Comments

I think it may have been Pfizer, not Merck that appointed its GC as CEO -- Jeffrey Kindler. Evidenly a vicious struggle for the CEO job, which the board finally resolved. Interesting note about Kindler, according to Dow Jones:

In 1995, he jumped to fast-food giant McDonald's Corp. (MCD) to become its general counsel. He relinquished the legal reins there to run Boston Market, Chipotle Mexican Grill and Pret a Manger as president of McDonald's Partner Brands.

While at McDonald's, he was required to work in a McDonald's like other employees. "Of all my experiences in life, the most frightening thing I've ever had to deal with was to stand behind the counter of a McDonald's and see three school buses pull up," he told The Wall Street Journal earlier this year.

Though I don't think Boston Market was particularly gangbusters when he ran it either -- originally started, as I recall by some of Wayne Huizinga's buddies from Blockbuster.

Oh, and Tom, if you're going to be eating all that great-looking street food, make sure to keep up the exercising! Is there a rowing machine in the hotel? :)

Posted by Richard Cauley at July 31, 2006 3:22 PM

Tom,

In a discussion about color and culture in our partnership, it emerged that the Thai people have a belief in colors that is associated with their birthday. The idea is that each day of the week is given a color designation. Choosing to wear clothing in the color that corresponds to your birthday, purchasing gemstones or jewelry that feature your birthday color, or driving a car in the hue brings good fortune.

For example, the King of Thailand was born on a Monday. Almost the entire population wore yellow, the color associated with the Monarchy, on the 9th of June in celebration of the King’s 60th year on the throne. Many people wear yellow every Monday to express their reverence for the King.

Such a colorful practice would certainly make it easy to remember what day of the week it is.

Thai Birthday Colors:

Monday born=Yellow
Tuesday born = Pink
Wednesday born= Green
Thursday born= Orange
Friday born =Blue
Saturday born=Purple
Sunday born=Red

Cheers,
Paul

Posted by Paul Davidson at July 31, 2006 11:00 PM

Two quibbles with this post.

Words are important and for a lot of people here they are tools of the trade. So, consider "...no doubt Ozzie is a genius..." No insult intended to the extremely bright, visionary and forward-thinking Mr. Ozzie, but a genius? In the same category as Einstein, da Vinci, Mozart, Newton and a few others? I've seen some pretty loose definitions of the word (including one that said anyone with an IQ of 140+ which means that some 2% of the population is at genius standard!) but I really think we should be more careful about using it.

And then, "...but is a lawyer really the best guy for (the next CEO)?" Hmmm... I think we've been here before but, well, c'mon! Lawyers (usually very bright) are incapable of vision, execution, inspiration etc? Criticise the guy because you think he lacks this quality or that skill or wouldn't be as good as Mrs. X but not because of his functional background!

Posted by Mark JF at August 1, 2006 6:08 AM

It's a sad commentary of the times when lawyers and accountants are ascendent(Charles Prince @ CitiCorp comes to mind). Sarbanes-Oxley legislation handcuffs the innovator while rewarding the risk-averse. The advantages of being a publicly traded company are greatly diminished. Auditors are having a field day enforcing the double-speak known as "Audit Standard 2". Seminar Opportunity - "Creating Business Advantage Through Compliance". Yuck.
11

Posted by Goes To Eleven at August 1, 2006 6:46 AM

"I think it may have been Pfizer, not Merck that appointed its GC as CEO -- Jeffrey Kindler" Thanks Richard! News coverage also says that his "victory" may portend more big mergers--jut what they need!

Posted by tom peters at August 1, 2006 5:08 PM