Nortel Adds Another Blog

By Mark Evans | Published: March 7, 2009

Nortel’s social media efforts took another step forward earlier this week with the official launch of a new blog, Nortel Greenroots.

Written by Wilson Korol, Greenroots is “devoted to all things green with respect to our company and industry”. The fact Nortel launched a “green” blog is not surprising given how green has played a key role in Nortel’s marketing efforts.

“Greenroots is not going to be just about touting green excellence in those areas we are doing well” Korol wrote. “It is also going to provide as transparent a window as possible into our continually green journey. Obviously, this is a perpetual journey, as we are always looking to use resources more effectively, thereby reducing costs, consumption and waste while delivering ever improving customer service. If you have ideas about how Nortel could be a greener company, please let me know.”

Nortel now has four blogs, including Phil Edholm’s Enterprise Technology blog, which hasn’t been updated since Jan. 20, and the Voice Security Blog. Nortel may want to take down John Roese’s blog given he was dismissed last November, and Nortel no longer has a CTO.

Say what you will about Nortel’s management team, financial performance and strategic focus but its social media efforts, led by Bo Gowan, have been a silver lining in an otherwise bleak picture.

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4merEmployee22

What's CTO? Does it stands for “Chief Tactical Officer”?
rfc1149

Bo may very well 'get it', I don't believe Nortel does.

For example Nortel's response to the DeskJockey Videos (http://www.newsobserver.com/business/story/1431…) and the rumours (will you publicly deny Bo?) that Hackney is wasting company resources actively trying to find and 'get' DJ

DJ's videos are an obvious example of 'new' media which has to be more than simply yet another channel for corporate marketing.

There is naturally a huge amount of bitterness towards Nortel's management and there are not a lot of channels to vent this. DJ's videos are about the only positive thing today for employee morale (KEIP/KERB is a joke – too small to actually keep anyone marketable, way too large for the non-marketable (i.e. not 0) and pretty much designed to insight bitterness.)

Hiring someone who may 'get it' is something, but not the same thing as getting it.
protosphere

Green? …green as experience comes in telecom leadership
Green campaign slandering with Cisco Tax
Green with Roth or their peers envy
Green Jet was used to justified its purchase
Green is the color of shareholders or fired employees faces

They should change the color of Nortel's logo from blue to green…how green can they get?
scalpcutter

I did my part today.
I threw out my beer bottles in a garbage bag rather than take them to the LCBO
for deposit.
Somedays I have so many I just can't be bothered, if you know what I mean.
Theleftbehind

he lost all his money and pension

Death of man at Frisco's Stonebriar Country
Club is ruled a suicide
02:42 PM CST on Tuesday, March 3, 2009

By SAMANTHA URBAN / The Dallas Morning News
surban@dallasnews.com

The death of an executive performance coach whose body was found in a lake at the Stonebriar Country Club golf course in Frisco was ruled a suicide, the Tarrant County medical examiner's office said today.

The body of Peter Meldrum, 62, was found Monday by club workers in the 5000 block of Country Club Drive, Frisco police said. The Tarrant County medical examiner’s office, which sometimes handles Denton County cases, listed the cause of death as a gunshot wound to the head.

Meldrum is listed as a partner on the Web site of executive coaching firm Outcomes. The Web site says the company helps clients build better relations with co-workers, improve communication skills and create career plans.

Meldrum had a career at Nortel that included leadership roles in technical support, sales and general management, according to the Outcomes Web site.

The Dallas Morning News profiled Meldrum in a 2005 list of people who donated to charities. Meldrum donated at least $10,000 a year to charities such as Dallas Social Venture Partnership, Children International, American Cancer Society, the American Heart Association, and various hurricane and tsunami relief efforts.

At a minimum $5,000 to join, the Dallas Social Venture Partnership appealed to Meldrum because it allowed him to be involved with supporting specific nonprofit agencies geared toward a common goal: improving education for young children in impoverished areas, he told the newspaper in 2005.
scalpcutter

Kind of unfair to say the poor fellas situation was brought on by nortel.
People kill themselves every day.
There is usually a genetic element involved.
Who knows what all the issues were with respect to this guys unfortunate circumstances.
The fact this guy donated 10k per year to charities means he didn't have money issues. You people need to think before you post something.
scalpcutter

Maybe canada should go back to being a country striclty of loggers.
They don't want high tech and they don't want science.
less

Taking a blog down takes time. Lets give them another, oh, 6 months, or so. Also, with its resources limited, Nortel has had to choose between taking a blog or making a blog. And it has chosen wisely.

