Miller's Monday Morning Message
presented by ACM Consulting Inc.

Andrew Miller on strategy, operations, life balance and everything in between

Toronto - July 18, 2011 – The phone hacking scandal at News Corp just got a whole lot more interesting. The scandal has penetrated through many different organizations and forced the resignation of Les Hinton, CEO of Dow Jones and the Wall Street Journal, as well as brought the names of a few prominent politicians into the fray. The scandal has now claimed more victims - News Corp's CEO Rebekah Brooks, who was arrested this weekend, and Paul Stephenson, London Chief of Police, who resigned yesterday. Even though both claim no wrongdoing, this new development can only prompt one question - who's next? This scandal seems to get worse as each day goes by. If you are a CEO reading this, what lessons can you learn? Here are just a couple:

• Know what your staff are doing - As CEO, you are ultimately accountable for what happens in the organization, so even though you cannot be involved in the activities of every employee, you need to know what is going on in the company.
• Surround yourself with smart, trusted advisers - The most successful companies have very strong senior management teams. Surround yourself with people who will not only challenge your ideas and develop great ones of their own, but also share the same morals and business ethics as you do.
• The risk-reward principle - For every big payoff, there was someone that took a huge risk behind it. Be comfortable with the risks you are taking and determine if the possible outcome is worth the potential risks that may come to fruition.

In a scandal like this one, there are numerous places where blame can (and will) be placed, and probably all of it is justified. This presents us with a view of an organization where illegal snooping and phone hacking were pervasive. Remember this case study before embarking upon a morally questionable initiative.
 
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Which one has provided more humour to us recently? I have not heard much from Billy Crystal lately, so I am going with the former.

General Stanley McChrystal, the US commander for the war in Afganistan, reminded us recently what it means to be a leader. It means accountability. After recent comments came out from McChrystal and his staff about very senior people in the US administration, McChrystal was forced to do some serious damage control and was quickly removed from his post. What did he expect would happen if a magazine reporter was given unfettered access to he and his aides? The reporter would inevitably hear things not meant for public consumption. As admirably as McChrystal has handled the situation, the error in judgment came long before the comments were ever made public. Let’s hope that this situation does not define the perception of the General’s successful career, but there are good lessons for all leaders – think about the consequences of your actions and act swiftly when required. President Obama tried to quell the situation by giving the General a chance to tell his side of the story and then dismissed him from the post. Now the US can move forward and put this debacle behind them.

But when you read some of the comments made by the General and his aides, you have to wonder “what were they thinking?” I am sure everyone has said things that they don’t want their boss to hear, that is sometimes the nature of business, but use some judgment and understand with whom you are talking. A reporter’s job is to get the inside scoop. There is nothing wrong with someone challenging their leader and having some dissension in the ranks behind closed doors, but it is unacceptable to do this in public. Interesting that it comes from military men who should better understand the chain of command and the consequences for ignoring that chain of command. I guess McChrystal understands that pretty well now.