Mike Z. Rallies the Troops

I see that John Manley is one of the potential contenders to replace Dion as the Liberal Party leader in Canada. It is the duty of every Nortel shareholder in Canada that has been betrayed by Nortel to help people understand that John Manley has presided over the destruction of Nortel. As a board member he participated in the selection of Mike Z as CEO and along with his fellow board members has done NOTHING to correct the resulting downward spiral of the value of the company. Is that the guy you want contending for leadership of Canada? Please help to get the word out. Tell your friends and neighbors and post it on as many blogs as you can. Good luck.

The Tories will certainly come up with attack ads if he becomes the leader however remote the probability

Very well Said.
Manley has done nothing in political life and has been one of the key contributors to the demise of the company when he walked in with his suit on with the perception he was a wise choice.
An unmitigated disaster.
Typical liberal more interested in helping out the rest of the world rather than his own fellow Canadians.

Mark are you on the Nortel payroll for making comments like "At a time when Nortel employees are wondering about the company’s future and their job security, Zafirovski did what a good CEO needs to do, by showing some leadership and stepping up to the plate"

The only thing worse than believing this was the useless speech that Mike Z made. For the few that are left at Nortel please don't insult our intelligence. I can accept if it was meant as a joke but you should make that clear.

Mike Z should get full marks for being a great motivational speaker. After his 15 minute pathetic babble the motivation and morale in the company reached a new low. He has truly transformed the business by savagely driving it to the ground. He has to cut some more people so that he can make his bonuses. You would think that the executives know by now that everybody in the company considers them to be incompetent cheats out fill their pockets. Of course they are on some sort of a high believing their own lies and deception to fill their pockets.

Mark, most of the people in the company think Mike Z is a joke. The only ones bigger are the members of the board. Of course they are smart to pocket their millions at the expense of cutting employees. By the way he is such a great leader that he has decided not to do Employee Satisfaction Survey this year. Now that's what I can a great strategic decision not to get rotten eggs on your face.

Oh yea, I forgot:

“I have no plans to go anywhere.”

Damn....

Nortel's manager:underling ratio remains way off-hitler (oops, "kilter", I meant "kilter"), but Six Sigma needs 'em, so....

disappointing. wish it were more motivating because it sounds more like lip service. employees have heard this again and again to the point of being de-sensitized. Most see it over.

Clint, your plan sounds very amateurish. lower cost is possible only if the entire company moves to India or China. Are you willing to work for under $60K. I would not think so and so would a lot of others. At least not at Nortel, where they have been burned.

hiring sales people off the street for 35k is a joke. I almost fell off my chair reading this. sales is what has kept this company going all this time making 10 billion every year in the face of dying products, cancelled projects and cut programs.

get a grip or go back to whatever you do.

Here is how you Save Nortel.
Get rid of all managers making six figure salaries and replace them with employees who don't earn six figure salaries. Poll employees and see which ones would be interested in assuming a managerial role. These people are in the trenches and know how things really work at the important levels of revenue generating, productivity and accountability.
Give them a crack at it. There will be no room for favouritism, ego, nepotism or false perception.
Get rid fo employees who make close to six figures or a six figure in SG&A and administrative roles. They could hire people off the street who would be confident, capable and efficient earning 35k/yr or less.
Stop sending manufacturing to places that have proven they can't do the job without constant babysitting and intervention. Current methods will lead to a QOS disaster, missed revenue and a multitude of incompetencies. Grade and make accountable senior managers who make these decisions.
Get a new BOD.
Get in bed with the Canadian Government and get some kind of security blanket. Make the sales force more efficient. Increase the marketing. Don't reward inaction or competency.
Completely S***can lines of business that are not currently generating revenue. Try to sell them but you don't need employees if you can put something on the shelf. Don't keep employees who are merely prepping a product that isn't even selling and has dim future prospects.
This is my plan for saving NT.
I told this to my buddy who works there and he likes it.

