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Yesterday, I received a “Major Issues, Major Impact Questionnaire” from the American Association of University Women (AAUW), an organization breaking barriers for women and girls.  Answering the questionnaire is important since “AAUW research and education programs are used by federal, state, and local agencies and academics to address gender and gender gap issues positively.”

AAUW was the resource that the U.S. Congress used to pass the Lilly Ledbetter bill, the first bill signed by President Barack Obama.  According to an article “Obama Signs Equal-Pay Legislation” by Sheryl Gay Stolberg in The New York Times on January 29, 2009, “the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act (is) a law named for an Alabama woman who at the end of a 19-year career as a supervisor in a tire factory complained that she had been paid less than men.”

The author goes on to write that “After a Supreme Court ruling against her, Congress approved the legislation that expands workers’ rights to sue in this kind of case, relaxing the statute of limitations.”  President Obama stated that, “It is fitting that with the very first bill I sign — the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act — we are upholding one of this nation’s first principles: that we are all created equal and each deserve a chance to pursue our own version of happiness.”

Stolberg wrote that the president “was signing the bill not only in honor of Ms. Ledbetter — who stood behind him, shaking her head and clasping her hands in seeming disbelief — but in honor of his own grandmother, ‘who worked in a bank all her life, and even after she hit that glass ceiling, kept getting up again’ and for his daughters, ‘because I want them to grow up in a nation that values their contributions, where there are no limits to their dreams.’

That was in 2009 and not much progress has been made on the gender pay gap since then.  The AAUW warned that, “Women have only gained 13 CENTS toward pay equity with men in the last 30 years.  At this rate, it will take another 60 years before we achieve pay equity.”

Women working full time earn 77 cents, on average, for every dollar earned by men.  AAUW also stated that, “just one year out of college, women working full time already earn less than male colleagues, even in the same field, and that the pay gap widens as time goes by.”

Here are examples of the impact of paycheck inequity:  if he makes $10,000, she makes $7,700.  If he makes $30,000, she makes $23,100.  If he makes $50,000, she makes $38,500.  If he makes $70,000, she makes $53,900.  If he makes $100,000, she makes $77,000.

AAUW and other organizations are doing their best to help women earn an equal paycheck.  Enacting bills from the U.S. Congress on equity is not all that can be done, however.  It takes women, especially young women, to do their research before accepting a salary offer.  Often, it is the first salary you get that determines how much you will be making as you climb the corporate ladder.  So be prepared to state that you want to receive a salary equal to the one that a male would — a small but important step to end the gender pay gap.

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(l to r) Michael F. Bachner, Garrett Bauer, Donald Schepers, Walter Pavlo, Jr.

“Ethics Week 2012” at Baruch College generated a series of programs featuring guest speakers and faculty members.  Tuesday, March 27, I attended “The Story of an Exposed Insider Trader” sponsored by the Robert Zicklin Center for Corporate Integrity (ZCCI).

Donald H. Schepers, Academic Director of ZCCI, moderated a panel discussion for a large and very interested audience.  Panelist included:  Garrett Bauer, a former day trader who pleaded guilty to insider trading, obstruction of justice, and money laundering in December 2011; Walter Pavlo Jr. who oversaw a $2 billion operation at MCI Communications and embezzled $6 million; and Michael F. Bachner of Michael F. Bachner & Associates, P.C. who specializes in white collar criminal defense and securities litigation.

According to the U.S. Security and Exchange Commission, insider trading has two meanings:  legal and illegal conduct.  As stated on the SEC website, “The legal version is when corporate insiders—officers, directors, and employees—buy and sell stock in their own companies. When corporate insiders trade in their own securities, they must report their trades to the SEC.”  And “Illegal insider trading refers generally to buying or selling a security, in breach of a fiduciary duty or other relationship of trust and confidence, while in possession of material, nonpublic information about the security. Insider trading violations may also include ‘tipping’ such information, securities trading by the person ‘tipped,’ and securities trading by those who misappropriate such information.”

Garrett Bauer

After introductions by Prof. Schepers, Mr. Bauer, who is now awaiting sentencing for his actions, came to the podium and quietly but effectively shared his story of crimes that spanned 17 years and brought in $37 million.  Without notes and in a manner perfected by presenting to other college audiences and non-profits, he explained to the audience what constitutes insider trading, how he became involved, and the scheme itself.

