What on Earth Are They Thinking?

There have been so many corporate decisions recently that mystify me. I just shake my head and wonder "what on earth are they thinking"?

First, Independence Blue Cross in Philadelphia announced that it was either dropping or hiking the premiums by as much as 60% for its best health insurance plans for those who buy their insurance for themselves and their small businesses. This during one of the most hotly contested healthcare debates ever, with growing distrust of insurance companies. Instead of waiting for the legislation to determine their future, the brains at Independence Blue Cross decided to jump into the fray and get into a fight with independent business people. This will only raise the anger level higher and get the government more involved in the insurance business.

Next we have the Wall Street bankers who have decided that they are still due for mammoth bonuses, despite the fact that they led the economy to tank and put our society on the brink of a second depression. Some of the bankers even had the audacity to complain about the bonuses as being too heavily laden with stock rather than cash, leaving them in a cash flow crunch. Stock cannot be converted for a set period of time. Several of the bank chiefs sat before Congress and admitted that they did a lot of wrong things--like hedging or going short on stocks that they were pushing to the public--kind of like a Catch 22 scenario--sell the planes and the anti-aircraft guns. Yet none volunteered to cut the record bonuses. Somehow we are supposed to be concerned about retention of talent. Wasn't this the same talent that helped ruin our economy? And they throw a hissy-fit when the President feels compelled to push through new taxes on the banks because of public anger!

Then there's Mark McGuire, the guy who increased his hat size several fold and likely shrunk his genitals all for the sake of hitting 73 home runs. He finally admitted this week that he had been taking steroids for over 10-years. I am not sure who I am more upset with--McGuire, the St. Louis Cardinals who just hired him as a hitting coach, Major League Baseball that all but encouraged McGuire, Sammy Sosa, Barry Bonds, and others to put on a home run derby to make fans forget about the strike a few years earlier. Tony LaRusso, McGuire's coach while he was "roiding", brings him back as a hitting coach? Am a missing something? Isn't this a reward for bad behavior? Pete Rose gambles and can't get into the Hall of Fame despite being one of the greatest hitters of all time. McGuire cheats the entire game and gets a coaching job. And we wonder why people are angry and jaded!

And, lastly there is the NBC fiasco concerning Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien. NBC moves Leno to 10PM and brings O'Brien into the Tonight Show chair. This wasn't just to give Leno a new venue, but more to save money for NBC who hoped that it would not have to create a new show for that time-slot since talk shows run for a fraction of the price of a series. Leno bombed in that slot, not because there weren't viewers, but rather because his show was terrible. In the meantime, O'Brien brought younger viewers to the Tonight Show and got them ready for Jimmy Fallon, another favorite of younger viewers. So, rather than admit their mistake and buy Leno out or find him another show, NBC decides to make a complete joke out of their decision-making and announces that they will move Leno to 11:30 for a half-hour and then move the Tonight Show--the oldest running brand in late night that has always been at 11:30--to 12:05am. This would further push Fallon back to starting at 1:30am, primarily killing it. They probably thought that Conan would go know his place and go along with it, but he balked and has decided to quit the show rather than being a lacky for the network and Leno. So, NBC looks like Nincompoop Broadcating Company--the bozos of TV. Not a peep has been heard from the NBC brass. Hopefully, Comcast will get rid of this NBC-Universal "brain trust" once they complete their deal.

Tough business decisions must often be made, but these were not tough decisions. They were really bad decisions done with no foresight and seemingly no understanding of stakeholder relations. They were done for short-term gains that please the bottom line and those decisions usually turn out to be disasters.