Clint...you obviously never led a turn around. 35k off the street when they have 15k Cisco sales reps up and down customers? (with salaries 3x what you suggest). It takes 2 years to get a rep fully productive in this space. That said you are missing the core point. Nortel has NOTHING exclusive to them to bank on from a innovation perspective. Everyone has a router, switch, handsets, SOA, optical, UC etc, to sell. Having a better speed or feed or function makes no difference these days. No matter who you bring in or who you keep there is nothing for them to go frontal on. Good sales people go bad when they loose a frontal edge. Another fundamental issue is that at Nortel, channels are led by marketing not sales. Big issue. Channels should be led by sales. In addiion there is no real "sales operations" that act as a commerce vehicle to close transactions, not impede. Acquire a new technology that Cisco or Avaya doesn't have, go frontal on channels, give channels fully to sales, don't build one more marketing program, get rid of the sales prevention teams, govern out the bottom 20% on sales. It's been done before and Nortel can do this.

I'll bet posting Paris Hilton's private sex tape at AAN would be similarly, uniformly condemned by the good people here.

Did its going public really hurt Paris that much?

Mark,

You did the right thing posting this, but I would rather focus on translating Zafirovski's memo for the uninitiated:

“I know this has been a tough few weeks for all of us…."
YIKES! Mike. It has been tough since before you took over and has gotten steadily worse. Please tell me you are not just noticing this.

“To ensure a better future, we need a new structure and become lean, responsive and affordable to move the company forward. Bottom line, we are in a tough environment. The very toughest I have seen in my business career.”
Translation: More layoffs, so I can get another 20% raise.

“The most important job we all face right now is delivering on the fourth quarter and meeting the guidance we gave on September 17. We must move forward as aggressively as we can in this environment. We cannot afford to slow down at all. In fact, we must drive up our efforts and results.”
Translation: we need to make these numbers so me and my buddies can get another 20% raise.

“I believe in the superb value of this asset.
Translation: So I can screw the shareholders out of more cash.

“We have remain open to opportunities in these times but I believe our strategy is sound and we have to execute on it.”
Translation: I can't get enough for the company yet to make it worth my while.

“I need your complete and intense focus to drive to a strong close the end of the year…"
Translation: Make your numbers, so I can get another 20% raise.

Mark,
You got my thumb up on this one. This is ALLABOUTNORTEL. So you can write anythings about Nortel. I like to see the positive news and negative news about Nortel. Not like these guys, they only want to see the bad news. They thought this is allaboutBASHINGnortel site. Too bad they can't read.

It sounds to me like IBM or MSFT is going to snap NT up after MEN is sold. This is what I think: NT will use MEN money to buyback its stocks. That will get NT stock price up to about $10 to $15 then either IBM or MSFT will buy Nortel with 30 percent of premium. IMO.
----
re
read and look what you have written here
It's funny, isn't it?
Oh ya
You are the smart guy!
I bow in front of you!
We all expect NT to be $10 soon!
before XMas?
copper tell us your targets!
Forget your loss!
It's not a loss until you sell it, right?

mark..
i have to add in, i sopport you and i give you permission to use the internal message from mike z. you see this was an internal message from (failed) management with no prestatement that this meesage should not be deseminated to the public. what happens internally stays internally only works in las vages!!!!
yes, i feel that this was the last push to rally the troops before the demise..

To all honest and defrauded employees I say I am sorry you are in such position.
It's not the end of the world that another company will go under.
Nobody can be blamed for that but only Nortel's managers and Nortel 's BoD
Let's support the least painful transition.
The AirCanada scenario is acceptable from the public perception.
It ensures public that no more investors can be fooled into the worst stock ever. /I am still waiting for someone digging out worse stock than this one/
For all employees remaining there and willing to stay there to the last moment I say, work hard for your money! You can put it on your resume!
Customers need you!
I've been studying history books about Enron, I tell you the conclusion,
The good parts of Enron are still good today in the new structures.
That's what I say
BK laws will help you if you are indispensable.
I guess, most of R&D centers_engineers will do fine no matter what.
I call it the "brain transplant" for the purpose of blogging like that one at Mark's E. place.
I am expressing my high marks for that blog.
Mark, if you ever doubt it, I say it once again and clearly, You are the best blogger!
You did a good job!
Sometimes you were losing control, but I give you the best marks possible.
Nobody is perfect, but your IQ is one of the highest.
You deserve the best money in the field of Technology!
I can easily find jobs for you not less than $500k a year.
Call me.
If I made someone angry because my posts, I sincerely apology for that.
Must be the barrier of my English language! It's my third Language and I have started to study another one.. guess which!
and question to all
Is my English so bad that readers complain about that all the time?

