10,000 Hour Rule

Want some great advice on what it takes to become a true expert in anything?


From the Harvard Business Blog...


"
One of the stars of Outliers, the bestseller from Malcolm Gladwell, staff writer for The New Yorker, is a psychologist named K. Anders Ericsson, who did an investigation of three different groups of violin students: the unquestioned stars, those who were good but not great, and those who had no hope of becoming professional musicians. What separated the stars from everyone else? It wasn't raw talent, Ericsson concluded. (Every student had huge talent.) It was sheer persistence--those who practiced harder did better, and those who practiced insanely hard became wildly successful.
Gladwell dubs this phenomenon the "10,000-hour rule." Becoming great at anything--sports, science, business--requires ten years of practice and 1,000 hours of practice per year. "Ten thousand hours is the magic number of greatness," he argues.
Geoffrey Colvin, a high-profile editor at Fortune magazine, is equally smitten by Ericsson's research. In his new book, Talent is Overrated, Colvin doesn't just embrace the importance of ten years of practice. He explains just what sort of practice is required--a regimen that he calls "deliberate practice."
What are the elements of deliberate practice? It's designed explicitly to improve performance--the little adjustments that make a big difference. It's repetitive, which means that when it's time to perform for real (sinking a putt, pitching a product), you don't feel the pressure. It's informed by continuous feedback; practice only works if you can see how you're improving. And it isn't much fun, which isn't all bad. "It means that most people won't do it," Colvin says.
So what does this thinking about success tell us about how to succeed in perilous times? For individuals, one message is that practice does make perfect. So if you're a computer programmer who's spending fewer hours writing code, or a product designer whose portfolio of projects is shrinking, or a customer-service specialist with fewer customers to serve, don't let down time become wasted time. Turn it into practice time--find ways to work intensely and deliberately on your technical and business skills, confident that hard work will pay off in the long run."

What's a CEO Really Worth?

What's a CEO really worth?


Not much, if you consider the global economic melt down we are all experiencing. All that CEO compensation paid out... for years... for what? We were told that these guys were the smartest people in the room... real corporate brainiacs. So... stockholders doled out millions for compensation. For what? For the "privilege" these days of asking for a government bailout?


Let me see if I have this straight...

These guys walked away with millions every year, supposedly because they knew more than anyone else. But they didn't. Not that THAT stopped them from keeping their princely pay packages.


So we have a global economy wrecked, and household name firms in economic tatters.


Today comes a great article in the New York Times by Andrew Ross Sorkin entitled "Putting a Value on a CEO". Must reading!


Key comments...


What, then, should Citigroup pay Vikram S. Pandit, its embattled chief executive? On his watch, Citigroup, hobbled by bad investments, grabbed not one but two financial lifelines from the government. Its share price plummeted about 80 percent. (In fairness, he took the reins of the firm less than a year ago.)

By most standards, Mr. Pandit is rich already: he made $800 million by selling his hedge fund to Citigroup (he later shuttered it). 

[Dan's comment: Doesn't this mean that CitiGroup paid  $800 million for nothing? What idiot approved that deal? Haven't they ever heard of an "earn out"? And now this same CEO has managed to depress share value by 80%? But I digress... ]

 

[Dan's Comment: You can listen to Vikram Pandit explain to you why all this happened... in a Charlie Rose interview. ]



“What has caused the most outrage is the difference between pay and actual performance,” said Lucian Bebchuk, the director of the program on corporate governance at Harvard Law School. 

Sarah Anderson, a director at the Institute for Policy Studies, is an advocate of aggressive pay curbs and isn’t likely to buy into an eight-figure income, no matter what the performance.
“I want taxpayers to feel confident that an unreasonable amount of money isn’t ending up in their pockets,” Ms. Anderson said of the executives. “This may be the time to inject some sanity into the pay system.”
That may be so. But Mr. Pandit and others — to the extent you believe they are the right leaders of Citigroup — or whoever takes their roles are unlikely to hang around if they’re not amply paid.

[Dan's comment: Is that really such a bad thing? Can't we find SOMEONE who is competent, at a fair level of pay? After all, the President of the United States, the leader of the entire free world, commander-in-chief with hundreds of nuclear weapons, makes only $400,000 a year... and there is always a long line of talented people that want the job. ]


“If I’m in Kansas and losing my house, I think it’s madness to pay them a big bonus,” Mr. Alan Johnson, managing director of Johnson Associates, a compensation consulting practice based in New York said. “Vikram has to take one for the team this year.”


So here’s another idea that might prompt executives to keep a closer eye on the risks that their bankers and traders take: have executives invest in their own firms on the same terms as we taxpayers. And for good measure, have them invest in the financial products that their companies sell. If executives had put their own money into the tricky mortgage investments that their banks were selling, they might have asked hard questions from the start.

[Dan's comment: This is good advice from a seasoned observor! But I genuinely doubt that the Wall Street crowd will go for it... unless it is imposed upon them. Don't hold your breath! ]

Thoughts to Ponder...

21st Century Auto Management

The Harvard Business Blog offers 6 key rules for 21st Century auto industry survival:

Choose good. In the 21^st century, every moral imperative is also a strategic imperative: doing good - for customers, employees, suppliers, or society - is a radical strategic choice that unlocks new pathways to innovation and growth. The opportunity cost of defending evil for Detroit was never learning how to choose good - and that's a crucial mistake other auto players didn't make. Tata chose to make a car that was accessible to the world's poor. Porsche and BMW chose to invest in talent, people, and imagination. Honda and Toyota chose to invest in renewables and partnerships with the public sector. All opened new avenues to growth for an industry at the brink of extinction.

Purpose is self-interest. The 21^st century demands a more enlightened self-interest: one factoring in a longer timescale, fuller contingencies, and an honest and broad consideration of hidden and unintended consequences to people, society and the environment. When we understand all that, have begun to develop a purpose - a way in which we will change the world radically for the better. By confusing selfishness with self-interest, Detroit vaporized it's own purpose - and will stay trapped in a wilderness of economic meaninglessess until it rediscovers it.

Get constructive. True 21^st century businesses can be judged in the blink of an eye: how intensely do they put the "co" in constructive? Can they let demand spark and fuel co-creation, can they co-produce from a pool of shared resources, are they capable of letting value activities be co-managed, are they tuned to cooperate? Detroit can't get constructive because it's spent the better part of a century playing the games of destructive strategy.

Seek difference. Ultimately, the problem is simple: differentiation is about perception. Difference is about reality. People in the 21^st century aren't the zombified, braindead consumers of the 20^th century. And so the 21^st century demands not mere differentiation - a bean counters' eye view of the world if ever there was one - but true difference. True difference is built by making different choices from the ground up - different in the very essence of the value activities that make the wheels of production and consumption spin. Porsche and BMW strove for difference - not mere differentiation - and it is that choice that is at the heart of their global leadership of the automotive sector.v

Seek crisis. By insulating themselves from real-world economic pressures, boardrooms also dilute and sap incentives for innovation and renewal. Detroit wasn't innovating because the opportunity cost of strategy as gamesmanship was, ultimately, foregoing innovation itself. In the 21^st century, gamesmanship - and its attendant dilution of incentives - is a sure path to near terminal strategy decay. Forget Detroit - just ask big music, big pharma, or big food.

Advantage happens for. Competitive advantage against bears a striking resemblance to simply bullying. Bullying is easy: just as in the sandbox, any boardroom with market power can jack up margins by forcing others - buyers, suppliers, consumers, society - to bear costs. But if every corporation across the economy is playing that game, the economy's just a game of musical chairs.

The World Just Changed!

Fantastic blog post from Robert Scoble who is touring factories in China...

The business world you think you know just changed drastically... it doesn't work the way you were taught is works... wholesalers, retailers, etc.



Here's how products actually get to consumers today... in Scoble's words...


