Buick-GMC Boss "Quits" After Nine Days
Published: December 10th, 2009
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The blood is flowing like water at the RenCen, as brand-new Buick-GMC manager Michael Richards has left General Motors after nine days on the job. The Detroit News reports that Susan Docherty’s replacement left to “pursue other career opportunities.” Richards had been VP Sales and Marketing at Austin, Texas automotive firm Trilogy, and according to the DetN’s sources:
Trilogy made a strong counteroffer to keep Richards, and he was said to be considering that offer in light of Friday’s management shakeup engineered by Chairman and CEO Ed Whitacre
So much for hiring outsiders.
More by Edward Niedermeyer
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I will be amazed to see GM survive the entire next decade the route they are currently going.
It shows just how big and well shielded those umbrellas were that Rabid Rick and Fritz had. Until both were gone, nothing was going to change. Now, Big Bad Ed is having to make up for lost time. Fritz frittered away vital time in the last year that should have gone to making over the corp, especially the executive suite. Whether this is too much, too fast remains to be seen but I'm sure it's playing very well up on the hill. Just in time for the passing of the hat?
Let's be clear - this guy was hardly an "outsider"...he worked at Ford from 1981-2008 and it's not like the culture was THAT different than GM's during that timeframe. Rumour has it that he clashed with Farley and that was the end of the line for him at Ford. As I noted in an earlier piece, a friend of mine worked under him at L-M and found him to be a colossal asshat if I may be so bold. If he was let go (vs. voluntarily quitting) then there is hope for GM's ability to recognize a serious mistake. Let's all just hope that his employment contract didn't entitle him to much in the case of "leaving to pursue other opportunities".
I agree with WheelJack. He was not an outsider. I had been fortunate to have worked for Ford Customer Service Division (FCSD) for 8 years. The most joyful part of the job (sarcasm) was all of the wonderful meetings about meetings. Monthly, we had to watch Mr. Richards via satellite broadcast perform a dog and pony show about nothing. We were tasked with strong arming dealers to purchase tires, batteries, and keyless entry systems otherwise we were put on S#@t list. We forced allot of parts inventory down dealership's throats and in the next breath would tell them to avoid creating idle inventory and sell them a parts upgrade program. These programs cost significant dollars.