Personally, I will always associate “Nortel” and “green” with the uncounted hundreds of thousands of dollars of perfectly good hardware and software that wandered off into the trash to make room for “better” customers. Oh, and those marble “Team Builder Champion” plaques…

The term “global warming” has become so overused that the global villagers (formerly “tree huggers”) themselves are increasingly shifting to “climate change”. US soldiers abroad have evolved from “babykillers” to ''pawns of the oil cabal” as needed.

“Nortel” and “greed” is synonymous, “Nortel” and ''green” an oxymoron.
less

PS – who recycles Nortel's discarded “0″s and “1″s anyway?
less

Huh. I went to Frisco just hours after this happened.
less

“It is extremely unfortunate that a single individual would choose to express his opinions in such a tasteless fashion,” Barta said.

Its extremely unfortunate that an individual like Hole Acne should express his opinions by pinching people's faces.

Why doesn't he take a cue from fellow financial hack, Kraut film “director' Uwe Boll, and just challenge all his detractors to a boxing match? Make 'em butch up. walk the walk.

10, 20, 300, 4000… is that all ya got? Pah. Acne is da man.
TongueInCheek

The last time this story was posted with a linkage between this man's death and Nortel, Mark made the proper choice to remove the post. Hopefully he does the same again here.
protosphere

boo legion =)
protosphere

yes …heaven forbid bad news comes out against Nortel
your traditional patronizing goes beyond merely kissing cheeks

you run to Nortel's defense every time as they swindle shareholders and employees. You even shamelessly / unethically try to turn employees against honest and proven critics who supported them with their life savings, as Nortel delays growing cash/debt ultimatum with creditors for more bonuses

Face it, Nortel is either corrupt of stupid, creating damage of mass destruction. Your KoolAid suppressing selective news doesn't make events disappear. Notell wants to gag too, employees and shareholders, Flex amendments, and traditionally lacks so much transparency they reiterate boastfully when they rarely do, you should be in management.

Your selective posts paint you as a pumper you deny, at under a penny presplit headed to chapter 7 in a handbasket, how dare anyone think it had anything to do with pensions being severed after so many years of dedicated service into retirement.

Which cheek, thank you sir may I please have another…
Casual_Observer

good post. It shows that Nortel management is old school and still doesn't get it. They cannot keep up with technological and social change and time has passed them by.
http://nortelinsider.wordpress.com/ Desk Jockey

The Nortel Downfall videos were created as a way to provide some much needed entertainment and morale for employees during this tough time. With layoffs looming and the future uncertain laughter is sometimes the best medicine. Sometimes even the smallest of things can brighten a person's day.

However it seems that lately they have been accomplishing the exact opposite. This was never the intention and for that I apologize.

Additionally, Bo (Gowan) and Jay (Barta) are both loyal and hardworking Nortel employees and I do not want to be seen as pitted against them. Because of these reasons I am doing the right thing and removing the Nortel Downfall videos from public viewing.

Mark, if you want, feel free to create a poll to see what people thought of the videos.
broadbandbill

DJ,

For the first time I strongly disagree with you. You have nothing to apologize for; it is Nortel’s ‘world-classers’ that should be doing the apologizing for ‘de-creating a great company’.

Satire, which is what your videos represented, has always been the ‘little guys’ weapon against corrupt, arrogant and disenfranchised leadership at any level and I thank you for your creativity and humor; the videos were very, very entertaining.

However, you should take them down for a different reason, which has to do with copyrights. Folks in Hollywood get very upset when their copyrighted content is being used without consent…–bb

PS—Agree on Bo, Jay, Phil, et al; too bad they work for…
rfc1149

Please don't.

They are about the only global channel for the thousands of upset Nortel employees. And they are quite simply funny.

I certainly don't see you against Bo or Jay but against greed and incompetence. They are not the ones destroying the company that is the life work of thousands while pocketing millions of dollars.

If the worst thing that happens to Hackney is a bit of ribbing – well grow up. Everyone is not going to be a sycophantic toady showing your the 'respect' you believe you deserve.

IMNAL but even in copyright there are 'fair use' provision that explicitly include satire. + You are not trying to profiting from these. I suspect many folks have now seen Untergang as a result of its use in satire (i.e. 'Hollywood' has making money on this).
rfc1149

Oh yes and regardless of what you decided – THANK YOU!!!!
Asset_Number_XXX

I'm with BB on this one. This is such a deja-vu for me – born and raised in a communist dictatorship I remember the wealth of political jokes, the fun everybody was poking at the ruling class and the beloved leader. People looked for a way to deal with fear, anger, with feeling helpless. Cause and effect – fear and ridicule.