"

Today? A product goes from factory directly to your front door via FedEx through Liam’s supply chain. How long does that take? Four to five days. All trackable via FedEx and other methods.
What’s different today? The Chinese are now cutting out Amazon and are building Websites that you can buy products from directly and they’ll ship right to your door.
Next? We used Twitter to discuss a new product with people around the world, get feedback on what they want, and the designers, who no longer will be in Europe or America, can work with the customers to build something highly customized and that serves their needs exactly. Then a factory gets fired up and the product gets shipped out — all within days of the Twitter storm.

...showed me a new gadget that will get on blogs like Engadget, Gizmodo, Obsessable, GearLive, Gdgt, CrunchGear. It is mind blowing. The engineering is done all in China. The factories are all in China. The website will be hosted in China, or maybe over on one of the new clouds that Amazon, Microsoft, Google, and Rackspace are now opening up. The brand name will be done in China, via Twitter and FriendFeed. The PR is done in China via Twitter and FriendFeed, or maybe via a blogger tour in San Francisco and New York because that’s where most of the gadget bloggers live (last night CNN’s Rick Sanchez Twittered me, which demonstrates that Twitter has a powerful reach now into mainstream media).
This is total ownership of everything. Total disruption of everyone who used to make money along the supply chain. Retailers? Disrupted. Traders and middlemen and distributors? Disrupted. Web designers and developers? Disrupted.
Are you scared yet?
You should be if you are being disrupted.

Where are the high value bits in this whole process?
Not the manufacturing.
The real value and profit is in two places: R&D and coming up with new businesses and new ideas.

Other jobs that’ll open up? Anything involved in building brands. Marketing, PR, blogging/Twittering/FriendFeeding, building web experiences, videos, going to conferences to show off new products to audiences, etc.

That’s it. That’s where our new economy is going to be. And this process will happen to EVERYTHING. The American car industry? Well, they figured out how to sell Buick’s and Chevy’s to the Chinese, so if I were working at GM right now I’d be trying to figure out how to take advantage of this new manufacturing capability and ability to ship custom cars right to your house.

Americans are being fed only the negative stories about China and that is lulling them into complacency. The largest book store in the world is in Shenzhen. The largest city hall I’ve ever seen is here. The largest library I’ve ever been in is here. This is an increasingly educated workforce that’s just starting to get going. Americans need to come to China and see what’s going on because it is absolutely stunning in its scale."

Are YOU really ready for all this???

A CEO "That Gets It"

I'm not particularly impressed with many CEOs that govern our most prestigious corporations.

But every once in a while, I come across one that seems to "get it".

Jamie Dimon at JP Morgan Chase is one of those rare CEOs that seems to run his large organization in a responsible manner... and we can learn a lot from following his example.

What makes this story interesting is that Dimon uses plain common sense. The wonder of it all is that so many of his peers lack this essential quality. Sorta makes you wonder why others don't emulate him, doesn't it?

Learn more about the "Dimon Way" by reading a trio of articles that have appeared at various times in Fortune Magazine here, here, and especially here.

He's not perfect, perhaps, but he certainly is very, very good!

Time Management for Creative People

I've just come across a small but very helpful e-book called "Time Management for Creative People", by Mark McGuinness.

It's a short book, which is befitting, about doing much more in far less time... and who doesn't face THAT challenge?

Key chapters include:

1. Why you need to be organised to be creative
2. Prioritise work that is ‘important but not urgent’
3. Ring-fence your most creative time
4. Avoid the ‘Sisyphus effect’ of endless to-do lists
5. Get things done by putting them off till tomorrow
6. Get things off your mind
7. Review your commitments
8. Resources to help you get things done

If you're a fan of Stephen Covey, as I am, then you'll definitely want to pick up a copy!

You can get your own copy here!

I think you'll be delighted that you did!

I know that I was...

Background Checks

Ever wonder how a potential employer does a background check?

Sure, computer checks may show a lot these days, but nothing beats a personal interview and an in-depth field investigation.

Have a look at this old Dragnet TV Show episode and see how its done!

Sustaining High Performance

How is top talent dealing with the current financial crisis onslaught? In a word -- badly.

A new study published this week by the Center for Work Life Policy details a sobering picture.

Loyalty and trust are at an all-time low:

the number of employees who feel loyal to their company has fallen 42% over the last year, while the number who trust their company is down 41%.

Top female talent is particularly skittish.

Eighty-four percent of women in this study are considering leaving - compared to 40% of men.

The voices in this study are powerful. A male investment banker (who has lost 80% of his net worth in the last year) tells of bad dreams and grinding his teeth so badly he recently cracked two molars. A woman trader talks about being "almost glad" of a recent diagnosis of breast cancer. In her words "it's only stage one and it sure puts the crazy stress around losing my job into perspective."

Source: http://discussionleader.hbsp.com/hewlett/2008/09/in_finance_embattled_top_perfo.html

Intrusive Questions

Someone just showed me a job advertisement that contains the following language from some over stuffed HR Manager...

"In the interest of time, your cover letter, resume, salary requirements, and current base salary & incentive compensation MUST be included for your candidacy to be advanced."

"In the interest of time"

This tell me that this HR Manager considers THEIR time to be of much more importance than YOUR time! Who would want to work with an outfit with an attitude like this?

"your cover letter, resume, salary requirements, and current base salary & incentive compensation MUST be included"

First, since this job was listed on Craigs List, are you absolutely SURE where this information is going?

Are you comfortable with just ANYONE having access to this information?

Why does ANYONE really need a cover letter in today's day and age? This sounds like a holdover 20th Century mentality. Again, not a good sign in a 21st Century global environment! But this HR Manager obviously doesn't realize this.

Why would anyone just want to handout "current base salary & incentive compensation" information over the Internet to a complete stranger without any indication that the firm is actually interested?

Or is it that the HR Manager is so clueless that they have to find out the salary range for jobs like this from the job candidates themselves?

"for your candidacy to be advanced"

Isn't that a nice turn of phrase? It implies to me that we're doing you a big favor just THINKING about you!

I really wonder if the senior executives at this outfit have any clue what their HR Manager is doing?

And the impression this creates on the general public.

It sometimes shocks my students to learn that unscrupulous and unethical companies use tactics just like this, not to actually offer a real job to someone, but to gather competitive intelligence about their competitors, who is working for them, who their clients are, what they are working on, what the company's plans are, what tools they use, and what they pay for various positions, from unsuspecting employees who only want to impress a potential new employer with their knowledge and are honestly considering a job change. Sometimes these tactics go one step further to actually interview the "job candidate', to entice them to spill their guts about their present employer. Little do they realize that they are being used... and they are, of course, promptly discarded.

Even if this particular job offering is real, this sounds like a place that I wouldn't want to associate with myself!

Don't You Just Love "Executives"?

Having watched many companies with bright prospects and more than ample resources crater under the burden of so-called "professional executives" and all the great advice they received from those hired high priced "corporate headhunters", nothing much surprises me these days.

Here is an interesting post about failures at Skype.

Key points to ponder...

First eBay installed a string of executives who came out of eBay into the company. Over time, dedicated Skype executives prior to the purchase left or were asked to leave.

Second, when the first wave didn't work, Skype hired more people, some with ties to eBay and others recruited by headhunters employed by eBay.

At each turn Skype has grown, but heck, a rolling boulder going down the hill picks up more snow too. Skype is growing by sheer inertia and problems like the ones reported in the Register are evidence of that.

They can't keep up with the issues.

This means Skype has cost eBay more than they paid...and likely isn't really paying back.

Do you think any of those executives or headhunters gave back any money when their advice didn't pan out?

Nah!!!

Capitalism at its finest!

Workmobile!

Volkswagen recently revealed its T-6 concept vehicle - quite literally an office on wheels - that appears to be larger than a VW Camper and a cross between Tom Cruise’s ride in Minority Report and Tron’s Lightcycles.

