Did McMillan pay the advertising firm Saatchi & Saatchi several million of dollars to give LANS a "purpose" statement? LANS doesn't even pay it's own safety and security fines and but it pays for this this? LANS is out of control.
The rumor is that the contract is done and that DOE wants to move away from a for profit LLC model to a more service based it may be LLC but not for little or no profit. There are rumors that it could simply be given back to UC. Also with the accident at LANCE when the results come out there will be alot heads rolling. The purpose statement appears to be out of desperation, as
that upper management team will be cleared away. The other rumor about that DOE has been very disappointed by the new management culture and none of the changes they hoped to happened occurred. DOE may be a bit slow but I have been told that they where not very happy with large increase in managers and decrease in performance and this will change.
36 comments:
You are dead wrong. LANS has turned the tide. The latest memo from LANL management proves everything is doing fine. The next NNSA annual performance rating will extend the LANS LLC contract for several more years and Charlie and company will be hailed as heroes. It's already been decided so just shut up and get back to work while your heroic LANS executive team prepares your next lab "vision" statement.
McMillan will roll out SaatchI & Saatchi's (i.e. Kevin Roberts) "Purpose Statement" of LANS today. Wow, really! I remember the good ole days when Sig Hecker at least had the vision to develop his own vision of LANL. He knew our product. Now we have to rely (i.e. pay them a few million) on external firm that developed the following Focus: Fill the World with Lovemarks! Does McMillan want to paint our Trident warhead with this logo!?
http://saatchi.com/en-us/purpose/purpose-page/
The LANS LLC "smoke & mirrors" at LANL are beginning to make the employees gag.
It's not healthy to work in such a dishonest place.
McMillan flew the "Purpose" keynote speaker (from Saatchi and Satchi) from New Zealand (10,000 miles one-way, $10,000 airline ticket, hotel, per diem, tours, shows, meals, etc.) to show us a rugby video. The entire presentation by the bald guy and McMillan was an absolute farce. The bald guy informed us that the key issue was that "LANS Management Cares".
McMillan is so full of s**t that he's eyes are brown.
there was a full house for Charlie, but support side employees were required to attend per Carolyn Zerkle, who is in charge of support. I think mandatory attendance happened before in the Nanos era. I thought the mission stuff from Charlie was ok, but I didn't buy into the "character" stuff -- it's still the same cast of characters.
Two hours of my life wasted. It is beyond belief that 70 managers dreamt up a single slide of "dreams" at taxpayer expense.
Bottom line (aka "Challenge"): Bechtel wants us to increase their profit margin by 20%
It was truly bizarre and very disturbing at the audience was literally stunned. I have not meet a single person, not a single one, who had anything positive to say about what happened today. Some people where insulted, other shocked, and some just thought it was a wast of time. There is no sense of reality anymore. I would feel sorry for the Saatchi guy but I am sure he made some good money off this. Halfway through his talk he could tell the audience was not responding very well but he tried his best. It was a series of commercials and other strange things that seemed to have no relevance whatsoever for the lab. What adds to the craziness is the whole thing made it seem like McMillan and upper management really have no idea what the purpose of the lab is for? How is this possible? I can ride a cab in NYC and driver knows what is done Los Alamos is and what LANLs purpose. The whole thing reeked of a pathetic desperation do to anything no matter how outrageous to try and save the contract. Perhaps this schizophrenia up top is that LANS purpose is make money, either by the bonus or by rent-seeking, leverage or any other means that technically legal but in violation of the spirit of contract, and this is not the intended purpose of LANL. I just do not know, several people told me that today made that almost ashamed to work at LANL. What have we become?
It's probably a good time for a fundamental change in the way Sandia, Livermore, and Los Alamos are run. Workers from the division and group levels, leadership and admins, technical staff members, the crucially important support staff, physical plant and security personnel deserve a direct and binding say in the day-to-day management and long-term objectives of the nuclear security laboratories. Let's call for democratizing this public institution based on the leadership of those who know these places best -- the people who (still, after many RIFs) work there. A board of elected representatives can manage the fiscal and logistical functions of the lab better than conflicted corporate profiteers who have little connection to the larger fundamental and national security science of the lab or the needs of the local community. A parallel board of scientists and administrators can work with DOE (since the NNSA is superfluous, wasteful, and corporate-captured) and advise Congress to determine policy based on science over politics. Sure, this is a lot of work and it will take a long time to get there. But if you just keep whining on this site you're going to accomplish nothing -- other than perhaps annoying the hell out of your spouse. Keep your eyes open for moves in this direction at your favorite NNSA-lab campus -- or just off-campus. You know how they get.