Same thing here, today. If you – if I would feel comfortable speaking up and not be labelled as naysayers or laid off, we'd do it. The trust is broken. The messenger is shot. Too much propaganda and secrecy, not much honesty and openness from above. And no listening either – when did you fill in your last ESAT? Not that it made a difference.

So, DJ, don't you feel bad about those clips. They reflect what lots of employees feel and cannot communicate. If that wouldn't be the case, they wouldn't be so popular. That's the beauty of Web 2.0. Vox populi in action.
Some of us will support you, some of us will offended by you. But it is your right to make and publish those clips and our right the feel the way we feel and post our thoughts online, if we so choose.

Side note: Bo, I respect you for publicly admitting when you don't have or can't share an answer. Also for choosing to address uncomfortable questions from time to time. Yours is the kind of dialog I expect from a company like Nortel.
NortelTragedy

Don't remove them DJ … they're great to expose Judas and his groupies.
NortelTragedy

The only green Zudas and his SLT care about is green US dollars and how much more they can milk from the company on the backs of retirees and the rank-and-file.
Theleftbehind

What I think is that they finally found you and threatened to sue you so now you are publicly apologizing.
I think the videos are great. You just represented the feeling on thousands of employees and ex employees. Very sad seeing this happening but I do understand.
Thanks for making us all laugh
Theleftbehind

People close to the case shared this was the cause of his decision. I know it is hard to swallow but we should also recognize that these decisions push people to the edge.
Theleftbehind

There are rumors that mike will step down this week and pavi takes over. So they will use part of the 45M to retain him.
Theleftbehind

Agreed
Theleftbehind

Brother, this guy is paid by Nortel. He he part of the PRopaganda team.
Theleftbehind

Chief Turd Officer
Theleftbehind

Sometimes the reality is worse than fiction.
Theleftbehind

Please make a last one. You need to give closure to the story. We know how the fürer ended up. I will also like to see when they are captured And brought to justice.
TongueInCheek

You're absolutely right, I do think that every Nortel employee should be cautious with you and watch carefully what you say and do. You have invested years attacking all things Nortel, desperately wanting to see them destroyed which would cause direct harm and impact to Nortel employees.

Do you honestly think that Nortel employees should support your mission of seeing Nortel destroyed? If you believe that, then you are clearly a delusional freak.
DRP666

Desk Jockey….I hope you continue with your videos. The funniest part of what you say in them is that everything is TRUE….down to the last funny side remark. Your videos were providing a voice for those present and past employees that are either unable or afraid to tell the execs what is really happening. I would hope that maybe they would think twice about what they are doing to Nortel when they would see your videos. I hope we don't lose your voice. Thanks
TongueInCheek

It is pretty rare for a CEO at the time of Bankruptcy Protection to be the CEO after exiting Protection. A lot will depend on how much debt gets converted to equity in the new structure. Those new equity holders will have a lot of say as to who is part of a new Executive Team.
less

blog. b-log. z-log. gulag. like, whatever.
Meridian

DJ, Please reconsider leaving the videos alive. Myself and many co-workers associate them with stress relief and they provide a common theme we can all share and rally around. They are like the morning Dilbert or a Saturday night live skit. You don't see Politicians trying to shutdown Saturday night live. I don't see the videos as truly under-mining Nortel or Nortel leadership. The things you are poking fun at are all public knowledge already in the news media that Mike and the BOD already have to explain to the public and employees. Your videos just remind them that they have not done a very good job at the explanation or that maybe they are not making the correct ethical decision in the eyes of the Nortel employees. Mike and the BOD need to know that.

Thank you DJ for what you have done positively for Nortel staff moral.
less

The guy who keeps posting “Its all mere speculation. Its all rumors. its all innuendo. Don't believe the hype. Believe me!” ?
Anonymous

Who says the debt will get converted into the new structure? Who says there will be any equity holders? You? Why paint a false stage in profound assumption?

Wow… why do you still pump KoolAid like the restructuring plan will be even be approved… What or who drives you TongeInCheeks? The 50% extra bone us if it is approved?

The elusive plan, delayed as they delay creditors to burn cash, won’t appease anyone for these imaginary bonuses by those risking careers. Why should crooked management be the only ones holding hostages for bonuses than the the good employees by going on strike for severances.

Why insult readers intelligence trying to totalitarianly claim it is the honest /proven commentary the brought down the Nortanic than false hype, no credibility, fraud, misleading forecasting. etc.. endless… I hope DJ keeps those videos alive, you remind us of Joseph Goebbels frantically typing the joys of a warm shower propaganda to this day.

