Frank Kenney

What he said:

“Regulations were gutted for the sake of a quick profit at the expense of a healthy market.”

What he means:

“We had governance but we didn’t enforce it. So the governance had no meaning…” (Sound familiar all you app developers out there? )

What he said:

“That is why I have asked Vice-President Biden to lead a tough, unprecedented oversight effort – because nobody messes with Joe. I have told each member of my cabinet as well as mayors and governors across the country that they will be held accountable by me and the American people for every dollar they spend.”

What he means:

“We are going to redo our governance processes and build enforcement mechanisms into the process. I will expect reports and I will audit and I will reward/ punish for compliance.”

What he said:

“I understand that on any given day, Wall Street may be more comforted by an approach that gives banks bail-outs with no strings attached, and that holds nobody accountable for their reckless decisions. But such an approach won’t solve the problem.”

What he means:

“It’s maybe easier, both politically and technically to create rules and then ignore them but in the long run that approach always fails.”

What he said:

“I intend to hold these banks fully accountable for the assistance they receive, and this time, they will have to clearly demonstrate how taxpayer dollars result in more lending for the American taxpayer.”

What he means:

“I will audit for compliance and by the way since I’m auditing are you SOX, HIPPA, BASEL, PIC, *fill in the blank* compliant?”

What he said:

“Finally, because we’re also suffering from a deficit of trust, I am committed to restoring a sense of honesty and accountability to our budget.”

What he means:

See any of the above and multiply times 10.

Ok so maybe I’m reading in to this way more than I should but let’s stop and think about how we are governing our businesses and our IT shops and decisions. Are we monitoring? Are we measuring? Are we enforcing? At the very least, the American Government is going to start asking for proof that you are.