Replying to LO27874 --
Dear Organlearners,
Chris Macrae <wcbn007@easynet.co.uk> writes:
>The evidence is that being transparent and having
>nothing to hide will keep your customers, help you
>hang onto your best employees and appeal to
>investors who don't like nasty Enron-style surprises.
Greetings dear Chris,
I keep on having the nasty thought that nasty surprises are often the
result because of interpreting the relevant information insufficiently. It
is often not the mistake of somebody in particular, but the way in which
the whole system works.
For example, statistical theory had been invented to reduce a lot of data
into a few statistical parameters. Should we try to get an overview of
data by using only statistical parameters, we will fall in the trap of
reductionistic thinking and thus have nasty surpises waiting upon us.
Water is transparent. Yet, when viewed from an angle, it mirrors the
landscape beyond. Thus when a hippopotamus drifts in the water with only
its ears, eyes and nostrils showing, we cannot see the rest of its massive
body. We can only imagine that body, using our past experiences of
actually having seen such a body. We must learn to use our imagination.
When a company or corporation encourages its employees to invest in its
stocks, it is for me the ears, eyes and nostrils of a hippo. Last year the
sixth biggest bank in South Africa began to do this. Last month its doors
were closed.
With care and best wishes
--At de Lange <amdelange@gold.up.ac.za> Snailmail: A M de Lange Gold Fields Computer Centre Faculty of Science - University of Pretoria Pretoria 0001 - Rep of South Africa
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