Dismissed Citi FX Trader Wins with "everyone else was doing it"

The former trader brought a lawsuit in front of a UK employment tribunal saying that he was unfairly terminated by Citi. He said that his conduct (sharing information in chat rooms with other FX traders, including sharing private info regarding client trades) was quite common at the time and that his managers were aware that he was on the chat rooms. In 2009 during an employment review he was told by his manager to join chat rooms to gather market information, but was not provided any guidelines on what he could post.

The tribunal found in his favor, although saying that he contributed to his dismissal. A hearing next year will determine the compensation that Citi is required to pay him.

This argument is not one that usually wins in a court ("officer, why did you stop me? Everyone else was speeding also). Although this verdict may help other former bank FX traders who are bringing suits, it does not impact anything else regarding the fixing scandals, such as guilt or fines and settlements with regulators.

If You Are Fired Tomorrow ....

.... What Will Your Successor Do Differently?

In the mid-1980's Andy Grove was President of Intel and Gordon Moore was the CEO.  Intel had been losing money and market share for years in their core business of semiconductor memories.  The competition was winning.  Grove and Moore knew they could not turn it around but were afraid to admit it.  At the time, Intel was memories.  The core, culture, and success of Intel had been memories.

    Grove asked Moore:  "If we got kicked out and the Board brought in a new CEO, what do you think he would do?"  Moore's quick, no-need-for-thought answer was "he would get us out of memories."

    So that's what Grove and Moore did themselves.  Until they had played out this odd decision-making device, they did not realize consciously this right answer that would be immediately evident to an outsider.  One can take several lessons from this story.  The most direct lesson is to ask yourself, when confronted with a seemingly intractable business or personal challenge, what would an outsider with my knowledge but without my "invested capital" choose?

    We just finished reading Grove's Only the Paranoid Survive.  Though 16 years in the past, Grove's management advice and stories remain worthwhile.  We consider the excerpt above to be the best part.