Breaking the rules
I read your article on the Entergy CEO, Mr. Wayne Leonard, with some confusion.
It seems to me that to have a title with the word “integrity” and a highlighted quote next to a man’s picture stating, “Any time we catch somebody breaking the rules to serve the customer, we give them an award,” is paradoxical.
Webster’s II New Riverside Dictionary defines integrity as “firm adherence to a code or standard of values”.
The very nature of “rules” is to provide behaviors or actions that someone has determined are necessary and should be followed. To say that someone has high integrity but receives awards for breaking rules is either nonsense talk or an attempt at cuteness. This management fad is not new and it surprises me that a company like Entergy has a CEO who touts what Burger King did three years ago in TV ads. If Mr. Leonard gives his people general guidelines and then the authority to think and do the right thing by application of the guidelines, I applaud him. I would still want to know how he tells people what rules he expects them to follow and if they have no rules except “safety,” I would like to understand how he established a value base to every employee that matches his.
If he is like many management people today who find that breaking some rules to get ahead [is acceptable], but hold their people to others when it is convenient, I would recommend that you find someone else to extol.
Glenn McIntyre
Perrysburg, Ohio
What about ATC?
As communication consultants to American Transmission Co., we read your cover story in the May issue on RTOs with much interest, if not disappointment since ATC didn’t make your list!
ATC has as its origins in 1999 Wisconsin Act 9, which directed Wisconsin utilities to divest their transmission assets in order to obtain relief from an asset cap that restricted their ability to diversify.
ATC is well on its way to becoming operational on January 1, 2001. Jose Delgado is CEO-elect, an executive team is forming and employee recruitment is underway. More information about ATC can be found at our Web site, https://www.atcllc.com
Jackie Olson & Neil Palmer
Neil Palmer & Associates
Elm Grove, Wis.