The internal Nortel memo circulated to employees indicates a state of panic, despair, and desperation during their final hours. Bracing the troops before slaughter.

CEO is pleading to its employees! Now what in earth can these employees do more than they are already doing. Like the band keeps playing as the Nortanic sinks, the contradicting optimistic pacifier hardly lends any relief to their relentless hope at this stage.

This is an intrinsic pep rally to battle extrinsic forces that are insurmountable and well beyond Nortel's control to a pool of people who many will be fired anyways at best.

They have not even sold MENs yet and I have not heard of any "fire sale" offers let alone any offers at all.

It is too late now and their choices increasingly limited.

They should have thought of this before their revenues they sought to maintain jeopardizing profits took a hit with the sale of assets/paper to UMTS to MENs... 25% decline in orders, revised single digit growth to decline midstream, cash cow CDMA accounting for almost all their earnings commences dramatic decline after company already loses money for a decade, etc... they are toast and now CEO pleads to employees...

Does he think reworking wireless will even come remotely making up for CDMA losses, who does he think he is fooling. Employees in crazy levels feeding him info can save the day /feed him different info like triple profits or happy talk? Forget it...

He is an axe cutter not a business development specialist, he isn't there to go on site to hand-hold when NT equipment fails or pretend he is a speculator with a monetary interest. This speech is as junior as trying to influence /manipulate the price of his company's stock claiming buying opportunity from 10 times its value.

Long boasted WiMax did not save the day as they seek to derisk 4G-LTE too now having already sold 3G-UMTS they were cash strapped then too, and now to sell MENs after already printing billions, when will the bleeding stop on their death bed, and this is the best they can come up with...yes it is. More hype and enthusiasm, exuberance, just what they need to make up for substance huh?

These are the toughest times green CEO risking careers has seen. Citing the last few weeks since revising growth to decline midstream for 2008 into this 3 to 5 contradiction, what about this last year since $20 buying opportunity or his averaging down in the 7's.

It is the very contradictions in this message that indicate they are directionless and at the mercy of inevitable decline NT seeks change when it is too late and well beyond what they have already tried.

If thier customers were pulling for them as he said, there would not have been a 25% decline in orders Q2. Upcoming Q3 may further reinforce this dramatic decline.

If this isn't a final primal death scream of a speech praying for help from the blank stares on their employees faces I don't know what is.

What do you mean, "You are pure bull"
This is not the first time Nortel's memos have been made public! What bull?

Again, setting the stage patronizing claiming good posts before this "you are pure bull" attack.
State why you disagree instead. How rude.

All I hear are the sounds of rats seemingly unable to abandon a sinking ship in despair looking to cannibalize anything close to them then address the issue itself.

They already canned 2/3rds of their employees with more to come on an ongoing basis which should spark readers interests in just who posts this nonsense in opposition. It sure ain't the employees. What is wrong with these rabid cheerleaders. If they are not employees or hold shares, who else can they be?

This wouldn't be the first time high profile management has used these avenues to convey their message, and in Nortanic's case I dread to read further in fear of losing my lunch.

In opposition, let the fraud dog sink. If they sank at 43 cents they wouldn't have defrauded ti ruin endless lives with endless following contradicting events that should have made Guiness Book of Records or Monty Python's deadliest joke .

This dog of a company just keeps losing money while firing employees and selling assets/printing paper with a pay happy management to boot, let alone lacking transparency or credibility, no better than reflected here by their cheerleaders during these final days before folding. Maybe they should have wrote the memo instead filled with happy talk if that makes them feel any better, I'd rather hear the truth.

As for your post, the only "cut" here is your hot air ...now pull my finger and enough threatening multiple IDs for one thread already.