The best video the bald guy showed was the rugby team screaming profanities in Samoan and intimidating the other team with hand gestures, including slitting their throats at the end. Reminded me of my experience with LANS the past 9-years. If you have worked in the LANL nuclear facilities for Steve Henry and Hugh McGovern you will understand. I'll never forget McGovern threatening peoples lives if they didn't start closing PFITS.
There was a full house for Charlie, but support side employees were required to attend per Carolyn Zerkle, who is in charge of support. I think mandatory attendance happened before in the Nanos era. I thought the mission stuff from Charlie was ok, but I didn't buy into the "character" stuff -- it's still the same cast of characters.
August 24, 2015 at 5:32 PM
Carolyn Zerkle, the LANS Den Mother.
"Charlie was ok, but I didn't buy into the "character" stuff "
The whole character and integrity stuff was hilarious coming from LANL management.
"The best video the bald guy showed was the rugby team screaming profanities in Samoan and intimidating the other team with hand gestures, including slitting their throats at the end."
Your are an ignorant and disrespectful fool! Well ok there was no background given at all for you saw or what the point was. It was not invented by Saatchi and Saatchi but is called the Haka, which is a war dance from The Maori people of New Zealand, and now used by some New Zealand team called All Backs. It should inspire LANL to have a purpose!
Let your ears listen
Kia rite! Kia rite! Kia mau! Hī! Get ready...! Line up...! Steady...! Yeah!
Kia whakawhenua au i ahau! Let me become one with the land
Hī aue, hī! (assertive sounds to raise adrenaline levels)
Ko Aotearoa e ngunguru nei! New Zealand is rumbling here
Au, au, aue hā!
Ko Kapa o Pango e ngunguru nei! The Team in Black is rumbling here
Au, au, aue hā!
I āhahā!
Ka tū te Ihiihi Stand up to the fear
Ka tū te Wanawana Stand up to the terror
Ki runga ki te rangi, To the sky above,!
E tū iho nei, tū iho nei, hī! Fight up there, high up there. Yeah!
Ponga rā! The shadows fall!
Kapa o Pango, aue hī! Team in Black, yeah!
Ponga rā! Darkness falls!
Kapa o Pango, aue hī, hā! Team in Black, Yeah, Ha!
By the way did anyone catch what McMillan said about doing the right thing? It was something along the line about the LANCE accident report. It was something like it is
not in our best interest to cooperate with the investigation but it is the right thing to do. I have to wait until we can see the rebroadcast but if he said that than
that it looks horrible.
OP: "Did McMillan pay the advertising firm Saatchi & Saatchi several million of dollars to give LANS a "purpose" statement?"
No, you (the taxpayers) paid them.
7:20 AM
It's the New Zealand All Blacks, not All Backs.
Who's the ignorant one?
Your are an ignorant and disrespectful fool! Well ok there was no background given at all for you saw or what the point was. It was not invented by Saatchi and Saatchi but is called the Haka, which is a war dance from The Maori people of New Zealand, and now used by some New Zealand team called All Backs. It should inspire LANL to have a purpose!
August 25, 2015 at 7:20 AM
What you didn't point out was the last key gesture the All Blacks showed which you may have missed. The gesture of slitting the throats of the opponents. Is this what LANS wants to convey?
This international advertising firm probably wouldn't even bother to answer the phone for less than 10 Mil. The whole sordid mess fits with Charlie's efforts to create a slick image that is all show and little substance.
Everyone I know found this debacle to be either pointless or demoralizing. One person said that it makes them very sad to think that 70 managers actually spent six months to come up with nothing. Some have said that is an insult to all the people at the laboratory. Others said that it was just a waste of time and not to waste another second thinking about it, which of course is the practical thing to do. Many people are just confused about why this even happened or what the whole point was and are worried that if this gets out it could really hurt LANL.
It does not look good to have an all hands meeting where we say we had to hire an outside marketing firm to figure out the purpose of the lab by watching videos of people gesturing about slitting throats, babies using diapers, geese honking, selfies and chocolate, octupi eating people, and dishonest facts about crappy cameras. This is then followed by the Director describing a one-page viewgraph containing trivially obvious statements that required six months to assemble.
