What if, as part of any bankruptcy process, every board member and top-level managers were automatically subjected to a grand jury type of hearing? In this hearing, the reasons for the failing of the company - really the failing of the leadership of said company - would be clearly stated and unprejudiciously reviewed. If those reasons were found to be wanting, these individuals would be charged and tried in an open court of their peers. If found guilty of mismanagement, they would be punished -- and I'm not talking about "three Hail Mary's, two Our Father's, and a sincere "I'm sorry" as they fly off to hide-out (lay low) in their second home in Malibu.
I'm talking about immediate seizure of all personal assets, community service time, even jail time - perhaps flogging (not really flogging, but a civil form of flogging maybe). Yes, their reputation will be hurt, their resumes permanently marked, and they will have difficulty getting hired as a CEO again, but that seems fair when a well-trained, hardworking, loyal-to-the-company IT tech loses his job in bankruptcy and ends up stocking produce at the local grocer's. (I'm not disparaging that job, just sad over the loss of trained ability being put to best use.) It seems only right that the proven failed manager not be hired again in a position to once again mismanage, misdirect, and ruin, once again, more lives. It's a shame that CEO's family would suffer, but it's seems fair when the 30,000 employees who lost their jobs take their kids out of college or go without health care or lose their homes not to mention the future security of a well-deserved retirement.
This is not about a feeling that "somebody needs to pay." It's about accountability, and punishing those responsible when it's clearly shown the legacy they were paid (well-paid) to bear, the success of the company and therefore the lives of it's employees (not to mention the economy of our country) was not as heavy a burden to them as it appeared to have been. I've never been a top 5, but I can tell you this - in every job I've held, it was very clear I was accountable every time I was reviewed for my performance. And the consequence of determination of less-than-satisfactory performance was the loss of my bonus, my promotion, and/or even my job. Why shouldn't it be the same for top leaders in a failed company? If a teacher in an inner-city school where most of her over-crowded classroom students live in dysfunctional, unsupportive home situations, doesn't make sure a percentage of her student's make a certain grade on a standardized reading test, lives under the guillotine of losing his/her job, why not the same for the Chairman of the Board of a failed company?
Do you think such a "grand jury of accountability" might give every company leader, every board director, a moment's pause, to make them think they will go down just as hard with the rest of the ship, that they and their family will suffer just as much if not more as the rest of the ship's crew, that making more money is not the end-all, be-all of our short existence on this planet as much as stability, health and happiness?
I do. I most certainly do.
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