Bauer was a day or short-term trader whose business wasn’t that profitable.  He met Matthew Kluger, a contract lawyer whose work at high-profile deal-making law firms gave him access to financial opportunities.  Tips from Kluger were passed to Kenneth Robinson, a friend of Bauer’s with whom he spoke with very often, sometimes every day.

When asked by an audience member, “What was your drive to trade illegally?” Bauer responded that he had just moved to New York City and his trading was not going well.  He had to get cash advances on his credit cards to survive.  Information from Ken was vague; Bauer’s trades made him millions of dollars over a few days then lost the same amount later.  “I didn’t think of the consequences,” stated Bauer who is now “happy not dealing with trading.”

One day, Bauer decided not to trade but Ken traded $700,000 and was caught.  One day after that, twenty FBI agents entered Bauer’s apartment in the early morning and proceeded to take the trader to a state jail in New Jersey, what Bauer would find as “the scariest place on earth”.  Negotiations led to Bauer’s brother paying his bail and his mother leaving her home in Florida to be with Bauer while he was confined to his apartment.

Bauer knew that it was Ken who had turned him in and also knew that Ken, because he had cooperated with the SEC, would not have a long if any sentence or even a large fine.  Bauer, who was a regular and loyal volunteer at non-profits, is scheduled to be sentenced by May 1 to a Federal Prison for 9 or more years.  Once the former trader gets out of prison and starts to work, the government can garnish his earnings until the $11 million they require is paid.  Calm and accepting of his penalty, Bauer has one shining light: “My relationships with my family and friends are stronger than ever.” 

Walt Pavlo Jr.

“Where were you on 9/11?” is one question Walt Pavlo doesn’t want to answer because from 2001-2003, he was serving time in a Federal Prison for insider trading.  While working at MCI Communications, he oversaw a $2 billion operation and also ways to improvise and embezzle $6 million.  “I’m invincible,” he felt and continued his ‘personal’ activity at the company.  While at home, he said, “I don’t want to talk about it.” However, when the time came that he had to go prison, he told his two sons (10 and 9) that he got a government job and not the truth.  He and his wife talked about divorce but she vowed not to leave him. 

“No one told him to cook the books” but he did it under the guise of helping the company while auditors turned a blind eye to what he was doing.  It was a junior auditor who found out his embezzlement.  And Pavlo learned the hard way that was “where fraud is uncovered.”

“People pay a price on what was done,” and Pavlo went public in 2007 to share his story.  Stolen Without A Gun by Pavlo and Neil Weinberg (Etika, 2007), is a confessional on how his crimes contributed to the collapse of Bernie Ebbers’ Worldcom.  Today, in addition to being a speaker, Pavlo is a blogger for Forbes Magazine on White-Collar Crime. 

On his blog recently, Pavlo wrote a post on Before Prison – Future Inmates Get in Their Vacation and referenced Bauer’s situation. “…life waiting to be sentenced to prison is not much better than being in prison.  I recently spoke with Garrett Bauer, who has pled guilty to insider trading and is scheduled to be sentenced May 1st and may receive up to 11 years in prison.  Bauer told me, ‘This time just seems a bit surreal right now.  In some ways, it is like I am already in prison since I don’t work nor can I make any plans.’ Currently, Bauer spends his days giving lectures on his case to universities and volunteers for non-profit groups. ‘I’ve volunteered for years but now it is the focus of why I get up every day.  I travel some, but really only to do a few speeches,’ he said.”  Palvo summed up the life of future inmates that “they remain searching for that last memory to take with them to prison.

Michael F. Bachner

“Where are the insider traders?” Bachner stated then tongue in cheek told the audience to “look right and left.”  To the question of “Why is this happening so frequently?” the lawyer’s answer was “The luck of getting caught.”  “How busy is the prosecutor?” is determined by how many cases can be handled meaning that some cases are put on hold for years.

Bachner said that because of the now highly computerized SEC, there is a massive focus on catching insider traders.  “Money isn’t power,” he tells his audience and suggests that it is “Better to be a little poorer and a little happier” than be an insider trader.  Especially since that in 1987, sentences for insider trading was 3 years and today cases like Bauer’s is 9-11 years or more.