Your experience as a passenger is more likely to resemble Tom Scott’s hilarious Tea Party In A Transit than an orderly business meeting.

Who wants to be the first to own one?

Why CEOs Fail

11 behaviors, either deep-seated personality faults or qualities that once were beneficial but became problematic, that can de-rail any organization... from the book by the same name written by David L. Dotlich and Peter C. Cairo.

Arrogance

Melodrama

Volatility

Excessive Caution

Habitual Distrust

Aloofness

Mischievousness

Eccentricity

Passive Resistance

Perfectionism

Eagerness to Please

What is Falun Gong?

A new book attempts to answer this question:

FALUN GONG AND THE FUTURE OF CHINA

By David Ownby

By 291 pp. Oxford University Press. $29.95

Here is a review from the New York Times.

Ownby himself praises another book on this subject, David Palmer's Qigong Fever: Body, Science, and Utopia in China -- and makes it clear where his own interpretations tend to diverge. The biggest difference between the books, from the everyday reader's point of view, is that Palmer looks at the larger Qigong movement since the 1940s and explores Falun Gong within that context. Ownby's book is focused entirely on Falun Gong -- both in China and in the Chinese diaspora.

Another book on Falun Gong is "Falun Gong: The End of Days", by Maria Hsia Chang. Though not perfect (and somewhat trivialized by David Ownby), it offers less history and more about the actual beliefs of Falun Gong.

Agent of Change?

Analysis: Biden pick shows lack of confidence (AP)

A statesman known for slips of his tongue

Eamon Javers, Jonathan MartinSat Aug 23, 2:44 AM ET

Forget the idea that opposition researchers got cracking the very moment that Sen. Barack Obama announced Delaware Senator Joe Biden as his running mate—they’ve long been poring over his records and background, and those of all the most likely vice-presidential picks.

For all that, though, the likeliest attacks in Biden are all matters of public record, and often problems of his own making.

Biden, who dropped out of the 1988 Democratic primary after he was accused of lifting sections of his stump speech about his humble origins from British Labour party leader Neil Kinnock, more recently took heat in 2006, when he said, “You cannot go to a 7-Eleven or a Dunkin’ Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent.”

This year, he managed to blow up his official announcement he was entering the race when he deemed Obama “the first mainstream African American [candidate] who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy.”

Reporters and opposition researchers are already salivating at the verbal grenades yet to be launched.

More substantively, Biden supported the 2002 resolution that authorized the war in Iraq—a resolution that Obama opposed and, in the primaries at least, painted as “the most important foreign-policy decision in a generation.”

Biden was on the wrong side of that thinking, by Obama’s lights. In 2002, he said that America had “no choice but to eliminate” Saddam Hussein.

While preparing for his own run at the party’s nomination last year, he took several shots at Obama’s inexperience, warning that “If the Democrats think we’re going to be able to nominate someone who can win without that person being able to table unimpeachable credentials on national security and foreign policy, I think we’re making a tragic mistake.”
When Obama gave a speech saying he’d send troops into Pakistan if he had actionable intelligence and the Pakistani government was unwilling to act, Biden told NPR that “It’s a well-intentioned notion he has, but it’s a very naïve way of thinking how you’re going to conduct foreign policy,” adding of his then-rival, in a remark Republicans are sure to revive, “Having talking points on foreign policy doesn’t get you there.”

Biden also said last year of his now running mate, that “I think he can be ready, but right now I don’t believe he is. The presidency is not something that lends itself to on-the-job training.” He may also see clips from his 1988 presidential run, when he ran an ad in which the narrator warns:

”The White House isn't a place to learn how to deal with international crisis, the balance of power... the economic future of the next generation,'' the narrator of Biden's 1988 ad for the Democratic nomination said. "The president has got to know the territory.”

Biden, 65, came to Congress at the age of 30, meaning he’s spent more than half his life in the institution, which Republicans will surely charge makes him an unsuitable running mate for a candidate of change.

Another moment likely to be re-used against him is his August 2, 2005 Daily Show appearance where Jon Stewart asked him of a potential 2008 run, “You may end up going against a Senate colleague, perhaps McCain, perhaps Frist?”

Biden replied, “John McCain is a personal friend, a great friend, and I would be honored to run with or against John McCain, because I think the country would be better off — be well off no matter who...”

First elected to the Senate at the tender age of 29, Biden has now spent more than half his life there, which cuts against Obama’s change message, even as it insulates the first-term Illinois Senator from charges that he’s too green for the White House.

Biden has accepted $5,133,072 in contributions from lawyers and lobbyists since 2003. Obama does not accept contributions from federally registered lobbyists.

And he has one other weakness that hasn't received much attention to date. One of Biden's sons, Hunter, is a registered Washington lobbyist in a year in which Obama has been excoriating lobbyists and the culture of corruption in Washington. The younger Biden is a name partner at the firm Oldaker, Biden & Belair, LLP, and seems to have specialized in lobbying for just the kind of earmark spending by Congress that Obama has vowed to slash. Republican insiders say the party is likely to make an issue of Biden's family lobbying ties.

Also expect to hear more about Biden's close ties with credit card companies. His largest contributor (based on total contributions by employees) over the past five years has been MBNA, the Delaware-based bank aquired in 2005 by Bank of America than until then was the world's largest independent credit card issuer and a major supporter of the 2005 bankruptcy bill that Biden crossed the aisle to support.

Top five donors (including employee donations):
MBNA Corp. (Delaware-based bank acquired in 2005 by Bank of America)
Pachulski, Stang et al. (law firm with major Delaware officers)
Young, Conaway et al. (large Delaware law firm)
Law Office of Peter Angelos (mid-Atlantic trial law firm)
Simmons Cooper LLC (national trial law firm)

Top five industry group contributors:
Lawyers/law firms
Real estate
Retired
Securities & investment
Miscellaneous finance

Another Business Book

Ho hum...

Here comes yet ANOTHER over-the-hill corporate big whig trying to sell you a book with supposedly "inside information" about what leads to failure in organizations.

Donald Keough was recently interviewed on the Charlie Rose Show, so you can take a look for yourself and draw your own conclusions...

Of course, it doesn't help matters much that Charlie lionizes this guy... which, for the record, may have something to do with the fact that Keough's company has sponsored Charlie's various TV projects over the years. Charlie has done this before with his various corporate benefactors, bless his heart! Remember his forgettable, recently re-broadcast interview with Chuck Fruit (who died "after his ritual morning swim")? Nice touch, that, perhaps... taking care of those that take care of you.

Not that this guy Keough is wrong, mind you.

It's just that the book, in my mind, is a wee bit oversold.

And there is just something that bothers me about rich people who talk in terms of me, me, me. Wouldn't be nice to hear Mr. Keough give constant and sustained credit to the hard working, every day people at Coke and elsewhere who actually EARNED the money. Nah... it's not about them, it's about me, me, me!

Moreover, he and his family are really well off by any reasonable standard of global wealth. Wouldn't it be nice for him to donate the proceeds of this book to the less fortunate... say, wounded veterans who protected the economic system which allowed him to amass a large personal fortune, and who actually bought the products he was selling? Nah... Keough wouldn't do that... it's not about them, it's about me, me, me!

If you do a web search online, you can find his "commandments"... 11 in fact, rather than the 10 commandments as advertised. Keough manages to do the Almighty one better!

Commandment one/top of the list: if you want to fail, quit taking risks

Commandment two: if you want to increase your chances for failure, be inflexible

Commandment three: to achieve failure, isolate yourself

Commandment four: for guaranteed failure, assume infallibility

Commandment five: to fail, play the game close to the foul line

Commandment six: don't take time to think

Commandment seven: to fail, put all your faith in experts and outside consultants

Commandment eight: if you want to fail, love your bureaucracy

Commandment nine: if you want to fail, send mixed messages

Commandment ten: if you want to fail, be afraid of the future

Commandment eleven: if you want to fail, lose your passion for work/for life.

