SPEAKING OUT - Michael Jordan

Chairman and CEO, EDS

Years ago, a producer from the BBC science programme “Horizon” said the main drawback of his show was that most major science activity went on in the US, and that Americans made the most boring of interviewees. After witnessing Michael Jordan’s address to the CBI Annual Interactive Conference, I can share his pain.

Introduced by conference sponsor Harvey Nash, Jordan’s CV was full of promise: degrees from Yale and Princeton, 4 years in the US Navy, 10 years at McKinsey, 18 years at PepsiCo and then turning Westinghouse round and flogging it to CBS for $20billion. He must have had some interesting experiences, but they weren’t in evidence here. He was the most boring man I’ve heard in years.

Today his business offers IT implementation to business and governments across the globe, but it’s the British government where EDS has its most high profile activities, and often that profile is less than flattering. Jordan did little more than nod in the direction of the challenges they face. Instead, he drawled on about IT being around for 40 years and organisations spending 80 percent of their IT money on “keeping the lights on”. But EDS has a solution: “legacy transformation”. For those still awake, it just sounded like more jobs for the IT boys. Jordan gave little for business people to take away.

Key moment: When Jordan disclosed that EDS studies had found there was little causal link between increased IT spend and productivity.

Key Lesson: No matter how galactic you are and how flattering speaking invitations may be, find someone who’ll give you a reality check on just how dull you sound. Otherwise, you may be exposing yourself to public ridicule.

Silver tongue or foot in mouth? Silver Tongue

 

 

This article was written by Khalid Aziz for and features in Management Today Magazine.
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