Leadership Scorecard for the Financial Crisis

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  David P Hamilton10/09/08 Report as spam
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  RE: Leadership Scorecard for the Financial Crisis

  Paulson's inclusion on this list is something of a farce. First, he spent most of the year insisting the subprime fallout was contained, when it clearly wasn't. Second, he decided to let Lehman fail, which -- whatever its other merits -- apparently led to the money-market fund crisis that froze up the credit markets. Third, his bailout plan was sketchy and politically inept in the extreme -- it was a two-and-a-half page outline that essentially arrogated control of the entire $700 billion to himself and whoever he appointed, with oversight by Congress and the courts explicitly denied. No wonder Congress pitched a fit.
  
  Beyond that, George's lesson seems to boil down to a pretty simple notion: CEOs of failed firms showed bad leadership; CEOs of firms that haven't failed (yet) have shown good leadership. Is this the sort of banality that passes for analysis at HBS these days?

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  MarriottSurvivor10/09/08 Report as spam
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  RE: Leadership Scorecard for the Financial Crisis

  List is a scandal of mediocre analysis.

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  asregis2001@...10/10/08 Report as spam
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  RE: Leadership Scorecard for the Financial Crisis

  Let me have a perspective on leadership in the context of this discussion? Are we glorifying actions after the baby died?
  
  The failure exposes the ineptness and narrow vision which, if glorified, redefines the concept of proactivity.
  
  This crisis has no leaders; we are a bunch of loosers.

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  Larry Chaitt10/10/08 Report as spam
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  RE: Leadership Scorecard for the Financial Crisis

  The inclusion of Paulson is an insult to competent
  financial analysts everywhere. I am an academic and
  feel constrained to apologise for my colleague. His list
  is a joke, unfortunately not a funny one.
  
  What we are seeing is a total lack of comprehension of
  the implications of a global world economy and
  financial market. The US Government, particularly one
  under Bush and Paulson, is incapable of fixing a global
  problem. What we need is creative and perceptive
  leadership with innovative ideas.

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  david.jeffrey10/10/08 Report as spam
  5

  RE: Leadership Scorecard for the Financial Crisis

  Aside from Wells Fargo, which was also included in the book 'Good to Great', (no coincidence there), I don't see great leadership demonstrated by any of the aforementioned leaders.
  The only person who year after year seems to get the complexities of the Global market and avoids the greed driven, poor policies of other Financial players seems to be Warren Buffet.

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  Lux13131310/10/08 Report as spam
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  RE: Leadership Scorecard for the Financial Crisis

  AMEN, David Jeffrey! Buffet's the only straight shooter I've seen. And his advocacy is simplicity, honesty, and disclosure. I also like the fact he moved to Omaha to get away from the smoke and mirrors of Wall Street. Long-term value investing is the only low-risk way to financial independence, if you're an average person with an average job. Everybody wants to get rick quick. What happended to focusing on doing a great job and providing value, an honest day's work for an honest day's pay? This country's priorities are completely out of whack.

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  wcgallery10/10/08 Report as spam
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  RE: Leadership Scorecard for the Financial Crisis

  Leadership?? Are you kidding me?! I'll skip going into all that negativity. I'd much rather focus on the positives, as stated above. Warren Buffet exemplifies leadership by example. Period.

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  njckrall10/15/08 Report as spam
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  RE: Leadership Scorecard for the Financial Crisis

  The Heroes are not (possible exception: Wells Fargo) on this list.
  The heroes are those company leaders that focus on their customers before their shareholders. Too ecstatic customers lead to happy shareholders more predictably than vice versa.
  The banks that were adding the negative-principle on pick-a-payment loans to their balance sheets as accrued future revenue were driving the bus hard toward the edge of the cliff. The cliff was just made higher by the leveraged deriviative funds.
  Business purgatory is littered with once-great companies who "jumped the shark" by shifting focus from being #1 in product and customer satisfaction to boosting share-price.