So, it’s no fun to have made the call, but I see that Tony Hayward is in fact on his way out. He is being held accountable (not necessarily blamed, but the buck stops with him).A recent Gallop Poll showing how the “confidence” people had in various institutions means we have a very long way to go in getting folks to have faith in big business. Luckily, many still have confidence in small business. “Small businesses rate a 66% while big business gets 19% and organized labor 10%.”
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Corporate Culture, Crisis Management, Governance, Leadership
It’s kind of like what I used to call “forced fun” at company sales meetings. It was meant to be team building but it really was “forced” in the sense that many folks did not really want to be there or even be participating. Many times, once they were there, they liked it well enough and actually had some fun in spite of themselves. The internet is causing forced transparency in company operations. Many don’t like it and would rather not be transparent. Some, like the forced fun situation, will find they can use the new rules of the game to actually win and have some fun along the way.
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We all have companies we “love to hate.” There’s a video running around with a marine blasting an HP Printer that failed and the folks on the other end of the phone wanted to charge him for assistance (warning this guy is very angry and not using polite language).
My prime target is AT&T and without going into a long tirade, I’ll just say that I’ve not personallyexperienced more deplorable customer service at the hands of a company. I’m adding another one now though, Intuit. After deciding that the “gentle warning” on their website that the latest software was best for Windows 7, I paid my money and downloaded the QB 2010 software. That’s when it all began.
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AT&T, Communication, Customer Service, HP, Intuit, Leadership, Management, Poor Service, Shaping the Corp
Many years ago I heard the statement made that “corporate staff is like body fat. You have to have some in order to survive. But the goal is to have as little as possible.” I think the same is true of Government. You have to have some, but the goal is to minimize it. So I start from the premise that Governments and Businesses have the same challenge – deliver value and necessary services while keeping the nonproductive activities and costs to an absolute minimum.
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BP, Communication, Gulf Oil Disaster, Leadership, Management, Sustainability