Guys what Mark has blogged is not the issue. What needs to be discussed is Nortel’s next step.
Sure Nortel has some good stuff, but the cost of business has been way above the cost of operation and debt. This could change with sales, but no one is willing to make a big investment on Nortel equipment or software because they can’t be sure Nortel will be in business next year. THIS IS A VERY REAL POSSIBILITY, and a valid fear for a purchasing decision maker. If Nortel had deep pockets, it could pull the restructuring off but Nortel does not have deep pockets.
So we are at the next step. Mike Z needs to engineer the sale of Nortel to a company with deep pockets that can instill confidence in a purchasing decision maker. I am sure sales would pick up if clients were sure Nortel was going to be in business two, five and ten years out. So Mike Z, lets’ move to the next step; sell Nortel off and try and recover some of the shareholders lost money. Don’t hold out until Nortel gets deeper in the hole. Each Q Nortel keeps burning money, you are not going to change this with the current industry confidence in the company. Quit trying to put the sales force on the spot, they can’t overcome the obvious balance sheet data of Nortel. SELL NORTEL and try and get some of the investor’s money back! And when you are done, go crawl under a rock and stay there.

but no one is willing to make a big investment on Nortel equipment or software because they can’t be sure Nortel will be in business next year. THIS IS A VERY REAL POSSIBILITY, and a valid fear for a purchasing decision maker. If Nortel had deep pockets, it could pull the restructuring off but Nortel does not have deep pockets.


who are you to assume all of this,and what gives you the ability to know whether or not Nortel does not have deep enough pockets to go through another round of restructuring?

I am a guy looking at sales and the cost of Nortel doing business. And for the last two years things have not been staking up Q after Q. Can you show me where I am wrong? If so, please do.

Great comments from various angles. The comment by Mark:

"First, while it's an internal message, I don't see it as confidential or private - not when you're broadcasting it to 30K+ employees around the world."

is pure bull.

If the message had been to 10 employees in one office...what is the legal difference? To view the message, I had to be logged into the Nortel domain, via a secure password, passed through to a Nortel only server. How the heck is that not intended to be internal? Should Mike have placed a "confidential" watermark across the bottom of the screen to make it clear? Why didn't the video get sent to various Nortel contracting companies that will be affected by corporate changes? These contractors have more to know than the non-NT buffoons that comment via AAN.

Keep pushing the envelope Mark...you will get a paper cut.

I read this blog and http://www.groklaw.net daily.

Groklaw has gained a reputation for credibility and integrity (in all eyes except possibly SCO's) because Pamela Jones does *not* deal with possible internal memoranda. She (and the other groklawers) dig deeper than anyone has ever done before into public data---court records, patents, etc.---and this has created a responsible resource, the integrity of which can be trusted.

Pamela Jones does not deal with internal emails because the source is often dubious, In this case I think we should at least be told by Mark:

a. what steps he took to check that the transcript of the video was accurate. How did he cross-check it?

b. whether he was given the whole transcript from which he extracted the selections posted in the blog or whether he was given only these extracts. There is a significant difference between a Nortel employee deciding which parts of the video we should know about and Mark making that decision. I would like to know who is doing the selection and censoring.

c. what steps Mark took to ensure that the content of the video was not copyrighted. The extracts given were quite long and it is unlikely that their publication could be defended as a "summary of an address or article, with brief quotations, in a news report" or one of the other fair uses defined in the law. No doubt we shall find out if Nortel sues.

I agree with commentators that, by publishing these portions of the transcripts, Mark has entered the field of tabloid journalism and the credibility of his other postings has sunk dramatically.

Statement of interest: I am a Nortel employee and was unable to listen to the video (because it used an encoding that my computer couldn't play) but heard summaries from colleagues whose computers were less advanced.

JR- Blow this ID out your ear too.
...reiterating the same message here trying to fool readers in that you are the judge and jury.

This was fascinating and very informative insight highlighting the despair that seems to have blown a vessel with you. Why attack the bearer of bad news ...yet again.

Do you want to hide your head in the sand to the final hour or are you misleading with intent.

Everyone already knows full well that endlessly contradicting Nortel is going to shut its doors from their escalating decline. This only further proves it as you can hear the screams to bail water faster as the Nortanic sinks or by it's stock trading at a fraction of when it last neared drowning.

I take offense in low class liars trying to sound sophists attacking respected members of our community. highly reputable people with exponentially greater credibility and integrity than you will ever have.

Do you think your totalitarian comments will weaken the moral majority?

You are also the first to threaten lawsuit which is hysterical given it is not like posting hate literature on a public message board where one's ID and all their posts are deleted.

We know who you are.

JR,
I am not an attorney; however, I believe that the copyright of a video is to prevent the unlawful reproduction of its form. Mark has NOT provided us the ability to "view" the video on AAN.