Now, doesn't all this make you want to run right out and spend $16.47 of your hard earned, after-tax dollars to help amass even MORE wealth for this guy through book royalties... for even more of his "inside information"?

Nah... I think I'll pass...

Stuck in Traffic?

Corporate Mismanagement

Great blog post about corporate mismanagement at public companies!

This one is definitely NOT to be missed!

Pay him now, so we can pay him later

By Howard Troxler, Times Columnist

Published Wednesday, July 9, 2008 6:59 PM

---

You and I — let's call us "schmoes" — will now be paying $224-million to Warren Buffett — let's call him "one of the richest guys in the world."

The state of Florida decided the other day to ask Buffett to take our money, which he no doubt will.

Now, what are we buying? A nice chunk of his company, Berkshire Hathaway? No.

We are buying the right to borrow money from him later, in case a really big hurricane (or series of hurricanes) hits Florida this year.

If we get Andrew-sized damage, then Buffett agrees to lend us up to $4-billion by buying our bonds.

(The state says there is about a 3 percent chance of that happening.)

If we don't get that hit — well, we're out the $224-million. But we'll have had the security of knowing his money was there for us.

This is why Warren Buffett is one of the richest guys in the world, and we are schmoes.

In the lingo of the market, what Florida is buying is called a "put option." We are buying the right to borrow money later. This is one big honker of a put. We are paying top dollar for it, too.

The decision was made last week by Gov. Charlie Crist, by Florida's chief financial officer, Alex Sink, and by Attorney General Bill McCollum.

The governor is always cheerful, but Sink and McCollum were not.

"This is not a good deal overall," McCollum said. But he called it "the only responsible choice at the moment."

"We waited until the last minute," Sink said, noting Florida is already more than a month into the hurricane season. "We're not thinking ahead. This is not the way to run policy."

Here is the immediate problem: Florida has a hurricane catastrophe fund, called the "Cat Fund," that kicks in if a storm is bad enough.

But we would have to borrow most of that money, and pay it off by future assessments on insurance policies.

In theory, this works.

In practice, we are at the mercy of the markets. We might not be able to borrow that much on the spot. So we looked around for safe options and came up with Buffett.

I asked Dr. Jack E. Nicholson, director of the Cat Fund, if this was the ideal way to do things.

He said no, but it is the right thing to do now. There has been a lot of upheaval in the state's investment setup —there was a big scandal; you might have heard of it. Florida has been racing in recent months to redo things.

With more time, the state could line up its options earlier. Maybe we wouldn't be paying top dollar to Warren Buffett for a put option at the last minute. Maybe.

Here's another thing: Earlier this year, Sink proposed changing the rules for the Cat Fund to reduce Florida's exposure by $3-billion or so. But the Legislature didn't like it because it might have led to a small increase in premiums.

Oh, and here's one more thing: The governor, a "let's pay later" fellow, decided we will pay Buffett out of what cash we have in the Cat Fund now, instead of dunning everybody's insurance policy.

Nicholson sounded like a guy I could kid, so I told him: "If we get that storm, you'll be the smartest guy in the world. If we don't, you'll be the idiot who gave $224-million to Warren Buffett for nothing."

He said that for Florida's sake, he hopes he is the second guy instead of the first. I hope so, too.

From Fast Company...

July 23, 2008

"Within five years, technology will obliterate the need for business travel."

Apart from becoming more and more unpleasant, recently business travel is also becoming far less necessary. With videoconferencing technologies improving and fuel prices rising, more businessmen and women seem to be choosing the option to stay put and use new technology to cut down on travel.

Companies too are making an active effort to limit employees’ air travel for the duel-pronged benefits of cutting costs and being environmentally friendly. AT&T has reportedly reduced employee air miles by 15% through video conferencing and Web meetings, while Accenture plans to have 22 video conferencing rooms installed around the world by the end of this year.

Great Management Tools!

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Does Your Airline Captain Want More Fuel?

How about YOU?

WASHINGTON - The pilots union for US Airways said Wednesday the airline is pressuring pilots to use less fuel than they feel is safe in order to save money.

The union also paid for a full-page ad in Wednesday's USA Today addressed to "our valued passengers." The ad accuses the airline of "a program of intimidation to pressure your captain to reduce fuel loads."

Ray said soaring jet fuel prices have sent all the airlines scrambling to find ways to cut the weight of airliners because the heavier the plane, the more fuel the plane burns. US Airways, based in Tempe, Ariz., has recently removed movie players, redesigned its meal carts and replaced glassware with plastic to cut weight.

But US Airways recently crossed the line when it ordered eight pilots who requested "an extra 10 to 15 minutes worth of fuel" to attend training sessions, or "check rides," that could put their pilot licenses in jeopardy, Ray said. The pilots were supposed to report for their training sessions Wednesday, he said.

"We feel they're trying to set an example," Ray said. "Captains shouldn't be intimidated into thinking, 'If I say I need this fuel, they may send me for a check ride.' ... Cutting peanuts off the plane, that's one thing. But cutting a captain's fuel level below his comfort, that's another thing."

US Airways spokesman Morgan Durrant said the decision to bring in the eight pilots for extra training was not meant to be punitive. "That's totally not true," he said.

Top Management Blogs

The Top 100 Management and Leadership Blogs That All Managers Should Bookmark

By HR World Editors on June 10, 2008

Are you looking for inspiration on leadership and management? Lucky for you, the folks who live and breathe leadership and management every day enjoy sharing their thoughts and successes with the masses. Check out these top 100 blogs to help bolster your business acumen.

Leadership

1. CEO Blog — Time Leadership: Jim Estill, CEO of SYNNEX Canada, talks about how you, too, can meet business success.
2. Dispatches from the New World of Work: Tom Peters heads a consulting services company. His personal motto: “The starting point of all significant change is mindset.”
3. Extreme Leadership: Have you heard of extreme sports? Well, now there are extreme leaders, too. Steve Farber heads up Extreme Leaders Inc., a business-development company, and he also shares his thoughts on his site.
4. Leading Blog — Building a Community of Leaders: Michael McKinney thinks that everyone is a leader. Find out how to tap into your potential with his musings about learning, creativity and communication.
5. Leadership Turn: “Leaders DO — and it's your turn,” according to this site solely based on leadership and management.
6. Management Craft: Management is an art, according to Lisa Haneberg, a professional management and leadership trainer, coach, and organization-development consultant.
7. LeaderValues: LeaderValues aims to help leaders in all kinds of organizations and provide a meeting place for emerging trailblazers.
8. Slow Leadership: The title of this blog is legitimate: Postings are aimed at truly developing a leader through mindset and behavior change.
9. Say Leadership Coaching: This Polynesian-themed blog offers mentoring, coaching and training advice to managers and leaders.
10. Wally Bock's Three Star Leadership Blog: Wally Bock’s very easy-to-scan site dishes up regular doses of information on leadership issues for North American business leaders.

Creativity and Inspiration

11. A Budding Contrapreneur: This snappy new blog by Matthew K. Ing talks about ideas and why some fail.
12. Liderlik/Leadership: Both English and German readers can check this blog to become inspired.
    
