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?
Find Reviews by Make:
Read all comments
“The GM board is excited about the direction that GM is headed,”
Just as I’m sure the sailors on the Bismark could be considered excited when the Royal Navy was closing in on them after the ship’s steering had been rendered useless.
Well, if it’s one thing GM need it’s a re-enforced leadership. I mean GM have done so well with the current leadership, you’d have to re-enforce it, wouldn’t you?
Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you the three men who will kick start the United States’ next recession. Groucho, Harpo and Zeppo!
Helluva job, Henderson!
“In a hierarchy every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence.”
KatiePuckrik
Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you the three men who will kick start the United States’ next recession. Groucho, Harpo and Zeppo!
Actually I was thinking more along the lines of Curly, Larry and Moe.
Roger Smith, the ‘great’ GM CEO from 1981 to 1990 is still available. Since he died last November, he’ll likely do an even better job this time around.
Mr Williams,
I’ve already used that joke in another post! I’m trying to keep my posts, fresh, funny and sassy without actually containing any well thought out ideas or facts!
“the GM board is excited about the direction GM is headed”
I’m sure the passengers on the Titanic thought the same thing still the captain shouted ICEBERG and the ship started sinking. Funny how the finicial condition of GM strangely mirrors that fateful voyage. Both displayed great hope and promise at the start and look at what happened to the Titanic !!! Hope Davey Jones has enough room in his locker for GM ??? GM needs better management and fewer divisions. I am starting to wonder which of the 2.8 is the most severly mismanaged?? I thought Ford was for a long time but GM and Chrysler are starting to give the blue oval a run for the money in the mismanagement department !!!!!!
GM NA VP Mark LaNeve didn’t get a promotion today, but he got to put the spin on the American Axle-related shutdowns: “It will be a long time until we run out of pickups to sell. We are in great shape for 60 to 90 days easy. I am sure this thing will get itself worked out.”
Give the GM brass credit where credit is due, I mean they only had a 13% drop in sales compared to Feb of ’07. I don’t know about the rest of the country, but there has been a lot of advertising here in California for 0% GM loans, big rebates etc.
I wished I could work somewhere where I could get a promotion when the organization is worse off but I guess all the government and 2.8 jobs are already taken.
I suppose Henderson is a good guy and all, but how many times since he’s been CFO have we read about GM’s accounting being screwed up? More than a couple IIRC. I know he doesn’t add up the columns himself, but shouldn’t the CFO take some serious heat for this being continuously screwed up? I do believe Fisher though when he says that bunch he heads up is excited by GM’s direction. Excited as in full blown panic due the direction as trending steeply downward.
By the way, what is that crap on top of the Camaro hood in the photo? You think these guys would have posed in front of new shiny vehicle not one about to go under the dentist drill. Can they do anything right?
starlightmica : “In a hierarchy every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence.”
You mean he wasn’t there before?
Did LaNeve really say that, and if so, did he automatically qualify himself for next year’s Lutz prize?
Where do I sign up for one of these made up jobs for idiots worth a multi-million dollar pay check. I can act like a retard in my nice corner office and screw something up in GM like the rest of them for a stack of millions. But I refuse to move to that pit Detriot, hated passing through it when I visited my girlfriend at EMU years ago, has to be worse now.
mel23 The accounting errors is the reason why he’s getting the fat raise and promotion. Without all this boneheaded mistakes everyone would be able to easily see just how bad GM is really doing. He’s doing a good job hiding the reality of their situation and the board is rewarding him for it.
hltguy I thought the same thing until I got a closer look at it. It’s a clay model with a computer routing tool I think. The 3 of them are photoshopped in front of that made up collage.
he most likley gets a bigger parachute.
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