KC Confidential

Patterson

These new breed American Royal guys are scary…

UMB’s Mariner Kemper doesn’t really fall into that category – he’s far too mellow – plus he wrote a touchy-feely op-ed two weeks back. However today’s answer to R. Crosby Kemper, Jr., – Cerner main man Neal Patterson,-  is a dick-biter-offer of the first order.

And look no further than Patterson’s Wikipedia page for the evidence:

“Patterson is infamous for an e-mail flaming managers for not coming to work before 8 am and leaving before 5 pm, now a prominent example used when discussing e-mail  etiquette,” it reads. “On the day that the email was posted to Yahoo, the company’s market cap fell by over 22%^[5] from a high of $1.5 billion USD.”

How harsh was it?

“The only things missing from the office memo were expletives,” the New York Times wrote in 2001. “It had everything else. There were lines berating employees for not caring about the company. There were words in all capital letters like ”SICK” and ”NO LONGER.” There were threats of layoffs and hiring freezes and a shutdown of the employee gym.”

Originally intended for Cerner managers, the email spread throughout the 3,000 person staff, went viral and became a shot heard round the world.

“Now, Neal L. Patterson, the 51-year-old chief executive, a man variously described by people who know him as ‘arrogant,’ ‘candid’ and ‘passionate,’ says he wishes he had never hit the send button,” the Times continued.

“Mr. Patterson went on to list six potential punishments, including laying off 5 percent of the staff in Kansas City. ‘Hell will freeze over,’ he vowed, before he would dole out more employee benefits. The parking lot would be his yardstick of success, he said; it should be ‘substantially full’ at 7:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. on weekdays and half full on Saturdays. ‘You have two weeks,’ he said. ‘Tick, tock.’ ” Continue reading →