Submitted: Oct 3, 2007 Views: 477 Comments: 3 Likes: 13

A very good friend of mine holds a very senior position at Countrywide. He called me this morning and said that he needs to get a green wristband saying "protect our house" on it and that he will need to wear it all of the time (at work and outside work as it is not removable). I asked him what the consequences of not getting such a wristband. He said "then, I will lose my job."

I first thought that he was pulling a prank on me, but I found the article discussing these wristbands in the morning Wall Street Journal.

These types of required culture opt-in campaigns reflect the worst of corporate America. Such campaigns may go down well in Germany where everyone follows orders and seem to be very successful at General Electric, but in a society as diverse and individualistic as the US, these campaigns enable outsiders to easily identify which organizations lack creativity and lack individual expression.

I had hoped and believed that Countrywide is an organization that has the creativity and the ability to weather the current storm. Now, I am not so sure.