Clueless on the Hill
By David on Nov 20, 2008 in Featured, Leadership
As someone who works with many organizations on leadership, I can say - with tongue in cheek - that none of the CEOs of the Big Three auto makers will ever be accused of being leaders. To the contrary, they are a PR disaster. As their recent demonstration on Capital Hill revealed, they are too tone deaf, too old in their approaches, too rich, and too rusty to lead their companies out of a downward spiral.
GM’s Richard Wagoner, for example, apparently was only capable of speaking in the one-dimensional promotional jargon of a car salesman. He was not able to deliver specific and lucid answers to Congress. At one point, a congressman snapped at Wagoner to save the commercial for later.
Wagoner and his pals clearly were inadequately prepped.
Their presentations, their attitudes, suggested CEOs who were out of step or too arrogant to comprehend the climate in America today. Their appearance suggested CEOs who had not bothered to rehearse being humble.
None of the CEOs … and none of the PR people advising them … apparently anticipated the obvious question that was asked by Representative Gary Ackerman of New York, a question that will be remembered as perhaps the undoing of Detroit’s car industry:
“There’s a delicious irony in seeing private luxury jets flying into Washington, D.C., and people coming off of them with tin cups in their hands … It’s almost like seeing a guy show up at the soup kitchen in high-hat and tuxedo. . . . I mean, couldn’t you all have downgraded to first class or jet-pooled or something to get here?”
The CEOs sat there, looking at Ackerman, speechless.
Then, as Dana Milbank wrote in the The Washington Post, Congressman Brad Sherman of California joined in, “I’m going to ask the three executives here to raise their hand if they flew here commercial.” All still at the witness table. “Second,” he continued, “I’m going ask you to raise your hand if you’re planning to sell your jet . . . and fly back commercial.” More stillness. “Let the record show no hands went up,” Sherman said.
The issue of coming to a Washington congressional hearing in a corporate jet rather than a commercial flight may be the issue that derails Detroit’s plea for a financial handout. On the heels of the reported excesses by insurance giant, AIG, after it pocketed a chunk of bailout money, the move by the Detroit trio simply was not smart. What’s more, it was a demonstration of excess by highly paid CEOs that many Americans find appalling in these times of financial hardship. It is the antithesis of smart and enlightened leadership … and someone should have figured that out in advance of the trip to Washington.
By the way, I am old enough to remember that in the 1970s, the Big 3 auto makers came crying to Washington in similar fashion because they feared that better-made Japanese cars would lead to the ruin of Detroit. Didn’t happen.
