Just Do the Right Thing!

I've been thinking about the recent kerfuffle (one of my favorite words) regarding the GM recall, and it hasn't led to a happy place.  Specifically, I wonder why, time and time and time again, companies fail to do the right thing.  Bear in mind that I'm not criticizing Mary Barra, GM's new CEO - at least not yet - because she seems to have acknowledged that there is a big fat ugly problem here and seems to be trying to do something about it.

But regardless of Ms. Barra's ultimate blameworthiness, the lack thereof or plain old naiveté, the mess does make me wonder what it is about GM - and so many other companies - that prevents them from doing the right thing by acknowledging a problem and doing something about it early on, when it could be remedied or at least thoroughly investigated.  Phrased otherwise, why is the cover-up always worse than the "crime"?  What kind of mind-set pervades so many levels at GM and so many other companies that makes them decide to ignore something that is responsible for the death of a human being?  

Of course, this mind-set is not limited to big companies.  Think about Penn State a few years ago, when it became clear that its management repeatedly failed to do anything about allegations of sexual abuse and also kept the allegations from the board - even after it became clear that the authorities were investigating the matter?  Did they really think that they could keep it a secret forever?  And to what end?

The same questions pervade other areas as well, such as equal pay for women, board diversity and so on.  Why do companies seem to keep saying - much like a toddler - "no, no, no" until finally Uncle Sam or Big Brother or whomever says "Yes - and you'll do it MY way!"  

We spend lots of time navigating our ways through highly technical laws and rules about a variety of subjects, but evidently we don't do nearly enough thinking about fairly simple and straightforward matters of right and wrong.  It seems to me that this is the same mind-set that leads companies to repeatedly violate all sorts of laws and regulations because the only penalty is a fine, which is paid by the shareholders and which, in many cases, is tax deductible!

As I said, my ruminations haven't led me to a happy place.

Lamm's Literary Lyceum

I recommend "Days of Fire" by Peter Baker.  It's a fascinating look at the W administrations and the changing role of Darth Vader - I mean Dick Cheney.  I fault the author's implicit defense of W throughout, but it's still a very well done book and a very good read.  For somewhat lighter fare, try "An Officer and a Spy" by Robert Harris; it's a well done fictional re-telling of the Dreyfus affair.

Prima La Musica (or Lammusica)

Two great recordings of the Brahms piano concertos - an older one by Nelson Freire and a great, muscular new one by Stephen Hough, who's rapidly becoming my favorite pianist.  And I finally got around to listening to the Solti/Nilsson recording of Strauss's Elektra again (it's about the 25th time).  All I can say is WOW.