Dealing with Hospital Executives

All,

It is an unfortunate but humorous fact that executives have a high rate of psychopathology. It is something to bear in mind when you deal with them. Studies show that at least 10% are nasty: liars, cheats, bullies, assholes, jerks, sociopaths, and psychopaths. Google it. There are actually people who study this. Nasty people have a better chance of being promoted, so the pathology increases as you go up the chain. About 4% of CEOs are psychopaths. This compares to about 0.5% of the general population and 15-25% of prison inmates. You can question these figures, for sure. It's hard to make accurate psychiatric diagnoses (the worst at making diagnoses are psychiatrists).

People, especially psychiatrists, have a cognitive bias that they are good at detecting character traits by interviews alone. Studies show this belief is not true. It's a delusion. No one is good at detecting nasty people by impressions alone. This is not just because people in general are gullible, it is also because nasty people have camouflage. They excel at creating good impressions. The first inkling you have that you are dealing with a nasty person may be too late.

Do not despair. You can arrange the environment to your advantage and minimize risk. You don't have to suspect each and every executive. Up to 90% DO NOT have a major classifiable personality disorder.

Here are some ideas:

1. Don't go by impressions. Does what they say make sense? Does what they do match what they say?
2. Make sure your interests are aligned.
3. Don't cede control to a psychopath.
4. These people go for the quick score: so choose long term projects or, if you pick a short term project, pick one you can monitor closely.
5. It is a common pattern to make a score, cool the mark out, and make a score again. So, once burned be careful not to be a victim again.

Thanks and have a great day,

Brad

Unintended consequences

Here is a table on perverse incentives in academia (http://bit.ly/
t2cGYI). The point is that unintended consequences are difficult to
see and difficult to predict.

Bill James, the main statistician behind Moneyball, has written a book on popular crime: http://n.pr/iF3zBl

The playwright David Mamet: http://bit.ly/k3aGF3. I liked the movie “State and Main.”

New websites for economic data: http://bit.ly/ihC1qh, http://bit.ly/jL2eGB

The “best of the best” economists: http://bit.ly/kQOTt1

Paul Zak says oxytocin shows that markets are moral: http://bit.ly/kC11KE. The 2nd part is best.

Dizzy Gillespie plays: http://bit.ly/kSTpHH

Will Lagarde be the next head of the IMF?: http://reut.rs/kf3euI

A perp walk for an innocent, “until proven guilty”: http://bit.ly/kqmoqx

Scheduling meetings across time zones: http://ping.fm/5FfhA

More Links

Scheduling meetings across time zones: http://lifehac.kr/mh6zIh

A perp walk for an innocent, “until proven guilty”: http://bit.ly/kqmoqx

Will Lagarde be the next head of the IMF?: http://reut.rs/kf3euI

Dizzy Gillespie plays: http://bit.ly/kSTpHH

Paul Zak says oxytocin shows that markets are moral: http://bit.ly/kC11KE. The 2^nd part is best.

The “best of the best” economists: http://bit.ly/kQOTt1

New websites for economic data: http://bit.ly/ihC1qh, http://bit.ly/jL2eGB

The playwright David Mamet: http://bit.ly/k3aGF3. I liked the movie “State and Main.”

Bill James, the main statistician behind Moneyball, has written a book on popular crime: http://n.pr/iF3zBl

Weekend Links

Business Ethics.

• The top 10 companies paying FCPA fines (http://bit.ly/fuIwaL). As far as the FCPA rules are concerned, the definition of “foreign official” is broad (http://bit.ly/eivQL5). 

• Duncan Watts's new book is about the failure of common sense (http://bit.ly/h7IjjV). How does lap dancing teach business ethics? Or is this an example of the failure of common sense (http://bit.ly/fHBAkB).

• 7 most discussed scientific biases (http://bit.ly/fourgO). Conflict of interest bias in article by economists, from American Banker (http://bit.ly/fSHWww).

Organizational Behavior.

• A rant against pay for performance (http://bit.ly/eKsx76). Can studies on children be extrapolated to working adults?

• Languages that are endangered or extinct (http://bit.ly/dHO3Eb).

• “Weaving a new corporate culture,” from CFO.com (http://bit.ly/g6jH6P).

• 35% of Illinois state workers are on workers' comp (http://bit.ly/fCrFm8).

Economics.

• How the US government debt came about (http://bit.ly/g5kx6Y).

• US housing (Case-Shiller index) bubble, boom and bust (http://bit.ly/evu2A7 and http://bit.ly/ihFOVa).

