Updated: 9/10/06; 11:33:27 PM.
Gil Friend
Strategic Sustainability, and other worthy themes of our time
        

Tuesday, December 10, 2002

Lance Knobel on US Treasury Secretary-designate John Snow: The Wall Street Journal reports that Treasury secretary-designate John Snow's company, rail freight giant CSX, is no great shakes. "For all its progress, CSX still has the worst operating ratio, a common measure of railroad efficiency, among big North American railroads." That sounds like a recommendation.

But wait! There's more!

And in 2001, Snow earned "$2.2 million in cash, plus $7.1 million in restricted stock awards. In addition he received $753,057 in additional compensation, including $117,900 in life-insurance premiums and $323,266 in 'above market' interest on deferred earnings". When he retires he qualifies for Welch-like perks, including "use of private aircraft for the remainder of his life". Just the man to tackle concerns about corporate governance.
9:04:47 PM    comment []  trackback []


Let's be careful out there II

Photographer arrested for taking pictures of Vice President's hotel: "An amateur photographer named Mike Maginnis was arrested on Tuesday in his home city of Denver - for simply taking pictures of buildings in an area where Vice President Cheney was residing." [From the Desktop of Dane Carlson] [John Robb's Radio Weblog]
8:59:53 PM    comment []  trackback []


Let's be careful out there

That's what the sargeant on Hill Street Blues used to tell the cops before sending them out on the beat. It's a phrase that comes often to mind:

McKinsey and Failing Airlines. McKinsey was the central "consultant" at Swissair during the several years that led to the destruction of the Swiss airline. Their "work" cost Swissair about $60 million dollars -- while it lost all profits, revenues, and assets. McKinsey is also well-known for having preached at Enron, and presented that company as a success to emulate, until the fall. Business Week: Many of the intellectual underpinnings of Enron came from McKinsey...

NYT: Now that United Airlines has filed for bankruptcy protection, the critical challenge facing the airline... is to find a business strategy that works. To that end, United has hired McKinsey... Why McKinsey? While Andersen helped cook the books at Enron, didn't McKinsey also play a key role in that massive failure? [Jinn of Quality and Risk]

Note:  the article also lists some recommendations from McKinsey on how United can improve performance.  Unfortunately, these improvements will barely offset the monthly fees McKinsey is charging the airline. [John Robb's Radio Weblog]

It's not that consulting is a Bad Thing. (I should know; I am one!) But consulting that takes you away from ethics, good sense and business fundamentals? Let's be careful out there!

PS: It's not that airlines being in trouble is anything new. Check out the systems analysis done by UC Davis prof Kenneth EF Watt in the 70s. (I'll see if I can find the citation.)
7:45:55 PM    comment []  trackback []


© Copyright 2006 Gil Friend.
 

BlogRoll Me! | Skype me!

My work:
Natural Logic My speaking gigs


Read this blog in:

Deutsch / Español / Français / Italiano / Portuguese


December 2002
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
8 9 10 11 12 13 14
15 16 17 18 19 20 21
22 23 24 25 26 27 28
29 30 31        
Nov   Jan


So... where you from, Chum?
Locations of visitors to this page


How this works


Recent Posts


Blogs I slog through:


Click here to visit the Radio UserLand website.

Subscribe to "Gil Friend" in Radio UserLand.

Click to see the XML version of this web page.


Click here to send an email to the editor of this weblog.