To answer Matt Damon’s mom’s question in the video, I’m pretty sure that the 10% figure came from Jack Welch, former CEO of GE. For reasons that completely elude me, he was thought to be some kind of genius guru by all lesser mortal CEOs who strove to emulate his every pinky inflection.

One of his most pinheaded ideas ever was that managers needed to manage out the bottom performing 10% of their workforce. This turned into received gospel at many companies. It is as far as I can tell a totally made up number with no basis in job performance reality.

This can pose real problems for mid-level managers at companies where a great deal of time and effort is invested in hiring the right people for the job. Yes, there are under-performers, but guess what, they do get managed out, without any ridiculous headcount requirements. And those problem children comprise far less than 10% of the workforce.

It’s the same bullshit mentality that gave us “welfare queens”, which in short is this: “those people are lazy and stupid and should be forced out”. Funny how those at the top of the food chain feel entitled to pass such judgments on people they have never met, with whom they have never worked closely enough to properly evaluate their skills. Kinda like pinhead reporters and cameramen smearing 10% of teachers.

Obama missed an opportunity to blame Republicans for letting Delta’s union-busting get in the way of FAA reauthorization–and instead losing billions in the process. Instead, he blamed Congress generally.

Mr. Obama has demonstrated time and again that he will not criticize the Republican Party. Either he fantasizes that, occupying the most powerful and political job in the country, he’s above politics or he is a member in all but name of the GOP.

@harpie:

Damon is down-to-earth in his politics and social priorities. If it weren’t for the salary cut he’d take, he should run for high office. That and the fact that, like Elizabeth Warren, joining the Democrats in office would only muzzle him.

Of course, he could do a Grayson and do it anyway, except that if being a gadfly is all the party would allow him to do, he should do it from the outside and make hundred times more money, then contribute his voice and time toward the causes he believes in.

Oh, and the “camerman/interviewer” was indeed shitty. He should know that Damon comes from a family of teachers and scholars, who do it because it’s what they want, not because they think like an MBA and do it only for the money.

That motivation applies solely to a few professions, some among the oldest, and to Wall Street. It doesn’t apply to what most people do day in and day out, except for those who do whatever pays the bills. The latter – I do it cause I got bills – isn’t a credible excuse when the bills you’re paying are for the yacht, the second home, the midtown apartment and two kids in the Ivy League. When that’s what you spend money on, you’re still doing “it” for the money.

@harpie: Dang harpie, you have a real gift for finding links! Thanks. I really hate Welch. Can you tell? ; )

Any questions?

President Obama nominated a very odd candidate to be the next U.S. Attorney in Utah, the chief legal advisor to the Senate’s most radical tenther, Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT)

Dan Barlow, that is.

@earlofhuntingdon:
Thanks, eoh, I didn’t know that about Damon. [It sure seems like that camera man suddnely thought he might have messed with the wrong guy…not everyone could stand up to Jason Bourne when he looks like that! ;-)]

@phred:
You’re welcome and you are not alone!

@harpie:
Bob Somerby [Daily Howler] doesn’t like him much, either:
http://www.dailyhowler.com/dh061311.shtml

@phred: Yes, Welch’s advocacy of applying the bell curve to human resources – e.g., fire the bottom ten percent, reward the top ten percent and tell the other 80% that they’d better join one or the other group – was another great piece of predatory capitalism. It was adopted by quite a few unthinking managers elsewhere.

Among its many failings is that it hides its predation behind a statistical curve, making the firings seem logical. It is not a measure that can productively be applied blindly, without taking into account non-quantifiable elements that belong in any good review. In fact, numeric reviews, absent meaningful management input, that lead to disciplinary actions or loss of employment are illegal in some European countries. Imagine that.

Welch’s hiding his predation behind the bell curve has other problems. It substitutes a blind statistic for management talent. It doesn’t account for the gradations between segments, which may be quite small, which would make nonsense of the idea of firing the “bottom” 10%. It doesn’t apply to small departments or to enterprises with many disparate groups, each with wildly different jobs and skills that go with them.

It doesn’t account for the costs of letting go that many people on a routine basis. It doesn’t account for the fact that senior executives often use it as a tool to cut costs in the short term, regardless of medium or long term impacts, which means that managers who let go their “bottom” 10% often aren’t given the resources to replace them or the resources needed to get new hires up to speed and as productive as those let go.

It doesn’t account for the emotional impact on “team morale”, the sort of thing Mr. Welch purportedly regarded highly. It doesn’t take account of another emotional consequence, which is that managers being human, most of them, anyway, they skew the ratings of those they don’t like or who aren’t like them into the bottom 10%. Among other adverse impacts, that leads to cronyism and groupthink, to age, sex and racial discrimination. Apart from inevitably costing an enterprise money, such behavior is not notable among enduringly successful companies that do more than turn their patrimony into profits by burning it.

All in, Mr. Welch’s idea was about as good as his serial lack of monogamy, which lead to the messy divorce that led to the disclosures of his narcissistic, extravagant lifestyle, paid for by his unknowing shareholders, his employees, his suppliers and customers.

@harpie: Well, Damon did earn his place at Harvard College and left shortly before graduation because he had what he needed and jumped into writing/acting. His success seems to prove he was right about that, too.

One more thing that shitty interviewer should have known is that Howard Zinn was Damon’s lifelong friend and a neighbor when he was growing up in Boston. Neither would follow the MBA-think meme that a non-union predatory private sector mentality would provide the best or even an acceptable solution to public problems.

Got the Damon interview a few hours ago and loved it. I was not surprised to see it posted here! Thanks EW!

O/T:

As Panama was the subject of several earlier posts this week. I thought that this timely piece may be of interest:

Manuel Noriega to be extradited to Panama from France
BBC News Telegraph.co.uk – 11 hours ago

France has informed former Panamanian ruler Manuel Noriega he will be extradited to his home country where he has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for …306 related articles

matthew carmody:

Well,considering the huge investment the Carlyle Group is making in the Panamax ships to go in and out of Hutchison Whampoa controlled Panamanian Ports…well…I don’t need to tell you how I think that story will end.

Btw, I saw a post somewhere today about a development re: Viktor Bout.

Will try to locate.

The Wikipedia on the topic “Operation Just Cause” explains in some detail the history of Bush and Noriega’s animosity-and the resultant invasion by US forces of Panama. Quite interesting..particularly the very last sentence of the article.

To wit:

Noriega was brought to the US to await trial. One of the charges brought against him was dropped when what had been widely reported as 50 kilograms of cocaine, was revealed to be tamales.[55]—Wikipedia

Exercise for the blinker muscles:

Swede arrested for building nuclear reactor in his kitchen

He thinks he might have had a little meltdown, mickeymouse > hah-hah /mickeymouse.

This is a link to Matt Damon’s speech at the recent “Save Our Schools” rally in DC:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqOub-heGQc&feature=related

@prostratedragon: I’ve had EW’s revelation on the Rand Paul front as well. But some of the insight into the appointment involves the fact that his nominee is in the Sidley & Austin club – he really has such a narrow pool of acquaintances he goes to for his crisis responses.

@harpie: @harpie:

Thanks for the link. Made me think back to my public education, with gratitude. I had some great teachers and great classes and great experiences. Now my high school is like a walled armed camp with a freeway built over it. And that’s the outside.