VitalAccurateThinking

Not Honor, but Trust

Every once in awhile, Loren Steffy comes closer to correct. He calls it honor, I call it a lack of trust and trust-building.

Perhaps BP's chairman was speaking literally when he said last week that the fall of Chief Executive John Browne was a tragedy.

In a literal sense, a tragedy involves central character who comes to a disastrous end because of fate, a character flaw or moral weakness.

Trust is built on two things: Character and Competence. It appears that in the case of BP, they were seriously lacking in both. It is like the root of a tree being bad. Like character failings, you cannot see tree roots, but you can see the results.

I have been emailing with someone inside the BP Texas City disaster who has convinced me that my position as to the cause of the tragedy might be incorrect. I am reviewing the information provided and might just change my position on that basis.

posted by Jim VAT @ 7:36 AM