As the year comes to an end, it's important to look back on successes and failures. But success is boring, so let's focus on failure. More specifically, we shall focus on the massive failures of corporate leaders. For much of 2011, Reed Hastings, the CEO of Netflix held a commanding lead as the worst CEO of 2011. He single handedly tanked Netflix by making drastic price changes that slashed their membership numbers, and announced (then later retracted) significant changes to their DVD mailing business (Qwikster is the hands down winner of worst corporate idea of 2011). There is no questioning the fact that Reed Hastings was well on his way to worst CEO of 2011.
Then Thierry Breton went and made it a real contest.
Thierry Breton is the CEO of Atos, Europe's largest information technology services company. On November 28th, The Telegraph published the article Staff to be banned from sending emails. In it, Thierry Breton states that he wants a "zero email" policy in place within 18 months. Yes, that’s correct – he wants to get rid of email.
I understand the perils of corporate email as much as anyone else. I even went so far as to define the seven most annoying habits of corporate emailers. Yes, it is misused, overused and perhaps even abused. But it’s absolutely laughable to imagine a scenario where a CEO is dumb enough to believe the solution is to get rid of email altogether. Email may be an old technology, but it is crucial to corporate communication when used appropriately.
In the article, Breton has some interesting quotes that I have extracted for your reading enjoyment:
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1. "Staff spend between 5-20 hours handling emails"
And we should assume that all of those hours were unnecessary and that none of the emails were an effective use of time and the proper method of efficiently communicating? Some people would call those 5-20 hours “working”. In Breton's world, he doesn’t understand what work is. He sits in meetings 10 hours a day, goes to events as the face of an organization, makes a few decisions here and there, and goes home. Of course he’s annoyed by email. He doesn’t actually work.
2. "It is not normal that some of our fellow employees spend hours in the evening dealing with their emails"
The fact that people look at emails in the evening is not the fault of emails. It's the fault of the workaholic working in the evening. Working at night is enabling email misuse and abuse. Guns don't kill people. I do.
3. "The email is no longer the appropriate (communication) tool"
This is Breton's best quote, by far. Adding 'the' before 'email' truly shows how technotarded he really is. The IM, The Texting, and The Facebook are more appropriate in Breton's mind. Perhaps Atos should invest in Dunder Mifflin Infinity.
4. "Companies must prepare for the new wave of usage and behaviour"
Take Breton back to the 1990s and assume email is the new form of corporate communication. Imagine Breton telling his workforce that phones will be eliminated in 18 months because people need to prepare for the new wave of technology coming out. Now place yourself 3 years later when Breton no longer has a job. Interesting that Breton would use the term ‘wave’ to describe this new form of collaboration employees should use. Perfect timing with Google announcing the end to Google Wave and its colossal failure at replacing email.
5. "If people want to talk to me, they can come and visit me, call or send me a text message...Emails cannot replace the spoken word."
He is correct. Emails cannot replace the spoken word. This is why human beings use many forms of communication to accomplish a task. They are not limited to using one form or another. Companies should encourage and educate employees on what forms of communication work best for certain situations. Email cannot replace spoken word just like IM, texting and social networking do not replace email or spoken word, yet Breton is gung-ho on those forms of communication. They all serve different needs, and each have their own advantages.
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Has Thierry Breton ever wondered how much wasted time is spent in meetings? Perhaps he should implement our tongue-in-cheek plan that eliminates meetings altogether because of how wasteful they are. Breton has identified a real problem, just like many others already have before him. The difference between the others and Breton is that they aren’t morons.
Congratulations Thierry Breton. You are a finalist for worst CEO of 2011.
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