Bold truth -- from an unlikely source

Rarely has a bold truth come ringing out of a Sunday talk show during the holidays. And rarely have so few words implicated so many with such little fanfare.

As the usual year-end imagery gathers on TV and the Internet, it's highly unlikely the comments of Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick will make the final cut. That's too bad. Because what Patrick had to say about the past 10 years has deep implications for the next few.

Appearing on "Meet the Press" alongside New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and pol Newt Gingrich, Patrick summarized the first stage of the new millennium as the "self deception decade." Y2K, threat of terrorism manifested by Sept. 11th, two wars fought on the cheap, housing/Wall Street bubbles, etc. Whatever we spent or did then was put off for tomorrow. Patrick predicted that the coming decade will be when we finally get honest and deal with the "intractable problems facing society."

Fair enough, Governor. You're a smart and admirable point-of-view public figure. But what you said strikes to the core of a much deeper issue that no one seems able to address -- much less solve.

A vast majority of leadership elites have grown to believe their own deception, making real connections with followers fleeting. Trust and confidence have been thrown out with the bath water. Innovation -- which Patrick said will characterize the coming decade -- gets tossed around in conversation like a worn out bromide while little changes. Consider the evidence. Government, despite a transformational president, remains the same both symbolically and systematically. Two of the recession's hardest hit industries, autos and banking, continue to maintain the status quo as evidenced by events at GM and Bank of America Corp. "Going green" remains just that as even Bloomberg confessed by saying "no one knows what that means." How the green movement hasn't been effectively connected to eliminating dependence on foreign oil tells all you need to know about how special interests engulf the present system.

Elites have grown oblivious to their own deception for a range of factors -- most center on self glorification vs. productive difference making on behalf of others. Case in point: What just transpired between Congress and the White House on health care reform. Note: This is not a policy indictment; more to the point, it's about acting above board when no one trusts what you're doing. Equal offenders from the political and business realm line both sides of this issue.

Huge sums of money also feed the beast called deception. A billion here, a billion there. No amount is too small. It's almost as if Monopoly money is being exchanged for derivatives to be paid later. Leaders have forgotten that it's the public's (taxpayers' and shareholders') treasure that they're manipulating for selfish personal gain. No accountability leads to zero correction; cycle continues. The passing of Sen. Kennedy over the summer served as a stark reminder of what a lifetime of public service entails. It's too bad his legacy has already been shuffled away in the Senate's coat closet.

Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on your view, the public is way ahead of the deception. They're furious, anxious and often perceived as irrational, which means they are irrational in a heavily mediated world -- or whatever passes for the nightly news.

The real question is what can be done. There are no easy answers, but it begins with calling out the issue. It's too bad we can't assign TMZ.com or the "National Enquirer" to the story because they would get to the bottom of the barrel in a hurry. Facts or no facts, the tabloid media, YouTube and other new outlets such as Twitter have a way of cutting through to the unfiltered core faster and better than anyone else.

Which brings us back to the future. Before we go further into the "honesty decade," as Patrick predicted, there's still a fair share of flushing out to do with the deception decade. Which means we'll probably keep throwing the bums out of office and tossing stones at CEOs in glass houses while little gets done. Some things don't change.

The only way to make a difference is by taking personal action and encouraging others to do the same. Not everything has to be about ME! Granted, until there is a sense of collective We, it's awfully hard not to look out for A-1. Especially when things are upside down economically.

Maybe the next 10 years will turn out to be the "Me to We" decade? Probably not. 'Mewee' sounds like a dumb Charlie Brown character. Oh well. Back to the drawing board for now. Welcome your ideas on a better name.

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Introducing the new Fleet BofA

Well, at least it's done. Bank of America Corp.'s board whiffed by selecting an insider/outsider, but thankfully, the publicly bungled succession process is finally over. Look soon for spin on the new Bank of America, which will resemble the old with a new "fleeting" influence. 'Fleeting' is a bad play on words referring to the strong influence of three former Fleet executives who currently sit on BofA's board and the new CEO, Brian Moynihan, who also formerly worked at Fleet. More things change, the more they stay the same. Prediction: The bank's board will be shopping for another CEO within a year's time.

