Joe Hazelwood and Tony Hayward
Joe Hazelwood was drunk when the Exxon Valdez ran aground. I wonder what Tony Hayward's excuse is?
I don't mean to be petty, but this is a serious problem. We have these leadership cadres who are morally and emotionally immature. In the financial sector, it really looks like they are driven by narcissistic anxieties. And, who is holding them accountable? (Nobody is asking, "And so, Mr. Hayward, you made a mistake. It seems to be a mistake in judgment on your part, so the queston is, how did it come about, and what personal revisions of your decison-making are you engaged in?" Duh! Congress just doesn't grasp the personal dimension of major catastrophic decisions.)
So, we have made these guys so powerful, that their personal emotional inadequacies can wreak massive destruction.
The irony is that now we know much more about personal emotional inadequacy than we did even twenty years ago. So, if we were to quiz the Tony Haywards and Loyd Blankfeins of the world very closely about their personal value pirorities we might get them to take the meditation cure. But NOOO! This culture is so completely terrified of introspection, there does not seem to be anybody capable of doing that.
In which case, we are in some trouble here.