Another Take on Hackney

By Mark Evans | Published: February 27, 2007

The News Observer’s Barry Saunders has a column on the parking lot/road rage incident involving Nortel senior VP Joel Hackeny, who recently admitted to being guilty of false imprisonment, assault of a female and uttering threats.

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  • br

    I think that pretty much anyone who does not know details of this incident, would agree with this article. However, I do not understand how can US law be so easy on this case? 500 bucks and some community service. Phew… Is there something more behind this case that we do not know? How come this woman didn’t receive major $$$? Was it something agreed behind curtains? I do not get it at all. I don’t understand either how everything looks so quiet. Hush hush. What’s is the message for employees? What would have happened if roles were reversed (woman was attacker, JH was being attacked)? Would it be the same sentence? This case is so puzzling, and there is not whole truth being told here.

  • Anonymous

    Hackney is nothing but a coward. He has what it takes to be a top Nortel Exec.

  • Not a Nortel Employee

    This is a misdemeanor criminal offense, and for a “first time” offender, Hackney’s penalties aren’t out-of-line.

    Ms. Ogden, while certainly offended by what Hackney did, didn’t think the offense rose to the level that she was willing to miss a week of classes to participate in a criminal trial (according to the article).

    With regards to her receiving $$$, that would be determined in a civil court via a lawsuit between her and Hackney.

    The matter so far has been a criminal case, and if it had gone to trial, would have been the State versus Hackney, with Ms. Ogden as a witness for the prosecution.

  • Anti-Z

    She should have drove this all the way to court so he would have a criminal record and not be able to enter most foreign countries… and then bye bye coward

  • Anonymous

    To bad Ms. Ogden did not have a black belt in the martial arts and could have responded in kind to the threat….A lot of females are quite capable of responding to physical threats and it would have been bad for the male ego to have ones arm ripped off and handed back to the agitator by the intended victim.

  • just a nortel employee

    Alicia Ogden said according to the article:
    “I was terrified,” she told me. “When my roommate said, ‘Mister, just leave us alone,’ he invited her to get out of the car. … When we left the parking garage, I was shaking so badly that I had to pull over.”

    What else is there to say. I really wonder what was driving Joel Hackney to behave like that? Just a girl honking? No. He’s got a serious problem. People behaving like this need professional psychological help. An anger management assesment is not sufficient, especially taking into account his short comment to the press, not showing any regret just saying it was a minor thing. I’ve studied psychology for I became an engineer. Therefore I know what I am saying.

  • LikeNortelLikeChina

    The tumble in China’s Stock Market yesterday, is a foreboding warning of imminent financial collapse in China. The financial collapse in China will make Nortel’s great collapse lin 2000 ook like an aphid’s whisker on a humback whale. It will be the mother of all financial collapses. Nortel had better pull out of China and relocate ASAP!

  • A different view

    I’m sure Ogden was uncomfortable with this misunderstanding. Especially being a young lady and having been approached by an unfamiliar man. Let’s look at some other views that were not pointed out in the article by Mr. Saunders. None of us were at the seen. Did it happen like Ogden claimed. Could it have been she was not comfortable with how things went and then went back to her home to google his lisense and found out his status, then thought….well now this could be interesting if I decide to make more of this than it seemed. Does Mr. Saunders know for sure that Hackney sat around with members of the country club…poking fun of the situation…NO he doesn’t!!! Nor do we know Ogden’s intentions. Let it GO!

  • From the top – just out

    Long awaited response from Nortel pasted below
    —————————————-

    All of us at Nortel have an obligation to act with personal and professional integrity. These behaviors are the hallmarks of great leaders and great companies. I place as high a value on integrity and ethics as I do our goals of driving superior performance and business results.

    As many of you know, there has been great concern recently because of an incident involving one of our co-workers and a leader, Joel Hackney. Given the nature of this incident I want to personally restate our commitment to ethics and integrity and share the action we have taken.

    Last October, following a basketball game that he attended with his wife and children, Joel was involved in an incident that resulted in him entering into a consent agreement, which means he is required to complete certain actions by May 2007 before the charges will be completely dismissed.

    Nortel takes this incident very seriously and, for the last six days, Chief Compliance Officer Bob Bartzokas has led a rigorous review involving numerous external and internal interviews (the internal interviews were with employees in and outside of Joel’s organization). This process was comprehensive in nature and I want to assure you that we took full account of all the employee input and response we’ve received regarding the incident.

    Bob and the Compliance Committee completed their review and concluded the October incident was isolated. The Committee recommended certain appropriate actions and advised the board of directors of its findings and recommendations. The specific details of the actions will remain private, as they would for any Nortel employee.

