Morality and public companies…..can they really coexist?

September 18, 2010

I’ve been thinking about personal responsibility and how this ties in to those of us who run businesses, large and small.

I find that most of the time those who run and own their business will operate with much more integrity, authenticity and morality than those who run businesses for others, but are not major shareholders in that business.  Public companies are a great example of businesses that often are run with anything but integrity.

I believe the reason for this is the lack of personal responsibility and accountability that exists in most public companies.  At the end of the day those who are in senior management rarely if ever have to pay for bad decisions on a personal basis.  In fact, many times they are sent away with a huge golden parachute that allows them to move to their next venture being financially independent.

We have a problem with morality in large organizations whether they be in the private sector or government.  Both are charged with working in the best interest of the shareholders or the public.  Too often we find the leaders of these organizations did not work in the best interests of their stakeholders.  In the financial management world we often are asked to be a fiduciary for our Clients.  The same is or at least should be true with public corporations as well as government.

Unless there is a personal price to pay, we won’t see any significant changes.  When the leaders of these organizations get caught doing unethical things, they usually don’t pay a personal price  If they ruin their company, they just leave and sit on the sidelines to re-appear in another company within a few months.

Greed is not good, although many in our society think it is.  Being morale pays off.  For those in small companies the owners know this from first hand experience.  If they don’t run their companies with integrity, eventually their business will go away and they go out of business.  If this happens the owner pays a huge personal economic and psychic cost.  In the public realm this doesn’t happen.

Until we can figure out how to hold the people who run pubic companies accountable personally for their actions, we won’t see any changes.

As always, let me know what you think.  Starting a conversation is always a good thing.

Josh Patrick

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Posted by stage2

Trust tells you about how good your relationship is

May 11, 2010

My daughter is getting married this summer.  She has grandparents who don’t move very well and won’t be able to attend her wedding.  That’s a sad thing, but it’s not what this post is about.

The post is about asking for a favor and what type of response the request got.

My son lives on the West Coast and I asked him for a favor.  The favor was would he be willing to fly to Erie, pick up his grandparents and drive them to the wedding and back.  The good news was, he didn’t even take a minute to say sure.  The unfortunate news is his grandparents still don’t feel like they are able to come to the wedding.

I think part of the quickness of his answer has to do with trust.  When we build trust with others, we can expect the answer to the question “can I ask a favor of you” to be a fast yes.  There is enough trust between the asker and answerer that both realize a favor asked will not be one that wouldn’t be answered with a no.  When one asks for a favor and the answer is what is it, there exists a lack of trust.

To feel good about what you’re doing and or who you’re doing it with requires a great deal of trust.  When trust is lacking, the communication between parties becomes strained.  When communication is strained, we start walking on egg shells.

I’m very proud of the answer my son gave.  I also am feeling pretty good about the amount of trust we have between each other.  Oh…..and, if someone else in my family asks if I’m willing to do them a favor, the answer is always yes.  If it is something I can’t or won’t do, I’ll deal with it after the request is made.  In the meantime, I trust that those I’m close to wouldn’t ask for something that is an action that I wouldn’t be willing to do.

Josh Patrick

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Posted by stage2

Harmony = trust

April 3, 2010

I was thinking about harmony in the your life and how important it is for productivity as well as personal happiness.  When harmony doesn’t exist, trust also goes away.  Not having trust with those you work with is not only problematic, but it can cost your company money and reputation.  Everything takes longer to do and people become more concerned with protecting their turf.

I believe that the lack of harmony is a result and not a cause.  When trust is absent, people start to think about how to not lose the game instead of how to make the game more fun.  When harmony is absent people will start taking actions that support their positions.  In addition those who are feeling threatened will often blame others, become aggressive in their behavior or withhold information.

We need to realize that openness leads to trust, being closed or feeling a lack of harmony leads to distrust.  This distrust is often because we don’t know what we’re doing and we have a fear that whatever we do will be interpreted as being wrong.

One of the reasons I like having a clear purpose in our life and business is that both help us understand what we’re supposed to be doing.  We can evaluate our actions and thoughts in such a way that allows us take actions that build trust.

Keeping trust in an organization is the key to harmony.  When times are tough, it’s important to know that trust will drop and harmony will become difficult.  When needed changes are implemented, one of the most important actions you can take is to begin to rebuild trust and work towards having a harmonious atmosphere in your life.

Josh Patrick

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Posted by stage2

Valuing what we provide

March 15, 2008

I’ve been thinking about the value of the services that we provide our Customers, especially from their point of view. It seems to me that we often don’t do a good job of communicating what our value proposition is or we don’t do a good job of matching our value proposition with those of our Clients.

Often there seems to be a disconnect between what our Clients expect and what we end up delivering to them. I’m not sure if this is because the product we provide can’t be felt and touched or if we don’t spend enough time trusting our gut feelings about Clients.

I recently have had two Clients that decided not to work with our firm. Both times I had a gut feeling that these were not the right people for us to work with. Both times I was right. Unfortunately, both times I felt terrible because instead of us saying we don’t want to work with you, I allowed them to tell me that I was unacceptable.

I think that when we don’t take a proactive stance towards not accepting Clients, we pay a psychic price for doing so. We allow ourselves to spend a significant amount of time trying to convince the Client that we are the right people for them. Often we do this because we know we can help them reach their goals. But, for whatever reason the potential Client never hears our message or we’re just not communicating well with them.

One of the tools that we often use is Financial DNA. I find this tool helps me understand who our Client is. More importantly, I find this tool helps me to know whether I’m going to get along with this Client and have a good chance of working with them in a collaborative manner. I haven’t been using this tool on all potential Clients, but I’m thinking about doing so. I believe using Financial DNA might just help us know whether the Client we are trying to work with is the type that we can get along with well and will accept our advice.

When you get right down to it, if a Client will not accept our advice or believes that you aren’t working in their best interest, there will be little chance for success. It also doesn’t matter what your belief is about the Client believing you are working in their best interest. It only matters whether they believe you are. In this case, beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. If our Clients don’t believe we are producing value, then that is the only impression that counts.

One of the things we’ll be working on over the rest of the year is finding a method of checking in with our Clients to make sure they believe we produce high value for them. If there is any inkling that they may not be thrilled with our service, we need to either find a way to change those feelings or have the Client leave our firm. Having them stick around causes both sides pain we shouldn’t have.

Josh Patrick

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Posted by stage2

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