Takeaways

Prof. Schepers wound up the question and answer period by asking the panelists to offer a ‘takeaway’ for the members of the audience.  His advice to those in attention was to have the feeling that “you could walk outdoors and be okay” and that “you can walk away from any situation.”

Bauer spoke with earnest that you should, “Think harder before you act on something.  A small crime can build on itself.”

Pavlo offered his personal experience that others shouldn’t follow:  “I knew what was wrong and didn’t stop.  I went along with it.”

Bachner feels that, “Society is a big loser because they are missing Bauer’s volunteer work.”  In keeping with the tone of his legal presentation at the end of the program, his last words of wisdom were, “Don’t do stupid things!”

Later that day during the “Organizational Behavior” class I teach at Zicklin, I asked my students, “What week is this?”  “The last week in March” wasn’t the answer.  Another student said it was, “Ethics Week” to which another student stated that, “Every day is an ethics day.”  And he was right.  Ethical behavior is an integral part of one’s life each day.

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Nicholas Kristof posted “The Most Important Job in America” on his blog “On the Ground” at The New York Times on Saturday, January 21, 2012.  The esteemed columnist writes that, “I think education is, in the long run, the most important challenge America faces and the one where we’re in greatest difficulties. If we want to maintain economic competitiveness and chip away at poverty, we simply have to improve high school graduation rates and college attendance — and that in turn will depend on an overhaul of the entire education system, starting with early childhood education.”

Kristof’s blog post introduced his next day’s column:  “How Mrs. Grady Transformed Olly Neal.”  The short story is that Neal, an incorrigible elementary school boy who brought his English teacher Mrs. Grady to tears one day, picked up a book in the library, read it, liked it, returned it then was delighted to find another book by the same author.  He found a third book, then a fourth, etc.  Thinking that Neal didn’t want to be seen reading a book, Mildred Grady always placed the new book where he could find it.  Not until he was an adult and saw Mrs. Grady at a high school reunion did she tell him that she drove to a book store 70 miles away to buy books by the same author for him to read.

Thanks to the generosity, patience, and forgiveness of Mrs. Grady, Kristof writes about Neal that, “His trajectory changed, and he later graduated to harder novels, including those by Albert Camus, and he turned to newspapers and magazines as well. He went to college and later to law school.  In 1991, Neal was appointed the first black district prosecuting attorney in Arkansas. A few years later, he became a judge, and then an appellate court judge.”

As someone who last year earned Baruch College’s Presidential Award for Distinguished Teaching, I agree with Kristof about the importance of the job of teaching.  I like to think and have been told that I offer students the opportunities to transform their lives and grow into a career they love.

My first semester teaching on the college level was in the Marketing Department at New York City Technology College in downtown Brooklyn in 1990.  “Why I Teach” is the title of a blog that I posted that includes a letter of gratitude from one of students who was in my first Public Relations class.

Following is the note a brilliant student sent me in a Thank You card at the end of my first math class.  It will give you an idea of how my teaching style motivates and inspires students.

Our last scheduled class ends today and I can honestly say that I’m going to miss it!  I’ve learned a lot more that math this semester.  I have learned about caring, sharing, and friendships.  You have built up my confidence and I feel as though I can accomplish just about anything.  You have given me a direction in life which I plan to follow.  I thought this was just supposed to be a math course! 

I greatly appreciate everything that you’ve done for me.  Thank you for caring enough to motivate me.  You’re doing a great job!

Sincerely, Steve Armand

Over twenty years later, I will begin teaching another class with the same respect for my students and the belief that my job is the most important one in America.

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Today while reflecting on strong women who have persevered under dire circumstances, I remembered a woman who was the keynote speaker at the Women in Business: Pearls of Wisdom 2010 Conference at Baruch College—but I forgot her name.  Searching my blog for my post on the event—I was the moderator for the panel discussion—I found the name I wanted:  Diane Garnick. 

“About” on her Facebook page describes Garnick as the “Princess of Perseverance,” a good description based on her difficult past that included having her first child at age 15 and then finishing grades 9-12 at high school in two years.  She found work in a bank but could not be promoted because she did not have a degree.  Leaving the bank, she started college at Suffolk Community College, then went on to earn her a degree from Hofstra University then an M.B.A. at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.  Her work at Wall Street companies such as Merrill Lynch & Co. earned respect for her intelligence and ability to manage the business.