    Joel deeply regrets this incident and the impact it is having on everyone concerned. Knowing my intent to update you today, he asked me to share the following statement:

    “I want you to know that I am taking full responsibility for the consequences of my actions. I have also communicated my personal apology to Ms. Ogden. I know this incident has caused embarrassment for my family, my employer and my co-workers. I am truly sorry.”

    Joel is a leader with an important mandate who will need to continue to challenge his team to perform at world-class levels while exemplifying our leadership and core values. His track record includes very strong results and his leadership capability has been validated by employee assessments (as recent as December 2006), which included feedback from all of his direct reports. That said, I know Joel is taking this incident very seriously and will use it to work to become an even better leader.

    I am absolutely confident of Joel’s ability to execute our business objectives, and he has given me his full assurance that he will hold to the highest ethical and professional standards expected of a Nortel leader.

    Mike Z

  • UNC Law 08

    I’m sure Ogden was uncomfortable with this misunderstanding. Especially being a young lady and having been approached by an unfamiliar man.

    I am fascinated at your choice of words in the context of your comment overall. You wish to look at this from a “we don’t know what really happened” point of view, but among the first words you uttered was “misunderstanding.” For somebody concerned with the “coulds” and certainty (“for sure”), it’s very odd that you want to categorize the encounter so quickly as a misunderstanding.

    Let it be said, there is no misunderstanding here: Mr. Hackney laid his hands unlawfully upon Ms. Ogden’s face and communicated threats by saying “I’ll do what I want” and “Get out of the car”.

    Where you are right is that it must have been very uncomfortable for her. This is obvious, however, because she was so uncomfortable with what had transpired, she decided to call 911 and report this man to the police.

    Let’s look at some other views that were not pointed out in the article by Mr. Saunders. None of us were at the seen. Did it happen like Ogden claimed.

    I am going to try to make sense of this quoted paragraph. You wish to imply that, because none of us were at the scene, that we must not be able to trust the word of Ms. Ogden, the police, and Mr. Hackney.

    From a legal standpoint, it did in fact happen like she said. How can I claim this? It’s simple. In regard to your inference that, since we were not there, we cannot speak of what happened, we may conclude that you believe Mr. Hackney’s account is something we should consider. When Ogden and Hackney both signed the deferred prosecution agreement, this opinion of hers became the official opinion of both Hackney and Ogden.

    Now, there is still a question of ethics and the non-legal account of what happened that night on the UNC campus. I think, for this, we can appeal to the legal agreement, because do we really think that he would have signed something knowing full well that he did not do anything like what he was agreeing to saying he did?

    There were 3 other witnesses in the car with Ms. Ogden. Hackney’s wife and child possibly witnessed this event. The defense had no case and was forced to try to limit the punishment and effects on his private and public life.

    Could it have been she was not comfortable with how things went and then went back to her home to google his lisense and found out his status, then thought….well now this could be interesting if I decide to make more of this than it seemed.

    This is troubling. You are creating these wild possibilities without clearly thinking them through as plausibilities. First, Googling a license plate number? I don’t know what Google you’re using, but I do not believe there are repositories for people’s license plate numbers. Second, as the police report says, she called the police right after it happened to report the situation. She then went right to the Department of Public Safety, right around the corner from where it happened, to speak with them directly about the situation.

    It is much more likely that she did not find out who he was until after the reports happened and the DA told her that he was a prominent figure in the business community.

    My question is, why are you trying so hard to undermine this story with these ad hoc possibilities? What is your motive? If you claim that you want to fairly assess the situation, you very clearly have not.

    Does Mr. Saunders know for sure that Hackney sat around with members of the country club…poking fun of the situation…NO he doesn’t!!! Nor do we know Ogden’s intentions. Let it GO!

    Members of the Country Club? Huh? You don’t actually think that Sanders meant that seriously. I suggest rereading his column and taking note of his tone. It becomes very apparent after his reference to “Sweet Thang”.

    Ogden’s intentions are patently irrelevant, even if it seems painstakingly obvious that she had no intentions to do anything but secure justice. Letting it go when nothing is known is just as detrimental to the community as you’re fallaciously asserting things are as of now.

  • Tired of nortel

    The following is at the bottom of todays Z mail:

    “I am absolutely confident of Joel’s ability to execute our business objectives, and he has given me his full assurance that he will hold to the highest ethical and professional standards expected of a Nortel leader.
    Mike Z ”

    What would happen if this were donde by someone else? …

  • Bully_Buster

    A different view = Nortel PR view? Guys give up. If the real story was so different how come he has agreed to the anger management and community service? The guy seems like a bully who likes to throw his weight around on people he has power over (in this case a young woman) and from what others have been saying on these boards to underlings at work who fear too much for their jobs in order to tell him where to stick it.

