Buyer’s Remorse?

Some of you are no doubt aware that Sir Fred Goodwin is no longer Sir Fred, but simply Fred. The UK government has an obscure department tucked away deep within its wood paneled bureaucracy that has the power to reverse awards like knighthoods. So whereas once Fred was a poster child for aggressive capitalism, and thus was invested as Sir Fred, he, having fallen calamitously from grace and having taken the Royal Bank of Scotland with him, is now relieved of his title and has reverted to being one of us – a mere commoner. He is Fred once more.

This is a tad perverse. I think it’s silly to give out titles anyway, especially knighthoods – where exactly was Fred’s horse and armor? – but this idea of taking it back just makes the first error more noticeable.

I recall being given Tom Peter’s run away business best seller back in the 1980’s. In it he described the business practices of a series of supposedly excellent firms, the kind we all ought to emulate. The CEO of our bank wanted us to absorb the lessons carefully, copy them, and propel our little enterprise to the top of the performance list. As it turns out it was a good job we failed, lamentably, to replicate their success. Most were dismal failures a few years later. The lesson is obvious: business success is short lived and almost entirely due to good luck. This is as it should be in an uncertain world. Indeed it is exactly what we would predict.

But, no matter, the UK government’s u-turn prompts me to wonder what other titles need to be rescinded now that history has had its way with lofty reputations. I have few winners of the economics pseudo-Nobel prize in mind.

What about you?