13. Life Beyond Code: Categories on this blog cover business models, distinguishing yourself and innovation.
14. Stephen Shapiro: Changing the Rules of Innovation and Creativity...: Steve shares his “unconventional approach on business innovation, creativity, goals, performance and critical thinking.”
15. Simplicity: The author of "Simplicity Is the Key" offers tips and tidbits on management, such as “Staff at the front line know all the answers. All the time.”
16. Springwise: Springwise offers a wellspring of ideas for entrepreneurs.
17. Orrin Woodward Leadership Team: Orrin discusses “ideas of consequence.”
18. Leading Answers: This blog offers leadership and agile project-management ideas, observations and resources.
19. Crossderry Blog: You’ll learn how to see “the forest for the trees” and take “the correct fork before heading into the woods” on this site.
20. Creative Energy Officer: Recharge weekly with “ideas and insights for optimistic, yet cynical humans.”
21. Troyworman.com: Troy Worman cultivates creativity in every page of this blog.
22. Chief Happiness Officer: Alex apparently is the “leading expert at happiness at work.” If you think “happiness” and “work” can’t possibly go together, fill up on his posts, which include research, lists and cute pictures.
23. Slacker Manager: With pictures, funny lists and useful tips, this slacker blog works hard to keep you interested.
24. The Bing Blog: You’ll surely find out what not to do to become an effective leader in this blog that covers bad jobs, bad bosses and how to zone out in an all-day meeting.
25. The Bogle E-Blog: The founder of The Vanguard Group Inc. tells you how to be as successful as he is.
26. Iinnovate: Iinnovate is a podcast by students at Stanford University's Business and Design Schools.
27. How to Change the World: This “practical blog for impractical people” shares the secrets of being an agent of change.
28. BrandSoul: This consultant wants to help you awaken the soul of business with some inspirations and ideas.
29. Digital Roam: You’ll clear up the fog in your mind’s eye with this site on visual thinking.

    Self-Awareness

30. The Leadership Evolution: This site offers quotes, examples and information from books on leadership.
31. BrainCram: Brain Cram inundates your mind and soul with lengthy posts on you and your work.
32. Timothy Coote: Timothy Coote works for a French company but gives you his views in English.
33. Lead on Purpose: This site fosters discussions on being a leader in your organization.
34. The Recovering Leader: Another behavior-modification approach to building your inner leader can be found at this blog.
35. Marshall Goldsmith Blog: The co-founder of Marshall Goldsmith Partners LLC, a network of top-level executive coaches, wants to help “successful leaders get even better.”
36. The Practice of Leadership: How-tos and inspiring quotes fill this blog.
37. Zinger On Strength-Based Leadership:“Strength-based leadership applies strengths, caring and energy in the service of engagement. Powerful leaders transform energy into engagement leading to improved results.”
38. Seth Godin's BLog: The best-selling author, entrepreneur and “agent of change” gives you personal insights on the leadership landscape.
39. 800-CEO-READ Blog: Do what the blog says and read up on the latest on business books, authors and the publishing industry.
40. Bigger Isn't Always Better: This blog imparts the wisdoms of the book of the same name, which was written by management consultant Bob Tomasko.
41. The Long Tail: Chris Anderson, editor in chief of Wired magazine, shares the theories behind his book "The Long Tail," which purports that the economy is shifting its attention from mainstream products and markets to niches.
42. David Maister: This leading authority on the management of professional-service firms shares his ideas with readers.
43. Mavericks at Work: This blog covers "Mavericks at Work," a veritable how-to book for “what-if executives and entrepreneurs — a collection of new and provocative answers to some of the most basic questions facing companies of every size and leaders in every field.”

    Development, Marketing and Finance

44. Kent Blumberg: Learn leadership, strategy and performance tips at this site.
45. Pink Slip: Maureen Rogers wants to make sure that you don’t get the pink slip and offers advice on business lessons learned the hard way.
46. Ed Batista: Executive coach and change-management consultant Ed Batista wants to tell you how to become the best possible leader.
47. Business Pundit: Learn how to cope when your venture fails, the six traits of idiot bosses and other useful leadership information.
48. Sanders Says: “Sanders Says is an advice Weblog about business, culture and spirit.”
49. Managing Leadership: Stay on your toes with this blog “designed to help busy directors and executives understand how leadership really works in their organizations.
50. Coaching Tip: The Leadership Blog: Get daily doses of leadership development advice on the go.
51. SustainableWork: Novices can get tips for innovation, startups and emerging enterprises, while established leaders can get know-how on developing sustainable new products and services.
52. Signal vs. Noise: This blog discusses design, business, experience, simplicity, the Web, culture and more.
53. apbLIFESUCCESS Blog: Positive posts permeate this site.
54. Mary Schmidt: This marketing troubleshooter wants to help you get your business back on track.
55. Trusted Advisor Associates: Speaker and executive educator Charles H. Green tells you how to build trust in your business.
56. ASK THE CZAR: You’ll never again require business advice from another source, according to Gerry “the Czar” Czarnecki.
57. The Trump Blog: Financial fodder straight from the Don’s mouth.
58. The Becker-Posner Blog: Becker and Posner are the Siskel and Ebert of business and financial info.
59. Digital Rules: The Blog: The publisher of Forbes magazine blogs about — you guessed it — business and finance, along with a smattering of politics.
60. Feld Thoughts: Emailing, rejection and photos of bloody injuries greet you on this blog by Brad Feld, an investor and entrepreneur.

    Using Technology

61. Web Worker Daily: The site amasses advice for using the Web for work..
62. Biz Stone: The co-founder and creative director of Twitter ruminates on social media and business.
63. Scobleizer: Known as a “technical evangelist,” Robert Scoble can help you discover the newest ways of communicating with customers.
64. Marketing with Technology and More: Jordan Ayan, CEO of SubscriberMail LLC, an email-marketing service, offers tips on marketing using technology and email marketing.
65. The Business Blog at Intuitive.com: These online strategies and communication tips are applicable to leadership.
66. TomBomb.com: Tom Hayes is the bomb at discussing viral business.
67. MarketingProfs Daily Fix: These professors will tell you how to market your business using social-media, Web 2.0 and other tools.
68. Daniel H. Pink: Businessman, author and lecturer Dan Pink blogs about business and technology in the new workplace.
69. Listen Up: John Porcaro's unofficial blog about marketing, public relations, the Xbox, management and personal life.
70. Pause: Personal anecdotes pepper this blog by Jory Des Jardins, a media consultant who works with businesses and media companies to develop communications strategies.

    Getting Results

71. Steve Yastrow: Reinvent the way your company connects with customers through Yastrow’s know-how.
72. Bob Sutton: Gear up to get better results with the professor of management science and engineering at Stanford University's School of Engineering.
73. PyroMarketing: Greg Stielstra, author of "PyroMarketing: The Four Step Strategy to Ignite Customer Evangelists and Keep Them For Life," shares his marketing mastery on his blog.
74. Bird's Eye View: Learn how to better engage employees and get results with this blog by Susan W. Bird, an author and expert on leadership.
75. ManagementIQ: BusinessWeek writers Diane Brady, Michelle Conlin and Jena McGregor gather insights from the business thinkers and critique the latest management trends to help you manage smarter.
76. Fred Reichheld: Fred Reichheld blogs about bettering your business through customer, employee and partner loyalty.
77. Cali and Jody: Cali and Jody created ROWE — Results-Only Work Environment — to reinvent the relationship between employers and the people who get the work done.
78. Made to Stick: Another blog based on a book, this one is about communicating ideas that will sink in.
79. KR Connect: Kevin Roberts serves as the CEO Worldwide of Saatchi & Saatchi, one of the world's leading creative organizations, which employs more than 7,000 people in 83 countries. Translation: He knows his stuff.
80. Management by Baseball: “Management consultant and ex-baseball reporter Jeff Angus shows you almost everything you need to know about management you can learn from baseball.”
81. Rock & Roll Lessons: John O’Leary blogs about business lessons from rock-and-roll bands, which he also using to compile a book.
82. Play the Game of Life: Columbia University Business School graduate and world traveler Ryan Petersen shares his thoughts on business.

