Slashdot Mirror
CEOs Who Invite Email From All Employees
Carl Bialik from the WSJ writes "Cinergy Corp. CEO James E. Rogers, who at 11 one evening was reading email from employees at home while nursing a vodka, is the norm, not the exception at major U.S. companies, the Wall Street Journal reports. 'Advocates say such a policy is a powerful leadership tool that can nip crises in the bud, boost morale, uncover new ideas, and cut through corporate red tape. In the post-Enron era of CEO accountability, reading employee email helps the boss appear hands-on and accessible. But reading and replying to dozens of employee messages each day takes time that could be spent doing something else. Skeptics say the practice distracts CEOs from more-pressing work -- and extends already long workdays.' Of course, portable email devices have made it easier to sift through dozens or hundreds of employee messages each day. While being driven to meetings, Pfizer's CEO says, 'I don't look out the window. I use my BlackBerry and answer my email.'"
Uh oh, he is screwed
If he's only 11 why is he sitting at home drinking vodka????
it's more self-aggrandizing egotistical behavior... than anything else.
You know what? I worked for a company, one of the telcoms that went through the upheaval of crooked leadership during the Enron days. One of our CEO's walked away with $500M, and they're still chasing him down -- I predict they'll NEVER get him. Our stock went from over $50 to under $2.
Then our shining knight on a white horse rode into town. He had a reputation for coming in and slashing jobs, but he had genuine likability and charisma about him. He also had an open e-mail policy, claimed he read and answered his e-mail. Guess what? He did!
I exchanged a few e-mails with him, and he always responded. Cool... two administrations before I'd always had pretty direct access at that level (I was pretty senior), and now it appeared the company was back to bidnez. His responses were short and non-expansive, but, hey, he IS the CEO.
Then, 9a.m. one morning about a year ago I got marched into a little room and set free. For a previous post with more info, look here.
Yeah, he read and answered his e-mail... but he always signed it (and I'm not making this up), "dick".
That's why they have flunkies to do: listen to the employees, put their comments in the circular file, and make sure to record a bad mark for the next annual review.
"Too ambitious. Emailed C*O about a new process that would cut costs and save the company."
Sig for hire.
Athletic Scholarships to universities make as much sense as academic scholarships to sports teams.
Who knew that drinking vodka could nip crises in the bud, boost morale, uncover new ideas and cut through corporate red tape. I always thought Bourbon was a better choice for that. Guess its Bloody Marys for me!
Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government.
http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=CIN&d=t based on the Stock Reports he should drink a little less (or maybe more!!!). ;) He's down .69 today already.
Mike @ The Geek Pub. Let's Make Stuff!
"and extends already long workdays"
Oh, cry me a river. So a guy making hundreds of millions has to extend his workday. Isn't that the price you pay for having that job? You want an easier job, just be some other senior executive, make 20-25% as much money, and have an easier life.
Yes, and I'd be glad to hear that my CEO was returning email instead of (or at least while) taking place in the latest pro-am or attending other "promotional" company-paid vacations.
Again, I would expect nothing less from a competent CEO. I work 10-12 hour days, and at 50-100 times my salary, I would expect the same from them.
While being driven to meetings, Pfizer's CEO says, 'I don't look out the window. I use my BlackBerry and answer my email.'"
:)
And that reason alone, is why I will never feel sorry for CEOs long work days. Besides, everybody knows that CEOs are figureheads and the real work is done by the managers looking for promotions into more cushy jobs and getting the little guys to work their asses off to deliver the given product/service on a deadline that means THEIR job.
Yea.. fuck CEOs. Until I am one -- and then I will look back at this post and think how delusional I was while I bathe myself in hundred dollar bills while telling my driver to take me to my job where I do little work and -- oh wait, I am still a peon. Long way to go yet
The price is always right if someone else is paying.
I always thought a CEO should know as much as possible about what is going on in his/her firm. Sounds like this guy thinks that way too. And he does it HIMSELF, not via his admin assistant. Some CEOs couldn't even turn on a Blackberry, and others don't give a rat's ass what is going on as long as they get thier way and thier bonuses.
