Lawmakers to Wells Fargo CEO: ‘Why shouldn’t you be in jail?’; Washington Post, 9/29/16

Renae Merle, Washington Post; Lawmakers to Wells Fargo CEO: ‘Why shouldn’t you be in jail?’ :

"Some members peppered Stumpf with questions about whether he should be criminally prosecuted.

“Why shouldn’t you be in jail?” asked Rep. Michael E. Capuano (D-Mass.) “When prosecutors get hold of you, you are going to have a lot of fun.” “Do you think what you did was criminal?” Rep. David Scott (D-Ga.) asked. Stumpf responded that he had led the bank with “courage,” but was interrupted again...

“We have a culture based on ethics, and doing what’s right,” Stumpf said to the committee. “I stand with the people who are doing the right thing.”

Several lawmakers noted that despite Stumpf's emphasis on ethics, the bank has been hit with various fines over the past decade, including some linked to the housing crash."

The One Question You Should Ask About Every New Job; New York Times, 12/19/15

Adam Grant, New York Times; The One Question You Should Ask About Every New Job:

"When it comes to landing a good job, many people focus on the role. Although finding the right title, position and salary is important, there’s another consideration that matters just as much: culture. The culture of a workplace — an organization’s values, norms and practices — has a huge impact on our happiness and success.

But how do you figure out the culture of a company you’ve never worked for? As Nicole tried to evaluate company cultures, she kept asking the Passover question: “How is this organization different from all other organizations?” And, as with Passover, I told Nicole, the answer should come in the form of a story. Ask people to tell you a story about something that happened at their organization but wouldn’t elsewhere."

Hillary Clinton’s Final Exam; New York Times, 9/24/16

David Axelrod, New York Times; Hillary Clinton’s Final Exam:

"Without pretense about the challenges Americans face, she will offer a more optimistic vision of the future than Mr. Trump’s relentlessly dystopian portrait of a country on the brink — the audacity of no hope. She will embrace diversity as a strength, in contrast to his past slights on immigrants, Muslims, women and people with disabilities.

Finally, she will stress the need to work together to solve the nation’s problems and mock Mr. Trump’s oft-stated declaration that he will single-handedly cure America’s ills — on Day 1. Both liberals and conservatives bridle at this autocratic vision.

In the end, presidential debates are less a trial of fact than a televised final exam for the most exacting job on the planet. They offer Americans a window into how each of these candidates would deal with excruciating pressure. They are measured in revealing moments. Will the candidates react with grace, humor and unflappability, or with anger and uncertainty?"

Wells Fargo Case Prompts Questions Of Corporate Ethics Reform; NPR, 9/24/16

[Podcast] NPR; Wells Fargo Case Prompts Questions Of Corporate Ethics Reform:

"The bank's CEO appeared before a Senate banking committee this week to answer questions about fake accounts created by more than 5,000 of his employees. Scott Simon talks with consultant Dov Seidman."

Members Of Congress Rip Into Mylan CEO; Huffington Post, 9/21/16

Lauren Weber, Huffington Post; Members Of Congress Rip Into Mylan CEO:

"“To have companies like yours take advantage of the situation, take advantage of these people who are really in need of this medication, I think it speaks to something that we are better than that,” Rep. Lacy Clay (D-Mo.) said. “How did we get to this point that we have a culture like this in corporate America that wants to stick it to consumers?”...

Cummings emphasized his disgust that pharmaceutical companies would continue to ratchet up drug prices for life-saving medication and said he hoped Bresch would apologize. She did not.

“After Mylan takes our punches, they’ll fly back to their mansions in their private jets and laugh all the way to the bank while our constituents suffer, file for bankruptcy, and watch their children get sicker and die,” Cummings said. “It’s time for Congress to act.”"

Wells Fargo CEO Takes Responsibility For ‘All Unethical’ Practices; Reuters via Huffington Post, 9/20/16

Reuters via Huffington Post; Wells Fargo CEO Takes Responsibility For ‘All Unethical’ Practices:

"The chief executive officer of Wells Fargo & Co on Tuesday apologized for the bank’s opening as many as 2 million bogus customer accounts that could generate fees for the lender.

“I accept full responsibility for all unethical sales practices,” CEO John Stumpf told a congressional panel...

[Ohio. Sen. Sherrod] Brown said employees were caught “forging signatures, and stealing identities, Social Security numbers, and customers’ hard-earned cash, so as to hang on to their low-paying jobs and make money for the high-paying executives at Wells Fargo.”"