When looking for more information on Garnick, I found “Diane Garnick Seeks Lift for Wall Street Women With New Firm,” an article written by Jeff Kearns and Margaret Collins published in Bloomberg Businessweek on January, 20, 2012.  I was very impressed by learning that the tenacious investment strategist had opened an asset management firm, a firm that Garnick hopes will help to balance the much needed gender makeup of Wall Street jobs.

The authors state that Garnick opened Clear Alternatives LLC with three other women and hopes to grow the company to 12 by the end of 2012—the same time she set a goal to have raised at least $500 million in assets under management.

“One of the biggest challenges is for women to find an organization that’s willing to accept them back after they leave the work force to raise children without taking a cut in compensation and responsibility….Our objective is to solve that problem,” Garnick, the active mother of two children, told the authors in a phone interview.

Garnick and Clear Alternatives will serve as a catalyst to hire and inspire women graduates from the best business schools to earn their way up the ladder to senior management roles in financial services.  My hopes are with her!

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“Writing to Be Heard” was posted on July 16, 2007, the first time I used my blog.  After writing hundreds of posts since then—especially this year—I decided to share my favorite posts of 2011 with you.

The posts below all have a story behind them, a reason to share the information, and a desire to help you on your career journey.  The posts could have been written to address an issue that came up during a coaching or consulting meeting, a topic that was discussed in a management class I teach at the Zicklin School of Business, an opportunity to expand horizons, etc.  The focus of each one is categorized by one or more of the tiles above the post which include Career, Coaching, College, Culture, Economy, Health, Leadership, Life Business, Management, Technology.

Below is a month-by-month list of posts that I hope you will find relevant, inspiring, and even fun.

January 17:  Are You Afraid of Feedback?  The topic emerged from two different threads.  The first was to offer guidance to decision-makers who were working with a very resistant executive.  The second was the loan of an academic colleague’s DVD on feedback.

February 21:  The Price of Ignoring Corporate Culture  As I told my students in an “Organizational Behavior” class, teaching corporate culture is my favorite unit to teach.  It is because of the environment executives create and how it impacts employee’s behavior.  In this particular case, the executive did not take into account his behavior in an established culture.

March 10:  Women’s Month 2011: Shake the World  To acknowledge the progress women make in a range of fields, I wrote about their accomplishments including that of Justine Siegal who had fulfilled her dream of throwing batting practice for the Cleveland Indians in spring training.

April 4:  Lasting Impressions  I am impressed by the number of people who even when we have not seen or spoken with one another for months or years, still remember me and the work I do.  The need to make a good first—and subsequent—impact on everyone you come in touch with is an important part of career development.

May 27:  Shakespeare in a Management Classroom  In April 2010, I attended a workshop on teaching Shakespeare in the workplace.  To my delight and my students’ reluctance, I developed a class session on emotional intelligence by having students get on a stage with a partner and recite excerpts from scenes in Romeo & Juliet and Hamlet, their favorite because they get to yell!

June 17:  Ten Guideposts on Your Reinvention Highway  Exploring a new career can be stressful and tiring.  Since I have reinvented myself a few times—I like to call it evolution—I share ideas on how to practice active patience to realize a new career.

July 7:  Holistic Professional Resume  In addition to teaching a business course, I also teach a program called “SuperCharge Your Career” at Zicklin.  What I don’t see on many resumes is Activities or another heading that can fill out the profile of a candidate and give an interviewer a sense of their lives outside the company.

August 30:  Career as a Farmer:  Sasha J. Farkas  Not everyone wants to work in an office in New York or any urban environment for that matter.  USA Today’s headline on December 26, 2011, “More Young People See Farming Opportunities,” confirmed that those in their 20’s and 30’s who have been downsized or unable to get a job, are seeking ways to survive on a farm.

September 13:  LockerDome:  The Facebook of Team Sports  Gabe Lozano, Co-Founder and CEO of a website for young athletes, read my post Women’s Month 2011: Shake the World and left a comment.  That comment led to a conversation, two interviews—his and Justine Siegal’s—and my own profile on LockerDome’s social media site.