The downside of actually reading his email is that he can't say "I didn't know" if the Feds come asking questions about his company's actions or financial statements.
Employees shouldn't be dropping him emails when the towels are out in the restroom. Only really imporant issues/crises should be sent to him.
I think that if I was in a CEO position, I would have my email sifted through by a secretary and then only the real meat forwarded to me; giving me more time to do other things. A CEO who spends large amounts of time reading email feels like a micromanager and would give me less confidence in the leadership of the company.
I miss the Karma Whores.
Half of me thinks that if the middle-managers can't be trusted to take employee e-mails concerning business-related things, they should be replaced. The other half of me thinks that if technology gives the CEO greater span-of-control, then perhaps the middle-managers should be eliminated.
Sometimes CEOs have to fire people. And yeah, it's pretty unfortunate. But would you rather he hadn't answered your emails?
Cinergy Corp. CEO James E. Rogers, who at 11 one evening was reading email from employees at home while nursing a vodka, is the norm,
So, this guy is the norm ? What the hell does that even mean ?
Maybe you meant "For Cinergy Corp. CEO James E. Rogers, reading email from employees at home while nursing a vodka at 11 in the evening is the norm.
Sorry, couldn't help it
And here's what it comes down to...appearances. Yes, I understand that it can have some effect, but how useful is putting on the appearance of being hands-on and accessible when they're really not?
First you tell your driver to take you to your mistresses' apartment, then when you're good and ready you tell him to take you to the office.
If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
That sucks.
Hopefully, you poorly documented some of that application so that when/if they ever need to make changes to it, they will have no choice, but to hunt you down.
Then you can stick it to them by charging them 6 times your previous salary to "fix" the program or make the needed updates to it and while you are there, if that CEO is still there, you can send him an email advising him of the "savings" the cost-cutting of letting you go has done for the company he is running...
If you ignore the other uses of a tool, does that make the tool less useful, or you less useful?
Why? Was it sick?
No! It was just a down in the mouth!
Thank you folks! I'll be here all week! Try the veal!
That is all.
But reading and replying to dozens of employee messages each day takes time that could be spent doing something else. Skeptics say the practice distracts CEOs from more-pressing work
Well, just use this procmail recipe to filter 90% of messages out:
* ^From.*mycompany.com
* ^Subject.*raise
There's probably a dozen pay grades between me and the company's CEO. I didn't even remember his name until I looked it up, and I'm sure he doesn't know mine since we've never met. We don't work in the same state, we've never been in the same room, and in 3 years working here I have, in fact, never seen him in person once.
Who cares if he reads his email?
Game... blouses.
""Cinergy Corp. CEO James E. Rogers, who at 11 one evening was reading email from employees at home while nursing a vodka, is the norm, not the exception at major U.S. companies, the Wall Street Journal reports."
Well, first, it's about time someone makes a big stink about all the long hours that justify the ever-growing disparity between executives' and workers' salaries. I was beginning to feel like the Joe Sixpacks at the plant were beginning to resent my Rolls Royce. Thanks for sticking up for us, Rogers!
OTOH, why is Rogers allowed to drink while managing employee relations? Last time I tried that, I got slapped with a lawsuit for breach of due diligence, among other things. I mean, sure, I wasn't exactly nursing the vodka so much as slamming it, and the employee relations were more in the nature of physical contact, not email, but really... Some shareholder should call his lawyer.
"Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
1) have a whitelist of senders you always read
2) have a spam-filter to filter out non-humans
3) everything else goes to the "let my assistants handle it."
Of #3, read:
a) everything your assistants mark for your attention
b) a RANDOM selection of everything else, so you can get a feel for what people are sending you. Don't spend too much time on these, maybe 15-60 minutes a day. Since your assistants are already doing the replies you don't even need to compose replies.
3b is very important in the life of a CEO - it helps keep you informed of what your suborninates - at least those who are bold enough to email you - are thinking.