I agree it wouldn't hurt to learn how the quotes were selected. But, frankly, I don't think anybody cares because there is nothing senstive in the MZ statements to be concerned with.

As for NT suing, on what grounds? For what damages? Are investors going to change their NT holdings on account of this disclosure?

NT has a lot to be concerned with at this time the least of which is their legal options arising from the publication of CEO statements in a taped pep-talk. Your fanning the flames here is moot.

To all those negative on Nortel ,


maybe what Mark did can be seen as unethical or simply providing the latest statement from Mike Zafirovski and what lies ahead for Nortel,however one thing is quite clear if there are many Nortel employees who read this blog to get some perspective from the outside,all the negative comments that come from the regular contributors to this blog are surely not doing anything for the moral and concern of those who are still putting in their sincere efforts to hopefully see Nortel pull through this difficult period.

It wasn't too long ago where there were a few bloggers here who were trying to convince themselves that they had all the sympathy in the world for the future of those who are still at Nortel,yet at every turn are calling out the end of Nortel as we know it.


Sheesh get some perspective people and maybe show that you are sincere in your concern for those that are still at Nortel by not chanting out the "Death To Nortel" everytime a bit of news comes out of the company.

Maybe life at Nortel is over for you,but there are still many who work there and hope that they have a job tomorrow,at this rate let's hope that there aren't too many who come here to read the daily slamming that goes on here!

Remaining optimistic is not a crime,nor should it be discouraged.

Sheesh get some perspective people and maybe show that you are sincere in your concern for those that are still at Nortel by not chanting out the "Death To Nortel" everytime a bit of news comes out of the company.

Maybe life at Nortel is over for you,but there are still many who work there and hope that they have a job tomorrow,at this rate let's hope that there aren't too many who come here to read the daily slamming that goes on here!

Remaining optimistic is not a crime,nor should it be discouraged.
========
re
You, Sir, The Psychiatrist, crossed your lines many times here and there.
I've been asking you for years...
Who should we focus on, families of NT's employees /33k/ or millions of families of investors destroyed by NT stock and Nortel's frauds?
Am I afraid to use the Fraud word?
Nope!
SEC used that word 37 times in the document accusing Nortel's managers of cooking the books!
It's the game!
Recession in the economic system is a positive and helpful!!!
It destroys the weakest links!_companies! and gives the best companies the new pool of employees /fertilizer comparison/ and destroys unethical competition /Did NT bid below costs in BSNL 2004?/
There is no justification for what you did here, The Psychiatrist /AAN/ or on other boards!
You bashed rightful critics and posted lies!
The easiest way for crooks like you is to blame rightful analysts for NT stock going from $1200 to $1.50!
The question is, why Nortel cannot post real numbers_real profits to win the game?
One who study history would study other, similar cases like Enron, Worldcom, Comcast...
Will I give up fights with crooks?
Mark Evans did not post few of my replies to crooks like you.
Too bad for Mark.
Let's talk about the main topic!
Why Mark Evans posted this one?
As I remember, only I protested against Mark posting rumors about IBM buying out NT.
Why?
because those rumors have caused investors, who believed Mark Evans, real money!
The blog is about Nortel and NT stock!
What was the pps at that time?
50% higher?
I advised Mark to check who pulled his leg?
Did he do that?
I don't care.
I protect my money, I protect my family and my friends who trust me!
I don't trust Frank Burch, Bo Gowan, Mike Z or even Mark Evans...when we talk about NT stock.
It's been Bulls vs Bears play for years!
Show me one my post I was wrong or lied about anything!
Just one!
It wasn't me lying about NT's revenues shrinking fast!
Question is, how fast it shrinks?
btw
Mark, who pulled your leg this time?
and why Nortel's employees accused you here of crossing the line?
Why they did not see you wanted to hype NT stock and the company as always?
I will stay focus on my posts /here or there/ and you can do whatever you want on your blog, deal?
How much NT pays you for your blog?
I see NT's ads on your web page...
I think, they pay you not enough for job you try to do for them...and get blamed by Nortel's employees here.
Mark, let's make a deal...
I will stop talking about you and you will try to be clear...
You should disclose your current position when you make a post...
sometimes you can be seen playing Bears sometime you are just a pure hyper of NT stock.

i never usually read this guy's post from top to bottom but i did this time because it was the brainwasher vs fruitlover play. but i regret that i did because it was a waste of time

Wow, you really are incoherent at times. I don't think your ill-placed use of "/" every couple of words is helping things either.