• Are people better off now than then? A simple test (http://bit.ly/fcZidt). Also Cox & Alm's How are we doing? (http://bit.ly/fUfnLG).

Information Technology.

• Freedom, privacy, and the Internet (http://bit.ly/eym2aE).

• Dvorak keyboard (http://bit.ly/edAKrn).

Marketing.

• The ghost of cigarette advertising past, by Calfee (http://bit.ly/fSoBOg), or, the unintended consequences of regulation, or how the government ruins things.

• Deshpande's “Why aren't you buying Venezuelan chocolate?” (http://bit.ly/fUfnLG).

• How to lie with statistics (http://bit.ly/gj87uZ).

Entrepreneurship.

• Scott Adams says study entrepreneurship (http://on.wsj.com/gHWOer). Readings about entrepreneurship (http://bit.ly/hjxsnl).

Strategy.

• Has pharma M&A been useless (http://bit.ly/flRkv0)? Maybe, but not by this data.

• Deregulation leads to price wars ((http://bit.ly/ijlzI3), by Florissen et al, “The Race to the Bottom.”

Operations Management.

• The trouble with average costs (http://bit.ly/et4N8R). Oops.

Management Miscellany.

• Chemistry explains all (http://lifehac.kr/fakEAq; “How to make the perfect Bloody Mary”).

• Would you like to buy the Empire State Building? (http://nyti.ms/eAsEJY). 

Have a good weekend, 

Brad 

Weekend Links

Business Documentaries. The documentary “Inside Job” is available online, free: http://bit.ly/fNypyD. Morgan Spurlock (“Super Size Me!”) makes a documentary using brand marketing on making a documentary using brand marketing: http://bit.ly/hBHEEO.

Supply Chains and Petri nets. Mathematical network theory, Petri nets: http://bit.ly/fWqNQL, http://bit.ly/fM0I60. It looks like a supply chain to me.

Finance Theory and the Real World. Richard Feynman talks simple science: http://bit.ly/dTNyut. If the experimental data doesn't agree with the theory, then the theory is wrong. Amar Bhidé on finance and risk: http://bit.ly/gdgpau. I think he's saying that the experience doesn't accord with theory, therefore the theory is wrong.

Business Life. “Hard work never killed anybody, but why take the chance?”: http://bbc.in/e2FL1w.

Telling a Story and Branding. Stories, which remind me of marketing and branding, by Kurt Vonnegut: http://bit.ly/heS0Lt. Rhetorical tricks of a Steve Jobs talk: http://bit.ly/f9zfcP.

Corruption Chronicles. If you legalize corruption, its price will decrease, so will you get less of it?: http://bit.ly/fl8NWX. Corruption in Equatorial Guinea: http://bit.ly/gjHFAz.

Miscellaneous. FDI in the USA: http://bit.ly/eQvloe. Enron's former CEO Jeffrey Skilling denied new trial: http://bbc.in/e2FL1w. Yves Smith, of the Naked Capitalism blog, reminds me of an Old Testament prophet: http://bit.ly/ij0SU1. Public lectures have been given at Gresham College at least since the 1600s (Samuel Pepys' Diary). Some lectures are now online. Here is “The Story of e,” which is definitely not as racy as “The Story of O”: http://bit.ly/f4VP97. Joseph Keckeissen and the US wetbacks who go to Guatemala and won't go home: http://bit.ly/gn65pA.

Theory Y and Animal Behavior.

1) Cute orangutan?: http://bit.ly/gqKmj7.

2) Bald eagles: http://bit.ly/hx8ytE.

Have a good weekend,

Brad

Weekend Links

1) Federal, state and local governments in the US have debt crises. In Michigan, the state has 

changed the law, creating "emergency managers." So, if the Michigan governor declares a 

financial emergency in a locality, he can appoint an emergency manager, who will have broad 

powers, including the power to break contracts: http://bit.ly/fFIg7K.

2) Ethics of rewarding whistleblowers: http://bit.ly/gyjN4U.

3) More on Libya connections: http://bit.ly/gy4QJN. Some compare Chile-Friedman & 

Harberger. 

4) GE's tax strategies: http://nyti.ms/h3w5Mm.

5) GAAP & IFRS "convergence": http://bit.ly/iktJsy.

6) Education as a positional good: http://bit.ly/eLwyez. “Positional good" is a new term for me. 

Here's a lawsuit regarding education as a positional good: http://bit.ly/fyxhi8.

