GM's CFO Fails Upwards
In a severely under-capitalized (in the lexicographical sense of the word) press release, GM has announced that it's booted chief financial officer Fritz Henderson upstairs. At today's meeting of the company's board of Bystanders directors, Fritz officially became GM's president and chief operating officer. Even though GM's busy cutting jobs (and how), Fritz' new post is an exercise in executive job creation. Rick Wagoner explained/justified it thus: "There's a lot going on at GM today… It's an opportune time to further bolster our top leadership structure; specifically, it's the right time to reestablish GM's traditional President and Chief Operating Officer position." The President of the board couldn't agree more. "The GM board is excited about the direction that GM is headed," George Fisher opined. "Tremendous progress has been made… these executive appointments will further support our business strategy and the work that needs to be done to achieve our growth, technology leadership and financial objectives." Uh… is it too late to reconsider that Bob Lutz award?
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Makes sense to me. Any company going under needs a chief operating scapegoat. Now, they can all put the blame on the figurehead.
Incompetence gets rewarded everywhere. The local telephone company handed its prez $1.3 million to get lost. The university bought out its athletic director for $250k. So, GM, after a record loss (granted, mostly on paper, but WTH?) didn't fire the CFO but promoted him... to SAVE money! They didn't want to pay him off.
Another bean counter in the executive suite. Just what the General needs....NOT! What is it with these &^$(*&%^$ that they keep putting accountants in charge and kicking their engineers to the curb? FYI..the chairman of Honda is a mechanical engineer, who rose through the ranks of Powertrain engineering by designing and building better MOTORS. Just goes to show....
Hey - incompetence ALWAYS gets rewarded! Not just in big corporations like GM, but in your own office as well. Interesting post here about how incompetence in the office gets rewarded