If the George W. Bush did this, he'd have a better idea of what people are thinking. Damn thing is he probably IS reading a sample of letters/faxes/emails but not a RANDOM sample.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
I'd like to see those emails... they were probably like most late night alcoholic inspirations -- really great until the booze wore off.
Unless you're management that number is closer to 400 times your salary. At least it's the righr order of magnitude.
whoever modded him offtopic didn't see the joke...
Donald 'Duck' Dunn: We had a band powerful enough to turn goat piss into gasoline.
After drinking for a solid hour, he started sending pathetic messages to former employees about how sorry he is they couldn't stay together and how he hopes they aren't bitter and if so then too bad because, hey, *HE'S* the one who dumped *THEM* and if they can't handle that then f*ck off, but maybe he can get together with them some weekend for a little "fun" sometime.
He then passed out at the keyboard in a puddle of drool.
bytesmythe
Hypocrisy is the resin that holds the plywood of society together.
-- Scott Meyer
There's post-Enron CEO accountability?
In what alternate universe?
For some reason, everytime I email a C*O it turns out to be a "Resume Generating Event" - Nobody likes being upstaged, especially clueless "Leadership". If it is a good idea, those above you will torpedo you because they are threatened. If it's a bad idea, you just broadcasted it to the top dog.
Let the retards drive the company into a mess, or do the right thing? It's all about the ethics though. I've always used the "Nuclear Bomb" theory myself when dealing with these situations. Sure, you can only do it once. However, take as many of the bastards with you as you can.
Pessimists.net - as if life wasn't depressing enough.
...Isn't it your job to make the company run smoother and more efficiently? SO if you have to work longer hours to do that, you're getting screwed?
"I can't fathom how investors would accept that as a [good] way to spend your time," says David D'Alessandro, who ran John Hancock Financial Services Inc. until shortly after its 2004 acquisition by Manulife Financial Corp.
Notice he doesn't run that company anymore. He writes books instead. He may be a little out of the loop on what C-level culture has turned into.
I work with C-levels in my business, so emailing them and getting a response is not that big a deal. I can see how it would really boost morale, and keep everyone on their toes, if the drones feel they could skip the middle man and go to the top with an idea or complaint. They will get direct credit for an idea, and won't have complaint's filtered by "buddy system" middle management.
Hey, we have a policy (quite and off the record) of reading employee email where I work as well--of course in our case I guess they didn't REALLY intend for us to read it.
The problem: small company and attention needy management.
When working on something complicated, the jefe would phone or email with a "let's pull up the carrots and see how they're doing".
Not good to bother the watchmakers, even if its for "just a quick question".
PTSD favorite moment: Phone call asking me if I got the email he'd just sent. Poppin' Paxil like Pez after two years there.
To net it out: email obsession might healthy for the larger company's ceo. If they're spending all of their time on bs, it at least keeps 'em away from the workers. I say, get 'em a game console too. Maybe a coffee can in the lounge to pay for ceo's adult site subscriptions.
Verizon: Latin for "poor rural service".
Which proves: we should all give the mailserver passwords to our bosses. Uh oh, wait a minute, he only reads the mails sent to him explicitely?! Sorry, misread that article again...
Windows is like decaf - it tastes like the real thing, but it won't get you through the day.
Wow, with all those employee messages flooding in, when do they find time to read Slashdot?!
org.slashdot.post.SignatureNotFoundException: ewg
What exactly is it that CEOs do that they /shouldn't/ be reading email from their employees? Maybe I'm just uninformed, but don't CEOs merely preside over the company, while setting a direction and tone? It's not as if they spend all day coding or conducting experiments. What mission-critical function does the CEO serve such that reading employee email is a waste of time?
I guess I'm asking what, exactly, a CEO should be doing instead of reading employee email?
Skeptics say the practice distracts CEOs from more-pressing work -- and extends already long workdays
But it's ok for the employees that get stuff out the door to be required to stay up until the wee hours of the morning to participate in a conference call with some people across the globe? Or for employees to spend all day answering emails and then start actually working round about 5? Don't expect me to cry a river for CEO's any time soon.
