at the Stanford University Entrepreneurial Corner. I think you’ll find it worth bookmarking.
The ability to influence is not the sign of a leader; nor are visions, forceful opinions, board seats, titles or popularity. After all, if a high media profile was a sign of leadership then Britney Spears and Paris Hilton are leaders.
Millions of people are influenced and even inspired by writers and actors, but does that make them leaders? Angelina Jolie is considered a leader for her tireless charitable efforts as opposed to her screen credits; Rush Limbaugh may influence thousands, but I’ve never heard him called a leader.
It is the singular accomplishments; the unique actions that deserve the term, not the position you hold or just doing your job.
I knew a manager who thought his major accomplishment was managing his 100 person organization, but that wasn’t an accomplishment—that was his job. The accomplishment, and what qualified him as a leader, was doing it for four years with 3% turnover and every project finished on time and in budget.
Jim Stroup over at Managing Leadership wrote, “There is a strong and general instinct to ascribe positive values to what we have determined to be examples of leadership. In a world that so often confuses forcefulness with leadership, this can be – and frequently is, in fact, revealed to be – an exceedingly dangerous habit… There is a particularly frustrating – and increasing – tendency to characterize any practice or trait deemed “good” as “leadership.” When an executive exhibits behavior that is highly valued – or even expresses a perfectly ordinary one especially well – he or she is declared to be a “leader,” or to have demonstrated “leadership.”
Dozens of corporate chieftains who were held up for years as exemplifying visionary leadership now stand in line for bailout money—or dinner in jail.
There is no way to stop the word being used and abused, but you have the option to hear it for what it really is—a word with no baggage, no assumed meaning.
A word on which you focus your critical thinking instead of accepting it blindly, assuming that all its traits are positive or rejecting it based on nothing more than ideology.
What can I say? There is no way to skip Rod Blagojevich in a weekly post called Quotable Quotes.
But I found a couple of others that add a lot to the picture.
“I appreciate anybody who wants to tape me openly and notoriously, and those who feel like they want to sneakily and wear taping devices, I would remind them that it kind of smells like Nixon and Watergate.” (Interesting choice to link himself to considering…)
“When the President does it, that means that it is not illegal.” –Richard Nixon (Sense a connection?.)
(Soul mates. Sweet…)
“You want to know my philosophy? One day a peacock. The next day a feather duster.” –Pat Quinn, Illinois Governor (Wow! Do you think he’s authentic?)
If I had spent the entire year scouring for business quotes to fit this title I probably wouldn’t find as perfect a selection as the ten offered up by Business Week in the Worst Predictions About 2008.
Here are my favorites, which do you like?
The Bad
“I’m not an economist, but I do believe that we’re growing.” —President George W. Bush, July 15, 2008 Nope. GDP shrank at a 0.5% annual rate in the July-September quarter. On Dec. 1, the National Bureau of Economic Research declared that a recession had begun in December 2007. (I thought that’s why presidents have advisers, so they didn’t have to be an expert in everything.)
The Worse
“A very powerful and durable rally is in the works. But it may need another couple of days to lift off. Hold the fort and keep the faith!” —Richard Band, editor, Profitable Investing Letter, Mar. 27, 2008 (This is not the guy you want editing your investment advice.)
“I think Bob Steel’s the one guy I trust to turn this bank around, which is why I’ve told you on weakness to buy Wachovia.” —Jim Cramer, CNBC commentator, Sept. 15, 2008 Two weeks later, Wachovia shares lost half their value from Sept. 15 to Dec. 29. nearly failed as depositors fled. CEO Steel eventually agreed to a takeover by Wells Fargo. (Can you imagine who he distrusts?)
The Ugly
“I expect there will be some failures…. I don’t anticipate any serious problems of that sort among the large internationally active banks.” —Ben Bernanke, Federal Reserve Chairman, Feb. 28, 2008 In September, Washington Mutual became the largest financial institution in U.S. history to fail. Citigroup needed an even bigger rescue in November. (Come on. If you’re gonna head the Fed you need to prognosticate at least as well as you obfuscate!)
“In today’s regulatory environment, it’s virtually impossible to violate rules.”—Bernard Madoff, money manager, Oct. 20, 2007 On Dec. 11, Madoff was arrested for allegedly running a Ponzi scheme that may have cost investors $50 billion. (Unless your name is Bernie and you’ve been doing it for a decade.)
OK, your turn now. Click the link and choose your favorites or supply your own in comments.
Entrepreneurs face difficulties that are hard for most people to imagine, let alone understand. You can find anonymous help and connections that do understand at 7 cups of tea.
Crises never end.
$10 really does make a difference and you’ll never miss it,
“The bottom line, though, is I am sure there will be a lot of legalistic explanations pointing out that the president lied under oath. His [Livingston] situation was not under oath. The bottom line, though, is he still lied. He lied under a different oath, and that is the oath to his wife. So it’s got to be taken very, very seriously.”
The first are all the ‘leaders’ who turn out to be crooks—Dennis Kowalski, Jeffrey Skilling, Bernie Madoff and a host of other hedge fund managers—to name a very few.
CEOs have been envied for decades; the pedestal kept getting higher and we all know that the higher the pedestal the further the fall. Things started changing in the eighties and now CEOs as a group are scorned and reviled as symbols of ego and greed who caused most of the problems we’re facing.
I’ve never been a lover of the MBA, its almost holy status, depending on the school, and especially its dominance on Wall Street,
Sometimes it seems as if the economic crisis is acting like an earthquake that’s turning over rock after rock and all kinds of icky things are crawling out much to our dismay. A few months ago I wrote about the 
Today is all about innovation, so grab your coffee and settle in. Only one to read and the rest you can listen to or watch. Enjoy!
The ability to influence is not the sign of a leader; nor are visions, forceful opinions, board seats, titles or popularity. After all, if a high media profile was a sign of leadership then Britney Spears and Paris Hilton are leaders.
If I had spent the entire year scouring for business quotes to fit this title I probably wouldn’t find as perfect a selection as the ten offered up by Business Week in the 