    Branding

83. The Engaging Brand Blog: Employee-management tips permeate this blog by Anna Farmery, speaker and social-media coach.
84. Influxinsights: “The goal of Influx is to provide ideas for brands that help connect them to culture and allow them to thrive” by “using a combination of skill sets: Account planning, anthropology, trend forecasting and creativity, Influx helps create future pathways for brands.”
85. Hog Blog: Action, insight and inspiration will make you happy that you checked out these musings from a speaker, author and branding expert on radical innovation.
86. MartinLindstrom.com: Martin Lindstrom, who founded his own advertising agency at the age of 12, is a branding guru who imparts knowledge on transforming marketing strategies into positive business results.
87. Name Wire: Experts with experience at Pillsbury, Kraft Foods Inc., Pizza Hut inc. and other companies blog about brand development and strategy.
88. The Simmons SOM Library Blog: This blog is for the Simmons College School of Management community and is maintained by the school's librarians.
89. Frontline Leadership TRENDS: Get leadership tips, lessons and ideas.
90. Personal Branding Blog: Learn how to not abandon your brand but instead see it through from conception to completion and beyond.
91. What's Your Brand Mantra?: Jennifer Rice blogs about brand strategy, integrated marketing communications and customer research.
92. Metacool: Marketer, engineer and educator Diego Rodriguez wants to inspire your innovation.

    Women

93. The Power of the Purse: Fara Warner finesses on how companies can cater to “the world’s most important consumers”— women.
94. The Wild WE: This fun blog targets businesswomen.
95. WonderBranding: More useful information on marketing to women appears on Michele Miller’s blog.
96. Great Leadership: Opinions on information on leadership and leadership development by Dan McCarthy, manager of leadership and management development at an undisclosed Fortune 500 company.
97. Learned on Women: This blog researches female customers to help your business target them.
98. Boomer Women Marketing: Mary Brown, president and founder of Imago Creative — the only marketing firm in the U.S. specializes exclusively in marketing to baby boomer women — shares her beliefs about creative branding relying on human connections.
99. Rethink Pink: News about marketing to women can be found at this blog.
100. Women's Leadership Exchange Blog: Leslie Grossman threads news and politics with business basics for women.

The Top 25 HR Blogs

By David Hakala on December 19, 2007

Surveying the HR blogosphere can be like searching for a rose in a desert. The landscape is littered with abandoned efforts, but there is a close-knit family.

1. Career Hub: This blog focuses on career and job-search strategies and tactics. No fewer than 24 career-counseling and employment professionals contribute to its content. Career Hub contains a wealth of information.
2. Cheezhead: Author Joel Cheesman is one of the most widely read bloggers on emerging recruitment issues and has won several “best of” awards in the category. The tiniest new development doesn't get past Cheesman, and he’s guaranteed to blog about it.
3. SixDegrees from Dave: Dave Mendoza is recognized for his expertise in the integration of sourcing methodologies, employment branding and recruitment techniques. SixDegrees from Dave spotlights HR industry leaders, sourcing gurus, global staffing practices and social networking.
4. Gautam Ghosh: A prolific blogger, HR management consultant Gautam Ghosh writes from India, though most of his posts on every conceivable HR topic have a global tone to them.
5. Insourced's Employment and Jobs Blog: It’s hard to say which is more attractive, the blog or the job-search engine. The blog touches on issues ranging from job hunting to work/life balance, while the search engine covers the entire United States.
6. Evil HR Lady: Written anonymously by “an HR professional in a Fortune 500 company,” this blog reeks of “been there.” The Evil HR Lady has seen it all, done it all and blogs about it all.
7. good to know: Martin Burns, recruiting manager for ZoomInfo Inc., writes this blog about career-search and recruitment practices. Tips on interviewing from either side of the desk, how to source candidates online, what to wear (never sandals) and how to write a cover letter are all covered.
8. GoodRecruits: Robert Merrell, a technical recruiter and talent manager for executives, hiring managers and job seekers, writes the GoodRecruits blog. His main theme is how to use blogs as marketing and communications tools in job searches or recruiting.
9. HR Tests: Written by Bryan Baldwin, an HR consultant in Olympia, Wash., this blog has timely news of laws, regulations, products and conferences concerning testing and assessment instruments. Baldwin also writes the HR Coal blog, which deals primarily with the management of technical talent.
10. HR Thoughts: A good all-around HR blog covering everything from recruitment to EAPs (Employee Assistance Programs) to performance evaluations to professional book reviews and more. It's written by Lisa Rosendahl, an HR manager in a medical facility.
11. Beyond HR: Written by an anonymous HR professional, this blog covers the leading edge of employment branding, search-engine sourcing and other modern HR innovations.
12. Dr. John Sullivan & Associates: Sullivan is a consultant to management on everything related to HR. His blog is full of articles on college recruiting, employee-screening and -assessment tests, training, and new-hire orientation.
13. HR and Strategies: This graduate student combines HR philosophies and news in a blog that is at once thoughtful and informative.
14. HR Daily Advisor: Published by BLR Business & Legal Reports, a vendor of training aids and resources for HR professionals, HR Daily Advisor offers a deep and broad archive of tips on ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act), compensation, FLSA (Fair Labor Standards Act)/wages, harassment, hiring and recruiting, general HR management, and more.
15. HRMetrics.org: HRMetrics.org is all about things that can be measured and how to measure them — from retention effectiveness to home worker productivity.
16. HR Web Café: This blog concerns general workplace issues, employment matters and work trends. Sponsored by ESI Employee Assistance Group (an EAP), its posts are frequent and detailed.
17. Breaking Human Resource News: This is a welcome blog, serving up constantly updated news about products and services for the HR professional, from software to EAPs.
18. CharlotteRecruiting: Written by a recruiting specialist in Charlotte, N.C., this blog has advice on managing staffing firms, interviewing and other recruiting topics.
19. Jibber Jobber: Jason Alba runs this popular blog, which is heavy on summaries and links to other HR bloggers’ posts. This is a great blog for quickly scanning the best posts of the day. Jason’s own posts and guest bloggers make insightful reading, too.
20. Chief Happiness Officer: Consultant Alexander Kjerulf teaches HR departments and entrepreneurs how to transform their workplaces from dreary and stressful to fun, energized and happy.
21. Generations@Work: This blog will help you relieve the tensions among Baby Boomers, Generation X and Generation Y workers. It is written by Russell Eckel, an expert in organizational and workforce development who now consults mainly on the Millenial Generation.
22. Human Resources 101: As the title implies, this blog steps through the nitty-gritty of HR management and policy development, with topics such as “How Graphic Should A Workplace Safety Ad Be?” and “50 Behavior-Based Interview Questions.”
23. Employment Law Blog: Check out this great blog to learn how to throw an office party without being sued, download forms, stay abreast of employee-rights decisions and much more.
24. Inside Human Resources Blog: A good place to learn about trends in workforce demographics and the attitudes of younger generations.
25. The Human Capitalist: A well-informed review of news about HR technology written by industry guru Jason Corsello, a vice president with HR technology consultancy Knowledge Infusion.

10 Must-Read Online-Recruiting Blogs

By David Hakala on April 3, 2008

The Web is full of blogs written by and for recruiting professionals. One site, Recruitingblogs.com, has over 3,000 members.

Many are personal blogs, full of random ramblings about politics, ecology, Web 2.0 and other unrelated subjects. Others are promotions of seminars, webinars, books and training workshops offered by the blogs’ proprietors. What the online-recruiting blog world really needs is a blog that is all about the techniques of online recruiting. Most blogs drop a hint or two, but the real trade secrets seem to be locked up in for-fee seminars and other products. That’s to be expected in a hot industry where the tricks of the trade are learned by trial and error.

But there are some blogs that focus on recruiting topics. Here are a few of the best:

1. Six Degrees From Dave: Dave is a principal of recruitment-training firm Dave Mendoza & Associates Inc. Self-described as a “master cybersleuth," Mendoza is an affiliate partner of Shally Sheckert’s Jobmachine.com. His blog spotlights HR-industry leaders, sourcing gurus, global-staffing practices and social networking. It was also recently named Best Overall Recruitment Blog of 2007 by Hireability.com.

