"What you didn't know you didn't know you didn't know."                  

Exceptional Evergreen  excerpts

"You don't say ?"    
 Conversation starters for coffee breaks

 Books
you probably never read

Reputation's DNA

JFB
a curmudgeon's credentials

Opinions
to challenge yours

Editor's Note: For all the electronic swath the daily news cuts today, it's become so homogenized and repetitive, early morning to late evening, that it loses a good deal of its gossip content; those beneath-the-headline sidebars that juice it up and add perspective. Like gold miners screening the sludge we look for the nuggets. We focus on the printed matter because it is of record and the condensation of daily news rarely offers those little insights that explain, humanize, titillate, or challenge. Maybe you'll be informed or intrigued, amused or alerted but hopefully, entertained  as I see it.
 

When the Foxes Leave??

When co-authors of the onerous Sarbanes-Oxley legislation, Sen. Paul Sarbanes  and Congressman William Oxley, leave Congress next year as expected, watch for the corporate critics of the bill, said to cost business $30,000,000,000 for compliance alone, to move to aggressively to de-fang the legislation. Freed from the yoke, CEOs may slip back into bad habits and boards return to their passive ways.

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Club of Rome Mentality Persists

With executive compensation the burning issue one would expect Coca-Cola's unprecedented move to deny directors any compensation IF the company fails to meet a predetermined profit goal would get hosannas.  Not so. There's always the cynics (Club of Tome Pessimist types) who claim setting such yardsticks will produce "Groupthink" as directors eschew independence for the greater good (theirs).

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Will Anyone Dare?

Noting that CEO's and CFO's must, under rules of Sarbanes-Oxley, certify the integrity of the financial disclosures that are making ("...so help me, God.") former chairman/CEO of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, Edward A. Kangas, asked guests at a Committee for Economic Development luncheon at NY's Waldorf Astoria why shouldn't the same requirement apply to politicians? "Let them attest to the fact that they know what they are voting on," he suggested, to a roar of approval. Imagine the fuss this would cause. Oh My!

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What's in a name

When Shakespeare wrote his famous line, "what's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet," he hadn't calculated on the linguistic hurdles of global marketing. Ask Google. It's been variously called in China, "Gougou" and "Gugou" which, respectively we're told mean" doggy" and "Old hound". Definitely not in Google's self-image. So, dig they did into Chinese dictionaries and came up with "Gu Ge" which more respectfully means "harvest moon." Do the PR folks with awesome titles as vice president of  global communication get it?

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Editors Show Immaturity

PR folks always see the glass of water half full but now it's sprung a leak. The tabloid PRWeek, one of the "voices" of the trade, editorially commenting on the opening day criminal trial of two high-ranked agency consultants ( from Fleishman Hillard) accused of kiting bills to a client, a Los Angeles city department, gleefully wrote in a lead editorial that hardly any media covered the courtroom! No somber thought that this act of fraud should serve as a wake-up call to agency CEO's to review their internal controls, etc. Juvenile! How many subscriptions will be canceled over the inexplicable abrogation of editorial responsibility- and maturity? Probably none, which in itself will tell a great deal about those who harbor a seat in the counseling ring.

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A Dollar Short and a Day Late

Wall Street bookmakers, figuring odds on GM's CEO/chairman Rick Wagoner's tenure, may be overlooking three subtle factors beneath the headlines. One, Wagoner's rescue efforts are choreographed  by conventional wisdom: close plants, fire people, force others out, sell the family assets. Focus on survival; no fresh ideas to give hope. Two, embarrassing the board, as the re-statement  of financial statements does (and Wagoner's background is finance). Three, launch a media blitz... "60 Minutes", "Face the Nation", News week interview, run ads stressing pride in America, etc. Obviously a PR offensive uncharacteristic of Wagoner's hitherto laid back style. Too late and too obvious. Downside of verbal board, executive support is sense of acts of desperation. Makes more people aware of the possibilities of bankruptcy and a change in leadership. Why do CEO's become communicators when most minds are made up.

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These vignettes were compiled by the editors of Observations, the bi-monthly letter that addresses implications and perceptions of corporate policy. For a complimentary issue e-mail jfdubbjr@aol.com, or fax 212-588-9417, or write to: Observations, 30 Beekman Place, New York, NY 10022

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