"It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education." -Albert Einstein
"already adds to their long workdays..."
Geez, I feel real sorry for someone making 1,000 times as much as I do.
This is my sig.
that nobody who's trustworthy would work directly for them.
Either that, or that nobody who reports to one of these CEOs should trust them.
These are the only reasons why a CEO should be unable to trust his direct subordinates to handle these matters.
Kaoru Ishikawa once said something to the effect that when quality becomes the overriding concern in a company, then falsehood disappears. The reason is when you strip out the machismo and self-aggrandizement, bad news can betreated as important management information.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
Email takes way too much valuable time. See this post from Marc Eisenstadt who collected 8 years of personal email data.
1 /eight_years_of_email_stats_pass_1.php
http://www.corante.com/getreal/archives/2005/02/1
He doesn't get much mail, but it still adds up to 2.5 hours per day, assuming you are very disciplined about it. And we all know that we are not.
Hi!
'I don't look out the window. I use my BlackBerry and answer my email.'"
'utility-industry veteran keeps his BlackBerry by his bed. Before going to sleep, he says, "you don't say your prayers. You check your email."'
When he has trouble sleeping on a business trip, he adds, "I get up at 5 in the morning. I do the BlackBerry."
The question then becomes what happens when you have no Blackberry due to service interruption or copyright infringement suits?
Rather than nurse, I prefer to down my vodka in a fast, hurried frenzy of repeating chugs.
He who knows best knows how little he knows. - Thomas Jefferson
Sounds like the pointy-haired types are on a PR blitz to mend the perceptions of them. The reality is emailing any management about what you really think is just an easier way for them to find out that *you* are the problem.
"Tempers are wearing thin. Let's just hope some robot doesn't kill everybody." --Bender
Bob Lutz, while not the CEO of GM is pretty high up and is pretty much there last hope as a company. He started keeping a blog and reads responses (similar to email). During an interview he likes it because it puts him in touch with people he'd never hear from. Gets him out of his management world view bubble so he says. He sees from product announcement 1) some people hate GMs products alway 2) somepeople alway like the products 3) some people give generally great insight into things. Lots of auto journalist read his thing looking for hints and clues about future products.
t _podcast_w_2.html
Of course he didn't comment on this thread at all, but I find it interesting.
http://fastlane.gmblogs.com/archives/2005/09/firs
Of course, there are only 10 people in the entire company.
Hey, I own the intellectual property to Blackberry's you insensitive clod!
- useless US IP whore
guns kill people like spoons make Rosie O'Donnell fat.
- have been escalated through appropriate channels with not success - are of a business critical nature
should be brought to this level. Anything regarding discrimination, harrasment, etc. should be channeled through HR. If HR is unresponsive, then perhaps this channel could be used. If all of these rules are being followed, I can not see how a CEO, even in a very large company, would get more than a dozen emails per day. I would be intersted in seeing just how many of these emails were forwards of "Fight Gas Prices", "Save Your Manhood", and other Spam of the Day mails.
~ With great power, comes.....hot women, fancy cars, and a fat bank account...Oh, and some responsibility too!
If the hours spent on getting the job done were the only metric, then just about everyone at a corporation these days should get CxO salaries.
CEOs probably need to worry if morale is going in the shitters.
In the military, good leaders have a feel for how their E-2s and E-3's are doing. They don't go "into the trenches" every day, but they also realize that they sometimes need to see the world with their own eyes, instead of through the beer glasses of the people below them. These are the same leaders that seem to engender a sense of wanting to go the extra mile in their subordinates, instead of needing to do it out of basic fear and survival.
Some leaders you will willingly eat glass for. Others you do it for simply out of fear, if you cannot avoid having to do it.
thats what assistants are for.
who at 11 one evening was reading email from employees at home while nursing a vodka
So, one wonders: had those E-mails actually been sent to him, or was he just spying on their mailboxes?
