Tuesday, November 30, 2010

My Issue With Cathie Black, or, Don't Say I Didn't Warn You

Labels: , ,
Well, well, well!  A situation where Bloomberg completely disregards the rules and acts like a billionaire businessman whose latest toy is a board game called Who Wants to Run New York City, can you imagine???

Yes, you can, because if you're been reading this blog or clicking on the Bloomberg tag at right, you know I am no fan of my city's current mayor (illegally serving a third term just because he felt like it).  And finally a large group of people are calling him out for his typical behavior, most recently manifested in his appointment of Cathie Black to NYC City Schools Chancellor(ess) - a publishing exec with zero education experience.

Am I saying it's impossible for her to be good at this job?  Of course not.  But when I'm hiring, relevant experience is at least as important as managerial skills.  I do think it can be innovative to bring someone in from a different industry, but there has to be a connection.  And this connection should not be "industry that is failing miserably with little hope for the future."

But my real issue with Black is the same as my issue with Bloomberg: what, other than ego, is the incentive for her to succeed?  Her kids are in private school.  She has no ties to public education.  And I'm guessing she's taking a big salary cut.  So, like Bloomberg, whose livelihood comes not from his city salary of $1 but from private holdings, this can only be a hobby to her.  What will drive her when the going gets tough and the solutions aren't as cut-and-dried as a for-profit corporation?  How can her thinking, her impulses, her modus operandi, possibly consider the good of the children first and foremost (not to mention teachers, unions, communities, government workers) when her whole career has been about the bottom line?



Posted by at Tuesday, November 30, 2010

1 comment:

  1. Christopher London, NYCJanuary 14, 2011

    Mayoress: You make some genuinely good points. I won't be popular for saying this now but I am a Registered Dem who voted for Bloomberg but was seriously torn the third time. Go ahead kick me. But seriously, this is a man whose whole premise for governance is that he is a CEO who brings Private Sector decision making and expertise to City Hall and it is not like the guy is not smart. BUT, he genuinely does not seem to want to be hassled or questioned when his peculiar judgment is called into question by the people of this city. We always complain when politicians are beholden to so called "Special Interests" but Bloomberg is beholden to and accountable to no one. You get the sense that he believes it is beneath him to even have to consider the spirit of compromise and working with other leaders and considering the will of the people in this town. The Mayor's whole premise for a third term was to remain viable for 2012 Presidential race, but the decisions this guy has made over the last two years, the payroll scandal, his administration's abandonment of the city in an emergency would not even allow him to carry Manhattan in a race against Obama, forget any other region of this country. So now, what we have is Bloomberg with a cast of deputies to manage the aspects of the city he is disinterested in while he makes appointments to reward his elite friends to help enhance their resumes before he leaves office, their qualifications be damned. This guy came into office after 9/11 with such great expectations and he kind of went off on some bizarre tangent that has made his even strongest supporters say WTF is going on here?

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)