Well, well. Out plops another turd from the greatest of all the banking arseholes

Some readers may feel I am a little excessive in my comments about bankers, but it is quite impossible to be too excessive about their antics.

Just when you think nobody, no matter how contemptible, greedy, stupid, conceited, self-centred or useless could be that bad … along comes another revelation.

I think we are generally agreed, are we not, that of the whole sorry pack the worst must be “Sir” Fred Goodwin? (If the Great Bloated Haggis offers you a knighthood, ask what you’ve done wrong.)

Besides having an appalling haircut, he was not only the least competent of the lot but the most unpleasant, gleefully firing lots of people not one of whom, no matter how stupid, could have done as much damage as he managed.

And now I read that just before he scuttled off into an richly deserved but unearned, wildly overfunded retirement he was busy pissing away millions hiring people like Zara Phillips (good on horses, not famous for financial acumen) and Jack Niklaus (great on courses, not known as an investment expert) as “ambassadors” for his “brand”.

One of the first useful words my Italian partner taught me was “stronzo” which means “piece of shit”.

Even the smallest piece of shit will help you grow things, not destroy them.

About the Author

In 2003, the Chartered Institute of Marketing named Drayton one of 50 living individuals who have shaped today’s marketing.

He has worked in 55 countries with many of the world’s greatest brands. These include American Express, Audi, Bentley, British Airways, Cisco, Columbia Business School, Deutsche Post, Ford, IBM, McKinsey, Mercedes, Microsoft, Nestle, Philips, Procter & Gamble, Toyota, Unilever, Visa and Volkswagen.

Drayton has helped sell everything from Airbus planes to Peppa Pig. His book, Commonsense Direct and Digital Marketing, out in 17 languages, has been the UK’s best seller on the subject every year since 1982. He has also run his own businesses in the U.K., Portugal and Malaysia.

He was a main board member of the Ogilvy Group, a founding member of the Superbrands Organisation, one of the first eight Honorary Fellows of the Institute of Direct Marketing and one of the first three people named to the Hall of Fame of the Direct Marketing Association of India. He has also been given Lifetime Achievement Awards by the Caples Organisation in New York and Early To Rise in Florida.

2 Comments

  1. Rupert

    I believe that it is the intention of the Scots to screw England into the ground before declaring independence. Look at the disastrous failures inflicted on us. Tony Blair (Scottish), Gordon Brown (Scottish), Darling (Scottish) and their favoured banks to be bailed out, HBOS (Scottish) and RBS (Scottish. There seems to be a common theme running through this lot.

    The Select Committee asked the CEOs of the major banks what banking qualifications they had. The response was NONE. A friend of mine went to school with Fred the Shred of RBS and told me that he wouldn’t have let him run a sub post office. Apparently, he was and is a thoroughly nasty and devious piece of work.

    I love the word strenso – perhaps you could suggest it as an alternative for Aviva to the clots at the Norwich Union.

    Reply
  2. Rezbi

    I just knew what was coming with that headline.

    It certainly gave me a good laugh.

    I’d like to take this opportunity point your readers to an interview I did with you.

    I find everything I read by you
    has benefited me in my business and I always like to ensure others gain the same benefits I do.

    http://imsecretsrevealed.com/2009/02/17/interview-with-drayton-bird-direct-marketing-legend/

    Reply

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