Help Wanted: CEO of the FCIC
The Wall Street Journal recently published a fascinating front-page feature story detailing how federal regulators handle the takeover of a bank which is in danger of failing. In this case, it was the tiny First Integrity Bank, in the railroad town of Staples, Minnesota, population 3,200. About 75 federal officials and contractors from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) swooped into First Integrity late on a Friday afternoon and revoked the bank’s charter in anticipation of a friendly takeover by another bank. Secrecy was paramount, to prevent panic among the locals and a run on the bank. The regulators worked through the weekend. By Monday morning, the bank had been reopened with a new name, First International Bank & Trust. Depositors were assured their money was safe and went about their business, barely noticing or caring about the change.
Companies can no longer talk themselves out of a problem they've behaved themselves into. In the past, the truth got to the public sooner or later, but bad news didn’t travel as fast or hurt as much as it does today. One thing is certain: the fearsome consequences of bad publicity have stimulated many activities in companies around ethical behavior.
Companies can no longer talk themselves out of a problem they've behaved themselves into. In the past, the truth got to the public sooner or later, but bad news didn’t travel as fast or hurt as much as it does today. One thing is certain: the fearsome consequences of bad publicity have stimulated many activities in companies around ethical behavior.
The Wall Street Journal recently published a summary of the events of 2007, as chronicled throughout the year on the paper’s front pages. The Journal did a good job of detailing the course of the year, and as I read over the list, I wondered what last year’s events — the accounting fraud, overpaid executives, insider trading and ethical violations – tell us?
I was recently asked by Steelcase to talk with to a group of architects and designers as part of the company’s 360 series (www.360series.com). Steelcase – well known for its leading-edge office environments – realizes the importance of connection, reaching out to its professional community to stimulate thought and ideas on shaping cultures through the design of physical spaces.
Last Valentine’s Day, many of us fell out of love with the airline industry. On that cold February morning, a series of severe storms roiled the eastern United States, leaving airline travelers stranded in overcrowded airports or stuffy, tarmac-bound planes.
JetBlue, an industry innovator from its inception, took a unique course of action in the face of the weather-related operations interruptions: Instead of trying to downplay the extent of the inconvenience or hide behind legalities, the company accepted responsibility and acknowledged its failures head on. The question is, was creating JetBlue's Customer Bill of Rights the best thing to do?
Steven A. Smith, editor of The Spokesman-Review (Spokane, WA), is a pioneer of the Open (or Transparent) Newsroom, an approach that invites community participation in the editorial decision-making processes of daily newspapers. He spoke with me recently about newspapers, webcasting and the future of journalism.
In a transparent and hyperconnected world, in which nothing stays hidden for long, one would think that reputation would matter more than it ever has. I’ve argued this point elsewhere — more and more, reputation is a critical component of any company’s enterprise value.
I was struck by research presented in the Wall Street Journal that appears to contradict my position. In a recent article there, Dennis K. Berman discusses a study that suggests that there is a financial limit to the value of reputation.
This summer, millions of people around the world who rely on Internet telephony provider Skype found themselves facing a service outage. The company’s August system failure could have dealt a crippling blow to a VoIP industry struggling for legitimacy. But Skype pulled through, staying focused on its customers while fixing the problem.
I have spent most of my career as a corporate philosopher, mainly occupied with the reason a company exists and the ways in which that reason is important for its stakeholders. In my mind, capitalism and the free market economy was never intended to be just about the money. It was always about a broader agenda where making money was a necessary, but not sufficient, reason for being.
It's important for a leader to be of good character -- to be able to inspire others, make ethical decisions and be a credible role model. However, no one is perfect.
Even in a world of rapidly accelerating information, there must be a space between the immediate rush to judgment and the faded-from-memory moment of irrelevance for thoughtful analysis and lively discussion. I’m still not sure what John Mackey from Whole Foods was up to specifically, what he thought or felt, or why he made the choices he made, but the case provides a good opportunity to highlight some of the challenges that face us today.
What does active transparency looks like? How we can shift from one approach for achieving it to another and still be consistent and authentic? The answers are not always clear but when these sorts of stories come to light, it makes sense to ask ourselves these questions as we struggle to understand the events as reported.
Read the latest (Aug. 6) monthly HOW column in Businessweek.com and learn how human connections are key in a hyperconnected world—no matter if you're a doughnut maker or a doctor.
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