Kerviel through the cultural lens

From time to time we get a reminder of how culture affects people’s behavior and motivation, but few come across as starkly as what happened last week with The Société Générale renegade trader Jérôme Kerviel and the way it shook the world’s financial markets, and served to remind how interconnected the global economy is.

I recently read a WSJ story that reflects upon his motivation. Clearly there is no justification for his actions but its interesting to note how traditionally and culturally French his explanation of his actions is.

He says that he was motivated not by money but rather by the search for status and respect. In his mind he couldn’t have in a French business because he hadn’t gone to the “right schools” and come from the right background to ever rise through the ranks to senior management and respect.

For most of us the lesson here is that in spite of commonly accepted and articulated positions all organizations do not promote people based on accomplishment and merit, and many traditional underlying cultural factors still apply. In order to be successful in this global economy, it’s important to aware of these subtle and unspoken values because they can profoundly impact business outcomes.

-Mike