And yeah, I'm rooting for Nortel and its many hard-working employees - I hope much good comes for all of them in the times ahead.

Why don't we discuss what does the message really contain and see that there is a BIG hope to take this company around.?

Mike has done everything he can to turn the company around in the last years but the markets have negatively affected his plans.

Actually, Nortel owes him big time for taking the company to where it is today. It could have been worse.

And what Mark has done was great, he brought this direct, hard talk to the outside so everyone can appreciate Mike's leadership in this tough environment.

You don't send or say something to 30,000 people and expect it to be "internal" or "confidential". Get real people. And there is nothing new in this reporting - stay the course, work hard, etc. etc. The real question is why is this newsworthy enough to go in a blog? I did smile at the rhetoric: steadfast, superb, monetize, committed, determined, delivering...

Exactly.
Not like they were telling the employees something the general public doesn't already know.
Having said that there seems to be some kind of buzz that BIG news will have come out by the end of the week that they announce earnings. I think this preliminary stuff is all a lead up.
I would find anything relayed to the public that is meant to be confidential until that time would be disturbing, but I see none of the sort with the info posted here by mark.
We don't know anymore about new layoffs, new merger, new consolidations, new ventures, new units for sales, actual numbers for the quarter or anything at all right now besides rumour, conjecture and speculation.
You'll probably have a better idea what's going on in three weeks based on rumour but NT changes its mind and strategy more times than a baby has diaper changes. Relax People.

The news could be bad, and in all likelihood will be based on the trend so if you wear rose coloured glasses you better throw them in the garbage. I really don't see how the news could be good unless they have a good quarter, announce some new contracts and or get a decision on the MEN Unit.
We'll see.

To me it sounded like Mike Z was talking from the heart, he knows more than anyone that Nortel is in a very critical situation; we could also call it BIG TROUBLE!!!
For myself, I don’t think that Mike Z can pull Nortel out of the dive. My investment has basically evaporated, so I will ride it into the ground OUCH!! A decision maker would have to be crazy to make a major purchase from Nortel, it could easily cost the guy his job. And no amount of Mike Z hand holding the sales process will shake that fear.
What I would like (Mark) to do is talk about how Nortel will be broken up and what kind of money Mike Z can engineer the price per share takeover for. So what kind of price do you think Mike Z can negotiate for Nortel’s ultimate sale? What would IBM offer? What kind of time frame would it be? These are not unreasonable questions at this point, it has been three years and the share price has dropped substantially, Nortel is trying to sell of moneymaking divisions, employees must feel very uneasy, the list goes on and on.

"Rocky Roads to cross' and 'tall mountains to climb' 'lacking miracles" sounds like its getting tougher into this '3 to 5 years":
“I know this has been a tough few weeks for all of us….The path forward is filled with challenges and the work ahead for us for the balance of 2008 and beyond is significant. Bottom line, we are in a tough environment. The very toughest I have seen in my business career.” We lose customer confidence, we will not succeed.
(what "and beyond", if there will be no "beyond". "Tough" neglects clearly unsurmountable as does the hype to bail a sinking ship even faster like they are not trying hard enough already)

Wouldn't their numbers reflect customer support to claim:
"Customers understand our actions and are pulling for us."

Let alone intensify interaction with these customers somehow like they are slackers with "more than ever before" "We cannot afford to slow down at all. In fact, we must drive up our efforts and results.” "You need to counter concerns and let them know Nortel is open for business…More than ever, I need you to go out there, and face the storms and face the questions and sell really hard. This is the best way to move forward." ("storm" is an understatement)

Now how on earth can a sales force "sell harder'. Are they not already doing the best they can?

Other parts fail to conceit they are insurmountable. Unrepentant hope neglecting it is too late.
What "better" future relative to any future at all here:
"To ensure a better future, we need a new structure and become lean, responsive and affordable to move the company forward."
(what have they been doing until now?)