7) The late Julian Simon, an economist: http://bit.ly/hJqnFG. Simon is widely reviled by 

environmentalists.

8) GRAPHic! Justin Wolfers versus John Taylor regarding a GRAPH: http://bit.ly/erMH8I.
Niall Ferguson slides and GRAPHs from a talk on sovereign debt: http://read.bi/dJvPSR.
US census data in GRAPHs: http://bzfd.it/eh6ILV.

9) Tech companies are hoarding cash: http://read.bi/fTRYS9. I don't know why.

10) April 1st, or April Fool's Day, is a day for pranks. I don't know how big this is outside the US, 

but here expect someone to try to pull a prank on you. Google tried. If you want to pull prank: 

http://lifehac.kr/hCjyqi.

11) Executive pay at Transocean: http://bit.ly/ggynAP.  

12) Unusual friendships: Gorilla: http://bit.ly/fQT4L7. Goose: http://bit.ly/h0LJ7d.

Have a good weekend,

Brad 

Weekend links and other

I am sorry to report my old laptop is near death. Those of you who knew my computer will be surprised to learn it has lasted as long as it has. I am transferring over files.

The weekend news is mainly football news this week:

1. Clarence Seedorf is studying for his MBA at Bocconi.
2. Eric Abidal has surgery for a liver tumor (http://bit.ly/hLXG0x). Early reports are positive.
3. Bryan Robson has surgery for throat cancer (http://bit.ly/dYWodt).
4. There's a movie out about Ferenc Puskas's life-”Puskas Hungary.” It includes some archival footage. It's only available in the original language, as far as I know.
5. There's a movie about Yugoslavia going to the 1930 World Cup in Uruguay-”Montevideo, bog te video Prica prva [2010] domaci film.” It's also available in the original language only.

Other:

1. Books on India (http://bit.ly/fA0KlH & http://bit.ly/eisUJy).
2. Steve McQueen's Porsche (http://bit.ly/dH9qX1). I have a Toyota Celica, BTW.
3. How to hack a car (http://bit.ly/fOvpki).
4. Leadership crisis everywhere? http://bit.ly/gK6YTv.
5. Who watches the watchers? How do you pick the experts to pick the experts? Who authenticates the authenticators? http://bit.ly/fZCCHF.
6. Life in the US has changed a lot in the last 50 years. David Leonhardt says it has changed even more in the poorest countries (http://nyti.ms/hZUlg9).
7. Price-to-rent ratios for housing in various countries (http://bit.ly/hvQab5).

TTFN (Ta-ta for now),

Brad

Thank you notes

Lucy Kellaway, today in the Financial Times, wrote about thank-you notes and how she enjoys receiving them.

She talked about Doug Conant, currently the CEO of Campbell Soup (but who is set to retire in July 2011), who writes thank-you notes religiously. Here is an article about Conant. The stuff about thank-you notes is in the last section "The importance of failure": http://bit.ly/faKbVZ.

Thank you notes might be culturally dependent.

Thank you and have a nice day,

Brad

Experts

A TED talk by Noreena Hertz on experts: http://bit.ly/i6nKF8.

There's always been logical problems with experts. For instance, how
are you going to pick your expert? Do you pick an expert to pick the
expert? And so on...

The expert problems would be made simpler if we looked at experts as
teachers, rather than as priests.

For me, Hertz wanders from talking about experts to talking about
decision making in organizations.

Brad

Weekend links

Discovery's final launch.

Saif Ghadafi's PhD thesis at LSE was plagiarized.

The latest from "Merle Hazzard." (see, there's this Country and Western singer named Merle Haggard, and there's this economic concept of moral hazzard, so it's a pun) (HT: Greg Mankiw)

Mazda recalls because of spiders.

A Federal study says more young people in the US "scorn sex."

More ethical and legal problems for expert networks and hedge funds.

A cool newspaper map.

A Boston Globe editorial on the Monitor Group and Libya.

The Monitor Group.

Brad

Weekend Links, for Fun

Peggy Lee sings Black Coffee: http://bit.ly/fnzuEE

Deep water delights: http://bit.ly/ikohB3

Most expensive car crash ever: http://read.bi/frfYna

How to foreclose on a bank in the US (it's not easy, you have to beat
their lawyers at their game): http://bit.ly/faLvZN

The guy who beat Wells Fargo's lawyers and foreclosed on one of their
branches: http://bit.ly/ecJP9R

Have a good week-end,

Brad