  • Moneytalks

    Has anyone seen the Nortel 2/28 communication on their actions around JJH? I understand basically, “zero tolerance, but……” Not the action folks on this blog were asking for.

  • NOT A Nortel employee

    UNC Law 08

    Wow…you have it all figured out.

    I have no motive. I just simply stated “different views”.

  • A Nortel Retard

    I’m not surprised by Mike Z’s comments. He had to say something, but he just made a shitty situation worse.

    One of the components of leadership is moral authority something lost on Mike Z and the Hackman. “Do as I say” doesn’t work as well as “Do as I Do” espeically regarding ethics.

    The general feeling among coworkers regarding Joel Hackeny is one of utter and total contempt for the man.

    One comment I heard from someone during a meeting was “Hey, don’t Hackney me!”

  • Long Time Nortel Employee

    The general feeling among co-workers with brains is Mike after due dilegence did the right thing….

  • Another Nortel Employee

    Not true, he general feeling among co-workers with brains is… Mike Z is full of BS. The company is now run by a new clique that does what it wants when it wants, without actual concern for the company or its employees.

    The message that was received: The mortals have to follow the rules, but they do not apply to the Gods in head office.

  • many

    “The general feeling among co-workers with brains is Mike after due dilegence did the right thing….” for one of his boyzzzzzz.

  • http://nortel.wordpress.com/2007/02/27/another-take-on-hackney/ Another Long Time Nortel Employee

    I guess every one of my coworkers have no brains because everyone I have spoke to about Mike’s due diligence is that he did NOT do the right thing. It shows us that absolute results have nothing to do with how results are achieved.

    We have also not seen any remorse from Whackney. Why did he have his apology embedded in an email from Mike? Because Mike made him do it. JJ should have sent an email of apology to all employees right after the story became public. This shows us we can do whatever we want as long as we deliver some numbers. I have absolutely no respect for Mike or JJ.

  • Not an Employee

    Clearly, actions speak louder than words.

    The actions of Hackney should be condemmed by the company, not excused by it. Do any of the executives , from the CEO to the Ethics board, have mothers, wives or daughters?

    Oh, I forget, Hackney had his wife and children with him during the incident. I can’t even comprehend how they must feel. Any person who acts in such a manner doesn’t deserve a good job or a good family.

    Hackney needs help. And clearly, the CEO and the Ethics board needs to reexamine their decision. Maybe they should ask their mothers what they think.

  • just a nortel employee

    If JJh would have only yelled and screamed at the girls in the car then it wouldn’t have been so very bad, just bad. But by touching Alicia Ogden he crossed the line.
    MikeZ however cannot fire JJH. In the middle of the restructuing of Global Operations and the introduction of the GE management style there’s no alternative to JJH from MikeZ’s point of view – I think.
    At least we know what type of guy JJh is. And business ethics, come on, did anybody ever think that’s more than just blah blah, more than just cosmetics? If the ethics guidelines were followed strictly, Nortel wouldn’t have business in many countries. Shareholders would be scared if Nortel would stick to them. Business is no ethics beauty contest, it’s rough and tough.

  • Nortel Supplier

    just a nortel employee:

    “If the ethics guidelines were followed strictly, Nortel wouldn’t have business in many countries. Shareholders would be scared if Nortel would stick to them. Business is no ethics beauty contest, it’s rough and tough.”

    This is one of the weakest arguments for inexcusably bad behavior I have ever witnessed. Business is tough. That’s true. But the most enduring, admired businesses and leaders also tend to be the most ethical ones. Bad ethics and behavior only ever lead to short term results, and are always eventually exposed for that they are, and they create a cultural rot that doesn’t allow for long-term success and value creation.

    If you have any doubts about the veracity of this, check the URL below. How many of those companies strike you as having unethical leadership and cultures?

    http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/mostadmired/2007/index.html

  • FromChapelHill

    Isn’t Joel is the son of NC Senate leader Joe Hackney? Duhhhh. I’ve known Joel since junior high and he has been a cocky kid, mostly because of his dad’s political connections.
    I bet big $$ that his Dad’s political ties made this a behind-the-scenes golden handshake so Joel can ‘get on with his life’ and not deal with his obvious personal issues.
    C’mon, if you were in his shoes and facing these charges, wouldn’t you use your ‘get out of jail-free pass’??!
    Nortel just took the lower road and decided not to upset the political applecart that is the Hackney family.
    Anyone else not connected like that would be treated to at least 30 days of the state’s best housing.

  • qwack

    Joel is not the son of Joe Hackney, I checked his biography

  • ReallyFromChapelHill

    Funny, I was about to point out the same thing. Joe Hackney has 2 children Dan and Will (check his bio). I don’t think JJH is originally from Chapel Hill.

    http://www.joehackney.com/bio.html

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