Mike Z. Gets Zinged

Well said!! If you are not ex-GE (Hackney, Flanagan), you are not reaping the rewards of Nortel's demise. Take a group of guys that when they were young, did not have enough ambission to go to school for a more advanced degree, (Z = middle school math teacher from a po-dunk school none the less, Hackney = Bachelors in business) and put them in charge of a billion dollar company, then create a bunch of joke lean 6 sigma programs (almost, none of have been successful), and you too can receive millions. The only thing Mike Z has done is lay off people, and move jobs to 3rd world countries using a shell game to make it look like he has turned the company around. Maybe the board should query Nortel's customer loyalty after having dealt with groups in China, Turkey, Russia, and India to see if they will be repeat customers, or they RIP Nortel for CISCO.

“Nortel lacks a leadership position in anything.” Bingo. And on this point, I'll reiterate my view that the only area of the company where I see real hope is optical. That market is going to experience some significant growth and Nortel has a shot at grabbing a good chunk of it provided they don't reorganize and put GEniuses into the leadership roles.

Lowe and Hackney are lost in the woods without a compass.

“If you want to get to the honey, don't follow the flies” – on old Macedonian proverb. Mr. Z is surrounded with flies, world-class that they might be…

“Perhaps you and others would be better off doing something else in North America “

Vicky Donato? Is that you?? Sounds just like her canned if you don't like it go get a job somewhere else answer she keeps spewing out on her internal feedback page.
Ironic part is.. even if everyone was on board and drinking the Z-Ombie koolaide by the gallon, we would still be moving on because he is going to outsource everything that isn't sales or PLM

Where does that leave us in terms of a business growth strategy? 40G optical? Is that enough? ???
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There will always be new opportunities to capitalize on. There is LTE, 40G/100G, Services, Telepresence. Huge opportunities will be created from the energy price spikes in North America. I think more people will have to rely on technology more than ever before if gas and oil prices continue on their upward trajectories.

“If you don't like what you are doing and where you are doing it, its seriously worth considering doing something new as soon as possible.”

There used to be value in identifying problems and trying to change things for the better. Sounds like you'd prefer the status quo.

“The last thing Nortel or any company needs is employees that aren't engaged and interested in their day to day activities.”

I'd argue that the last thing a company needs is an incompetent executive leadership team, but that's just me. Usually they are responsible for the disengagement you are writing about. Are you familiar with the concept of FUD? Tends to come from above, not below.

I think some folks on this blog could use this…
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The Most Important Thing
http://americandreamproject.org/blog/2008/06/05…
Posted on June 5th, 2008 by Will Marre.
Categories: Lifeology, Relationships, Lifestyle, ADP Diary.

In the past two weeks I have traveled from Florida to the Rocky Mountains and back to California. I have spoken to nearly every age group, gender, and color of American, literally from 18-80. What I heard was anger. Anger at, well, almost everything that is so obviously broken. But the most pervasive feeling expressed was that we are angry because we are scared. And the most heartfelt question people asked is what can I do to create a personal oasis in a world that seems to be becoming a desert? What can I do to create personal, financial, emotional, mental and spiritual sustainability even if the outer world is convulsing with financial bankruptcy, emotional drama, mental instability, and spiritual confusion? This is the real question for all of us all the time. As one 80-year put it, “Every generation has its great challenge; welcome to yours.” From a perspective of someone who’s lived through pre-antibiotic healthcare, a great depression, a world war, civil rights, riots, and the birth of Rock ‘n Roll, that statement is code for. “Quit whining and take care of yourself.”
That very night I found myself reading a great new book, The Art of Learning, by Josh Weitzkin who quotes a powerful proverb that fits today’s challenges. Life is a long road of thorns in which we are confronted with three options: 1) we can walk the road barefoot and bloody, 2) we can sit down, weep and wait for someone to pave it, or 3) we can make our own sandals.
There have always been awful challenges. Plagues, earthquakes, wars, famines, and droughts. Job loss, divorce, death, and depression. Life’s question is “Are we willing to make sandals?” There are many ways to make them. One truism I have discovered in coaching others for three decades is that often a 5% change in our life will result in a 100% change in how we feel. Even though sandals only cover the “souls” of our feet, our entire body and mind rejoice at being relieved of the pain from the thorns of our life. Here is some “leather”—tough and strong ideas that may be of value.

