Dearth of Honest Mercenaries

Political correctness will be the death of us.  Just read a news story about University of Mississippi research professors uncomfortable about accepting consulting projects from BP that would involve telling the scientific truth about the Gulf oil spill. Apparently, it is more important to be seen as hostile to the offender than to reveal accurate scientific facts that might mitigate their negative public image.  Whatever.  Guess that’s just the way of the world today.

It might similarly explain the deafening silence heard from the Total Rewards community about the perverse incentives debacle that triggered the financial crisis.  The authors of those morally hazardous schemes (see Ann’s prior Fred Cook moral hazard post) seem to have disappeared.  Perhaps the creators of the incentive programs which enriched the perpetrators of major increases to the national debt have suddenly been overcome with shyness.  No one wants to stand identified as allied with the TARP-receiving organizations assigned the black hats by the media, either.  Hate to say anything kind about attorneys, but at least their code of ethics requires providing good faith aggressive defenses to even those charged with the most heinous offenses. 

 

Back in prehistory when I consulted, I was occasionally “locked up” in reasonable compensation cases by a contract perfected by a prepaid retainer, so the other side was denied my potential services as an expert witness.  Frequently, the enterprise whose attorney retained me was engaged in excessive pay practices unsustainable as “reasonable”; so it was my professional obligation to both honestly define to my client any degree of excess and to present the best arguments supporting the amount of compensation that was properly justifiable while leaving it up to the opposition to make their contrary case.  As a court-qualified expert witness (remember Marissa Tomei’s Academy-award-winning testimony in My Cousin Vinny?  Same thing…), you are sworn to tell the complete truth, to fully enlighten the court about facts and to honestly share your professional opinion, which will carry special weight with the court.  If I could not defend a position, I told my employer (the law firm) beforehand and clearly explained the limits of my intended testimony; so they would put me on the stand at their own risks.  No one client was worth impeaching my professional reputation, so I called myself “an honest mercenary.”

 

Where are the experts willing to objectively study a sticky situation today?  Makes no difference whether it involves the Gulf oil spill, an intelligence failure or moral hazard in reward programs.  It’s one thing to refuse to lie.  It’s quite another to refuse to tell the truth. 

 

There is only a short step between those who hide the truth and those who distort the truth.  Which are we guilty of today?

 

E. James (Jim) Brennan is Senior Associate of ERI Economic Research Institute, the premier publisher of interactive pay and living-cost surveys. Semi-retired after over 40 years in HR corporate and consulting roles throughout the U.S. and Canada, he’s pretty much been there done that  (articles, books, speeches, seminars, radio/TV, advisory posts, in-trial expert witness stuff, etc.) and will express his opinion on almost anything.

Comments

[Hank]

The Lone Ranger rides again!

[Jamie Davis]

Jim, good reminder that principles matter. Since you are willing to take on sticky subjects and give your opinion on anything (so says your byline) , what is your take on government reported CPI vs. the concept of parity purchase power (stealth inflation)?

[E. James (Jim) Brennan]

Big different subject. Our researchers find the government-reported CPI numbers ... uh... "problematic" is the most polite term. Compare our homepage Urban Core COL metric @ http://erieri.com low on the left column under ERI Economic Indices vs. the Federal report numbers hyperlinked there and see the difference. Eamon Moynihan (yes, a relative of the past senator) writes well on that subject in the NY Daily News and periodically runs his drafts past me for fact-checking, so you may see my opinions cited there.

[Paul Weatherhead]

I got half way through reading this post on my Blackberry and realized that this author had to be bold, fresh Jim Brennan.

Thanks for the thought-provoking discussion, Jim.