A similar program was used to great success in the Philippines during the communist insurgency of the Hukbalahap between 1945 and 1952. Then-Secretary of Defense Ramon Magsaysay made it known that anyone could send a telegram to his office, free of charge, for almost any reason--to report military misconduct, corruption, rebel activity, etc.
Thousands of telegrams came flooding in from rural stations. In one way, the program served as an extension of his famous random inspections of military units in the field--a move that increased effectiveness and readiness among those units. More importantly, it was a tremendous propaganda tool, giving even the most lowly peasant the chance to appeal to the very highest levels of the government--undercutting the mass base of the insurgents.
This sort of policy, then, would be a great way of keeping a lid on corporate unhappiness, if combined with enlightened & effective management. Well we can dream, right?
On the contrary, CxO people should get managers salaries, not movie star salaries...but we digress.
Good leaders - military and civilian - are generally good with people. They take time to work the trenches as part of their duties in an active role. Reading a hundred emails from the trenches everyday - getting a "push" feed from squeaky wheels - is probably not the best use of their time. Getting one-on-one, while less efficient, is probably more effective. Also, I'm sad to admit, an email pre-sreener is probably a better, more cost effective system.
I hate the reality as much as the next guy, but we're no longer in a world where everybody has a say in all parts of their life.
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
"While being driven to meetings, Pfizer's CEO says, 'I don't look out the window. I use my BlackBerry and answer my email.'"
I do that too! Unfortunately, since I'm the one driving myself to meetings, the cops aren't particularly nice. Hmm, maybe I should email our CEO and ask for a personal driver, too, so that I can email while being driven to meetings.
Vincent J. Murphy
Spandex Justice
God - Cease and Desist notice
Amazon.com - Your order ("The Baby-sitters Club") has been shipped
FCC - Revised naughty word list for your approval (added "bottom")
New Orleans - HELP!
CIA - Update: Still looking for WMDs
Disney Corp. - Re: Extending copyrights to "end of time"
Tom DeLay - Master, why have you forsaken me?
Osama Bin Laden - Nyaah Nyaah!
Southern Baptists - Correction, Earth is only 500 years old (not 5000)
Satan - As per our agreement
Iraq - LAST NOTICE: You still owe $50,000,000,000
God - I did NOT tell you to bomb ANYONE!
RNC - Shuttle trips for doners? What do you think?
It is by the juice of the coffee bean that thoughts acquire speed, the teeth acquire stains. The stains become a warning
I've long wondered this. What is it about a CEO's job that makes them worth 400 times what I make? No one yet has been able to even explain to me what a CEO does, yet alone be able to justify the grandiose pay scale beyond the banal company-prestige argument (you're not a Fortune 500 company unless your CEO makes X million dollars).
As it turns out, Lotus Notes knows about everyone at IBM, and so if you want to send an email to Sam, it really does send an email straight to Sam, who also has an 'open inbox' policy.
Fortunately, his personal secretary intercepted the message. :)
The World Wide Web is dying. Soon, we shall have only the Internet.
- Paul
BTW I can see you from the plane, get back to work, slacker, or you're fired.
And unless you get lucky, you're going to stay a peon with that attitude...
If you think that it's all easy work, you'd be mistaken. Some executive management does in fact work like demons so you can have a job to work at. They're not all like the Enron, Worldcom, or Tyco bunch...
I am not merely a "consumer" or a "taxpayer". I am a Citizen of the State of Texas
So I did.
My problem was that the group I had been newly attached to had been physically fragmented by the general installation manager. Members were on different floors even though contiguous office space was available. I had talked to the manager about this, and he has just grunted at me.
So it seemed reasonable to take up the VP's invitation. Since I'd solved several problems that others had attempted and failed, and was generally liked and respected by the people I worked with, I didn't think this would cause a problem.
As I walked out of the VP's office (I was later told) he said to his assistant "fire that guy".
When the manager requested my fellow employees to provide complaints about my work, me, or anything else to form grounds for my dismissal he got nothing. (He eventually solved this problem by falsifying entries in my employee folder).
My advice: don't email the CEO if you like your job.
You can always be downsized.
ps: don't waste you time telling me what I could have done -- this was long ago and far away.
