Wednesday, March 16, 2005

Joe Berardino - Former CEO, Arthur Andersen (2005.03.02)

Joe is the former CEO of Arthur Anderson (AA), the now dissolved accounting firm that once employed 85,000 people. You may remember, but AA was the accounting firm in charge of Enron's books. AA came under heavy pressure during the Enron scandal; Joe was forced to step down after being in the CEO position for only 8 months; and later AA disbanded. Anderson Consulting became Accenture. Joe spoke candidly, but couldn't answer every question due to litigation he is currently facing. He seemed like a nice guy that got the CEO job at the wrong time.

Notes:
  • Joined AA in 1972
  • 1982 he became a partner (he was 32)
  • How do you get to the top:
    1. Must have competence
    2. Must develop trust both internally and externally
    3. Must have likeability
  • He liked what he was doing and was good at it
  • He stepped down in an effort to save the company, but it didn't help
  • Discussed trends in business over last 20 years:
    1. Democratization of the stock market
    2. Change in executive compensation
    3. Business news (CNBC)
    4. Focus on short term numbers
  • As a CEO, he "slept like a baby…..and woke up crying every two hours"
  • Left AA in March '02; took some time off; (he was 52)
  • Stressed importance of communication with spouse
  • "The cover up is always much worse than the crime"
  • Spoke real candidly about the trials of the AA break up

    • posted by Robbie Allen @ 3/16/2005 07:47:56 AM   2 comments  

    2 Comments:

    At 4/12/2005 12:01:01 PM, Rohan Abraham said...

    Robbie,

    Its a shame that Andersen collapsed. I was part of Andersen when this whole thing happened back in 2002.

    I pity Joe as you rightly said, he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Though I do feel he could have answered the questions at the hearing a lot better.

    Till date, I am proud to have been part of that wonderful organization.

    Regards

    Rohan

     
    At 10/14/2005 12:19:25 PM, Anonymous said...

    Berardino was a moron. His big deal was big companies and he tried to spread the thought that the major client of the firm with big companies was the CFO. What an idiot. The true client was the owners, shareholders, etc. What kind of moron would spread a philosophy and culture that would expose major (meaning millions of dollars per year) business relationships to the whim of one person at the customer. Only a moron who has no clue.

     

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