Tightrope artists

摘要

When leading bankers talk of par and downswings, you might think they were referring to the markets. But to judge by the revelations from Wall Street over the past few months, they may just be discussing their golf games. Stan O'Neal, ousted as head of Merrill Lynch last October, and Jimmy Cayne, the erstwhile boss of Bear Stearns, both escaped to the links when the credit crunch bit in the summer of 2007. (The versatile Mr Cayne also made lots of time for his love of bridge: he was playing in a tournament in Detroit on the weekend when JPMorgan Chase negotiated its takeover of Bear Stearns.)rnHaving hobbies is one thing, keeping your eye on the wrong kind of ball quite another. The institutions that have done (relatively) well during this crisis have been run by management teams that arernstrongly engaged. People who have worked with Jamie Dimon, the boss of JPMorgan Chase, talk admiringly of his familiarity with specific loan portfolios. Dick Fuld of Lehman Brothers attracts similar praise. "He rocks the boat daily," says one industry veteran.