4 ms·

Beautifully-written article - wouldn't usually spend half an hour reading about construction engineering but the article really drew me in.

• stretchwithme 15y ago
  Agreed. I read the whole thing too. A big, career threatening problem occurred, but instead of taking the easy way out, the architect did the hard, right thing and it all worked out. We all have these moments when we have to choose between cowardice and courage. This is a good example to keep in mind.
  • evangineer 15y ago
    A gripping read indeed! I like how the engineer went to use the story as a case study to his students to show that you have an obligation to do the right thing and that there doesn't have to be harmful consequences for the whistleblower. It seems to me, that everybody involved including the Citicorp executives demonstrated huge amounts of character and integrity which says a lot about the corporate culture of 1978. I don't imagine the current top ranks at Citicorp would be so exemplary in their behaviour.
    • jordanb 15y ago
      It also demonstrates the view people had of commercial banks in the late 1970s that the public would buy an explanation like "we're the type of people who wear a belt and suspenders." If any bank tried to claim today that they're so incredibly, overbearingly cautious, they'd mocked as being obviously full of shit.
    • stretchwithme 15y ago
      I agree. We've been subsidizing some pretty cancerous behaviors in banking. People with real character don't get rewarded the way they used to. Its sort of incompatible with a culture now focused on figuring out ways to assign risk to the taxpayer.