Warning: This post doesn't specifically have anything to do with insurance, except in the larger scope of what it means to succeed or fail in today's business world. But yesterday's bombshell story in the New York Times about how businessman Sam Zell drove the once venerable Chicago Tribune into bankruptcy in less than a year is must reading for anyone involved in any sort of business venture.
You don't have to be an ink-stained wretch or even a Chicagoan to cringe at some of the salient (and salacious) points in this story. In fact, it's a risk manager's nightmare, including allegations of sexual harassment, trading sex for advancement and the creation of a hostile work environment more akin to a frat house than a media business. No surprise that Zell brought in upper management from Clear Channel radio, most of whom transplanted their shock jock tactics to the newsroom.
In spite of, or maybe because of, their endless pandering to the lowest common denominator to attract readers and therefore advertisers, bankruptcy came fast and hard: ” listing $7.6 billion in assets against a debt of $13 billion, making it the largest bankruptcy in the history of the American media industry.”
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