Moody’s rates Moody’s’ negatively.

Moody’s gave the best rating to PCAA in 2007. Desjardins lost 591 million because of PCAA in the last quarter of 2008.  In 2009, Moody’s express warning on the Risk Management at Desjardins since  they do not manage properly complex financial products such as the PCAA.

It appears that overconfidence in Moody’s was one of Desjardins biggest mistake in this matter. The irony here is that Moody’s rate negatively institutions (Desjardins) that are in difficulty because they relied on Moody’s positive rating of certain financial product. It sound like Moody’s rates Moody’s’ negatively.

Leading change: the practitioner’s view

A few years ago, I was in a group that got lost during a hiking trip. One member of the group said “I know the way out. We just have to turn right and walk in that direction for 10 minutes; we will see a little farmhouse and the road to civilization”. He was sure of himself. We followed his lead but after 15 minutes of walking, no sign of the little farmhouse. The group began questioning the direction. After a while, it became obvious that we were led in the wrong direction. This leader failed and the magnitude of his failure was greater because of the high degree of confidence he expressed.

This graph shows the evolution of George W. Bush’s approval rating over time. His approval rating rose to 68% in March 2003, at

Human Error Part 2: Management Error

You arrive at home after a long day and you rush to prepare food. You turn-on the burner but oups !, you realize that you activated the wrong burner. You feel frustrated and tell yourself “I should have paid more attention”. If it is a new stove, you might tell to yourself “I should have look at the instructions”. Some might even blame themselves for this error.