Friday, November 21, 2008

Neuharth: Kiss off CEOs who can't fix problems

[Perpetrators or victims? GM's Wagoner, GCI's Dubow]

Like rubbernecking past a car wreck, I can't resist octogenarian retired CEO Al Neuharth's weekly column, every Friday in USA Today.

As General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner and other Big Three auto bosses rattle tin cups before Congress, Big Al asks a question that's on everyone's mind: "Why should any bosses who got their company into a mess be saved from their misdeeds?"

(A snarky question even closer to home: Why should retired bosses who got their companies into a mess continue collecting platinum retirement benefits? Like, you know, a company-paid nanny for their kids? Or lifetime free health insurance? But I digress!)

"Boards of other troubled companies should follow these same guidelines,'' Neuharth writes today. "If the boss inherited a mess, be a little bit patient and help him or her. If the boss caused it and/or didn't know how to fix it, kiss him or her goodbye."

Well, pucker up Gannett board of directors, as you compare the closing stock performance of Gannett vs. General Motors since July 15, 2005 -- when Craig Dubow became CEO:
  • Gannett: down 91.3%
  • GM: down 91.2%.

More financial pearls of wisdom!
From the treehouse archives of Big Al:

9 comments:

  1. Dubow is such a luser. Analysts have been saying for months that GCI needs to slim down radically and move operations to the Web if it wants to survive, but he's done nothing except buy an Internet snooping company. Like GM, GCI has no business plan, no vision and is putting out models on the market that not enough people want anymore. He's earned himself a chapter in business books of the future, involving business executives so dumb they rode their companies to oblivion, instead of taking bold and decisive steps that were clearly needed.

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  2. Are Craig and Gracia cleaning out their 11th floor offices yet? It's mighty quiet, cold and dismal up there.

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  3. If I had achieved the kind of results he has, I'd admit defeat, and step aside humbly.

    At this point, I blame the board for not forcing a change.

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  4. Easy now guys, I took a 200 grand pay cut. I am feeling your pain!

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  5. Knock off the fake Blogger id's. You're not as funny as you think you are.

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  6. Sorry James, just proving my point. Feel free to delete the last couple posts....

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  7. Like GM, GCI has no business plan, no vision and is putting out models on the market that not enough people want anymore.

    And Al Neuharth gives his advice. LOL! This tops it all.

    Response of Gannett: We have a system - not much of a system, but we are fond of it!!!!!!!! LOL!

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Jim says: "Proceed with caution; this is a free-for-all comment zone. I try to correct or clarify incorrect information. But I can't catch everything. Please keep your posts focused on Gannett and media-related subjects. Note that I occasionally review comments in advance, to reject inappropriate ones. And I ignore hostile posters, and recommend you do, too."

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