I recall I participated in a real mission developing exercise during the Hecker era. There were real goals set from the bottom-up not from the top-down. This was the fundamental flaw in the approach that McMillan took, a top-down approach resulting in a one-page "purpose" with no real purpose costing the taxpayers millions of dollars that went to New Zealand. The fleecing of America. LANS needs to go.
McMillan spoke of Steve Guidice (former DOE-ALO Leader) speaking highly of weapon engineers at LANL. What McMillan didn't tell you is that LANL/LANS has paid (and continues to pay) Guidice a handsome contractor fee for making these same compliments to the Lab management for the past 25-years, since he left DOE. Guidice will tell you anything for the right price.
I think you LANL folks need to get some perspective. At least Charlie is trying to do something positive. Think about if this had been LLNL. You would have heard a presentation by Goldstein and Verdon on the importance of high-foot "break even" fusion on the NIF, how the entire future of the lab is NIF, and how there's still a chance that yields may improve with "tweaks" so we can finally climb Mount Everest. Everything else would be downplayed and dismissed, like it has been for 20 years.
You are also fortunate that your next directors will probably not come from LLNL. It looks like the experiment with LLNL management has run its course.
"...By the way did anyone catch what McMillan said about doing the right thing? It was something along the line about the LANCE accident report. It was something like it is not in our best interest to cooperate with the investigation but it is the right thing to do. I have to wait until we can see the rebroadcast..."
Did the rebroadcast confirm what you think you heard?
This latest All-Hands presentation was so totally awesome that it deserves a LANS poem in its honor:
LANS has the plan for making LANL grand.
Charlie is the man for carrying out the plan.
Strike up the band and join in for the man!
Charlie, Charlie, Chaaaaaaarlie! He's the man who can!
Now get out there, team, and be sure to give 110% for the LANS team. Winners all.
LANS and McMillan are nothing but "con" jobs. Their job is to con the Legislative branch, Executive branch, Judicial branch, NM State Government, taxpayers, and the employees. Their second job, as Craig Leasure (PAD for Operations) has stated in writing and verbally is to "protect the Laboratory at any cost" and I would add their lucrative salaries and bonuses. It's as simple as that folks, read it and weep.
Losers can read it and weep, 4:22am.
Winners can join the LANS management team and be well rewarded for their efforts. There are way too many losers at LANL but not every person is destined for greatness.
It's like six-sigma de ja vu.
Yeah, whatever happened six sigma and all of those black belts?
McMillan spoke of Steve Guidice (former DOE-ALO Leader) speaking highly of weapon engineers at LANL. What McMillan didn't tell you is that LANL/LANS has paid (and continues to pay) Guidice a handsome contractor fee for making these same compliments to the Lab management for the past 25-years, since he left DOE. Guidice will tell you anything for the right price.
August 26, 2015 at 4:24 AM
Agreed. Guidice is not a customer, but a slime-bag contractor. For McMillan to convey Guidice's comments was disingenuous. If the only positive comments that anyone has are from contractors that McMillan pays, then that tells you something about the state of affairs at LANS.
Was that Glenn Mara I saw at LANL last week with his cheap polyester pants and toupee? These guys from Livermore just won't let go. Hopefully DOE/NNSA gives the LLNL/Bechtel boys the boot for a disastrous 9-years.
Anonymous said...
There was a full house for Charlie, but support side employees were required to attend per Carolyn Zerkle, who is in charge of support. I think mandatory attendance happened before in the Nanos era.
Who gives a cr%(p what Carolyn Zerkle says or orders employees to do. The dweebs in her organization have
no balls. Thats the problem with LANL. Too many employees are scared sh$*l$#ss for some reason and cave
in to what management says. This is so true but really so in her organization.
Carolyn Zerkle, LANS Den Mother.
"Think about if this had been LLNL. You would have heard a presentation by Goldstein and Verdon on the importance of high-foot "break even" fusion on the NIF, how the entire future of the lab is NIF, and how there's still a chance that yields may improve with "tweaks" so we can finally climb Mount Everest."
At least LLNL has a mission. What's LANL's ??? Can't say can you ?
Yes, Livermore's mission is to keep NIF alive. No one at LANL needs a "purpose statement" to understand that LANL's mission is Nuclear Weapons, as it always has been, and always will be. Do you want to bet on which is more important to National Security, and which lab will survive in the long run? I look forward to visiting that future shopping mall on that square mile in the Livermore Valley, and perhaps visiting the set of an old Star Wars movie.
That's Star Trek, dummy!
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