Chrysler: LaSorda Out, Nardelli In
Just two days following the formal takeover of Chrysler by new owners Cerberus Capital Management, the Three Headed Dog is already rolling heads, despite its earlier promises to keep the management team intact. The Detroit News reports that Chrysler Group CEO Tom LaSorda is on his way down with a demotion to president, while chief operating officer and long-time Chrysler veteran Eric Ridenour is heading for the door. Taking the CEO slot is none other than former Home Depot chairman Robert Nardelli, an autocrat best known for improving the hardware retailer's efficiencies while damaging employee morale before bailing out at the beginning of this year with a controversial $210 million golden parachute. Time will tell whether Nardelli, who also turned around GE's once-ailing Power Systems turbine manufacturing business under Jack Welch, will make a successful transition from moving pallets of mallets to minivans "engineered beautifully." Stay tuned.
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How sad.....but then, no one is surprised to see even mediocre CEOs get other jobs fairly easily. I call Nardelli mediocre because it is easy to slash costs if you have no regard for tomorrow, which is what he did. Much harder to cut costs while keeping morale up and developing a long-term strategy. That makes me hope that Chrysler will fail miserably. Much as Bernhardt is controversial, the guy is a real piston-head and does care (not much, but still...) about employees.
Hellllooooo Six Sigma!
The last bit of gossip I read, I'm not sure if it's true, is that Nardelli is supposedly going to be "paid for performance" and that until Chrysler makes a profit he's only being paid a single dollar ($1.00) per year. With Bill Ford I could see it. With Nardelli? Maybe he has a buyer lined up for the real estate where the factories now stand. Who knows who might want to buy the tooling?