I am counting on you to do your very best for Nortel, coming from some one adamant about become a great company again to buying opportunities to revising 2008 midstream as we see cash burn and CDMA decline, shedding UMTS, de-risking WiMax as its looking to do with LTE, etc., Counting on already overtaxed employees to magically pull a rabbit out of the hat? Maybe it is not the employees but their customers and future markets!

Rather than give the employees the facts in truth acknowledging their plight, he seems to be in denial like there is any hope. Just what does he think can possibly change, a miracle?

What can they sell better and to who.

Again, if customers were so behind them as he claims it would be reflected in the business. Sounds like customers are going on strike and he needs help.

Also, the sense of urgesncy and desperation in the relentless pursuit of survival here indicates to me they won't throw in the towel until some one forces them to.

Here is the ultimate corker like the general practitioner vain enough to think he is a specialist in every field to save they day.
Where does the CEO feel he can assist than personally handhold as he did in NewYork for a media company when their NT equipment went sour, and I wonder if he used the company jet for that let alone buy a new one recently justifying it being more green.

As for when they fold, look at other bankruptcies where shareholders lose and creditors stand in line first. He might not fire sell MENs but the trustee might. Restructuring after folding might make interesting debate in what employees might accompany assets, or what might remain sheding burden to work with, etc...

Surely he can clearly see beyond any doubt they do not have much time left, the optimistic theatrics are overwhelming in the midst of their darkest and final days during the perfect storm and so much more to come. Like heck the worse was behind them following the fraud fallout and settlement, the worse is about to come in the not too distant future in my opinion. There was no 20 buck buy, inexperienced Hackney didn't do wonders for enterprise, WiMax never saved the day and the list is endless in their final hours on their deathbed.

Mike Z should have given this pep talk on Sept. 16 at the end of the day thereby giving employees a heads up on the guidance the general public would hear the next day. What kind of manners are those for a green CEO to display?

This is a public company not a private one.
My goodness what buffoons to think this information is privy.

Something struck a raw nerve to be sure though. Probably exploiting the green team's desperation headed to demise I suspect.

The shameless Nortel-holic cheerl-leaders have some nerve to criticize a wealth of seasoned experience in professional journalism, like they know better or something. I am of the personal belief they are idiots.

Seems they took offense to come out with so many handles /IDs to appear like there is more that disapprove of the truth be known here. Transparency hit a raw nerve and the writing style is the same on those posts.

I suspect it is the challenged stalker who patronizes Mark with one ID and personally attacks with others /we know who he is, some guy named Morrison from Enbrum, a suburb of Ottawa. He was banned and all of his rude posts over the years removed from Yahoo, yet he still relentlessly posts. He also used the "accessmetals" ID there and on YouTube . All its posts are challenged cheer-leading to be read to be believed and racial or personal attacks supporting Nortel shamelessly with many IDs one could swear he was not of sound mind. It pulls the same stunt on other message boards pumping NT stock for years no matter what is announced, all the way down. They are the ones who fabricate with intent and personally attacks proven posters they call liars to boot. Nortel's best basher. Ignore them.

It knows as much about law and journalism as it does investing. its many IDs don't buy a single share yet encourage others to do so, as they post slander against critics or personal information against the defrauded. They are truly appalling as you can read from their hit and run IDs above.

Personally I would censor their posts instead.

This is the Notell culture of totalitarian censorship, the kind that drives intentional bonus rallies but this one sounds like its for survival. Everyone knows they are facing the toughest times in their lives, and evidently the toughest times this green ultimatum CEO has ever seen, now asking his sales people of all things to use him in face of challenge like he is a pro here too. Puleeze. What a laughing stock right down to its cheerleaders.

As for the pumpers, two can play their game. They never listen when we keep telling them the moral majority will win with so much more to come.

Folks,

Here's why I blogged on Mike Zafirovski.

First, while it's an internal message, I don't see it as confidential or private - not when you're broadcasting it to 30K+ employees around the world.

Second, there's a long, long history of journalists reporting on internal memos, classified documents, etc.

Third, Zafirovski said nothing that he wouldn't have said publicly.

Finally, I think it was important - and blog-worthy - to see Zafirovski demonstrate leadership, resolve, fortitude and determination. More than ever, Nortel needs leadership, and its employees need to know that their senior executives are trying to get the company on the right path. Whether this strategy works is left to be seen.

