I don’t think Automotive News [sub] knows what to make of Chrysler. Applying the “anyone with half a brain” test to their ChryCo reportage, we can see that AN possess the requisite 50 percent cranial capacity. And yet, for better or worse , Detroit’s denizens are their homies. So, really, AN’s never too far from the Kool-Aid dispenser. The tension between what is and the hagiography surrounding Chrysler’s tight-lipped Canadian CEO is obvious in this morning’s article about management disco in Auburn Hills (DO the shuffle). “In June, CEO Sergio Marchionne elevated Peter Fong and Michael Accavitti to lofty positions in the new Chrysler Group — Fong as CEO of the Chrysler brand and Accavitti as CEO of Dodge. They lasted only four months before resigning last week. The abrupt changes signal that the hard-charging Marchionne doesn’t play by Detroit’s old-boy rules in his attempt to revive recently bankrupt Chrysler.” Either that or . . . chaos. [Your guess here.] Check this out, revealed in the irony-free subhead “Machionne’s Gospel” . . .
“I prefer to privilege leadership over knowledge. You can build your knowledge, as I am personally doing step by step in the auto business. But you cannot acquire leadership as a skill.”
Casting aside the use of the word “privilege” as a verb—although the jet-loving Machionne and his minions are not bound by any of the pay, perks or benefits restrictions placed on other TARP recipients—you’ve got to wonder about Marchionne’s belief that leadership comes from nature, not nurture. While entirely defensible, this belief tends to emanate from men who believe that they are born leaders. Can you say autocratic?
And the young [Chrysler] leaders must get along with a CEO whom many would define as a workaholic boss from hell. The chain-smoking Italian-Canadian executive has an unwieldy number of direct reports at Chrysler — 25. And that doesn’t include the 30 FIAT S.p.A. and Fiat Auto executives who report to him in Turin, Italy.
Sounds like hard work.
For the past four months, Marchionne has been trying to run Chrysler and Fiat simultaneously, holding major management meetings on weekends. He catnaps on trans-Atlantic flights, and his workdays can extend to 20 hours, weekends included.
Marchionne’s manic style is reminiscent of Jacques Nasser, who also had lots of direct reports and a vision of far-reaching cultural and structural change as CEO of Ford Motor Co. Nasser’s unsuccessful and tumultuous rein at Ford ended in 2001 after nearly three years.
Note to AN: thanks for the heads-up. We get it (even with the usual editorial amelioration). Which is just as well, as we’re paying for it. Right until we don’t. Oh, did I mention that AN also reports that Dollar Thrifty has announced its intention to cut back on purchases from the New Chrysler? Waaaay back.
Chrysler, which had made up 76 percent of Dollar Thrifty’s total U.S. fleet purchases in 2008, will make up about 30 percent of 2010 fleet purchases, said the company, which rents under the Dollar Rent A Car and Thrifty Car Rental brands.
Is that the sound of another nail sinking into Chrysler’s coffin? Still, as recent history proves, you can’t keep a good zombie down. Or can you?
I am afraid that the New CEO of Chrysler is only human and one of these days my may succumb to a serious illness, working long hours and doing a lot travling will soon “kill” any human, well before Chrysler is ever on the Road again to success!
After a Dodge Journey experience (not to be voluntarily repeated) in August at Dollar, I have now had five Fords in a row. (I have been offered Chrysler products a few times but have politely declined them.)
Marchionne did say earlier that he wanted to sell cars at a profit and avoid dumping them into fleets just to get volume. Maybe he is as good as his word! Maybe Thrifty are the first to see his new ‘fleet’ price list.
@Geo. Levecque:
I am afraid that the New CEO of Chrysler is only human and one of these days my may succumb to a serious illness
Yes, almost certainly. Emphysema, lung cancer, congestive heart failure, or any of the many others caused by prolonged, repeated smoke inhalation.
Makes perfectly good sense to me. How many people you know at your work that are very good at what they do but could not lead a camel to water? Now how many true leaders have you come across in your lifetime of work? I have only met one, Larry Bossidy.
Anyway, would anyone here like to say that the CEO of Ferrari, Maserati, Case New-Holland, IVECO, Fiat, Lancia, Magneti Marelli, and others…plus Chrysler, is not a leader … but you, all his critics, are?
Yes, I would say, “leadership over knowledge” is a very true statement.
As far as the word “privilege” … he means “values leadership over knowledge”, You can build your knowledge, as I am personally doing step by step in the auto business. But you cannot acquire leadership as a skill.”
I just hope he stays alive for at least 10 more years so we can see the fruits of his labour.
Sergio is going to burn himself out. One of the problems with people like him is they often expect everyone else to operate in like manner.
When Marchionne cites leadership (not industry savvy) as his priority, I suspect he is recognizing that Chrysler is at this stage a political creation, not an auto company. His goal with Chrysler is to fail falling forward. His question thus is, “How can Chrysler sink – which we knew from the beginning it would do – but yield an advantage for Fiat… and without Fiat putting in any net money?”
To accomplish this, he needs communicators with political connections. The ultimate goal is to tap into long-term government subsidies on both sides of the Atlantic. Taking over Chrysler did the Obama administration and its allies a huge political favor, and Marchionne wants “leaders” who know how to help him call in the chits. He is well aware that the Democrats will screw him if they can (just ask the doctors and health insurers who initially endorsed Obamacare), and he needs to keep pressure on them to get them to cough up. If Marchionne could get away with it he would move Chrysler’s headquarters to Washington. These days, that’s where it belongs.
tparkit, I hope you have never cashed a stimulus check from the IRS or you also are a creature of the same political creation.
pgcooldad
Moral relativism is the new black, I see.
It’d be nice if Sergio could find some space to wedge “competence” between leadership and knowledge.
Marchionne is clearly competent if his resume is any guide:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergio_Marchionne
But guys like him are killers, both of themselves and others. I question his smarts if he saves Chrysler but kills himself. At 57 his lifestyle is going to catch up with him and soon.
What kind of leader drives subordinates to quit because they can’t stand him? It appears that he has over reached in taking on Chrysler.
Yes, yes indeed moral relativism is the new black.
What else would you expect from a first generation Brazilian born Italian descendant of a Chrysler retiree who toils as a Chrysler Engineer?
I would say Ethnocentrism is more on the mark – perhaps cultural relativism.
pgcooldad Let me see if I can explain those stimulus checks. I gave the government roughly 33% of my income last year. They returned less than 2% of the total amount I gave them. That in no way relates to Marchionne rubbing elbows with politicians and pulling strings that only the truly wealthy can do. He is politically maneuvering for cash, as opposed to the government tossing a tiny portion of the money back to me that I already gave them. Hope that clears it up for you.
Marchionne is right about at least one thing: Management skills can be learned, but a person either has the leadership gene or they don’t. I’ve never seen someone learn to be a leader, but I have known a number of natural leaders over the years.