The fallout from the suicide at Zurich raises an uncomfortable topic for many – dealing with the senseless death of a colleague, and trying to explain it to others.
When a co-worker takes his/her own life, how do you pick up the pieces in the office? And what do you tell the client, if anything?
Tim Herron, a governance consultant with Boardroom Metrics in Toronto, offers guidance on the subject from not only a professional level, but a personal one.
“Obviously, we hope that you don’t go through suicides as a business,” says Herron. “I’ve gone through both. That is what sort of made me sit down and think about it when the suicide happened at Zurich Insurance; it made me look back at what happened all those years ago at the insurance brokerage I was working.”
For Herron, the need to balance the emotional turmoil of losing a colleague and friend while maintaining the smooth flow of business was a difficult one.
“How did it affect me from an operational standpoint? We didn’t see it coming from this individual when we were in the brokering business,” he told InsuranceBusiness.ca. “It’s been about 20 years, and I remember the man I worked with in 1987 compared to when he took his life in October of 1998 – he was a totally different person. I enjoyed being around this individual, but there was something definitely different in his makeup when he took his own life.”
Herron remembers the silence in the brokerage, the uncomfortable aspect of a colleague committing suicide – and questions about how much to share with the clients and the public. (continued.)
#pb#
“How do you deal with his clients, we asked ourselves,” he says. “It wasn’t something that was discussed afterwards, after his death. When he left us, his clientele was divvied up and we moved on. Looking back, and looking at the Zurich example, it is something where the human resources departments need to be involved in from the start.”
In the case of Zurich Insurance Group AG, friction between the chairman Josef Ackermann and chief financial officer Pierre Wauthier had been escalating during the summer as the two argued over how to explain the company's disappointing progress toward meeting certain business targets, according to officials familiar with the situation.
The sometimes-heated exchanges between Ackermann and Wauthier didn't strike Zurich officials as problematic at the time – but were brought to a head on August 25 when Wauthier committed suicide at his lakeside home outside Zurich, Switzerland.
In a typed note Wauthier blamed Ackermann for creating an unbearable, pressure-cooker working environment, and for treating colleagues disrespectfully, according to people familiar with the note.
“That is why you need crisis management plans,” says Herron, who admits that Zurich did everything by the book following the suicide to ensure that the situation was handled in a tasteful, tactful manner – yet still protecting the interests of the shareholders. “You need to be able to reach for the file when this sort of thing happens. You don’t want to say to be read for it, but you need to be ready for it.”
A successful method of gauging the suitability of people for certain jobs are any of the human resources profile testing systems that are available. (continued.)
#pb#
“Anyone who is familiar with boardroom metrics will use something like a 120 questionnaire booklet, running the candidate a test that – based on historical patterns of their personality and how they answer – will determine who they are best fit with, and you they can best deal with. It provides a good behavioural makeup.”
Ackermann, a hard-nosed former investment banker who became Zurich's chairman after a long career as the chief executive of Deutsche Bank AG, resigned almost immediately following Wauthier’s death.
A distraught Ackermann told stunned board members that his position as chairman had become untenable. Ackermann then insisted on releasing a public statement that said some people held him responsible for Wauthier's death — an allegation he has rejected.
“It was the reputation that you have to uphold as a corporation, and that is why Ackermann stepped down,” Herron points out. “There would have been damage to Zurich on a global basis on brand – his resignation was done more for the brand – and judging by how the share price was mostly unaffected by these tragic events, his and the board’s duties to the shareholder were fulfilled.”
Herron suggests that team-building exercises among directors and staff do help to build a healthy work ethic – but something as mundane as sitting down for a meal can go a long way to uncovering how a person ticks.
“What is the role of the board? What is the role of the director?” asks Herron. “We need directors and staff being involved once a year in a team-building exercise. But more importantly, you can learn a lot about a person by having dinner with them – by breaking bread with them.
“You can tell a lot about the person inside this way,” stresses Herron. “Is this a person I can respect? Some I can trust? You can find out very quickly if they can do their role, are suited for the role, by simply sharing a meal and talking.” (continued.)
#pb#
Herron says Bell Canada’s “Let’s Talk” initiative, spearheaded by spokesperson Olympian Clara Hughes, is an excellent example of encouraging a dialogue on what can still be a taboo subject for many.
And with the changing face of today’s corporate boardroom, something that needs to be recognized considering the diversity of personality types that now make up the higher echelons of business.
“From an HR standpoint, there needs to be some understanding from the chair or lead director, what the capabilities are in that particular room,” says Herron. “That’s why you have diversity, diversity of thought and skillset around the table. Those values sound great, but it is a little bit like putting together a hockey team – both from a board standpoint and from a management standpoint. Not everyone has the same talents.”
Prior to Ackermann, Zurich had a tradition of quiet, polite internal meetings. However, as chairman, Ackermann would drill executives with tough questions; but his conduct was generally perceived as tough but professional.
In board meetings, some directors were taken aback when Ackermann criticized executives, including Wauthier.
Having joined Zurich in 1996, Wauthier was known by colleagues as mild-mannered and quiet – holding a variety of roles at the company, including a stint in Southern California where he enjoyed surfing the Pacific. After becoming CFO in 2011, Wauthier sometimes found himself on the receiving end of Ackermann's frustrations with the company's financial performance, former colleagues say.
Before Zurich reported its midyear results in August, there was an internal debate over how to update investors about the progress toward hitting three-year business targets that it had set back in 2010. Ackermann argued that the company should publicly declare its dissatisfaction with its lack of progress.
Wauthier disagreed, arguing that Zurich should emphasize that it was moving in the right direction. According to a person who witnessed the debate between the two men and others, it was intense.
