Walk outside, the wind has shifted. Used to be from the north, going south. Now it is from the northwest heading southeast. EMT truck pulls up. Unloads stretcher and medical equipment. No injured. The wind is blowing the smoke across the East river into Brooklyn. This blocks my path along the East River I was hoping to take. Still not thrilled about doing that since I’ll be walking adjacent to buildings that could be open to more aerial attacks. Smoke moving that way seals my option.
Decide to walk west for lack of a better option. Walking through the park I see a group of workers who had come to Battery Park to work on the trees that morning. One of them has a t-shirt that says he is from Atlanta. Welcome to NY. A police car is driving through the park kicking up the ¼ inch of ash that has fallen so far. I cover my face as best I can and the policeman slows down as he realizes what a mess he is creating for me and all the others around me. My eyes are starting to hurt.
Walk west, hit the Hudson, walk north. Someone gives a paper towel to me. Grab another bottle of water. Lot’s of people just standing in the park. I get Nora on the cell phone. Not a great connection, but I tell her I’m safe. I’m not sure if she or I were happier to hear each other’s voice. She tells me to get off the island. I don’t know how I’ll do that.
A little bit north of Pier A there are 4 ferries waiting. A fireman is yelling at the crowd, “This is a secure area. There is no other way off this island, other than these ferries. And you HAVE to get off this island. Now get on the ferries.” It’s an orderly line. The fireman lift some over the barrier to get on the ferry, most climb over on their own.
A table has four people I recognize from Tucker. They have four lifejackets sitting on the table. I sit down and ask if this is the Tucker table. I offer the spare bottle of water I have. Finally one of them recognizes me and we introduce ourselves. Woody says he’s heard of me and that I do a good job. Fat lot of good that does me.
Almost across the Hudson, the ferry stops, and heads north in a hurry. “Man overboard,” I hear on the PA. Sure enough there is a man overboard. He has a lifejacket on and flippers. Was he swimming from NY to Jersey or Jersey to NY? Either way, he’s nuts. But then, two planes have crashed into the twin towers, both have collapsed and the Pentagon is on fire. What isn’t nuts?
The view from the Hudson of the NY skyline is eerie. Smoke is billowing from the area where the twin towers USED to be. This shakes me. I realize I was much to close to danger, but at least I’m safe now. It keeps going through my mind: There are no more twin towers. There are no more twin towers. There are no more twin towers. There are no more twin towers. There are no more twin towers.
Six Degrees of Vernon Jordan
How can a company like Enron just disappear? Or Global Crossing? Or Kmart? Or Tucker? Isn’t anyone paying attention? Hasn’t the Board hired the best and the brightest? Haven’t they tied pay to performance? Don’t investors punish companies for poor performance? Doesn’t the Board monitor management activities for poor behavior, or incompetence?
According to the text-books, shareowners of publicly-traded companies dictate the composition of a Board of Directors of a company. The Board is comprised of outside directors as well as senior management. The Board finds suitable executives to manage the company on a day-to-day basis. Management takes its marching orders from the board. Its mission could be increase market share, or grow sales, or increase earnings, or cut costs, or develop new products. The Board has oversight responsibility, votes on major issues and is ultimately responsible to the owners, or shareholders. And of course, the local, state and national governments are involved with the alphabet soup of agencies like the SEC, FCC, FTC, FERC, DOL etc.
Boards have shown themselves very reluctant to butt into management’s decisions, many times only becoming involved when a crisis hits. Don’t believe me, just ask John Bogle (founder of Vanguard Funds) and Warren Buffet (credited with being the most successful investor of our time). Both Bogle and Buffett have been quoted recently saying boards, and management, need to be better monitored by shareholders. Being on a board is another no risk, big reward, job lottery. Board members get paid to attend meetings, sometimes they are granted options. Being on a Board is like being a member of a great club. It’s an easy job, it’s a lucrative job.
There are penalties for non-conformance, however. Walter Hewlett, who is opposing Hewlett-Packard’s merger with Compaq is being pilloried for his opposition to the HP Compaq merger. One might think that differing opinions on matters crucial to a company would be welcomed and debated. But if the HP/Compaq merger fails it is widely reported that the Board believe Hewlett should resign. Why? For having an opposing position. Hewlett has discovered that if you are a board member it pays to conform.
Non-conformance can be as drastic as Mr. Hewlett’s public opposition to the HP/Compaq merger. Non-conformance can be questioning too vigorously management’s actions. Non-conformance can be questioning too vigorously management’s pay. But non-conformance is rare. For those board members that aren’t part of the executive ranks, losing a board membership can entail a large loss of income. For those outside directors that are part of the executive ranks, questioning management too closely leaves you open to be questioned by your own board. Word travels fast because the nexus between boards is tight.
I remember reading a story in the Washington Post.com (1/27/98) about Vernon Jordan during the Monica Lewinsky/Bill Clinton events. What struck me in particular was the statement that “between Jordan and his wife, 17 directorships give the couple an annual income of more than $800,000, in addition to the reported $1 million he makes at his law firm.”
There is a game called Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon