Comments on: Risk management acronym of the day http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2009/04/29/risk-management-acronym-of-the-day/ A slice of lime in the soda Wed, 19 Jun 2013 10:36:09 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.2 By: DavidF http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2009/04/29/risk-management-acronym-of-the-day/comment-page-1/#comment-974 DavidF Thu, 30 Apr 2009 02:31:47 +0000 http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2009/04/29/risk-management-acronym-of-the-day/#comment-974 I believe the expression "fuck up and move up" was first coined in the army during the Vietnam War, and was mention in the book, The Best and the Brightest. I believe the expression “fuck up and move up” was first coined in the army during the Vietnam War, and was mention in the book, The Best and the Brightest.

]]> By: DollarEd http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2009/04/29/risk-management-acronym-of-the-day/comment-page-1/#comment-938 DollarEd Wed, 29 Apr 2009 16:24:32 +0000 http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2009/04/29/risk-management-acronym-of-the-day/#comment-938 My depression era parents would say "the bad money drives out the good." I never really saw that in action until I worked at a Fortune 500 company. But I don't think it's always about incompetence being rewarded for reasons of social solidarity. In a world of very, very, very high pressure to "beat the number," people who promise real, attainable growth through smart strategy and solid execution are uninteresting to management. People who "innovate" and "make big bets" to try to Beat the Number are loved and rewarded, even when the end result (repeatedly) is failure that makes everyone else's job harder. I haven't seen anyone else mention this in the Wall Street context. How would any honest trader or fund manager advance (or survive) if the dishonest (or self-delusional) ones are posting higher short term numbers through holes in the accountability system? Short answer is they don't. Thus the system self-selects for fools and crooks. And after a short period, those are the only inhabitants of the asylum. You know, Tim Geithner's social circle. My depression era parents would say “the bad money drives out the good.” I never really saw that in action until I worked at a Fortune 500 company.

But I don’t think it’s always about incompetence being rewarded for reasons of social solidarity. In a world of very, very, very high pressure to “beat the number,” people who promise real, attainable growth through smart strategy and solid execution are uninteresting to management. People who “innovate” and “make big bets” to try to Beat the Number are loved and rewarded, even when the end result (repeatedly) is failure that makes everyone else’s job harder.

I haven’t seen anyone else mention this in the Wall Street context. How would any honest trader or fund manager advance (or survive) if the dishonest (or self-delusional) ones are posting higher short term numbers through holes in the accountability system? Short answer is they don’t.

Thus the system self-selects for fools and crooks. And after a short period, those are the only inhabitants of the asylum. You know, Tim Geithner’s social circle.

]]> By: bdbd http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2009/04/29/risk-management-acronym-of-the-day/comment-page-1/#comment-927 bdbd Wed, 29 Apr 2009 12:52:27 +0000 http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2009/04/29/risk-management-acronym-of-the-day/#comment-927 The article says that in the course of her duties Pengergast was "using a computer-generated pie chart she created." If that's not evidence of utter incompetence, what could be? The article says that in the course of her duties Pengergast was “using a computer-generated pie chart she created.” If that’s not evidence of utter incompetence, what could be?

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