They have growing debt /severance/etc and decreasing cash for tanking operations with business catalyzing their death spiral. I said what will debt / cash ratio be by then, you said it is in the reports…

You neglected the lien on real estate required for ongoing opertations saying we invented speculation earlier with no apology to your misleading numbers you post like a fruitcake wilth ill reasoning, like your continued pumping over the years to under a penny presplit and bankrupt today. Look at your personality before calling otehrs freaks.

How profoundly challenged and utterly shameless can one get. Can’t win an argument so you personally attack, name call with what first comes to your mind judging others from your own reactions. crooks aren’t the sharpest tool in the shed I keep reiterating.

You fool no one, Nortel is bankrupt and will not rise from the dead as you keep pumping shamlessly.

What is your vested interest TongeInCheeks, are you one of the crooks or relative of one of the crooks still there, surely the PR propaganda people would have selected some one exponentially brighter or seemingly more ethical. You can’t be a shareholder, so who are you to pump so misleadingly so long.

Pump Nortel no matter what and to heck with the proven or honest posters over the years providing the heads up even when swimming against the tide vs. analysts fed by Nortel. Ya ya honest commentary is to blame… ya ya that’s it. Call them names while you are at it or patronize to back stab ot totalitrianly report to have otehrs bully, hile Nortel at all costs. You are a fine reflection of what has transpired and all that is to to come, misleading with intent, selective disclosures, and personal attacks. Shame on you if you had any.

Nortel is toast… the hard to fill junior positions can’t restructure let alone thinking anyone else will now, BS gov’t. bailouts, etc… . give it a rest already and let it die in peace honestly, even without redemption or repentance. Poor excuses for a human beings makes anyone civil want to throwing up.
Another_Nortel_Watcher

The videos were great. I think you may have successfully embarrassed the choker and das fuhrer in front of their families, neighbors, and former colleagues. Score. They deserve it.
ExNtrl

DJ;
I am an ex Nortel employee (part of the Zero cannon fodder). Please keep up the satire and humour (in fact I was hoping for more). You are being the same type of thorn in Zero and Hacks posterior as Scott Adams was to Bell. The pleasure I get from this mess is thinking how the satirical thorn must stick in Zero and Hackney's side. Makes this miserable situation tolerable.
scalpcutter

That sounds like something nortel would do.
Hire another useless exec named Pavi (shades of clarence chandran who was paid a kings ransome to do nothing and go on disability).
That's it hire Binning.
He'll finally bin the place.
I guess they figure they can pay him minimum wage in these times of dire
need.
Right.
One_way_ticket_to_Chapter_7

Please keep your masterpieces on line . You are becoming famous. Everyone I know is talking about your videos.

I hope you are not intimidated by being discovered. I didn't see anything there that was proprietary so other than hurt feelings by certain execs, what is the problem.

I am sure you are smart enough not to be using company resources or time either.

Maybe you just need another movie that is less sensitive to people (nazis). Why not choose a movie like Scarface. With your creative style, I am sure you could turn that into a hoot (especially the shower scene). Willy Wonka and the Chocolate factory (the original) might work too.
chapt7

Soylent GREEN is people
sick_sigma

Please keep the “Nortel Downfall” videos alive. In my opinion, everyone understands that the videos are strictly aimed at top management — not at the entire organization. You are not attacking everyone……just the tiny handful who really deserve it.

Please, please keep the videos open for all of us to see.
NortelTragedy

really, zudas step down rumors? seriously? i wish that were true.
http://nortelinsider.wordpress.com/ Desk Jockey

I have created a poll so that people can vote on whether the videos should have been removed. Thank you for all your comments.
broadbandbill

'feet first' – HRCE…–bb
waukegan

The Nortel Energy Efficiency Calculator has been revised to factor in the Green House Gases from MikeZ's personal use of the corporate jet (30 of the last 40 flights for C-FNNT according to flightaware.com) . Unfortunately this has negated all the GHG savings that Nortel has claimed its products have saved the world. Thanks Mike for another kick in the pants. Drop your salary to $1 or step down.
Hotwheeler1

You think Pavi has the gut to fire all the Presidents and all the cronies ?
I doubt it. We need an outsider to step in and clean house…Pavi does
numbers and not politic/power mongering.
less

soiled green… insolvent green….is Nortel
less

Ends justify the means.

So urgent is raising awareness about global warming – sorry, climate change – that our very own Al “the Goracel” Gore has no other choice than to flit about in private jets and stay at ungreen locales replete with full sets of ordinary lightbulbs, A/C, and anorganic interieurs, all to save our earth from our own follies.

Its only fair, then, that he be allowed to unwind in his modest estate occasionally and blow off a little CO2

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