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BofA: Where's the new CEO?

The Bank of America Corp. (BofA) CEO search drags on. First the board said through a spokesperson that they were going to have a candidate in October. Then Thanksgiving came and went. Now the deadline is first quarter 2010. According to the Wall Street Journal, the bank's board is meeting today but they likely will not be naming a new CEO. So what exactly are they doing: Hanging the stockings with care?

While the board deliberates, the usual vacuum gets filled with everything from potential candidates who won't take the job to how the bank paid back TARP money so they could attract the right CEO candidate. Pardon the blunt dismissal, but this latest mainstream revelation is dumb. No one at that level is going to make their decision based solely on money, and if they were, then they're not suited for what the job requires.

Managers take jobs because of money; leaders take jobs because of the ego-based challenge and then the money, which when you're a candidate for the top job at the nation's largest bank assumes you don't need a paycheck every 15 days. Of course this assumption could be wrong like most of the others during the Great Recession. But the rule generally holds true at the top rung.

Let's review a few key qualifications since the basics seem to have lost more interest than a C-SPAN rerun. Sooner board steps up, obviously the better.

1.) Proven leader, not another manager. The new CEO needs to be someone with gravitas and proven ability to navigate constituencies that some believe now poison the bank's dry well: Government regulators, Obama administration officials, investors and previous owners (latter two are one in the same but sometimes it's difficult to tell.) For anyone that still believes that the new hurler in chief will be a qualified manager from the inside, recall the baseball song about belly itchers and relief pitchers. One does not preclude the other. If that doesn't suffice then consider what the WSJ's Intelligent Investor had to say about the difference a new CEO makes in a company's profitability: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703735004574575880529756434.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_sections_personalfinance
Preview of answer: Not much. Difference is little more than a coin flip.

2.) Able to lead and build credible consensus in a new direction. The previous occupant, Ken Lewis, comes from the old command control school where oddly the new darling, GM Chairman Ed Whitacre, came from as well. That's not going to cut it. Key question: Who can marshall the capital, both human and financial, combined with the right strategy to move BofA forward in not only a different direction but an entirely new operating environment? Trust and confidence weigh heavily here but don't try telling that to the board, which hasn't exactly used this transition period to build either quality.

3.) Character as a tangible vs. intangible requirement. Okay, don't roll your eyes. While this qualification gets thrown around more than a bromide, reputation does matter. Or at least it should in this case based on the former occupant's behavior. In his "Eighth Habit," Stephen Covey cites a stat. that lends credence here: 90 percent of all leadership failures are due to character. Flaws, break downs, sacrificing values, etc. You would think that whoever takes the top job at BofA will need to be squeaky clean and politically astute. And no, those two qualifiers don't represent an oxymoron.

Good luck, BofA board. We look forward to hearing from you directly sometime through your Chairman or search firm. Tick-tock, tick-tock.

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Single holiday wish

Last week's headlines in The Wall Street Journal presented an all too familiar trend line. First came AIG's CEO complaining about pay restrictions while threatening to quit after only a few months in the job. He later retracted and said he was staying for now. Evidently the "war for top talent" rages on to the point where even a leader of a too big to fail enterprise feels compelled to cry wolf.

Then came reports of another candidate for the Bank of America (BofA) CEO job turning up his nose because reportedly $34 million in stock paid in another deal would not be paid out in full if he took the BofA position at a lesser grade. Why someone would view the position as just another notch in the money belt is more instructional than it should be. Evidently restoring credibility at the nation's largest bank and earning career making chops that goes with doing so aren't worth the advertised compensation.

Ah, yes. Unchecked self interest continues unabated in American executive circles. What a way to end the year during which many have lost but few have gained. I can hear the cries now, "But why shouldn't he command the most money? Aren't you a capitalist? Since when did the government start setting private sector pay levels -- that's SOCIALIST!"