And please excuuuuuuse me for being a bit sardonic in my wit, I was just joking around.
The Tyco CEO (Dennis Kozlowski) went to where I graduated, Seton Hall University. He donated millions there and has a building named after him (at least I think he still does). He came to my school about 3 weeks before charges were brought up against him to give a speech, one I was required to attend by my Business Law class.
The topic? "Business Ethics on a Global Scale"
And even more entertaining? That's the THIRD building our school has named after a convicted criminal. I think we have a record or something...
The price is always right if someone else is paying.
I think it's a good idea to have an open channel to the top, and I've worked with many principals that really do listen. However from what I've seen, most employees should think long and hard before clicking on 'send'.
From what I've seen in quite small companies with principals open to direct communication, the majority of the employees do themselves more harm than good simply because they have no real perspective as to where they fit in the business.
An example. Recently at a company 'meet and greet' dinner so that the local engineers can meet each other and find out what skillsets are there, a co-worker completely confused his place and what was to be gained with the meeting. The CEO, COO, and CTO were present along with a bunch of co-workers from local client sites.
The co-worker babbled on and on about petty nonsense that was specific to our one particular site. Nothing to do with the other engineers' situations. Nothing having to do with company business at all, just petty political issues and generally self-serving complaints. Basically the co-worker saw what he did as "I showed them, I'm nobody's fool and they will see how powerful and valuable I am". The net result was that the CEO referred to the co-worker as 'a cancer on the company that should be removed at all costs'. The co-worker just doesn't have a clue about what it means to own and run a business and what his place is as an asset to the company.
This isn't uncommon from what I've seen. People have this weird utopian view of how things should be, without any reality in the mix. Though ultimately it is only the fault of the employee, a direct channel to the top is only the express to unemployment for many confused people.
If you can't clearly see the role of your CEO, you'd better think carefully before you click 'send'.
In soviet russia, vodka nurses CEO.
Instead of direct email, they need to have a board pretty much like slashdot.
New employees would start off with little Karma but could be modded up if they make a good suggestion.
The CEO could choose to read "3" or "5" posts depending on their free time.
I'd keep everything- even meta moderating.
She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
Which immediately leads me to thinking that somebody doesn't know the meaning of "non-repudiation".
I do not deploy Linux. Ever.
While being driven to meetings, Pfizer's CEO says, 'I don't look out the window. I use my BlackBerry and answer my email.'
Wow, for once I'm glad some rich executive has his own driver.
The CEO of an unnamed company I knew used to read all the empolyees emails as well. All of them. Every one. Whether they were addressed to him or not. :-)
It was funny, the guy who worked there was sent an email with a read-notification flag set on it. The sender then recieved two notifications that the email has been read - one from the CEO. Then the jig was up.
${YEAR+1} is going to be the year of Linux on the desktop!
He was nursing a vodka? his nipple must have become quite soggy.
Thanks, Emo P.
So should every geek.
It's closer to 100 times top perfoming tech pay (or you should change jobs).
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
Try nursing this.
Nurse a cold, a kid, or even a gin and tonic, but never a vodka.
your vodka nurses you.
As much as a CEO who reads his email sounds like a good thing, emailing the CEO (or upper management in general) usually results in you getting "noticed" in one way or another. Now, it's entirely possible that things will turn-out OK, but personally, I prefer the "keep a low profile" routine. You're less-likely to be "let go" if they don't know about you...
I tend to agree with another poster here that mentioned the sad fact of management/employee relations these days - if your idea is good, someone higher-up will feel threatened (result: you're under the spotlight and first against the wall), and if your idea is bad, you get the same treatment.
Fortunately, I currently have both a good manager and good boss (and I'm under a union contract, so I feel reasonably safe), but I still try and keep out of the line of fire whenever possible...
N.
"Nothing strengthens authority so much as silence." - Charles de Gaulle
..for communications that can be public. have all the company be able to read it.
--- widget evolution: enhanced, plus, super, ultra, extreme, exxxtreme, ultra-extreme,