Heroes Are All Around Us

Veterans Day 2009. Memories stir of my service with the U.S. Navy. I am proud to have worn the uniform and to have given four years of my life to my country while the Vietnam War raged in the late 1960s and early '70s.

A few years ago my friend Bob Dilenschneider wrote a book titled A Time for Heroes, an exploration of the nature of heroism. Here is a passage:

"Some people define heroes as those who are willing to forfeit their lives for others. Like legal scholars who interpret the Constitution in a narrow way, these people might be considered strict constructionists: no sacrifice, no heroism.

"Myself, I'm a loose constructionist, if I may use that term. I believe in all manner of heroes.

"There are those who spend a lifetime in pursuit of a grand vision. Think of Nelson Mandela, imprisoned for 27 years before he triumphed over apartheid and became president of South Africa.

"Some heroes are intellectual pioneers whose ideas open up new territories of thought. Charles Darwin, Isaiah Berlin, and Sigmund Freud are examples.

"Others alert us to problems in our midst, like Rachel Carson, whose book Silent Spring warned of the dangers of pesticides.

"Some heroes motivate people to aim higher, perhaps to create a more equitable society or to actualize their own abilities.

"All of them have courage — the courage to dare, the courage to fail, the courage to persist."

Well stated, Bob. Count me as a loose constructionist, too. I believe that Corporate America's boardrooms are filled with heroes.

These are men and women who, largely out of public view, are attacking problems that are life-threatening to the enterprises that they are dedicated to protecting and preserving. Especially this past year, with the debilitating volleys that the Great Recession has hit boards with, there must be a legion of heroes taking their seats — hot seats — in boardrooms across the land, summoning up the courage to persist and prevail.

This is a good day to remember those who have worn the uniform of our country's military forces. And it's a good day to appreciate those who are showing courage in all its stripes, including those fiduciaries we call board directors.

Liability Day 2009

In his Labor Day note to clients and colleagues, my friend Bob Dilenschneider reminds us that the first observance of Labor Day is believed to have been a parade of about 10,000 workers on Sep. 5, 1882, in New York City. Bob's research shows that by 1893 more than half the states were observing a "Labor Day"; and that in 1894 Congress passed a bill to establish a federal holiday that was signed by President Grover Cleveland.

The very name of this holiday this year seems like a cruel joke.

The Labor Department reported just a few days ago that the jobless rate has now risen to 9.7%. Everyone knows that is a grossly misleading figure. Add in those who have given up looking for work or who are doing part-time gigs as they search for full-time employment or who have gone uncounted, and the jobless stat easily doubles.

When I first got into the business world in the 1970s, companies were proud of the number of people they employed. I remember this distinctly. In their letter to shareholders in the annual report, company chairmen would routinely cite the size of the company's workforce with the same sense of satisfaction as the amount of the firm's revenues and the scope of its operations.

Now, what is being conveyed to the market is something very different — a pride in how few people companies need on their payroll. How sad it is to see companies get high-fived by analysts and the stock market for workforce reductions and other miserly treatment of their human capital.

Survival is one thing. But my fear is that managements see their company, or are forced to see their company, as simply a pass-through mechanism for disbursing its revenues to its institutional owners (after pocketing, in too many instances, an outsized take for themselves).

Bob Dilenschneider concludes his Labor Day letter with this fervent wish: "Let us pause to remember what Labor Day is meant to be — a celebration of the working men and women who have made America the greatest nation in history. Let us rededicate ourselves to getting everyone who is ready, willing and able back to work so that America can continue to grow and prosper and serve as a model to the world."

Let me add my own wish to Bob's: that public corporations regain a sense of themselves as employers, as organizations that see and treat their workers, young and longtimers alike, as assets and not expenses — or, worse, liabilities.

Liability Day? That's kind of where we seem to be at this Labor Day.

Ending on a hopeful note, Bob offers some good news: "Several of our clients indicate strong resolve to get America working again to innovate, to invent and to find ways to spur the economy forward."

Let's hope that by next year this time such resolve will have born results, and put some of the celebratory nature of labor back in Labor Day.

Of Black Swans and Gold-Standard CEOs

It's good to be on the mailing list of Robert Dilenschneider (pictured), CEO of The Dilenschneider Group Inc. Several times a year this longtime high-level counselor to CEOs and board directors sends to his clients and colleagues a series of trend reports. These are like getting a crystal ball that gives you a peek into the future — the endgame for which business executives should be orienting themselves and their companies ... and the forces amassing that could trip them up along the way. I know Bob personally as I am in the fortunate position to have him as a valued member of the Directors & Boards editorial advisory board.

His firm's most recent report, "Preparing for 'Black Swan' Events," cited in the post above, was released in May 2009, but should still be at arm's reach, or a click away, even if we are coming to the end of the Great Recession. The world has changed. Here are a few of the report's conclusions on the leadership that will be needed in times ahead:

• "If there is one quality that is certain to be valued in the executive leader of tomorrow, it is adaptability. Inflexible leadership has not worked for quite awhile, but it has taken the current economic climate to bring that home."

• "A combination of competence, pragmatism and performance will be the new gold standard for top managers. Yesterday's flashy CEO will be seen as suspect."

• "CEOs and executives working their way up the ladder will have to be able to change direction quickly to please their boards as well as the public. The most valued CEOs will be those who are able to shift business practices, personnel and policies to adapt to the changing economic scene."

• "Look for a new dynamic between employees and top managers and for new forms of governance."

• "Executives are not as likely to shift from company to company as they have done in the past. (Headhunters already have pared down their operations.)"

• "There is a great potential for small businesses and entrepreneurs to lead the way out of the mess we are in. Government will need to recognize this and provide incentives."

• "Risk-taking, hard-working people with brilliant ideas will emerge from the wreckage of the economy, while the business careers of many who are in charge now will be over, gone, along with seven-figure compensation."

This is only a sliver from Bob's Black Swan report. Here is my own tacked-on projection: If the world moves in the direction that this report foresees, there will be plenty of work ahead for the trend-tracking contributors to the Dilenschneider Group's reports. And my recommendation: Get to know Bob, and ask to be added to his mailing list.