Thursday, March 6, 2008

New CEO for General Motors?

GM has given Frederick "Fritz" Henderson the title of "President and Chief Operating Officer" with responsibility for GM's operations. The WSJ article doesn't define "operations" but one would it assume it means running the car factories and selling the cars produced therein. Rick Waggoner, the current boss at GM, would retain his job, title, salary, and retirement benefits and plans to work on "transformational issues" such as lobbying environmental regulations and new technology. Is this retirement in place? Making and selling cars is GM's real business. Everything else is a side issue.
George Fisher, GM's lead director said that the board viewed GM management as a triumvirate of Waggoner, Henderson, and Vice Chairman Bob Lutz, the new products man. Fisher may call it a triumvirate, but I'd call it a committee. Real companies are run by a single Chief Executive Officer, who can call all the shots without endless meetings to hash over policy. Is GM still a real company?
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