Comments on: The Fish Rots From the Head http://justindavies.com.au/2008/03/19/the-fish-rots-from-the-head/ The essence of getting it right Sun, 08 Aug 2010 06:10:57 -0700 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=abc By: Justin's brother http://justindavies.com.au/2008/03/19/the-fish-rots-from-the-head/comment-page-1/#comment-1214 Justin's brother Sat, 22 Mar 2008 11:58:19 +0000 http://justindavies.com.au/2008/03/19/the-fish-rots-from-the-head/#comment-1214 I used to work alongside one of the guys who introduced the idea into the big 4 firms audit fims to do a PEST and Porters analysis (minus the extra P & the T) in order to understand the risk profile of each of their audit clients in addition to just verifying the numbers. Since then I've ended up in a profession which regularly uses the catch cry "the fish rots from the head." Nice to see this all wrapped up in a single cover, might be worth a look. As I see it, the flaw with PEST & Porters isn't necessarily the model itself, it's that the people doing it are either unable to see or comprehend some of the things around them, or aren't in a position to speak up about what they see or be heard when they do. It'd be really interesting to see if the Directors come up with the same results as those working for them who use similar tools. I'd hope the Boards would take a more long term view. I'd love to see a risk analysis by directors focused on "risks that could arise after the current CEO has moved on." That'd be interesting. I used to work alongside one of the guys who introduced the idea into the big 4 firms audit fims to do a PEST and Porters analysis (minus the extra P & the T) in order to understand the risk profile of each of their audit clients in addition to just verifying the numbers. Since then I’ve ended up in a profession which regularly uses the catch cry “the fish rots from the head.” Nice to see this all wrapped up in a single cover, might be worth a look.

As I see it, the flaw with PEST & Porters isn’t necessarily the model itself, it’s that the people doing it are either unable to see or comprehend some of the things around them, or aren’t in a position to speak up about what they see or be heard when they do. It’d be really interesting to see if the Directors come up with the same results as those working for them who use similar tools. I’d hope the Boards would take a more long term view. I’d love to see a risk analysis by directors focused on “risks that could arise after the current CEO has moved on.” That’d be interesting.

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