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Get Four
|  | FEBRUARY 9, 2004
By Kate Hazelwood The Martha Trial's Workplace Primer Among the tips gleaned from this courtroom battle: Niceness to co-workers pays, but rashly written e-mail can backfire Try as they might, defense attorneys for Martha Stewart and her former stockbroker, Peter Bacanovic, are having a tough time shaking the testimony of the prosecution's star witness, Douglas Faneuil, who was Bacanovic's assistant at Merrill Lynch (see BW Online, 2/05/04, "Two Steps Back for Martha's Defense"). The grueling cross-examination is scheduled to resume on Feb. 9 in a U.S. District Court in Manhattan, where Stewart and Bacanovic are being tried on charges of conspiracy and obstruction of justice. Sitting in the courtroom, though, I see another drama unfolding: The testimony at times comes across as almost a primer on what not to do in the modern-day workplace. Chief among the lessons? It's amazing how e-mail gives indiscretions, off-color remarks, and asides -- even those that might seem benign at the moment when written -- a disturbingly long shelf life. Here are a few workplace dos and don'ts I've gleaned from the trial. Beware of working with friends, or even friends of friends. Anyone who has ever had a friendship implode over a failed business venture knows all about this first no-no. But even job references in a small circle of friends can be trouble. Faneuil found out that Bacanovic was looking for an assistant from a close mutual friend. The two had a great working relationship at the start: Bacanovic was "the best boss I've ever had," Faneuil testified -- and he seems to still mean it. Faneuil described Bacanovic as demanding but also patient. Yet his feelings toward Bacanovic changed after December 27, 2001, the date the prosecution alleges that Stewart sold her shares of ImClone (IMCL ). She was allegedly acting on a tip provided by Faneuil, at Bacanovic's instruction, that ImClone co-founder Samuel Waksal was trying to sell all his shares in the company. From then on, Faneuil testified, he was afraid of his boss and "uneasy around" him. You can still see the unease in Faneuil's body language on the witness stand when it comes to testifying against Bacanovic. He often goes to great lengths to praise him (Martha Stewart is a whole other story, but more on that later). In cooperating with the U.S. Attorney's office in return for pleading to a misdemeanor in the case, he clearly doesn't seem to relish his role in the prosecution's attempts to convict Bacanovic. After all, the two still run in the same circle of friends. Lesson here: It's a bad idea to mix your personal and professional lives. Be nice to everyone you work with. I'm not talking about the boss -- you have no choice on that one. It's the secretaries, assistants, and mailroom clerks who truly hold the keys to the kingdom. Not only do they make sure you get your packages, your appointments, and your calls returned, they can bring you down faster than anyone. I doubt Stewart has had trouble getting her calls returned since she became famous. But her now-legendary angry behavior toward underlings -- those who Leona Helmsley once famously described as "the little people" -- clearly has borne rotten fruit for her in this Manhattan courtroom. As Faneuil has shown with his vivid testimony, if someone dislikes you, they're much more likely to remember the awful things you've done to them –- in great detail –- and they'll enjoy trotting them out, maybe even in a courtroom someday. It's not just recollections that can be so damning. People also are much more likely to type up the things you do or say that reinforce your reputation for nastiness and circulate them in e-mail that could later be used to embarrass you if ever you go to trial. Exhibit A: This e-mail from Faneuil to a co-worker, dated Tuesday, October 23, 2001 (months before Stewart's ImClone trade) and entered into evidence at the trial. It details Stewart's rage toward Faneuil, which she expressed to him over the phone when she thought he was Bacanovic: Subject: I just spoke to MARTHA! I have never, ever been treated more rudely by a stranger on the telephone. She actually hung up on me! And she had the nerve -- the NERVE -- the (sic) mention the layoffs in her anger! She said "Do you know who the hell is answering your phones? You call and you know what he sounds like? He says this..." and then she made the most ridiculous sound I've heard coming from an adult in quite some time, kind of like a lion roaring underwater. I laughed. I thought she was joking. And then she yelled, "This is not a joke!!!"... P.S. A secret, of course.... A secret? No more. After this e-mail was entered into evidence on Feb. 5, the afternoon was filled with spectators gurgling and laughing, some even right in front of the jury, trying to figure out what a lion roaring underwater sounds like. The gallery also appeared to enjoy Faneuil's account of how the domestic doyenne threatened to dump Bacanovic and Merrill Lynch as her broker unless the company stopped playing canned music that didn't suit her over the phone lines when she was on hold. Said Faneuil dryly as the courtroom erupted in laughter: "This was the one conversation with Martha Stewart I chose not to share with Peter."
BW MALL
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