Ann: Response to article in 'Margin Call', page-49

I thought Swami was doing OK.

I do think DW has out-sized power over the board, and though he has great financial and business acumen there is the matter of how he interacts with people within the organisation. The" my way or the highway" approach, is not always the best for the company. It means one person is really the final decision-maker and they may be OK for a now but not have the skills for other challenges that come along. That is the point of boards and management teams.

I think we still have a culture issue that the board needs to address. If we want high performance from people they have to feel like they can speak up and do their job and are not deterred by a bombastic leader who has a corporate power advantage.
People can talk about not being snowflakes or hardening up or just take a joke but that is not how it works with humans. When someone in a position of power makes subordinates feel uneasy and harassed then they armour up and stop trusting the organisations leaders. Trust is what makes a team hum and excel.
DW may not really understand this perspective but it will be a drag on the internal efficiency of the teams if not addressed. That is a problem for us as shareholders.

An example might be a medical development team finding an issue with a new device or upgrade that needs to be fixed before going to validation. The team raise it but the management don't agree or listen because they are trying to get to market ASAP and push ahead anyway. The risk turns into device validation failure and the FDA sending the company back to the drawing board instead of approving the new device. That is a big problem.

So the idea of go slow to go fast is actually a great approach in Med development. Swami is very experienced and we may regret losing him.
I would also regret losing DW as he has done a great job with the company externally until now. It is a shame that the board could not navigate this situation better and a hack decided it was his job to decide what was best for the company by sharing confidential information.