CovOps
 Location : Ether-Sphere
Job/hobbies : Irrationality Exterminator
Humor : Über Serious
 |  Subject: Funny: Ten executives who should have kept their mouths shut  Sun Feb 22, 2009 6:52 pm | |
| We have all said things we regret: embarrassing comments we would rather forget. Most of the time the consequences are not too severe. But not for these guys and gals.
Their corporate blunders have spectacularly backfired. More than one has lost their job because of their thoughtless gaffes or watched as their company's share price has plunged because of an ill-chosen word.
10 Freddie Shepherd (1998)
Newcastle United
"Newcastle girls are all dogs. England is full of them. The girls are ugly and they're dogs."
So said Freddie Shepherd, the chairman of Newcastle United Football Club, after a spectacular expose by the News of the World’s infamous "fake" sheikh" in a Spanish brothel.
Mr Shepherd also mocked fans for buying shirts that cost less than a fiver to make overseas and said that United's striker Alan Shearer was as boring as Mary Poppins.
He was gone in less than a fortnight, but not for long. He reappeared on the Newcastle board 10 months later. Proof, if ever you need one, that you don't need charm to make it at the top.
9 Mark Sismey-Durrant (2008)
Icesave
On October 4 Mr Sismey-Durrant, chief executive of the failed Icelandic bank, went on BBC radio to tell his 300,000 UK customers that "They shouldn't be nervous about the state of the bank. We have a strong capital base and 63 per cent of our balance sheet is funded by deposits."
Asked if customers could be sure their money was safe and they could get it out he answered: "Yes, they can be."
Three days later, Icesave's parent Landsbanki went into receivership and customers were left bewildered and angry as their deposits were frozen.
8 Tony Hayward (2007)
BP
In 2007, Tony Hayward took over at BP from Lord Browne, the oil giant's long-standing chief executive who resigned following allegations about his private life in the Mail on Sunday.
Hayward was reportedly keen to shake-up the organisation from the outset and described the oil giant’s performance as "dreadful". His comment succeeded in shaking things down, rather than up. BP's shares plunged, wiping £3.5 billion off their value.
7 Gerald Corbett (2002)
Woolworths
Gerald Corbett caused a storm when he delivered a less-than-rosy verdict on Woolworths, soon after taking over as the retail chain's boss.
Asked for an assessment of the company after a disappointing trading statement Mr Corbett said: "Some city centre stores are vast open deserts with nobody there."
The recent performance of the high-street chain suggests things haven't improved. Sales have been falling, as have profits. A sorry picture reflected in its shares, which have plunged 85 per cent over the past three years and are now worth just pennies each.
6 David Shepherd (2001)
Topman
Today, Topman is packed full of on-trend T-shirts and one-off designer lines, primped and pawed at by achingly cool art students. But back in the early noughties, when high street menswear catered to simpler tastes (and a customer base that didn’t moisturise daily), Topman was cheaper and a younger version of unfashionable Burtons.
Even so, the comments of brand director David Shepherd seemed a little unwise. When a reporter from trade magazine Menswear asked him to describe his target customers, he said: "Hooligans or whatever", adding: "Very few of our customers have to wear suits to work. They'll be for his first interview or first court case."
For shoplifting, perhaps?
5 Matt Barrett (2003)
Barclaycard
Like any loving father, Matt Barrett warned his children of the perils of using a credit card in adulthood and set an excellent example by never borrowing on the costly cards himself. A wise man. Unfortunately, Mr Barrett was head of Barclaycard, one of Europe’s largest credit card companies.
Customers weren’t too pleased when he told a Commons' Treasury Select Committee: "I do not borrow on credit cards. I have four young children. I give them advice not to pile up debts on their credit cards."
At the time, Barclaycard was charging card holders an eye-watering APR of 17.9 per cent.
4 Jeffrey K Skilling (2001)
Enron
It is never a good idea for a chief executive to swear outside of the privacy of their own home. It's unseemly for a start, and it also suggests that they are buckling under extreme pressure.
At least that's the lesson that can be drawn from the undignified performance of Jeffrey K. Skilling, then the chief executive of Enron, who lashed out with an expletive (we'll spare you the details) at an analyst asking a difficult question. Six months later the company collapsed and Skilling was sentenced to 24 years in prison for fraud and conspiracy.
3 Alain Levy (2003)
EMI
In 2003, EMI boss Alain Levy described in an interview how they had cut the number of Finnish artists on their label. He said "We discovered we had 49 artists in Finland. I think that is a bit too many. I don't think there are 49 Finns that can sing.''
Three years later the Scandinavians got their revenge, as Finnish monster metal band Lordi took the top prize at the Eurovision song contest with a song titled Hard Rock Hallelujah. Unsurprisingly the band signed to rival Sony BMG.
2 Mark Owen-Lloyd (2008)
E.ON
Mark Owen-Lloyd, head of power trading at energy company E.ON, was pilloried after he recently said that the worst-case scenario for his company in the current difficult economic conditions was "more money for us".
When asked what would happen in a ‘worst case scenario’, with gas and oil prices staying at high levels, he said: "It’ll make more money for us".
Perhaps we shouldn't condemn him too harshly. At least he's man enough to admit the truth.
1 Gerald Ratner (1991)
Ratners
In the early 90s Ratners was one of Britain’s biggest jewellers. You won't find a Ratners on the high street anymore though, and all because of a notorious gaffe made by Gerald Ratner, the company's boss.
When asked to speak at a dinner held by the Institute of Directors, he made the decision to lighten up his speech with a few jokes at the expense of his business. He joked that his Ratners High Street chain 'sold a pair of earrings for under a pound, which is cheaper than a prawn sandwich from Marks & Spencer, but probably wouldn't last as long'.
He didn't stop there adding: "We also do cut-glass sherry decanters complete with six glasses on a silver-plated tray that your butler can serve you drinks on, all for £4.95. People say, 'How can you sell this for such a low price?' I say, because it's total crap."
He lost his job and the firm quickly changed its name (to Signet in case you were wondering).
His faux pas has since been immortalised in the phrase "Doing a Ratner", which means making a massive error of judgment. Fame of a sort.
And some more worth repeating
Richard Fuld (2008)
Lehman Brothers
Lehman's boss Richard Fuld and his sidekick George Walker scoffed at an in-house proposal that the investment bank's executives forgo lucrative bonuses only weeks before the company became the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history.
In an e-mail to Mr Walker, the Lehman's chief executive said: "Don't worry. [Those complaining] are only people who think about their own pockets."
Mr Walker, President George W. Bush's cousin, wrote: "Sorry team ... I'm not sure what's in the water" that caused someone to make the recommendation.
The email exchange came back to haunt Mr Fuld when it was revealed at a congressional hearing after Lehman's collapse. Red faces all round.
Carly Fiorina (2008)
Ex Hewlett-Packard
Bit of a cheat this one, but topical all the same. Carly Fiorina the former chief executive of the technology giant Hewlett-Packard and key economic adviser to John McCain didn't do the US presidential hopeful any favours when she told a radio host that his deputy - the indomitable Sarah Palin - couldn't run a major company like Hewlett Packard.
Asked later in a television interview about her remark, she put her foot even further into the mire when she added: "Well, I don't think John McCain could run a major corporation."
That's a vote of confidence in the potential leader of the world's most powerful country. |
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