Here are several diverse items to start your weekend.
• From a NY Times story forwarded by former neighbor Bob (“Traveling Light in a Time of Digital Thievery“):
“If a company has significant intellectual property that the Chinese and Russians are interested in, and you go over there with mobile devices, your devices will get penetrated,”
When Kenneth G. Lieberthal, a China expert at the Brookings Institution, travels to that country, . . .He leaves his cellphone and laptop at home and instead brings “loaner” devices, which he erases before he leaves the United States and wipes clean the minute he returns. In China, he disables Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, never lets his phone out of his sight and, in meetings, not only turns off his phone but also removes the battery, for fear his microphone could be turned on remotely. He connects to the Internet only through an encrypted, password-protected channel, and copies and pastes his password from a USB thumb drive. He never types in a password directly, because, he said, “the Chinese are very good at installing key-logging software on your laptop.” . . .
• From Digital Photography Review (“‘No Future in Photojournalism’ Interview: Dan Chung“):
Dan, you made your name as a stills photographer but you’re mainly shooting video now, what changed?
“Photojournalism as a profession has taken a bit of a nosedive in recent years. Although I’ve been fortunate enough to be in continuous employment, I’m not immune to the longer-term trend, which is pretty desperate if you’re talking about make a living. I took a strategic decision to get more into video and it’s been reasonably successful.”
• The Business Ethics Blog, A blog about Business Ethics by Chris MacDonald, Ph.D..
A blog about Business Ethics by Chris MacDonald, Ph.D.
From a recent post:
Two days ago, I asked — in the wake of the Costa Concordia disaster — whether the captain is duty-bound to “go down with his ship.” The question, I said, bears not just on the obligations of sea captains, but on individuals in positions of responsibility at organizations of all kinds. It also has implications for how organizations enculture individuals so that they see following through on promises as more than just a contractual obligation.
But today I’ll make explicit the analogy that is likely on the minds of most readers of this blog: never mind sea captains…what about CEOs? Does the CEO of a “sinking” company have a duty to “go down with the ship?”
• And, for lighter fare, a description of the hike up the cliffs behind our house in Kaaawa, with some dramatic photos.
• Later today, we’re off to a small reception for one of Meda’s former students, Erika Molyneux, whose art is featured in a show at the Spalding House Cafe.
Erika Molyneux studied graphic design, photography, and printmaking at Montana State University and the University of Hawai‘i–M?noa and has since worked in the arts in a range of capacities. She continues to create and exhibit her own work and serves as a director for the Honolulu Printmakers and the Gallery Iolani Advisory Boards and teacher of traditional and digital arts at Sacred Hearts Academy. Erika has received awards from The University of Hawai‘i–M?noa, Honolulu Printmakers, Digital Artists’ Society of Hawaii, and the Honolulu Museum of Art (formerly the Honolulu Academy of Arts).
The question of whether a CEO has an obligation to go down with the ship is interesting, because it raises the larger question of the role of a CEO in either a public or private corporation.
The CEO in a public corporation may be responsible to shareholders in theory, but at current rates of pay, is unsinkable. Even if the company hits the rocks, the CEO has socked away enough that she/he need never work another day to retire as a member of the 1% forever. So “going down with the ship” has not been an expectation.
In a private or non-profit corporation it may be worse. The corporation essentially exists for the benefit of the CEO. If things are not going well, it could be the CEO who pulls the plug and lets the ship go down.
We have a great example right here in Hawaii of how a non-profit has no responsibility to those who ostensibly control it, leaving the CEO and other management in complete control of its fate, presumably for their profit, of course. HMSA is a “mutual benefit society” but years ago they rigged it so that members would have an almost impossible task to get any changes made. It would take thousands of them getting together. So effectively the corporation is only steered by its executives.