Writing Boots

On communication, professional and otherwise.

CEO, and the ‘e’ stands for ‘ebullient’

by // Leave a Comment

Yesterday Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf issued an all-employee message trumpeting Wells Fargo's passing of the regulatory "stress test." The message is as close to a joyful shout from the rooftops as you'll ever hear from the c-suite, and for that reason the whole thing is worth reading.

But the concluding paragraphs are especially good:

I have no doubt our company has emerged from these stress test results
just fine and that we'll be even stronger, even more secure, even more
dependable and reliable for our customers and communities. Let me
repeat that. I have no doubt. …

I want to thank the hundreds of team members who worked such long hours
the past several months to prepare our submissions for these tests to
our regulators, who were highly complimentary of the thoroughness and
thoughtfulness of our presentations. These team members gave so
unselfishly of their time-sacrificed so many evenings and week-ends
away from their family and friends—we can never thank them enough for
what they've done for our company.

I also want to thank all our team members for enduring all the anxiety
and uncertainty that we've all had to live with the past few months as
every day brought new rumors and more speculation from the media and
analysts about this very public process. There were many times when I
wanted to communicate to reassure you throughout this process but we
had to respect the confidentiality of our relationship with our
regulators. Now we can channel all that energy we wasted on worry and
anxiety about the outcome of this process into actions and behaviors
that really matter—satisfying all our customers' financial needs and
helping them succeed financially.

This is the kind of emotion and most execs are afraid to show.

Good Stumpf.

A good employee communication company is hiring

by // 1 Comment

I don't usually do job posts here, but …

We all know that as far as employee communication jobs go, the company makes all the difference. Walgreen, a company with a tradition of good employee communications, is looking for three communicators—a manager and two specialists, to work in its Operations division, in Deerfield, Ill.

"The work entails supporting the tactical and leadership communication for Operations—all 6,700 stores," says internal communications manager Brodie Bertrand.

Qualified applicants should apply here.

New-employee disorientation

by // 2 Comments

Bookcover Alexander Heron's 1942 book Sharing Information with Employees is the first ever written on employee communication, and I'm arguing it's also the best. But it's not perfect. As I tried to imagine this scene, I had to laugh. —DM

"One of the best jobs I ever knew of making 'company investment' take on a life meaning is done by a manager of a small plant employing about five hundred," Heron says. "This manager systematically plans to see each new employee soon after he joins the organization. He plans the conversation so that he can ask the new employee why he prefers to work for wages rather than to work for himself. Of course, the answer is almost always, 'I have no capital. You gotta have capital to work for yourself.'"

And here is where the trouble begins:

Wisely and slowly this manager leads to recognition of the fact that capital is no less necessary if the man is to work for wages. He points out that the visible, physical things which had to be provided before he, or anyone else, could work for wages in that plant—the purchase of the land, the buildings, spur tracks, the heavy equipment, machines, and tools. He casually jots down the figures as he goes along, mentions the total dollars, the number of workers; and he and the employee together discover that the physical plant represents $22,000 per worker!

We can see the new employee wiping the sweat off the back of his neck and trying to appear befuddled: "Gee, boss, I never thought of it that way!" And meanwhile wishing fondly to quickly get to work digging clinkers out of the furnace. But the boss isn't finished.

They follow through, together, the steps of deciding that this investment, this capital, must be paid some rent or wages; they agree that 6 percent is fair. They also agree that the part of the investment which wears out must be paid off or replaced; so they get acquainted with depreciation. They reach a point where they decide that each new employee must produce gross earnings of some $2,000 a year, just to pay for the investment he uses, before he can earn any wages for himself!

Do you think that figures on a company investment are going to be merely dry and factual to an employee who has been introduced to them in this way?

No, Heron: An employee who has been condescended to in this way—and at the very moment he is most powerless to argue with the chief, perhaps by pointing out that if he's to "pay for the investment he uses" maybe he ought to receive some of the fruits of that investment—will be forever hostile to everything management ever tries to get him to understand about company finances.

And readers,  you'll be even more gobsmacked at Heron's foolishness here when you read the next installment of this series, which explains with sensitivity and insight when and under what circumstances an organization can get employees to receive information about economic "reality."