October 29:  Disability:  A Second Career for L.I.R.R. Workers  Last year, I wrote about the ethical behavior of Long Island Railroad workers who claimed disability when they were obviously fine since they played golf sometimes daily.  Recently, I read that the cost of disbursing those on disability can be close to $1 billion.

November 12:  Walking Meetings  One of the many takeaways I had from reading Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson was learning the pleasures of a walking meeting.  A friend gave me that opportunity and I’m very grateful for it.

December 24:  Dear Santa:  My Wish List  It had been ages since I wrote a “Dear Santa” letter so I put tongue in cheek and infused my humor into the serious requests I made for the greater good—and not just the sweater and earrings I hoped Santa would bring!

Thank you for your time to browse and read my posts.  Looking forward to writing more in 2012!

Very best wishes for a HAPPY NEW YEAR!

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“Margin Call” is not just another Wall Street movie.  It is the best movie I’ve seen in this genre and one that tells the inside story of how a financial institution collapsed.

“The movie is a fictionalized account of a disastrous twenty-four hours in 2008, when ‘financial instruments’ that had seemed solid dissolved into air. The rush of panic is halted, now and then, by moments of disbelief,” writes David Denby in “All That Glitters” in his New Yorker column “The Current Cinema” (October 31, 2011).

To set the scene, Denby writes that “the executives working late at an imperilled investment firm in Manhattan stand in an office tower and stare at the lights and the streets below, wondering if the great city isn’t a dream.”  It was a bad dream that night.

There are three major elements of management that I found of interest in the movie.

1.  Respectful listening.  As the movie opens, personnel executives are on a trading floor to find and speak with those who are being let go that day.  Eric Dale (Stanley Tucci) sits in a state of shock while one woman recites what is included in his package and the deadline for accepting it as the other woman hands him her card in case he has any questions.  When Dale is back in his office, he looks up to see the ‘pit boss’ Will Emerson (Paul Bettany).  Dale tells Emerson that he needs more time since he had to finish an important project.  Emerson follows company policy and tells Dale that other people can finish his work.  Knowing the importance of his work, as Dale is escorted out of his office he slips a thumb drive to one of the analysts and says, “Be careful.”

2.  Risky business.  The young analyst, Peter Sullivan (Zachary Quinto), gave up an evening of drinking with other analysts to remain at work and take a look at Dale’s files.  It didn’t take him long to see that:  “if the mortgage-backed securities currently on the company’s books, which are heavily leveraged, decline in value by an additional twenty-five per cent, the company’s losses will be greater than its total market capitalization.”  What had become a quiet office with only the custodians at work became overnight a scene of people trying to make good on what was a devastating reality. 

Sullivan called another analyst, then the pit boss Emerson who called the longtime head of trading Sam Rogers (Kevin Spacey) who called his boss Jared Cohen (Simon Baker) who called in more staff and finally called CEO John Tuld (Jeremy Irons).  While sitting around the table with quickly prepared bound documents summarizing what Sullivan found, those who could read the numbers understood what was happening; other senior people seemed to have forgotten or never learned how to read projections and, instead, trusted a 28-year-old analyst with a Ph.D. in rocket science to convey the implications of the data.  Sullivan took the risk to open the files Dale left him and found himself being the point person for telling the top executives the truth about their company.

3.  Motivated blindness.  I read this term in David Brooks’ op-ed column “Let’s All Feel Superior” which appeared in the New York Times on November 15, 2011, about the sexual abuse scandal at Penn State.  Brooks defines motivated blindness as “they don’t see what is not in their interest to see.”

Top risk officer Sarah Robinson (Demi Moore) took the fall for the financial fiasco that developed.  However, during the first meeting she attended Sullivan’s finding, she reminded her boss Cohen that she and others had brought the topic to his attention on previous occasions and he had ignored them.  “…the toxic assets were assembled in the first place, and were sold well past the danger point, because the fees from doing so were high enough to extinguish caution,” Denby writes.  Cohen had motivated blindness and didn’t see what was not in his interest.

“If Wall Street executives find themselves at a loss to understand what the protesters outside are getting at, they could do worse than watch this movie for a few clues,” Denby wrote.  I agree with him.  Go see “Margin Call.”

