(A “Heads Up” to Boards and Trustees?) (By Joe Koletar) Is there anything more good and pure than a charity? There are over one hundred thousand of them in the United States alone. We have all seen their ads or received their solicitations. Each cause seems both important and noble: sick children, abused animals, […]
(By Joe Koletar) Whistleblowers have, to many, achieved an aura of James Bondesque mystic. The lone wolf, privy to sensitive information, who shrugs off risk. The lone voice in the wilderness, borne on the wings of truth and justice, who navigates the reefs and shoals put up by the opposition, to arrive at the shores […]
(By Joe Koletar) It is a question the Romans asked of themselves two thousand years ago, but still seems pertinent today. The subtitle of the news article cited below reads: “Corrections Workers Convicted of Using Inmates’ Social Security Numbers to Get Refunds.” With the recent breakout in an Upstate New York prison and the charging […]
“As long as I meet my goal of keeping engine pressure at a certain level, the fact that the ship hit an iceberg is someone else’s problem.” Building from Joe Koletar’s blog entry on Drucker and MBO (managing by objectives), we turn our attention to the problem of the dangers of single-minded goal fixation and […]
(By Joe Koletar) In 1954 the management theorist Peter Drucker brought light unto the land, and the people saw the light, and the people thought the light was good, and thus they pursued the light. Drucker’s revelation was actually very simple – the leader sets the big goal. Lower and lower levels of management set […]
(By Vic Hartman) The recent passing of Princeton University Nobel Laureate in Economics, Professor John Forbes Nash, Jr., more popularly known as the paranoid-schizophrenic genius featured in the 2001 movie A Beautiful Mind (inspired by Sylvia Nasar’s biography and starring Russell Crowe), is an appropriate time to admire Nash’s work and consider its applicability to […]
(By Joe Koletar) We usually find it both normal and charming for a young child to make up an imaginary friend they may play with and even talk to. There comes a time, however, when little boys discard their “super-hero” costumes, and little girls discard their tin-foil “princess” tiaras. Such behavior can frequently carry over […]
Banks say “Bring it on”, and US Justice does Two international banks’ role in the financial crisis formally enters the US Judicial System (Daven Morrison) One of the most memorable events of the financial crisis was Rick Santelli’s passionate plea on the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Early on in the crisis what came […]
(By Joe Koletar) Crain’s New York Business of February 2-8, 2015 carries the following article: “The house that Ira built: Trial begins for mining maven Ira Rennert, Accused of Looting his Company to Build the Nation’s Largest Private Mansion,” by Aaron Elstein, page 1. The article cites information from estimates and other sources indicating that […]
(By Joe Koletar) Others dress this up a bit, and refer to it as “The sin of quantification.” We like numbers, because they seem to be “hard,” and “scientific.” A number is an inert, immovable, thing. It never lies. It just sits there, looking at you. Perhaps saying, “Here I am. What are you going […]