‘You should resign': Elizabeth Warren excoriates Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf; Washington Post, 9/20/16

Jena McGregor, Washington Post; ‘You should resign': Elizabeth Warren excoriates Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf:

"In at least a couple of instances, she used the bank's own words against him. She began by reading from the bank's "vision and values statement," which says "we believe in values lived, not phrases memorized," and "if you want to find out how strong a company's ethics are, don't listen to what its people say. Watch what they do."

So, she said, "let's do that," noting Stumpf had repeatedly said "I'm accountable." Then she drilled into questions where he was unable to affirmatively answer that he had resigned, handed back money he'd earned or fired any senior executives."

Patent chief tells lawmakers ‘time and attendance fraud is not tolerated’; New York Times, 9/13/16

Lisa Rein, Washington Post; Patent chief tells lawmakers ‘time and attendance fraud is not tolerated’ :

"U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director Michelle K. Lee told lawmakers Tuesday that she and her team “do not tolerate any kind of attendance abuse” and promised that employees who commit fraud are disciplined...

A 15-month analysis by Deputy Inspector General David Smith’s office of thousands of patent examiners’ turnstile badge swipes, computer logins and remote computer connections from their homes to federal systems showed consistent discrepancies between the time employees reported working and the hours they actually put in.

This time and attendance abuse cost the government at least $18.3 million, as employees who review patent applications billed the agency for almost 300,000 hours they never worked, investigators found."

It Gets Better: U.S. Patent and Trademark employees share their stories; U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, 6/25/15

[Video] U.S. Patent and Trademark Office; It Gets Better: U.S. Patent and Trademark employees share their stories:

[Kip Currier: While prepping for a patent lecture for my Intellectual Property and "Open" Movements course next week, I serendipitously found this inspiring "It Gets Better" video from 2015, featuring USPTO Director Michelle K. Lee and openly LGBT employees in the USPTO.]

"“Do not let the bullies of the world distract you from the commitment to achieve your fullest potential,’ says USPTO Director Michelle K. Lee in this video featuring stories from our employees, “It does get better.”"

This employee ID badge monitors and listens to you at work — except in the bathroom; Washington Post, 9/7/16

Thomas Heath, Washington Post; This employee ID badge monitors and listens to you at work — except in the bathroom:

"Those concerned about their privacy might be alarmed by the arrival of such badges. But Humanyze says it doesn’t record the content of what people say, just how they say it. And the boss doesn’t get to look at individuals’ personal data. It is also up to the employee to decide whether they want to participate.

“Those are things we hammer home,” Waber said. “If you don’t give people choice, if you don’t aggregate instead of showing individual data, any benefit would be dwarfed by the negative reaction people will have of you coming in with this very sophisticated sensor.”

He and three fellow scientists, two of whom are MIT graduates and one from Finland, call their technology “people analytics.”"

Report: 'Failure of OPM's leadership' led to historic data breaches; FedScoop, 9/7/16

Chris Bing, FedScoop; Report: 'Failure of OPM's leadership' led to historic data breaches:

"A 2014 data breach at the Office of Personnel Management was the result of failed leadership and consistent cybersecurity ignorance, according to an investigative report released Wednesday by members of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

“The long-standing failure of OPM’s leadership to implement basic cyber hygiene, such as maintaining current authorities to operate and employing strong multi-factor authentication, despite years of warnings from the inspector general, represents a failure of culture and leadership, not technology,” states the report.

By disregarding warnings shared by the inspector general as far back as 2005, former Chief Information Officer Donna Seymour and Director Katherine Archuleta put the personal information of more than 20 million citizens at risk, Oversight chairman Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, said during a Wednesday appearance at D.C.-based think tank, the American Enterprise Institute...

"The government of the United States of America has never before been more vulnerable to cyberattacks,” the 241-page report reads."

WorkZone: Amping up for hiring season | What do employers look for in an applicant?; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 9/5/16

Matthew Gutierrez, Pittsbrugh Post-Gazette; WorkZone: Amping up for hiring season | What do employers look for in an applicant? :

"On the verge of peak hiring season, the Post-Gazette spoke with some Pittsburgh employers about what they look for when interviewing job candidates and what separates the top applicants from the rest of the pack...

Studies have shown that many employers value cultural fit more than specific talent and experience.

“Are you a culture fit for the company? Are you ethical? If you don’t meet both of those, you're not hired,” said Sonny Bringol, president of Bridgeville-based Victorian Finance. He added that most of his firm’s problems are culture-related, rarely associated with finance."