Check kiting anyone???

wilson was right in his answer about former brokers leaving their jobs in a heartbeat to work back at a "resurected" EFH.  Any employee who worked there would go in an instant, including myself. Even though the company itself had major problems, the people who worked there had a special camaraderie that I have not in any firms since.

sorry guys- I thought I made the font smaller in my post. It looks postively awful!  Please forgive me.

Please elaborate on the culture of EF Hutton and why it was so different.  Thanks.

They used Splendid in the corporate lemonade!

Emoticon

Mr. A

EF hutton

shearson lehman hutton

smith barney shearson

solomon smith barney

smith barney

Citi's Barney legg(mason)

[quote=mranonymous2u]

They used Splendid in the corporate lemonade!

Emoticon

Mr. A

[/quote]

Damn, my spleen hurts after that one....sooooo sooooo funny.

We’ve got about half a dozen Hutton guys in our office. They all LOVED it there.

That really is an interesting question.  Why was the culture at Hutton so enticing?  Any of the former E.F. people here care to weigh in?  And just why hasn't any other company tried to emulate it?

I remember a "60 Minutes" story from years ago...Sullivan Company, a manufacturer of industrial air compressors and other construction equiptment, was failing.  The company went on a cost-cutting and increased production pogrom and things got progressively worse.  Enter new management who proceeded to focus on their people, their most valuable resource, and they apparently "walked the walk" to borrow a phrase.  The result?  Complete and almost immediate business turnaround.

One would wonder if this is nothing more than an isolated example or a system that can work.  If so, why doesn't anyone seem to follow suit.

Many former EF Hutton managers worked at the “old” pre-UBS PaineWebber, including my branch manager.

I guess the two things that stick in my mind were that he-and others like him-were very pragmatic and very broker-friendly.  Pragmatic in the sense that when you wanted to try a new marketing idea, or needed them to go to bat for you with a big client, or against compliance, they were willing to do whatever they could.  If you were running into red tape with an operational problem, they would make the call for you to push things to whomever could get it fixed.  There was even a special “managers hotline” for operational problems.  (Then again, at LPL I find that we have so few operational screwups that there isn’t much of a need for a hotline like that…blatant plug yes I know, but honest.)

They took the attitude that the brokers were the ones moving the firm forward.  Most of the ex-EFHutton managers were ex-brokers themselves, and they seemed to have remembered well how challenging it was to be in production.

UBS changed a lot.  Many of the old crew were pushed out or retired.  Or-being that they wanted to keep their jobs, went along with the changes in the new corporate culture.  VERY tight cost controls.  Oppressive bureaucratic compliance.  Investment bankers were supreme.

"The company went on a cost-cutting and increased production pogrom and things got progressively worse."

Did you mean to say "pogrom"? if so my hats off to you as wordsmithie of the week!

Mr. A

But lets us not forget that Hutton was technically out of business when they were bought by Sandy Weil wannabe Peter Cohen.

The financial disaster that was E.F.Hutton lead to payout cuts for Shearson brokers. extreme writedowns of "goodwill". And was really the middle of the beginning of the end for Shearson.

Shearson never should have bought Hutton and Hutton would not show their books to Shearson.

Yeah, I'd love to work at a firm that played fast and loose with the books and the operations of the company to keep their employees happy. But not if they're going to die as a result of the first correction of a bull market! 

Please!

Mr. A

[quote=mranonymous2u]

“The company went on a cost-cutting and increased production pogrom and things got progressively worse.”

Did you mean to say "pogrom"? if so my hats off to you as wordsmithie of the week!

Mr. A

In that case, when I use it, and I will, I'm taking credit for it!

I just can't bring myself to putting a smiley emoticon here. They seem so girlie!

Mr.A

[quote=mranonymous2u]

In that case, when I use it, and I will, I’m taking credit for it!

I just can't bring myself to putting a smiley emoticon here. They seem so girlie!

Mr.A

Fair enough.

But then the only reason to use emoticons in the first place is to make sure one didn't another's feelings. Real men expect other real men to know they're just bustin'chops...

Mr. A

[quote=mranonymous2u]

Fair enough.

But then the only reason to use emoticons in the first place is to make sure one didn't another's feelings. Real men expect other real men to know they're just bustin'chops...

Mr. A

[/quote]

I disagree with your assesment.  Emoticons (I believe) are intended to clarify the intent and message of a post, since the majority of the message we recieve from communication is usually non-verbal when actually speaking with real people.

Any perception of them being 'girlie' is reflective of an insecurity or prejudice in the individual not based in fact but in conjecture.  Your post also presupposes that the other party can understand your intent and content accurately without being able to see you...I say this is impossible without assumption and therefore is null as a method to discover the truth of your message.

[quote=mranonymous2u]

"The company went on a cost-cutting and

increased production pogrom and things got progressively worse."

Did you mean to say “pogrom”? if so my hats off to you as wordsmithie of

the week!

Mr. A

I thought it was Starka that said Pogrom. It also made more sense if the name Starka is from the yiddish, as in "Enforcer with extreme prejudice"

My cap is doffed.

Mr. A

I didn’t know of the yiddish meaning. Actually, I chose the screen name for

another reason. It is the Russian word for “old”. (It’s also the name of the

best vodka that I’ve ever tasted! Alas, we can’t get it here in the States.)