2. Advanced Online Recruiting Techniques: Blog author Glenn Gutmacher has been an interactive-products manager for Community Newspaper Company, where he launched the JobSmart site in 1996. Since then, Gutmacher has focused on teaching companies the ins and outs of using the Internet to recruit talent. His blog is full of tips on how to find managerial candidates based on number of direct reports, how to find qualified candidates on LinkedIn.com, how online marriage announcements can generate candidates and much more.

3. Krista Bradford: Bradford is an Emmy Award-winning investigative journalist turned retained-search consultant. Her firm, The Good Search, was founded in 1997. Bradford’s self-titled blog focuses on brand-building and using the Internet to generate buzz about a company. She also discusses relationships between recruiters and employers, social networks, how to mine résumés for contacts within a company and other topics of interest to recruiters and HR professionals. Her recent post about the valuable connection between HR and corporate social responsibility is worth a read.

4. Shally's Blog (on Jobmachine.com): This blog draws people to Shally Sheckert’s candidate-sourcing, research-consulting and seminar business. The posts are frequent and interesting to recruiting professionals. The latest, as of this writing, concerns a new LinkedIn feature that provides competitive intelligence on contacts' companies. Other posts discuss search-engine optimization for career sites; software that integrates with LinkedIn and other business networks; and plugs for various recruiting seminars put on by Sheckert and his colleagues.

5. Old Cheezhead: This blog is authored by Joel Cheesman, a well-known blogger, speaker, entrepreneur and “agent of change” for online-recruitment topics. Cheesman is a firm believer in the power of search-engine optimization to promote companies’ career sites and job listings. His motto is, “You don’t need Monster when have Google.” The online-recruitment category of his blog features interviews with major industry players, news about startup job sites and social networks, tips on video résumés, workplace diversity and more.

6. CollegeRecruiter.com Blog: This corporate blog by the CollegeRecruiter.com career site is full of news about Facebook and MySpace applications; the economy and recruiting; new recruiting and interviewing techniques (e.g., adidas Group gives away free webcams to short-listed interviewees); and how small firms are using Facebook and YouTube LLC to recruit entry-level employees. Articles for both recruiters and job seekers abound, such as “How to Recruit Great Interns” and “Salary Negotiation Tips for College Students and Recent Grads.”

7. RecruitingBloggers.com: RecruitingBloggers.com aggregates blog posts from around the recruiting-blog world. Articles are by some of the top names in online recruiting, such as Jim Stroud. Recent topics include recruitment advertising, the outlook for recent college graduates, new Facebook applications, social media relationships and “flip searching” to find passive candidates.

8. GoodRecruits: This blog “offers tips, resources and insight on how to get the most out of those recruiting dollars,” and is maintained by Mary Elaine Ramos. It concerns offline as well as online recruiting techniques, such as recruitment advertising, interviewing skills and salary negotiations.

9. Tales From the Digital Side: Tales From the Digital Side is a well-written blog by Laura Shannon, vice president of Interactive Sourcing & Strategy for Bernard Hodes Group. Shannon has been involved in online recruitment since 2000. Her blog discusses the recruitment value of affinity circles, demographically targeted recruitment advertisements on Google, search-engine optimization strategy for career sites, behavioral targeting in recruitment advertising and much more.

10. Ask The Recruiter: This blog is by “Dakotta”, who works in the online-media section of the Los Angeles Times. Recent topics include “How to find diversity candidates on LinkedIn," “Finding Résumés with Social Networking" and “Grokker.com: A Recruiter’s 2nd Best Friend”. Dakotta also speculates on general HR topics like creating a well-balanced work environment and using HR metrics to measure the effectiveness of different recruiting channels.

Decision Trees in Politics

Interesting use of a decision tree to explain which candidate (Clinton or Obama) would win what county in the primaries.

Cheer, cheer for Old Notre Dame...

Even Churches Have Bad Management

When I think of bad management practices, I usually think of large corporations.

But large churches suffer some of the same maladies...

Take, for example, the recent reorganization of the Catholic Church in the New York area.

Of course, this is also a sad reminder and echo of the recent sex abuse scandal in the Boston Archdiocese.

I suppose this is a natural result of a medieval church management style, a model based upon the Roman Empire, kings and queens, that rewards unswerving fealty to the very top of the organization, at the ongoing expense (and potential punishment) of absolutely anyone else who dares challenge (or oppose) the supreme leader. I would not recommend this particular dictatorial management approach to anyone, other than those at the very top who lack any confidence in the general good inherent in all mankind.

Ever watch the EWTN Catholic cable TV network? Have you noticed that on many shows, there is almost always a picture of the current Pope hanging in the background somewhere? Some might say this is so merely to honor the "vicar of Christ on earth walking among us today." Others, of a decidedly less charitable bent, might say that this is an uninhibited example of sucking up to power.

As to the current situation in the New York Archdiocese, here are some telling comments from priests and pastors... the "employees and middle managers of the church"... normally the most disciplined and faithful of the flock... who are expected to work 6 days a week without complaint, and give up any hope of what others may see to be a normal life... no spouse, no kids, complete and total obedience without any question whatsoever to their boss (the bishop), exceedingly poor career opportunities outside the church (who wants to hire an ex-priest?), poor income, etc. After all this (for decade after decade in many cases), it must certainly make the depths of your heart ache for the pain these men (and they are ALL men, aren't they?) are expressing here:

The reorganization bore the distinct odor of appearing, as one cleric put it, "unjustly punitive."

In circles of every stripe, the dominant reaction -- both from those
being moved and those staying in place -- has been a mix of sadness,
pain, malaise and even lower morale.

The mood of the presbyterate had fallen again, this time to "the worst I've ever seen it."

"We might just lose guys over this."

Openly climaxed in October 2006 with the circulation of an anonymous letter among the clergy calling for a vote of no-confidence in the cardinal.

"At no time has the relationship between the Ordinary and the priests
of the Archdiocese been so fractured and seemingly hopeless as it is
now,"

During the last six years, the Cardinal’s relations with the Priests of
New York have been defined by dishonesty, deception, disinterest and
disregard. Far too many of our brothers can speak personally of the
arrogant and cavalier manner in which they have been treated by the
Cardinal. Early in his tenure, the cruel and ruthless way in which
several priests who served on the seminary faculty were dismissed, was
an adumbration of how many other priests would also be treated. Time
and again, the Cardinal fails to be the Father that every bishop must
be to his priests.

A sad reminder of the Cardinal’s decision to leave New York only two
days after the September 11 attack, during a time when the city desperately needed a
spiritual leader.

No one will go “on the record” because they fear how the cardinal might react.

Unpleasantness abounds.

Revealed continued dissatisfaction with the cardinal’s management
style. They said Cardinal Egan had not only disregarded the personnel
board in recent years, but had also failed to provide any guidance on
how to handle the transition for those priests and congregations
affected by the transfers.

Many priests said that this had ultimately affected morale — a precious commodity among an increasingly aging and overworked clergy.

“There
are some priests who are hurting right now and are devastated,” said
one priest who has been fielding calls from colleagues. “And no one is
officially reaching out to them. That I emphatically know. There is no
outreach right now.”

"No one knew it was coming," said one pastor who was reassigned.
"We haven't been given a reason, and many of us are terribly confused
about what's taken place. It's kind of unprecedented, really."

A common view expressed by priests, those affected by the moves
and others, is that Egan is settling scores before his expected
retirement.

"What does it appear to be about?" said one pastor who is being
reassigned. "Rewarding the priests he likes and punishing the priests
he doesn't. It appears that way."

"There is a certain amount of arrogance and highhandedness involved."

