How to Pick a Good Fight

"When Dick Fuld took over, he transformed a notoriously contentious workplace into one of Wall Street's most harmonious firms. But his efforts backfired - ddrectors and managers became too agreeable"

Read the full post by clicking above -- though I could not disagree more.  The team culture at Lehman was an asset and underpinned the firm's success, particularly after the experience of 9/11.  Also, there were a number of senior manager's who did speak out against the firms toxic asset accumulation, only to be pushed out of their positions or entirely out of the firm.  Fuld and Gpresident, Joe Gregory, were tyrants.  Yet, all is not always black and white.  While Fuld defies comparison to a classic Greek tragic figure, typically done in by a single flaw, Dick has many.  But is a human being.  I am not a fan, but his finest hour came when he spoke to us after the 9/11 attack:

Excerpt form "The Murder of Lehman Brothers:"

My expectations for Fuld were low when he entered the Sheraton ballroom to address us. But I immediately saw that the usual ashen pallor of his face was ruddy, imbued with blood, alive. What followed was Fuld‘s finest hour. I know that others in the hushed, rapt ballroom wholeheartedly agreed. This man, who was Lehman in human form, spoke with both gravity and passion that connected from his first utterance. Today, I remember little of what he said, other than, those bastards got one of us. Still, his oratory was a passionate rallying cry. His tone, his demeanor, had everyone in the room experiencing both his call to arms and his empathy as intimate and personal...  I believe that on that day he spoke to us not simply as a leader who badly needed to lead, but as an unguarded man. Fuld was both shaken and resolved, cared deeply about how we were all coping.When Dick finished talking, we were all on our feet—definitely not a response this one-time trader, our “Gorilla,” had ever elicited when he spoke to IBD, with the exuberance of a metronome.

I recall that it was at this precise moment, as the ballroom thundered with the collective cries of all those present, that Lehman’s survival, success and prosperity took on new purpose. Sure, everyone was worried about having a job. Much more importantly, though, we could not dissolve due to the circumstances that had left us temporarily homeless. Each of us, it was clear, had to do whatever it took. We owed this not just to ourselves, and the families most of us supported, and not just to each other. We also owed it to our country. No one came out and said it, but Lehman’s survival was now a patriotic imperative."