Fair enough. Argue away. It's a free country. Just be sure to see both sides.

The message here is not about government control vs. impinging on capitalism. Far from it. That argument is way above our pay grade any way.

It's a simpler holiday wish: That those who continue to act exclusively in their own self interest (Hint: All of us at one time or another) reach out beyond themselves and lift up a fellow man or woman in need.

That could be as dramatic as helping someone in trouble, hunger or sorrow or as common as providing a personal endorsement to someone else who might qualify as a new potential customer or boss. Oh, and this means actually doing so directly, not writing a bunch of canned lullabies on Linked In.

If that all sounds too Pollyanna, then look at it this way: It's not just about my house or his house. It's about OUR house. This is as much a collective leadership message as it is request to act in a greater interest. If nothing else, can we at least set aside the market-based quid pro quo stuff for a couple months?

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Two Chicago Guys and a CEO Search

Left to right: Walter Massey (courtesy, AJC)
Charles A. Tribbett III (courtesy, Russell Reynolds web site)


Bank of America Corp. (BofA) Chairman Walter Massey has named Charles A. Tribbett III of executive recruiter Russell Reynolds to assist with the recruitment of the bank's next CEO, according to people familiar with the matter. Efforts to confirm Tribbett's selection with a firm spokesperson were unsuccessful as of 5 PM EDT. News of the recruiting firm's appointment minus the personal name of the lead recruiter was first reported earlier today at http://www.wsj.com/ -- http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB125545433529782763-lMyQjAxMDI5NTE1MzQxNTM0Wj.html

This decision signals deep local ties between two power brokers while underscoring the emergence of Chicago as an epicenter of influence in national political and business affairs.

It also sends mixed signals on whether BofA will consider internal candidates for the CEO position following previous reports speculating on where the bank will turn for talent.

Tribbett is the Chicago-based, domestic co-head of the CEO and board practice for privately held Russell Reynolds. Prior to joining the firm in 1989, he was a partner with Abraham & Sons, a private investment management and brokerage firm in Chicago. Tribbett also served as a corporate securities attorney with the law firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. He currently serves on the boards of Northern Trust Bank, Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Chicago Council of Global Affairs, an "independent non-partisan organization" representing a Who's Who of Chicago, including First Lady Michelle Obama who is listed as a lifetime director on the organization's web site.

In addition to his chairmanship at BofA, Massey serves on the board of Oak Brook, Ill.-based McDonalds and is a trustee at the University of Chicago. He also formerly served on the board of Delta Corp. and First Chicago Corp. after a series of executive positions in higher education. According to the Atlanta Journal & Constitution http://www.ajc.com/business/massey-s-final-bank-159534.html, Massey and his wife, Shirley, currently live near the University of Chicago and the Argonne National Laboratory where he served as director.

It's not entirely clear where Tribbett will look to fill the CEO position of the nation's largest bank based in Charlotte, N.C. But one thing is clear: A closely related web of board and civic relationships between Tribbett and Massey will strongly inform who ultimately fills the position. Always has, always will.

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BofA: Will grits remain thicker than water?

So week two drags on with the Bank of America Corp. (BofA) governance mess. The bank and its board remain under attack from every conceivable angle, leading to snap decisions such as on/off the shelf "emergency CEOs" that few understand much less believe to be part of a real solution. Mainstream media continue to speculate on the horse race or who will fill the role vs. what is needed to right the course.

Until someone steps up and actually says, "Stop, wait a minute! We're headed in the wrong direction," nothing is going to change. Which unfortunately means, for viewers of similar movies, nothing will change about this one's ending. Not even the credits.

Call it board leadership 101 failure for lack of better terminology. Nothing good happens when a gun is held at someone's head -- at least from a non-criminal point of view.

This reactive vs. proactive stance points directly to a deeper set of questions that needs to be answered before going any further in the CEO selection process.

