Ok, folks, set your Tivos for thursday for the best show ever- Watch three of our country's finest CEOs- the former head of Citibank, Countrywide, and Merrill Lynch testify before a congressional committee defending their outrageous compensation packages while their companies reported massive losses and millions of Americans will lose their home. This is going to be Academy Award acting at it's finest!
Here are the nominees-
Angelo Mozilo of Countrywide ( the largest mortgage provider in the US) sold his own shares valued at $360 million while the stock plunged more than 80% in one year and was forced to merge with Bank of America.
(Countrywide just cancelled the ski trip they were hosting for mortgage bankers at the Ritz Carlton in Colorado, as they report that 11,400 people will lose their jobs there and 90,000 of its loans are in foreclosure. )
Stan O'Neal of Merrill Lynch (you know who they are) left with $161.5 million in benefits right after the compnay lost $8.4 billion dollars.
Charles Prince of Citigroup was ousted while he walked out the door with $29.5 million as the company struggled with mortgage-related losses.
In supporting roles behind them were the CEO of Morgan Stanley, Home Depot, Pfizer, and Washington Mutual.
In the audience will be mayors from towns that have been devastated by the mortgage crisis and people who have lost their homes.
This will be political theater at it's finest!
read with dismay over the decision of the Bancroft family to sell the Wall St. Journal to Rupert Murdoch of News Corp (they make Fox news and other slimy stuff). I grew up and grew my career with the Wall St. Journal newspaper. I learned a lot from my favorite journalists. The Pulitzer Prize winner, Dorothy Rabinowitz was an excellent journalist who followed the early false sexual abuse charges of a CA day care center and then educated me into the false positives on PAP tests that were happening due to bad laboratories, and on and on. John & Dorothy Gaiter educated me about fine wines and the wine industry and the famous- "open that bottle" night. I followed Terri Cullen's writings on her own family financial planning problems. Jonathan Clements-we had our differences- but after getting bullied a lot and help by financial advisors, he has come around to be a great writer on personal finance. Sue Shallenberger has always shared great tips on how to balance work and family and career strategies. Walter Mossberg- is like a household word around here. Whenever, we have a technical problem with any of our large collection of electronic gadgets, we think- What would Walter do? I had a file folder with clippings of Walter's columns in my office that were filled with great reviews, and recommendations of electronic toys and software.
I value the information that I have received from these people and I hope that continues- but if not, I am always on the look out for information resources that can give me true, informative, and useful information that I can use personally or in my environment. As we evolve, how we process the deluge of information that is out there will become more and more important. It is also becoming increasingly difficult to find out what's the truth and what is the advertising or what am I being sold. The messages have gotten very slick.
For example, I am invited all the time to go on to television shows. Nice invite, right? Well, yes, if I wanted to pay for the "invitation". Same with the "Who's Who's of ___" directories. These people are not industry big-wigs but people who paid money to have their names in a book. Same is true with the Better Business Bureau and the 1-800-dentist or whatever. The appearance is that of a list of experienced and trustworthy people. The reality is that people pay to be listed in a book. There are more examples out there of what I feel is dishonest communication.
It is important to having sources of information for products and services that are free (as much as possible) from conflicts of interest. Sources that you can rely on that can give you what's pertinent today. Why is this so important? Because your time is more valuable than ever before. A bad experience with a product or service is wasted money and your most precious resource----time.
Coaching Question- What or who are your trusted resources to help you meet your goals?