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When things worsened despite the best efforts and intentions, John Shapiro did as any leader in his right mind would do — step aside and let others handle it. Shapiro, commodities chief for Morgan Stanley, made fruitless ventures in the power and energy industry, which ultimately led to the reduction of the company’s profits to a relatively meager $1.03 billion as of second quarter this year. However, one might ask, was Shapiro responsible for the loss? Partly, yes. But putting the whole fiasco on his shoulders would also be unfair.

Morgan Stanley was having a hard time with other departments’ unproductive performances. Shapiro’s department, the commodities division, was expected to offset the losses coming from the other divisions. And when Shapiro’s efforts did not deliver, the company conveniently laid the blame on him. Shapiro did take a lot of missteps in handling Morgan Stanley’s energy and power trading enterprise, no doubt. However, Shapiro already took responsibility, saying he was thinking of retirement long before the power fiasco.

Nevertheless, hats off to Shapiro, who has served Morgan Stanley for 24 years and whose 3 year-tenure as chief of Morgan Stanley’s commodities division saw the company’s most productive years.

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