jburk, you wrote:
"What continues to happen is people not accepting personal responsibility for choices made. Too many want to blame others for their own failures. Everyone needs to accept the fact that they invested the money into GTEL. No one forced them to do it. They can blame PR's, Blame the CEO, blame the weather but the fact remains, they made the investment. You will never see me complain about something that I did. I accept total responsibility for what I do."
Let me ask you something. If you went to a Chevy dealer and bought a new car at sticker price based on the dealer's recommendation, how would you react if it arrived from the factory missing the doors, tires and engine? Would you just accept it as is, assume they did the best they could, and chalk it up to your own failure for investing your money in such a venture? After all, no one forced you to do it... sure, perhaps the dealer led you to BELIEVE that your car would actually be drivable, but you shouldn't blame him, since the bottom line is that you should always accept total responsibility for what you do, right?
Sure, delays beyond the control of management are part of the risks of investing. And if the company doesn't make specific promises, an investor should not make specific assumptions. But when a company puts out a press release making promises four short weeks before the "delivery" date, and then FAIAP reiterates those promises ONE short week before that date, I think an investor should be able to have a reasonable expectation that those promises will be kept, or at least that they were made in good faith in the first place. Can anyone with a halfway objective outlook claim that their April 5 press release was forthright, honest and realistic? Should we not expect such qualities from our management?
Anyone who thinks that corporate executives bear no responsibility to their shareholders for their actions or ommisions should review recent prominent court cases. No, I'm not suggesting litigation here, as I don't think they crossed the line into criminal behavior, and in any case a lawsuit would make no sense for such an early-stage company. But please don't tell me that it's all my fault for not accepting personal responsibility for my choices.
I'm not blaming GTEL management for the delays; but I AM blaming them for producing misleading press releases and not correcting them in a timely way, even when it becomes obvious that relevant factors had changed dramatically long before those changes were disclosed. The point is, while every investor is responsible for the investments he makes, he in turn has a right to expect integrity from the management of those companies in which he invests. And frankly, at 11:30 PM EDT on the day an explanatory press release was again promised, I'm still waiting for a shred of that integrity to make an appearance.
I hope Mr. Huff is listening.
AI
