New thinking and behaviour

David Fogarty may well be right when he says Thomson Reuters neither inspires employees, delights customers nor grows revenues under the leadership of the Thomson family and James Smith.

But what is most striking in Smith’s manifesto on purpose, values and culture at the senior management meeting, as reported on The Baron [TR staff need new thinking and behaviour - CEO], is the staggering miasma of vapid platitudes and nebulous generalisations worthy of a 12th-rate motivational speaker. What on earth is one to take away from all this that can possibly lead to concrete action? We’re meant to be in the business of meaningful communication, after all.

And this purpose statement was created by the new executive committee Smith formed in December? Perhaps we should add up the salaries, shares, expenses and all the other perks of each member of aforesaid committee and calculate how much each meaningless word cost.

You know something is amiss when you apply the negative to these value protestations and it results in the farcical or nonsensical. Just take the first one: “Trust: We act with integrity and independence by holding ourselves and each other to be ethical and reliable in all we do.”

Then, of course, there is the hypocrisy element. What integrity, what ethical and reliable stance came into play when so many long-serving top-notch correspondents were kicked out to make way for the grossly higher paid beneficiaries of the age of crony-gate? Once more the cases of Jim Vicini, Glenn Somerville and the many others - most recently Tim Gaynor booted out in the most despicably cavalier manner, come to mind.

Mark you, the old regime was not innocent of such shenanigans. In the category of sappy pap we had the often proclaimed pursuit of excellence statements, at least in Reuters America. Yeah right, we’re going to proclaim that we’re engaged in a headlong race to the bottom, even if that in fact was the net result, what with Bloomberg overtaking Reuters in terminal technology and business.

And as for hypocrisy, let’s again cite former CEO Peter Job’s greeting Lee Kuan Yew, that antithesis to all that the uncensored free flow of information unburdened by intimidation stands for, as his guest to the 150th anniversary bash of Reuters in Singapore. ■