Hubris

(Photo credit - takomabibelot)

Sir Fred Goodwin the ex CEO of the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is not only as proclaimed by The Times the "World's Worst Banker" ( http://tr.im/amkc) but he has brought shame and embarrassment to the proud Scottish Nation. It was a classic tale of local boy makes good - born in Paisley went to the Grammar School and then onto Glasgow University and from there he worked his way up the ladder to CEO of RBS. However in his time at the helm he managed through hubris to bring a once respected banking giant to its knees, although his own personal fortune did better, walking away with over £30 million in salary and a pension pot of upwards of £1.8 million. You can see that the recession won't affect Fred much despite being sacked from the top job. It is a phenomena that I have witnessed all to often in colleagues and in particular men, as they move up the career ladder, get to the top they suddenly start to believe their own publicity and start over-valuing their talents and benefits to the organisation. This usually leads to bad decisions as they surround themselves with "yes" colleagues, over-blown demands for remuneration and conditions, and the use of the organisation to promote them self and their importance. All to often Board of Directors and in particular non-exec members will not take arms up against this type of megalomaniacal behaviour. Often it is the individual that comes off worse, however as far as RBS is concerned it is once again the British Taxpayer that is paying not only for Sir Fred's lifestyle but also for his hubris. Where will all this end and when will these people be brought to book?

The Economy

(photo credit Poolie)

Depressing as it seems we are all still in the midst of the US Congress stand-off. Purely as an outsider it seems that a number of US Politicians are playing politics with the global economy, but what do you expect from politicians - rarely are they our for anything other than themselves. It is fascinating to watch the arguments range across the political spectrum in the US, I think for once the UK politicians are taking a better line with things and making hard and difficult decisions quickly without too much need to "score points". We are all truly in this together and we all need to get along and assist each other. The whole basis for this crisis is the behaviour of Banks and other lenders lending to the sub-prime market. This, I understand stems from Clinton de-regulating some banking rules. It seems to me that the ire of the US taxpayer should be turned not only on the fat cats who made the money and ran but also the politicians and the regulators who didn't see any of this coming. It is tempting to say that money is the at the root of all evil - but greed and excess is not attractive at the best of times, not to mention face-saving and a whole lot of baloney. Let's just take the medicine and move on. After we UK taxpayers are also paying heavily for some Wall Street Fat Cats!