There has been more feedback on this subject than on any of my previous postings; probably because we have all come across it at least once. Firstly, to those who thought they recognised the individuals involved, perhaps unsurprisingly you were all correct in your assumptions. Secondly, thanks to various connections of mine for reminding me of a number of examples from my career that I had forgotten:
- The business owner who commissioned his newly qualified architect nephew to design a new finished goods warehouse. The building subsided leaving a 10 cm step across the floor and rendering two thirds of the racking inaccessible to forklift trucks. The inconvenience to outbound logistics was only matched by the difficulty of taking legal action.
- The high technology plc whose CEO was the son and grandson of former directors of the same business. His less well-regarded younger brother was also on the board. The brother’s most well remembered – and possibly most significant – contribution was the time when, having arrived by helicopter at a facility in the west country, he looked around for five minutes, pointed to the loading bay, said “That needs moving to the opposite side of the factory. Make sure it’s done by the next time I’m here.”, climbed back into the helicopter and left.
- The large US construction company where the EMEA Vice President Finance – and therefore pretty much the most important person in my working world – was the son of a former main board director. The son may have been a big cheese in the office, but as soon as one ventured out into the field the mention of his name was met by “Aww shucks, you work for Larry’s boy, well don’t you worry about what he says. You see I knew his daddy – now he was a fine man…” and so on; instant evaporation of credibility.
- The time when as a member of an integration team following the acquisition of a small defence electronics business we found that the MD’s student son was running a retail consumer electronics business using the acquired company’s facilities and cash.
And thanks also to the correspondent who reminded me of the incident involving the freemasons and Private Eye in which he and I played a peripheral part many years ago. I think that story deserves its own post in due course.
The More That I See Of The World... 