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Perhaps its time for Occupy Wall Street to refocus its energy and take a look at the $1billion and more that Long Island Railroad (L.I.R.R.) workers are hoping to use to fund their disability careers while playing golf, doing aerobics, biking, etc.  When people are desperate to find jobs that can support their families, it is irresponsible to hear about perfectly healthy and unethical workers ‘earning’ money that is not warranted.

“Ethics on the Long Island Railroad” is the title of a post I wrote last December about “A Disability Epidemic Among a Railroad’s Retirees” by Walt Bogdanich, (The New York Times, September 20, 2008).  In 5,000 words, the article described how retired L.I.R.R. employees as young as 50-years-old would retire, go to the same doctor colleagues used, then—as 97% did in some years—apply for and receive disability.  Since there was a low bar set for those who could receive disability, the retirees could spend their time, for instance, playing golf on publicly funded links.

Two recent articles on this same topic in The New York Times describe the arrests and the costs of the ethical violations of retired workers who treated disability as a second career.

According to “11 Charged in L.I.R.R. Disability Fraud Plot” by William K. Rashbaum and Mosi Secret, (October 27, 2011), “The fraudulent payouts in the scheme, officials estimate, could end up costing a federal pension agency more than $1 billion if fully disbursed.”

Agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation took ten of the defendants into custody early on Thursday morning.  Those in custody included:  seven former railroad workers—including a former union president; a former federal railroad pension agency employee who helped the workers file claims; a doctor who ‘certified’ the employees were disabled even though they could play golf regularly, take a 400 mile bicycle ride, do aerobics for hours, etc.; and a doctor’s office manager.

Rashbaum and Secret write that, “A sampling of hundreds of cases approved by two doctors showed that $121 million had been paid to workers whose disabilities were either fabricated or exaggerated, according to court papers, though the total was quite likely more. It was unclear if officials would try to stop the payouts, or could even legally do so, before the disbursements hit $1 billion.”

After talking about the “Ethics on the Long Island Railroad” in my management classes, one of my students raised his hand and asked me a very good question:  “Did the employees have to pay the money back?”  I didn’t have a definitive answer then.  However, the second recent article, “Disability Filings at Rail System Remain High, Despite Attention to Abuses” written by Michael H. Grynbaum (October 28, 2011) gave me a partial and overall disappointing answer.

Grynbaum wrote, “On Friday, the general counsel of the Railroad Retirement Board, Steven A. Bartholow, said he had no comment on the matter.  Later, an agency spokesman, Michael P. Freeman, wrote in an e-mail that in any case of proven fraud, previously paid benefits would be ‘subject to recovery’ and benefits would be cut off. But he declined to say whether the agency would conduct any type of internal review.”

It is interesting to note that, “After The New York Times reported in 2008 that virtually every employee of the Long Island Rail Road had applied for and received federal benefits for occupational disability, the retirement board said it would enact new measures to protect against fraudulent claims.”  Since 2007, the number of claims has been reduced to about half.  However, “Of 189 workers who retired last year, 110 applied for occupational disability benefits, according to figures provided by the railroad.”  It is indeed disappointing that the number is still higher than the usually disability rates for railroads of 20 to 40 percent.

My question now is, how many other railroad or other workers have claimed disability but are perfectly healthy to live their second careers?

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Happy Labor Day!  According to the U.S. Department of Labor, Labor Day “is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers.  It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.”  Given how the economy is teetering on destruction and jobs continue to be scarce, I question our country’s leaders’ commitments to their constituencies.

“American Idiots:  How Washington Is Destroying the Economy…and What We Can Do to Fix It” by Allan Sloan was published in the September 5, 2011 edition of Fortune Magazine.  His column put into words what I was thinking and brought into print thoughts that need to be shared.

Sloan, a writer of business stories for more than 40 years and about national finances for more than 20, presented answers to the lead in to his magazine piece, “What the hell is going on?”  The author states that “Today’s crisis was completely avoidable.”  He goes on to write that, “…the Tea Party types bear primary responsibility—but they couldn’t have done it without the cowardice and incompetence of the Obama administration, which let things get way out of hand.”  I appreciate his honesty, “This whole fiasco enraged me.”

I’m pretty mad myself and that is the reason I writing this post to my blog.  Instead of seeing to the ‘jobs’ issue, those in Washington were facing off like little kids over ownership of their favorite yoyo.  Sloan writes that, “The root of our current problem is that there are no grownups in positions of serious power in Washington.”

