The Ethical Barometer

Wells Fargo Head of community banking  on the bank’s plan to restore trust.  Do you think so?  Where was Ms. Mack, during her 32 years at the bank, when the incentives were put in place? Also, she may have to adjust her language on her 20-city “listening” tour.  Ms. Mack explained, “I do want team members to know that I want to know if there are situations not congruent” to what the bank thinks is acceptable.  Say what?  Ms. Mack first needs the bank to develop a list of what is NOT acceptable behavior that she gleans from the listening tour.  It’s not what the bank thinks is acceptable — the bank is in the hot seat because it either did not know what is acceptable or did not know or want to know what was going on because of the risk of having to put the skids on unacceptable, i.e., non-congruent behaviors.   Talk to the frontline.  Find out how bad it was.  Set some “congruent” standards, but do it WITH employees.  A 20-city lecture tour is not going to fix what happened at Wells.

Former Wells Fargo employee on how he and others worked to target the least resistant, i.e, college students with their first accounts, the elderly who could not remember, Mexican immigrants who could speak little English, and small business owners with several lines of credit.

Mr. Fishman passed away — Lou Gehrig’s disease.  Mr. Fishman eschewed mortgage-backed securities as an investment vehicle for Travelers. His quote, “You just weren’t being paid enough to take that risk.” Travelers escaped the crunch as well as the AIG type of litigation. Before his death, he and his wife raised $20 million for centers around the country doing research into the disease and its treatments.  Once in awhile, we get a good business story.  May Mr. Fishman’s example live on.

The Clinton Foundation is a fascinating study in conflicts of interest.  A conflict of interest is defined as a situation in which an individual is torn between two loyalties.  Let’s say an individual is secretary of state of, say, the United States, and also a founding member, board member, and grand poobah (First Lord of the Treasury, Lord Chief Justice, Commander-in-Chief, Lord High Admiral, etc., etc.) of a foundation that accepts donations from countries, crown princes, and assorted poobahs, dictators, and shady despots.  Let’s say further Continue reading →

Adele, a singer so famous she has only one name (take that Taylor Swift), was asked by the NFL to be the half-time show at the Super Bowl.  She turned the NFL down, explaining at her Los Angeles concert, “Come on.  That show is not about music, and I don’t really — I can’t dance or anything like that.”  Oh, but can she write songs! And then sing them with the feeling of the poet that she is.  In this era of sell-outs, ’tis lovely to witness a stand that involves sacrifice.  In an industry where talent matters little if you Continue reading →

Because they trust. Parents involved in youth sports tend to have social interaction as well.  Thereby, they commit the error of having no internal controls.  One person controls the funds, one person pays the bills, one person writes the checks, one person signs the checks, and before you know it, the money is gone.  And, the money is generally not taken for a good cause:  dog grooming, Walt Disney World vacations, weddings for their children, lingerie, NFL and MLB tickets, mulch, and retrieval of property from pawn shops.

They are getting caught, and in one case, the judge forced the embezzler of $200,000 from Kent Little League, to apologize in person to the 400 kids affected by the loss of 90% of the League’s money to the embezzler’s personal use of $60,000 of Little League money, including $500 to a hairdresser.  The tips for prevention: Continue reading →

The New York State Senate’s Ethics Committee has been lying dormant since 2009. No meeting record exists since 2009.  The chair of the Committee, John L. Sampson, was convicted of embezzlement and obstruction of justice, with the prosecutor asking for an 87-month sentence. Oh, and he was suspended from the practice of law.

At the trial Dean G. Skelos, the former New York Senate majority leader, the Ethics Committee’s former chairman testified that the Ethics Committee had no authority to handle legislation.  Mr. Skelos was convicted on corruption charges.  Prosecutors could not determine which legislators took away the authority of the Ethics Committee. The chairman tried to hold public hearings, but was thwarted on that count as well. The chairman was then reassigned and the Ethics Committee lies fallow again.

You can’t make this stuff up.

The Senate Ethics Committee reports the following:

• For the ninth straight year, it has not imposed any disciplinary sanctions
• Since 2007, the Committee has reviewed 613 allegations of wrongdoing and dismissed 90% of those allegations
• Only 75 of the 613 allegations warranted a preliminary investigation
• In its nine years of operation, the Committee has issued six letters to senators saying, “You should not have done that.” Continue reading →

You can’t make this stuff up.  Mark Crumpacker, Chipotle’s chief creative and development officer, was one of 18 alleged buyers indicted in a cocaine drug ring.  The charges are a misdemeanor offense, and Mr. Crumpacker has been put on leave.  However, a cocaine arrest can put a damper on things when the man charged has been working on rebuilding trust in the company following its bad run of  E.coli and other problems with food preparation safety.  Others indicted include a Fox Business Network producer. In other words, this was an alleged cocaine ring of successful professionals.  This stuff has a way of finding the headlines.