"I have never seen morale this bad," he said. "I talked to a guy today who is absolutely broken."

--------------------

Conflict Resolution

from Whispers in the Loggia by Rocco Palmo

After
years of tensions between the two sides -- including a March call from
60% of the active presbyterate for his ouster, a seeming Vatican hand-slap and various skirmishes over finances -- long-embattled Belleville Bishop Edward Braxton is seeking dialogue with his priests:

The
meetings will include participation by The Reid Group, a non-profit
that bills itself as "...a consultation and mediation service which
specializes in assisting Catholic organizations transform challenges
into opportunities."

In a May 26 letter to priests, Braxton
stated, "The goal of the discussions was to explore ways of working
toward better communication among priests in order to move beyond the
current situation."

The discussions will be coordinated by the
Presbyteral Council, a priests' organization that was instrumental in
raising criticism of Braxton for misusing money donated to restricted
funds and failing to meet with priests concerning other issues.

The sessions, which will continue into the fall, will not be made public.

"It
is important that these conversations take place in the prayerful
spirit of Christian fraternity and not in the public spotlight," the
letter said.

Noting the state of affairs in some
dioceses which have seen priests and bishops at loggerheads in the
years since the sex-abuse scandals eruped on the national stage in
2002, Pope Benedict told the nation's bishops
during his mid-April visit that "a vital part of your task is to
strengthen relationships with your clergy," especially in venues where,
he said, "tension has arisen" between the two.

"It is important
that you continue to show [priests] your concern," the Pope added, "to
support them, and to lead by example. In this way you will surely help
them to encounter the living God, and point them towards the
life-transforming hope of which the Gospel speaks.

"If you
yourselves live in a manner closely configured to Christ, the Good
Shepherd, who laid down his life for his sheep, you will inspire your
brother priests to rededicate themselves to the service of their flocks
with Christ-like generosity. Indeed, a clearer focus upon the imitation
of Christ in holiness of life is exactly what is needed in order for us
to move forward."

And this...

Today, June 27, 2008 at noon in Rome (5 a.m. CDT), it was announced that His
Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI, has named Archbishop Raymond Burke prefect of the Supreme
Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, effective immediately. With the
announcement, he ceased to be the Archbishop of St. Louis.

"Oh, my gosh, that is marvelous news," said one parish priest on
hearing the news Friday morning. He declined to allow his name to be
used. "The priest morale here has been so low."

"I've been getting phone calls since 6 o'clock this morning from
parishioners singing 'Ding, dong, the archbishop is gone,'" said the
Rev. Marek Bozek, who, along with his parish board, were excommunicated
by Burke after a long-simmering dispute over control of St. Stanislaus
Kostka's assets.

"Catholics in St. Louis are exhausted after 4 1/2 years of constant scandal and control by Archbishop Burke," Bozek added.

Some see him as a champion of orthodoxy who represents a refreshing
return to church values. Others view him as sorely lacking as a pastor,
an unbending stickler for the letter of the law. His targets said he
fought them using arcane, medieval church codes they could barely
decipher.



Though warm and charming one-on-one with the laity and on pilgrimages
he led, his official communications and actions with church members has
often left them stunned because his efforts to help them understand his
actions failed.

"I've been frustrated, and bothered that the impression of me has been
quite negative ... as unpleasant, arrogant," Burke said Friday,
reflecting on his time here. "I've tried to be a good shepherd for the
flock."

Have you noticed from the above sample of press reports that these unfavorable opinions seem to be everywhere in the Catholic Church... and not merely confined to just one bishop or just one diocese?

And isn't it amazing that a bishop who has been focus of widespread dissatisfaction has often subsequently been promoted to the highest levels of the church, as happened both in Boston and St. Louis?

Go figure.

Could it be that it is the general style of church management that is at fault?


--------------------

Being Catholic Now: Prominent Americans Talk About Change in the Church and the Quest for Meaning

By Kerry Kennedy

Today, like many Catholics, Kennedy has a hard time reconciling her own views with some of the teachings and actions of her church; in
fact, she often can't. So Kennedy decided to talk with well-known
Americans about their often complicated relationships with the Catholic
faith; the result is a revealing book being released tomorrow.

The
book, "Being Catholic Now," offers an unusually intimate view of how
much being raised Catholic shapes the identity of many prominent
Americans, but also how much tension many feel with the institutional
church.

"Don't even let me go into Cardinal [Bernard F.] Law and
that he has been rewarded with a princely title in Rome," House Speaker
Nancy Pelosi told Kennedy, referring to the former archbishop of
Boston, who resigned over the sex abuse scandal and now oversees a
prominent basilica in Rome. "It is just appalling. I cannot deal with
that, so I don't."

Bill O'Reilly, the FOX News personality, told
Kennedy, "Cardinal Law is a villain. I got him removed from office in
Boston. I pounded him relentlessly, because he was not doing what he
should have for the protection of children in this country."

And
Anne Burke, an Illinois Supreme Court justice who was appointed by the
American bishops to a board overseeing the church's response to the
clergy abuse scandal, was clearly infuriated by her up-close view of
the church's upper management.

"It's the culture of the
administration of the Catholic Church in the United States that
permitted a climate of cover-up to go on for the past 50 years; it's
the same culture and it's still out there today," Burke said. "Things
have hit rock bottom in the Catholic Church, and it's going to get
worse."

-----------------------------

9/17/08

"Our present infrastructure isn't sustainable," said Msgr. John J.
Bonzagni, director of pastoral planning at the Diocese of Springfield,
which expects to have 25 fewer priests in just seven years.

The trend also suggests that scars from the six-year-old clergy abuse scandal may be deepening rather than fading.

The
scandal has cost U.S. Catholic archdioceses $2 billion, and it is not
over. In May, a former altar boy who accused a priest of molesting him
30 years ago won an $8.7 million jury verdict against Vermont's Diocese
of Burlington. A judge put a $10 million lien on the diocese's
headquarters.

More than 850 parishes nationwide have shut since
1995 -- the majority since 2000, according to figures compiled by the
Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) at Georgetown
University, a Catholic university in Washington.

--------------------------------

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Cheer, cheer for Old Notre Dame...

...or at least, its legendary former President, Fr. Theodore Hesburgh.
The Wall Street Journal sat down for a chat with this 91-year-old icon
recently.

A snip: WSJ:
In your day, the Church produced figures such as Bishop Sheen and
Father Drinan and Pope John XXIII. Who are the Catholic leaders today
of their caliber? Are there any?

Father
Hesburgh: That's a fair question. I'm not in a position to come up with
an answer, but I have my ideas about it. I think somehow, either in the
educational system for clergy or in the kind of people we attract to
the clergy, we are going to have to take a very close look at that,
because whatever we're doing, let's say it's not working. The number of
Catholic clergymen is going down, and the same is probably true of many
other churches. It's one of the key problems that exists in our
country, and we ought to find a way of getting at that problem.

The
Catholic Church, like any other human organization, depends on
leadership, and leadership depends on performance. If you look for
leaders in a given group and you don't find them, something is wrong.
When you had leaders, such as you just mentioned, a few decades ago, I
have to say the Church seemed more vital to most people, even to people
outside the church.

Is the lack of leadership why the Church ended up in the priests' scandal?

Father
Hesburgh: Everything is part of an organic whole, and the scandal is
one aspect. I wouldn't want to be personally buffaloed about whether
there was a scandal, because there is no question there was. The answer
is to find a different caliber of training and of selection and of
inspiration of young men going into priesthood. And I think, more and
more, women have to be involved in this, and I suspect that in the long
run, married people are going to be a lot more involved in this whole
problem than we have today.

It has to evolve over time. I have
no problem with females or married people as priests, but I realize
that the majority of the leadership in the Church would. But what's
important is that people get the sacraments. You have to remember,
there were married priests, even married popes, in the first 1,000
years of the church.

----------------------