A couple of guys pointed out to me the tire from the plane, a dead body, body parts lying on West Street. The wheel of the plane was south of Liberty Street, so it had landed the distance of five or six blocks south of the impact. Police and fire were heading north.
Didn’t want to leave the building, after all I was supposed to use common sense and stay calm, plus didn’t want to interrupt the rescue efforts. Had no thought of this being a terrorist attack. Kept wondering how a pilot could get it so wrong.
I turned from the windows in the trading room when all of a sudden another BOOM and one of the traders yells, “ANOTHER FUCKING PLANE JUST CRASHED. I JUST SAW IT CRASH.” He said he was getting out of there. Me too.
Walked to my office. John, Meg and Fred were packing up. This time over the PA the security man was telling us to evacuate the building. Use the stairs, not the elevators. I began closing down my computer, saving and closing files, and debated whether I should just shut if off and leave or close it down methodically. Method won out. I forwarded my office phone to my cell phone and walked out. I caught up with Fred, and somehow got ahead of him in the stairwell. We came out on the east side of the building, between Liberty and Albany, walked to the south side of the building and headed west to the Hudson.
Looked back and saw two people falling from the tower. Both buildings are on fire, confetti is falling from both. There is a much bigger gash in the south tower than the north. Later I’d realize this is because the second plane entered from the south. Kevin K. calls me on my cell phone, or he called my office phone, which I had forwarded to the cell. I tell him I’m OK, out of the building, but had just seen some people falling from the Trade Center. The phone rings again, but the call is dropped almost immediately.
The Chief Terrorist Officer
Osama bin Laden convinced his followers they were on a holy mission. The end result of their efforts will be a better world. Sacrifices will need to be made, and even if the followers make the supreme sacrifice, their reward will be a heaven filled with virgins, or some such fantasy. Of course, since bin Laden is the master-mind, the CEO, he will get special treatment. He needs safe houses, supporters in different countries to protect him, absolute secrecy on his location. He needs access to large amounts of capital to protect himself.
It’s a “heads I win, tails you lose” proposition for bin Laden. If his followers are successful in their efforts, bin Laden gets the plaudits for being a bold leader and his followers die. If his followers fail, bin Laden is sheltered from harm by the extensive support network he has built and his followers die. It all sounds vaguely familiar to corporate America.
During the boom of the 90’s, corporate America convinced its followers they were on a holy mission. The Internet would bring unlimited entertainment choices to consumers; it would bring unlimited new services to the world; it would lower companies’ costs; it would place unprecedented amounts of information in the hands of teachers for the betterment of their students; it would allow doctors to diagnose and treat patients at the other end of the nation. The religious fervor of the Internet boom is not unique. It was also manifested in the fiber-optic boom and the wireless boom of the same period. It was manifested at Enron where they were convinced they were doing world-changing work.
The sense of doing something important is a key feature of attracting workers, just like it is for bin Laden. But also important is to have followers buy into the near-term sacrifice that must be made for the rewards at the other end. In America the sacrifice is less time with friends and family, really an abandonment of your family in the short-run, for riches generated by an IPO and/or an ever-increasing stock price. And in the case where you are part of a company whose mission is to grow big enough to sell out, the worker, in essence dies, while management reaps the big pay day.
But it’s also a “heads I win, tails you lose” bet for the leaders. If the mission is successful the rewards for the leaders are outsized compared to the followers. If the mission fails the followers are immolated by the lack of health care, the lack of a paycheck, the loss of faith from their family and the loss of faith in themselves. The leaders are protected by the support system they have built up. The support includes life-time pensions, change of control agreements, retention bonuses and board memberships that give them current income and access to new opportunities.
There are two job markets. One is for the highly-paid executives. The other is for everyone else. In the former job market you are treated like a mastermind, the Osama bin Laden of the business world. In the latter job market you are treated like a pawn, the Mohammed Atta of the business world.
Under Attack