Erika Hayes James

How to Fix the Economy

The world continues to cough and sputter as it suffers from economic malaise. Among its symptoms: sluggish growth, sliding stock prices, entrenched unemployment, political upheaval, skeptical consumers and skyrocketing fuel costs. The Darden Report • Spring /Summer 2011 23 asked nine members of our faculty, one representing each of the  school’s academic areas, to share ideas for how the world might pull out of the slump. Here are my thoughts:

As a professor of leadership, I, along with my colleagues, view the economy through a lens connected to understanding people and their motivations. We teach that leadership is about broadening one’s perspective rather than staying entrenched in a single point of view. Just as we recognize the importance of multiple functional areas in effectively running a business, our government leaders must recognize the value that all of their constituents bring to the effort of rebuilding our economy. Great ideas come in a variety of packages, from a variety of gift bearers (rich, poor, black, white, business leaders, senate leaders), espousing a variety of values (conservative, liberal, Christian, non-Christian). Each one must be opened and carefully considered rather than summarily dismissed because someone takes issue with the person or group bearing the potential gift. To fix the economy, we must put our egos aside and consider the possibility that someone else, someone different, just might have a good idea.

Coming To Terms With Bias

For the past several months I’ve been working with a client in the financial industry on the topic of unconscious bias. My client had expressed concern that biases in how decisions were made in the organization, particularly around personnel matters, were having a negative effect on the firm’s ability to identify and develop the best talent in the organization. In my engagements with this client, one of the first things I do is to give them a test. It is a simple test, actually. I show them a sentence projected onto a screen and ask those in the room to count the number of times that the letter “F” appears in the sentence. They have seven seconds to complete the task. Inevitably people in the room will have counted a different number of Fs. So, I show the sentence again and give them another seven seconds to count. Some count the same number they did initially, and some count more than they had the first time. I reveal the sentence for a third time, only with no time limit. There are a total of 8 Fs, but only a handful of people identified the correct number. I ask them what they missed and invariably they say “I missed the F in the word OF”. I ask them why and the say something along these lines, “It’s an insignificant word”, or “I didn’t notice the word…my mind skipped right over it.” I then ask them, “So who are the OFs in your organization?” The room is silent for several minutes. Read the rest of this entry »

Is This the End of the Line for BlackBerry?

BlackBerry may be in serious trouble.  The most recent crisis started with an outage in Research in Motion (maker of the BlackBerry) messaging service to customers in the Middle East.  Over a span of three days the outage traversed the globe with the most recent disruption to service in North and South America on Wednesday.  Customers are understandably angry, and although they probably won’t abandon their beloved phones immediately chances are this is one more reason to look elsewhere for their mobile messaging needs.  Unfortunately for Research in Motion, their competitor, Apple, released its new iPhone at the same time it is dealing with its most recent major outage, thus making a transition to an alternate smartphone increasingly more attractive to customers.  Moreover, a mix of emotion (sadness over losing Jobs and anger at BlackBerry) may be just enough to cause Blackberry customers to think twice during their next phone purchase. 

 To Research in Motion’s credit the company said the right things, apologized to customers, and seemed to throw resources at the problem quickly; but the problem was bigger and spread faster than it could manage.  Read the rest of this entry »

Netflix and the Corporate Apology

A few days ago Netflix CEO, Reed Hastings, sent out a mass corporate apology for errors in judgment as the company embarked on a major change initiative. Stating at the outset of his apology by blog, “I messed up . . . I owe you an explanation.” Hastings went on to describe the firm’s rationale for splitting its streaming and DVD by mail business into two separate organizations. Notable in his apology was an admission of arrogance; something that has proved to be difficult to do by many high status and high profile individuals. He also did a decent job of explaining why Netflix was changing its business model. Where he missed the mark, however, was in acknowledging customer dissatisfaction with the price increase that accompanied the organizational changes.

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Beyond A Reasonable Doubt…

While the rest of the country ponders the jury’s decision to acquit Casey Anthony of the murder and abuse of her daughter Caylee, I have perhaps a different interest in the case. One that is less focused on the “justness” of the verdict, and more focused on providing a rationale for why jurors seem to make decisions that defy common sense. Quite simply it is because as a country our forbearers decided that it is better to allow a potentially guilty person to go free than it is to wrongly imprison someone who is innocent.

I include myself in the category of people who believe that Casey Anthony had some involvement in the disappearance, murder, or cover-up of her daughter’s death. As a mother myself, I find this case and Ms. Anthony’s behavior abhorrent and inexplicable. I’ve also served as a foreperson on a jury in a drunk driving case whose jury deliberation lasted almost as long as the deliberation in the Anthony case. I have first-hand experience in having to be held accountable to the judge’s admonition of “beyond a reasonable doubt” and having to weigh evidence that can be technical, circumstantial, controversial, and contradictory. Let me assure you that any jury’s task is difficult one, and when the defendant’s life is at stake, there is perhaps no more daunting civic duty or intense pressure than determining his or her fate. Read the rest of this entry »