Since it is Labor Day, what about jobs?  Has anything been done to create the positions for the working class laborers or the over 50 worker with years of expertise whose chances for a job are reduced by a wrinkle or grey hair?  “The percentage of U.S. adults with jobs is down to 58.1% from 64.7% in 2000, according to the St. Louis Fed,” Sloan writes.  He doesn’t predict that change will be positive; instead, he says that it will be worse.

Where are the effective leaders in Washington, on Wall Street, or behind the scenes creating the needed initiatives to ‘fix’ our country’s economic situation?  Why didn’t leaders set priorities and offer rational instead of hysterical solutions?  Sloan suggests that, “We’ve got this problem because our leaders rolled over to pressure from big companies instead of breaking them up into pieces small enough to be allowed to fail.”

I’m worried about the state of the economy, my ability to continue to find work, and my golden years that are far out there since I’m going to be working to be a leader for a long time before I retire.  I want leaders who will risk their re-election in order to do the right thing for the greater good and for America’s labor.

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“What I want to suggest, though, is that what’s being built in the name of 9/11—a staggering $11 billion worth of government-sponsored construction on the 16 acres we now call ground zero—is an example of just about everything wrong with modern government,” Joe Nocera stated in “9/11’s White Elephant” (The New York Times, August 20, 2011).  He goes on to recall that last year he wrote about “1 World Trade Center, pointing out that its $3.3 billion price tag made it, by far, the most expensive office building ever constructed in America.”

The numbers only represent the extravagance that is being made about the site of the deaths of 2,753 victims.  The tenth anniversary of the falling of the World Trade Center Towers is less than a month away yet the 9/11 memorial is being “hastily constructed.”  It is disappointing to see elaborate planning that has challenges producing what should be a simple and fitting modest memorial that is being remembered and honored in all parts of America and the world.

“Oh, no.  Where is this?”  My initial reaction after turning a page in the local Tuolumne County newspaper and seeing a picture of skyscrapers engulfed in smoke and fireballs of paper was that another terrorist attack had taken place.  However, my fear was eased when I read the headline in the local California paper: “Memorial planned on 10^th anniversary of 9/11” (The Union Democrat, Friday, August 3) and learned that the local area fire and police departments would participate in the ceremonial remembrance.

Baruch Community Book

I reacted so quickly because I had earlier that day finished reading, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer, a novel about a nine-year-old boy named Oskar Schell whose father was killed in the World Trade Center’s terrorist’s attack.

Safran Foer’s work is a moving and thoughtful book that was chosen for the Baruch College community to read and discuss.  It is specifically targeted to all entering freshmen who receive a copy of the community book at orientation and participate in the book discussion during the Convocation.  (Last year’s book was The Bitter Sea:  Coming of Age in a China Before Mao by Charles N. Li.)

Faculty members are encouraged to put each year’s Community Book on their fall reading list.  After reading the book, I came away with five thoughts that I could share with students in my “Organizational Behavior” class of junior and seniors.  It is also a good read for adults who want to understand the grief a child can experience at a sudden death of a parent.

My Thoughts

1.  I think that Oskar’s intelligence and curiosity to understand and accept his father’s death—especially since his father’s body was never found—would be a very good read for my students who were on the average 15-years-old when the planes hit the towers.  Grieving the death of a loved one, especially a parent, is a long and complicated process, one that is often not discussed in families.

2.  Oskar’s grandparents witnessed attacks similar to those at the World Trade Center during World War II.  His grandfather stopped speaking and would only write in a notebook—or on his hands—to communicate his thoughts.  He also stopped loving for years.  It is only when he decides to reunite with his wife does he finally see his grandson and develops a healing relationship.

3.  Withholding the truth about the last five telephone messages from his father before the tower collapsed, Oskar was able to at least hear the voice of his best friend, the one who gave him mysteries to solve.  He never told his mother that he has the message machine; he had bought a duplicate one so he could keep the messages from her.

4.  Oskar went on a journey to solve a mystery, one that challenged his usual routines of walking and not taking a subway, bus, or taxi.  He was cautious but direct in finding the truth he sought about a key he found among his father’s possessions.  His curiosity took him to new areas and new opportunities to understand the adults he met.

