Regardless of what you hear about compensation largesse, CEO’s lead a precarious existence. In my mind, though there are always exceptions, they generally earn every penny. And are held accountable for everything. Some examples, all from just this past week:
FedEx Corp’s CEO Ken May will resign effective March 31, to “refocus <his> energy on my family, friends and other personal interests.” Yeah, right.
Reality? FedEx stupidly bought Kinko’s in 2004, and has struggled to make money with it. Unsuccessfully, obviously, and someone’s got to pay. Thanks, Ken.
The Mobile Division of Motorola gave walking papers to President Stu Reed. After resignations from a half-dozen key mobile executives.
Reality? Moto is in an executive meltdown, and has no rudder for leadership vision. Why not whack another?
Reebok president and CEO Paul Harrington will resign and “relocate to California to pursue new career and business opportunities there,” the company said.
Reality? Orchestrated board departure due to slumping Adidas results, mostly from the Reebok division. Successor named at same time. Lesson: don’t buy a bad company and expect good things. Hello, this is rocket science?
National Public Radio’s chief executive Ken Stern is leaving the media organization effective Friday, March 7. By “mutual agreement,” apparently. Stern had 10 years w/NPR, the last 2 as CEO, growing viewership to over 26M, and financial reserves and endowment growing by over 2,000 percent.
Reality? Stern clashed with the board, wanting to grow in markets that the board didn’t have an interest. No contract extension for you. Let’s be clear: his performance was simply INCREDIBLE. And yet, he’s still unemployed.
Tough job, CEO…