In my view - and I can appreciate the other side - is "report" the facts and show how Mike Z. is trying to lead Nortel out of the woods.

Mark

First, the message was internal. If it was meant to be public, perhaps Mike Z would have sent it out publicly. Imagine how you'd feel if an email you sent to your friend was posted on a blog the next day.

Second, theres also a long history of murders and rapes, but I wouldn't make an argument that it would ok to do something like that just because it's been done before. These people who commented would still feel other reports of internal messages in the past would also be crossing the line.

Third, you're just putting words in Mike Z's mouth. You don't know for sure that he intended what he said to be ok for public announcement. This argument is not even worth talking about. It's a number filler.

Theres alot of "facts" in the world. But reporting is based on facts that are publicly available. Not to report an internal message and make it publicly available.

I think your blog was actually better when you stuck to absolutely outrageous posts like "someone whispered in my ear about the possibillity of Nortel being bought out by IBM". That's just my view.

Have been following this blog for quite some time and resisting the urge to respond to constant negativity that is being expressed by Mark as well as some of posters.

But Mark's posting of the internal memo was uncalled for. No matter what the message was, it was meant for employees.

Shame on whoever provided the transcript and the author for publishing it. This speaks volumes about this blog.

Sigh. How many different handles are you going to use to make your invalid point?

I think all of you who have been slamming Mark for reporting on information that was sent to him owe him an apology. I think he did a great job of basic reporting by simply stating the facts without editorializing. Let's not allow a culture of censorship to creep into this blog.

Mark,
Totally unethical.

Mark,

Though I publicly stated my last posting was MY LAST posting, I could not help but publicly agree with both GTF and BTDT (below) that, indeed, you have crossed a sacred line. What is internal should STAY internal, period!

Would Edward R Murrow have done this? I think not, but Perez Hilton would! Not the journalistic crowd you should be associated with. Please, make this my last posting…--bb

Sorry bb, this can not be your last posting. You need to defend your unreasonable comment. The most respected newspapers have a long history of publishing inside information from confidential sources. It happens every day in every segment of the news and those who have nothing to hide have nothing to fear. Would Watergate have been uncovered based solely on press releases?

C'mon people... don't be so naive. Would you be happier if all you got were the whitewashed press releases on the Nortel blog sites? If you have an issue, focus it on the person who forwarded the information, not on the reporter.

Kudos to the person who forwarded the information to AAN !!

ANW,

There is a huge difference in between Watergate and what Nixon said to the White House staff when he addressed them for the very last time.

The former is an example of exceptional journalism the latter is just plain gossip-ism. There, truly my last…--bb

Mark-

You have cross the line here. Not that there is anything negative in Mike's statements, it was still an internal EMPLOYEE communication.

You have shown your true colors and total lack of ethics. Obviously this Blog is read by many Nortel employees, past and present. Many have negative views and each and every person is entitled to them.

This is blatant , outright lack of professionalism as a journalist. I hope you enjoyed your spotlight in glory. I for one, no longer have use for your comments and your personal credibility is lower than NT stock could ever hit.

I am just as disapointed in the employee that released the content to you.

Huh? This is simple journalism. As long as it's accurate, this is normal and not the least bit unethical. Mark has simply reported what was said without adding any editorial comment. Do you object to the Wall Street Journal too?

What is the problem with him posting this information?

Mark - your posting of internal communications concerns me...this is not the first time (Hackney email). Publicly traded does not mean publicly operated.

Is this what blogging is about? Bitch about Nortel ethics and accountability, then cross the line yourself? Oh...I forgot...bloggers are allowed to present whatever view or position they want with an end goal of "dialog" and "debate".
Nice.....

BTDT,
Mark is no different from any other journalist. If his source is trustworthy , why not publish it? What harm does this do to all stakeholders that the NT mgmnt hasn't done already?

(( When asked if he was going to leave, Zafirovski said:
“I have no plans to go anywhere.” ))

That's it then. Unless the board is willing to act, Nortel is toast.

Focus on growing Enterprise business...most of the cash flow is about one degree from those PBX's that Cisco and Microsoft will be displacing and the data networking gear isn't relevant ...so if this is the basis of the get well plan.....dig the hole and buy the box. What a shame...it would have taken so little for this to have turned out completely different.