5.  Unlike other novels, there are many pages of graphics in the book.  Although some critics question their inclusion, I feel that these images enhance and carry forward the story.  Especially poignant are the final fifteen pages of the book, a series that summarizes the resolution Oskar sought about the death of his father.

My Memories of 9/11

When reading the novel, memories of the morning of 9/11 came back to me.  I was a block away from a client’s office in a 20 story building near 120^th Street and the Hudson River in Manhattan when I heard that a plane crashed into a building.  Although the men who told me were looking downtown, my thoughts were that a small plane headed into a building in a small town.  When I entered the office where I was scheduled to do coaching and consulting, a staff member came up to me and asked, “How can I get CNN on my PC?”  As I went past other offices, I heard snippets of reports from radios and the news about a second crash into a building, but it wasn’t any building.  It was the World Trade Center.

I stayed at the office and called family members to tell them that I was fine.  However, after hearing about the terrorists’ planes at other locations—the Pentagon and the field in Pennsylvania where a plane bound for the Capitol Building or the White House was downed by the passengers—I thought for certain that the next plane would take out our building.  All I could think of was that if I died, I would be with very good people.

Very good people helped me get through the grief of watching the towers crumple to the ground, looking at the efforts of those at Ground Zero searching for anyone still alive, mourning the deaths of those I knew and knew of, the ongoing hope that there would be no more further attacks.  Even very good people couldn’t bring back those that died.  Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close can help those who are still in need of closure, of taking each day one step at a time, of understanding that life must go on.

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Today is my birthday and one of my wishes is that President Obama use his power to influence, educate, and guide his followers for the greater good of all.  I propose that he shows us that he will do not use the money he’s raised for a series of ads, videos, town halls, picnics, black-tie dinners and other campaign activities.  Rather, he will use his influence and money to create jobs.

Many wonderful birthday wishes have been arriving from friends, colleagues, clients, and family members like my sister Pegi.  Gifts from long-time New York friends have come in the shape of a delicious home-cooked meal and an evening of sharing travel stories; lovely napkins and napkin ring holders for my new dining table; a dinner at a wonderful restaurant; etc.  My gifts to myself are Estée Lauder products and an extended writing vacation in California while I am animal sitting a niece’s dog, cat, and horse!

The celebration of my birth is very fulfilling.  What I don’t have is the assurance that the leadership in Washington is wisely doing what is needed to keep the American spirit alive and the global markets stable.  The global economic, environmental, and educational crises are challenging not just Obama but leaders everywhere and at all levels to not just do the right thing but to find the right solutions.  And, in my opinion, the right solutions are based around ‘concrete’ measures that can benefit those who are looking for work.

My birthday leadership wish is that President Obama will show us what he will do and not tell us what he will do while on the campaign trail.

Nicholas Confessore’s “New Stable of Wealthy Donors Fueled Obama Campaign’s Record Fund-Raising Quarter” (The New York Times, July 17, 2011), writes that “President Obama recruited about 15 new elite donors, who raised as much as a half a million dollars each.”  For what?  More high-end dinners?  Flyers?  Banners?  Paper that is so readily discarded?  Events that give you the opportunity to add more to your financial resources?

“More than half a million people have donated to the president’s campaign or his joint fund with the Democratic National Committee since Mr. Obama formally entered the race in April, and the two accounts gained a combined record-breaking $86 million for the campaign by the end of June,” Confessore states. 

My wish is the same one that I had during the 2008 presidential election.  That wish was that Obama and all the presidential and other political candidates would take the money that they and their parties raised and put the money into creating jobs, putting their promises into real action.  You wouldn’t have to worry about paying for ads; media of all types will rush in to promote your resolve to break the mold and to actually do something so positive that even republicans will be impressed and you will win the 2012 election!

President Obama, instead of making videos of what you will do to create jobs, do it, reach out to your donors who have the influence and the money to create millions of jobs for the middle class and middle age worker who is told too many times that they are ‘overqualified,’ the students who graduated in June and are still looking for a position that four years of college prepared them for, the people who can use technology as a tool not a replacement for their expertise and decision-making wisdom, and everyone who wants to be actively engaged in commerce to support themselves and their families.

What I want you to do is commit to the greater good of our entire country.

Think about it.  And then let me know that my birthday leadership wish will come true.