Will BofA continue to be defined by an aggressive southern culture created by Hugh McColl and then leveraged by Ken Lewis? Is it time to turn the history page and step up as the nation's largest and most responsible bank in the post-collapse era? To borrow a witty phrase from a friend, will grits remain thicker than water?

None of the internal candidates publicly identified so far represent the bank's current culture yet BofA remains largely known by its Charlotte way of doing things. This fact leads to even more questions: Should the bank shutter its headquarter roots and move to New York where it can deal with regulators and other constituencies more directly? Will the new CEO have the external chops to deal with what's most important vs. urgent, or will the bank sink into the quagmire of a quasi-governmental agency?

No one, including board chairman Walter Massey, has stepped up to demonstrate a firm grasp of these issues. Every move so far has been bureaucratic in nature and defensive considering what's at stake. Sending signals that it will likely turn to an inside hand to stir the grits is hardly bold action. Nor does it make much sense unless they're not serious about change, which is always a real possibility.

Heck, even the now defunct GM board delivered clearer signals when they were slipping toward bankruptcy. BofA remains solvent, profitable in some business lines yet severely leadership challenged at the top, which is generally where it counts the most. Meanwhile, competitors such as JP Morgan Chase and Citi are licking their chops.

Here's hoping BofA deals with its leadership issues in a manner befitting a large corporation. If they can't, then owners should be demanding better -- across the board.

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BofA: Let the horse race begin

Publisher's note: The following was first published today on BusinessWeek.com under their ManagementIQ blog heading. Find the direct link here http://www.businessweek.com/careers/managementiq/archives/2009/10/moment_of_truth.html. Or feel free to read on below.
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Whoever fills the CEO role, while sexy and headline grabbing, is not the most pressing need at the nation's largest bank. What's more important is how the BofA board decides to proceed with righting the bank's leadership course. This obviously includes the coveted prize, a new CEO, but to emphasize that decision at the expense of other more important matters represents bad governance. It also underlines the misguided longly held belief that great talent will solve everything.

Following are several steps that the bank's board should be considering if they're not already:

1. Replace the Chairman. Board Chairman Walter Massey is now inextricably linked to the former regime as a result of ongoing litigation, government investigation and personal relationship. This is a perceptual non-starter. It also represents a serious first challenge for the board to answer. Massey's tenure has been brief and was given rise to a previous crisis wave when investors forced Ken Lewis to sacrifice the Chairman title. The law of unintended consequences has been cruel here so far. Whether Massey can help right the course when he himself is under attack should be the board's first order of business.

2. Find a way forward, or out, of the regulatory and judicial jungle. New CEO or no new CEO, BofA needs to move expeditiously with trying to reach settlements across the board on all current legal matters. This may sound too ideal or pie in the sky. But even a better faith effort would send a stronger signal. Within this effort also lies a key competency for a new CEO. At least three quarters of the current leadership mandate is making sure the cloud that currently engulfs the bank is lifted.

3.) Consult Jamie Dimon at JP Morgan Chase. This step is more search-driven than strategic, but it's a practical step that only the truly hubris free will consider. Dimon has led an extremely successful, similar sized operation during a similar period of upheaval. No one else has the same knowledge or experience to deal with what faces BofA. To not consult Dimon on who he thinks would be a gross oversight. You can be assured of at least one thing: Whichever high end recruiter gets the assignment will take this step while simultaneously trying to woo talent away from underneath Dimon's nose.

This isn't about wasting a crisis or trying to bring Superman to lead the nation's largest bank. It's about doing what's right in the wake of months of misdeeds and leadership inertia.

If there is a silver lining, it's the fact that BofA's business appears to be on better footing than a year ago when the system collapsed. Yet unfortunately in this case that also speaks to a bank's greatest self perceived advantage: Time. Time to recover. Time to take more government money. Time to see assets come back. The more time a bank has, the longer it can live. Vice versa, the longer it can continue to do nothing and watch its once vaulted status nose dive into the abyss. Any of the major banks that neglects this consumer reality does so at their peril.

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