Page 164 - Harnessing the Management Secrets of Disney in Your Company

Dare to Dare 145

result of the horrific acts of terrorism. On that day, hundreds of E&Y
employees were working in the New York area, and some of them were
on the eighty-second floor of World Trade Center’s South Tower. When
the first plane struck the North Tower, the employees opted to leave the
building. Many were temporarily stranded in the stairwell near the floor
where they were working when the second plane hit the South Tower.
Twenty-four Ernst & Young employees lost close family members in the
World Trade Center disaster.
Ernst & Young chairman & CEO, Jim Turley, was at a global part-
ners meeting in Rio on September 11, 2001. At the end of the day, Jim
sent a company-wide e-mail message to his Ernst & Young family and
entitled it, Day 1. He expressed his thanks for all who were safe and his
sorrow for the loss of employees’ loved ones. He urged his people to take
great care of themselves in those days of uncertainty. He continued to
send daily e-mails, entitling them Day 2, Day 3, and so on. Jim received
hundreds of responses to his communiqués. On Day 2, he established a
disaster relief fund with the option of payroll deductions. “We didn’t have
a process for a payroll deduction system,” Jim recounted, “but someone
took responsibility and got it implemented overnight.” Many employees
that we interviewed were convinced that Jim’s display of deep, genuine
concern for his employees as individuals was the glue that held them
together during those initial days and nights after the disaster. Jim said, “I
was getting credit for all these ideas, but they were actually coming from
people all over the firm. It created connectivity with people. It was just
people who were thinking about what should be done and not worrying
about the cost, and saying, ‘Look this feels right; just do it.’”
The other Big Four firms reportedly also conveyed support to their
employees in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. As Jim Speros, E&Y chief
marketing officer, remembers, however, “Other firms did a lot of similar
things, but they were also focused procedurally as to how to continue
billable hours and what people could do at home. There was no reference
to billable hours in any of Turley’s communications; in fact, quite to the
contrary. Our chairman was encouraging people not to fly. It was not
business as usual, and he realized how people were feeling. On our own
time, at our own pace, we would get back to some sense of equilibrium.
Just the level of empathy, care, and concern that was shown throughout
the organization really said, ‘This a place that puts its money where its
mouth is.’” That’s “People First” in action.
51