Be physically strong. Our body is our greatest ally in making us resilient. We need to regularly get eight hours of sleep. We need to eat healthy, non-manufactured food. We should try to never go hungry and never be full. We need to train like athletes, get our heart rates up, lift some weights and walk with our back straight. If we are fit, our thoughts will be creative and our actions more collaborative. That’s the brain science according to Dr. Jim Loehr (The Power of Full Engagement).
We need to be emotionally centered. We need to elevate our moods by doing positive things we deeply enjoy. Activities of sport, art or learning that capture our full attention and help us grow. We need to do such things at least every other day.
We need to be fully present in relationships with people we trust. Refuse to take love for granted. Listen with your eyes and soul. Turn off everything else. The T. V., blackberry, and the noise of your inner chatter and really be with those whom you love.
Seek spiritual growth. Research tells us the happiest people in the world meditate 20 minutes a day. Join them. Help strangers and read what inspires you. Be open-minded. Inclusive. Love with your whole soul.
Regain your perspective. Take a news fast. No radio, newspapers, T. V., Internet, or magazine news for a week. Pretend you’re on an island in Fiji. Listen to music that soothes you.
Be an expert. If we are going to give our gift, we simply must be great at something we value. Educators say it takes ten years to become a true expert. And real experts are constantly learning because they love what they are doing. It’s not work. And when you fuse your personality with your expert knowledge or skill, you’ll be one of a kind. Your expertise will be work that you love doing.
Travel light. Get out of debt. Remember, there is nothing you can buy that is worth more than peace of mind. Nothing.
Commute and drive less. Bargain for one or two days of telecommuting. Combine trips. Nearly all of us can drive 25% less, which will increase our quality of life.
Be strong and be flexible. There are very happy people living under almost all circumstances. Change what you can and see the advantage in what you cannot.
Don’t take the external parts of life too seriously. The purpose of this amusement park called life is to love deeply, learn without stopping and develop inner character that brings honor to your children.
If you’ve made some changes that have improved your quality of life, tell us about them. We need to share our “best practices” of life.
Will Marre
Founder, American Dream Project

The reason the stock price is low is because of a slowing global economy, competitive pressure and lack of a true growth story. IMHO, the market is being fed more by economic concerns and has been since January of 2007. Right now all equities are headed on a downward trajectory because of a prolonged recession. I don't expect any stocks to hit bottom until 2009 at the earliest. It will be a repeat of 2001 and 2002 all over again but with higher inflation and a much poorer economy. As always its never any one reason equities go down across the board, its because of everything.

Emotionally speaking Nortel 10 years ago was once the Super Target of telecommunications. A bit more pricey than, say, Walmart, but thats because it was cleaner, more colorful, had much more personality, and offered items you wanted, not just needed. The checkout lines were less crowded because of this but, hey, it was worth shopping there for that reason, too. You got prompt attention for your money.

It got even better when a few bad apples in management began helping themselves to all the profits, literally dumping any crap product that didn't add to the stack immediately and directly into the garbage, helping themselves to the customer samples, and going on long vacations. Their underlings, and even customers, soon followed suit, and when the place was sacked the suits booked, the staff nursed a hangover, and the clientele began to look elsewhere for love. Party over.

No surprise herre: Subsequent managers' solutions to cleaning cleaning house was to throw yet more stuff away, lay people off, and develop copious stats to show where things may have gone wrong, but were improving mightily. Then go on a nice vacation.

Today Nortel more closely resembles a Sam's Club, where you get some what you need only. Right off the skid. Maybe once a month. If a cheap product still doesn't sell, discontinue it. If some schmoe employee takes more than the alotted 5 minutes to dump it in the trash, ya dump with him, too. Stats say that lights in the break rooms cost money. Turn them off. You'd think working in seas of empty cubicles would send them the message that the party is over, dammit. Maybe its best to hire college kids; they don't know from cubicles. Screw it. Lets send the whole shebang off to cheaper countries. Next up: Build synergies by outsourcing the parking lot to a neighboring business, thus staying true to our slogans –

“Simplicity beats complexity any old day”
“Our switches will save you money, like turning off the lights your break rooms will too”
“Oh and wer'e still your friendly neighborhood Super Target.”

Another day another awesomely written article, thank.