Wednesday March 18, 2009 
Wednesday March 18, 2009 I know nothing. Nada. Zippo. And if I did? I wouldn't tell you. Not that I don' t love and respect you. Not that I wouldn't love to roll in the rumor hay with you, spinning up scenarios, one juicier than the next. But because there's a reason companies don't comment on rumors and speculation. For one thing, the company may end up spending all its cycles denying or affirming what's out there. And for another, it's illegal.
As a publicly traded company, we live by SEC rules. One of those rules is that we can't tell employees something material before we tell our shareholders. Doing otherwise can lead to insider trading, and let's face it, none of us think we can pull off prison stripes anywhere near as stylishly as Martha Stewart.
This is true if the rumor is correct, misguided, or complete nonsense. Doesn't matter. Officially, our response to rumors is “No comment”. Unsatisfying as that is.
When someone tells us what to think or see, we tend to take it as gospel. For example, consider this still life by Cezanne: ...
What do you see? Rich draperies, luscious fruit, fine crockery, right? Now what if I told you, “Oh, no – this is not a painting of a table setting – it's a painting of a pig in a nun's habit.” What do you see now?
Scroll down
Keeping scrolling...
OK, you can look now:
Did Cezanne paint a pig? Or did he paint a still life? What was his intent? What should we read from his painting?
So, to get back to rumors... Newspapers print stories that point out what some people see as the pig in the painting. Whether it's there or not. Whether its inclusion in the artwork was intentional or just an unintended consequence of certain folds in the drapery.You can read the stories as well as I can. But we each need to draw our own conclusions. It's not up the company to tell us if it's a still life or a whimsical painting of pig. Until such time as we're ready to move beyond the superficialness of an image - be it in paint or print - and on to the reality of the event - be it a dinner party or a meeting with a new habit. Until then? Well, there may not be an “until then...” This rumor could just as easily fade into tomorrow's news.
We'll just have to wait and see.
Posted by terrymckenzie ( Mar 18 2009, 12:49:05 PM PDT ) Permalink Comments [3]
