On January 31, 2008 I wrote about the sub-prime mess predicting the formation of the IPA, the investor protection agency (IPA sounded more interesting than CPA, though I believed consumer protection would be in its charter). I feared that a significant number of powerful CEOs intolerant of their own risk-management professionals would bring regulation upon [...]
Saturday, August 1, 2009
Every once in awhile there is a revelation about big companies that makes my blood boil. This is one of them. If you discount what Wendell Potter of CIGNA says by half, you will still be upset at both the deception and power of the health insurance companies and the ignorance and lack of spine [...]
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
The feckless, amoral Congress ranted about TARP money funding Wall Street bonuses, then stopped fulminating. But where were the elected representatives and the administration’s money-disbursers when they allowed AIG to pay down tens of billions of debt to their friends at Goldman Sachs and the like. This did not reduce toxic assets or increase the [...]
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
David Leonhardt (NY TImes, today, the Looting of Americas Coffers) has it right. If you dont yet understand how overwhelming greed led bankers and investment bankers to build a house of cards, walk away with bonuses based on performance that would lead to billions of write-offs of their own companies and not care, you must [...]
Countless more ordinary people of equal talent never developed the leadership core required to run the show. Why not?
Is our behavior in the face of challenge determined at birth or by our environment? Are leaders born rather than made?
My obsession with what makes some ordinary people become extraordinary leaders led to my interviews with dozens of CEOs which Random House published in 2007 and to the Master Class series at Pace. The thesis is that there are particular “shaping experiences” which develop leadership traits and capabilities.
Epi-genetics is the new field of study that is beginning to confirm that nurture determines a lot about us: our behavior, our illnesses and more. Work on animals and on human twins shows that no matter your genome, there is a system of markers that switch genes on and off in a way that controls your reaction to stimuli. These markers are largely from environmental factors from what happened while you were in the womb, to how you were treated in your childhood, to stressful situations to pollution. And the markers you have accumulated can go-awry as you age.
The good news is that by treatment, including drugs, these markers can be added or removed.
Together with breakthroughs in neuroscience (how our brain works during different mental and emotional conditions), we are about to glean powerful new understandings relevant to our lives as well as careers.
For an intro to the field, view the PBS Nova Science Now program on the subject:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/3411/02.html
That’s my view. What’s yours?
For a few years now, Jim Blasingame and I have shared stories, insights and practical suggestions for survival of small business in tough times. He should be your fave for an unlimited supply of helpful ideas for your business. Go to:
http://blog.smallbusinessadvocate.com/management-fundamentals/small-business-economic-challenges
and also to the home page of smallbusinessadvocate.com
Please let me know how helpful you find this great resource. Jim is, himself, a very successful small business owner who knows whereof he speaks.
As I said in a prior post, the fruit vendor on a nearby street corner in New York City told me he is working on becoming a bank holding company so he can get in line for a bailout. Is there no end?
Today’s announcement it was announced that insurance companies will be allowed to reduce the reserve capital they have to make sure they can pay benefits to customers when the time comes. Isn’t this converting insurers to be like AIG? Isn’t insurance with low reserves the same as gambling?
There was no accompanying clear and detailed plan for oversight. Just like the billions of dollars that have flowed into the investment bank.
That’s my view. What’s yours?
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
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