Stephen H Baum Leadership

Betting Against Obama

I recently heard someone at the local YMCA say “I hope Obama fails.” Aghast that someone not too rich and insulated to work out at the Y would hold such an ignorant and selfish view, I began thinking of the reasons he might fail.

One that stands out flows from the management principle: “Change the people or change the people.” If you cannot change the mind and hearts of those who lead the companies we are bailing out, then replace them with minds and hearts that will not be encumbered with past relationships, past obligations, past assumptions about what must or must not be.

Rick Wagoner (GM), Vikram Pandit (Citi), Ken Lewis (Bank of America) and others may be smart, knowledgeable and possibly Chwell-intended. I have never met them. But if they “don’t get it” or “wont get it” and they cannot both protect their companies and support the aims of recovery, then change the people.

And if the same baggage is attached to the administration’s new hires who come from the same environments, they may be smart enough to deal with their peers, but unable to create or countenance out of the box solutions.

Finally, while we are at it, I would hate to be them or their replacements if I reported to multiple government agencies and overseers.

This may not sit well with my friends who are CEOs, but it is my view. What’s yours?