GM CEO Fritz Henderson resigning!!!

lilpup · December-01-09, 04:38 PM

GM's press conference, scheduled for 4:30 pm [[not yet started as I post), is being carried online by WDIV and WXYZ. Reportedly Henderson is resigning and board Chair Whitacre will serve as interim CEO.

This is scary. Whitacre, formerly of AT&T, has no manufacturing experience.

**BShea** · December-01-09, 04:40 PM

http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article...FREE/912019984

Ed Whitacre will replace him in the interim.

**catch22** · December-01-09, 06:30 PM

Originally Posted by lilpup

GM's press conference, scheduled for 4:30 pm [[not yet started as I post), is being carried online by WDIV and WXYZ. Reportedly Henderson is resigning and board Chair Whitacre will serve as interim CEO.

This is scary. Whitacre, formerly of AT&T, has no manufacturing experience.

Maybe scary, maybe not. As a retired AT&T middle manager, I can say this: If Ed says he's going to do something, you have two choices: Either help him make it so or find the exit door before he tosses you through it [[as Henderson learned the hard way). This may be just what GM needs to change its corporate culture from a horde of yes-men in suits to one that actually wants to move forward.

If anyone thinks Ed can't manage a long-range plan or a big company, check out the history of how today's AT&T came to be and who was in the driver's seat the whole way.

dharma4313 · December-01-09, 06:57 PM

Originally Posted by lilpup

GM's press conference, scheduled for 4:30 pm [[not yet started as I post), is being carried online by WDIV and WXYZ. Reportedly Henderson is resigning and board Chair Whitacre will serve as interim CEO.

Headline: "Obama Puppet Cuts Own Strings".

**Kevgoblue** · December-01-09, 06:59 PM

Please. I'm sure Fritz was aware of his upcoming desire to "resign" since the moment Wagoner was walked out the door.
The company is looking to issue stock in 2010. Pretty tough to convince the market that this is the New GM when the current leader had been the right hand man of the ousted CEO for the past 20 years. Fritz got a few extra million and a head start to start floating his resume to stick around and maintain a level of stability until Whitacre was ready to start bringing in his new handpicked leadership.

dharma4313 · December-01-09, 07:18 PM

Originally Posted by Kevgoblue

Pretty tough to convince the market that this is the New GM

Point taken, I'll be buying a new minivan in the next couple of weeks, and it sure as hell won't be no damn GM or Chrysler. Ford? Now there's some balls!

**Patrick** · December-01-09, 07:59 PM

He will probably move the GM HQ to Texas.

lilpup · December-01-09, 08:16 PM

Originally Posted by catch22

Maybe scary, maybe not. As a retired AT&T middle manager, I can say this: If Ed says he's going to do something, you have two choices: Either help him make it so or find the exit door before he tosses you through it [[as Henderson learned the hard way). This may be just what GM needs to change its corporate culture from a horde of yes-men in suits to one that actually wants to move forward.

If anyone thinks Ed can't manage a long-range plan or a big company, check out the history of how today's AT&T came to be and who was in the driver's seat the whole way.

GM is a major international manufacturing concern, not Walmart or an effin' phone company.

**wash_man** · December-01-09, 09:04 PM

Originally Posted by dharma4313

Point taken, I'll be buying a new minivan in the next couple of weeks, and it sure as hell won't be no damn GM or Chrysler. Ford? Now there's some balls!

Except of the three you mention, only Chrysler makes a minivan. Now what?

**Fnemecek** · December-01-09, 11:20 PM

Originally Posted by lilpup

GM is a major international manufacturing concern, not Walmart or an effin' phone company.

What? Do you think telecommunications equipment designs and builds itself?

lilpup · December-01-09, 11:25 PM

Originally Posted by Fnemecek

What? Do you think telecommunications equipment designs and builds itself?

No, I think electronics manufacturers, not the service providers, build it.

**Fnemecek** · December-01-09, 11:29 PM

Originally Posted by lilpup

No, I think electronics manufacturers, not the service providers, build it.

Except that for most Ed Whitacre's career, AT&T was both the manufacturer and the service provider. They spun off their design and manufacturing operation a few years ago so that it could sell equipment to other telecomm companies.

lilpup · December-01-09, 11:50 PM

Originally Posted by Fnemecek

Except that for most Ed Whitacre's career, AT&T was both the manufacturer and the service provider. They spun off their design and manufacturing operation a few years ago so that it could sell equipment to other telecomm companies.

Except Whitacre wasn't with AT&T when it was a manufacturer. He was at Southwestern Bell/SBC Communications for the majority of his career and became part of AT&T in 2005 when SBC bought AT&T. By that time AT&T had spun off their manufacturing [[as Lucent Technologies) about 10 years earlier.

**Fnemecek** · December-02-09, 12:02 AM

I stand corrected. It's time for me to log-off and get some sleep.

Good night, forum.

**Cincinnati_Kid** · December-02-09, 12:33 AM

^^ Lilpup wins by TKO in the 5th round. :-)

**1KielsonDrive** · December-02-09, 12:39 AM

Originally Posted by catch22

Maybe scary, maybe not. As a retired AT&T middle manager, I can say this: If Ed says he's going to do something, you have two choices: Either help him make it so or find the exit door before he tosses you through it [[as Henderson learned the hard way). This may be just what GM needs to change its corporate culture from a horde of yes-men in suits to one that actually wants to move forward.

If anyone thinks Ed can't manage a long-range plan or a big company, check out the history of how today's AT&T came to be and who was in the driver's seat the whole way.

I'm not quite sure of the point you're trying to make. I'll say this about ATT, they're in the same league as Comcast when it comes to performance and customer service. That's the 'Bush' league. Two companies I'll never do business with again. I find it difficult to believe auto companies, in their search to 'shake' things up and reach out of their own gene pool, bring in Whitacre and whatshisname .... Nardelli from Home Depot, ostensibly to turn around their corporations.

lilpup · December-02-09, 01:18 AM

The Nardelli and Whitacre moves weren't made by people that familiar with auto companies. They were the result of New Yorkish financial sector management teams.

I haven't looked at a list lately but I believe most of the GM board now is non-auto and little, if any, manufacturing experienced.

**d.mcc** · December-02-09, 01:47 AM

Originally Posted by lilpup

The Nardelli and Whitacre moves weren't made by people that familiar with auto companies. They were the result of New Yorkish financial sector management teams.

I haven't looked at a list lately but I believe most of the GM board now is non-auto and little, if any, manufacturing experienced.

Its not like Ole' Ed is gonna be stamping the sheet metal on the line. His job is to outline business plans and guide the company towards profit. If he has a track record in it, so be it.

lilpup · December-02-09, 06:47 AM

Originally Posted by d.mcc

Its not like Ole' Ed is gonna be stamping the sheet metal on the line. His job is to outline business plans and guide the company towards profit. If he has a track record in it, so be it.

Oprah Winfrey and Martha Stewart have track records. Why not call one of them?

**CountrySquire** · December-02-09, 10:11 AM

This is the best thing for GM. Henderson was nothing more then a Wagoner yes man who was going to continue the Wagoner legacy of shrinking the company to nothing.

**d.mcc** · December-02-09, 10:44 AM

Originally Posted by lilpup

Oprah Winfrey and Martha Stewart have track records. Why not call one of them?

Why not? If they know how to properly delegate and hire and promote the best people for the job. Running a Multi-Billion dollar business enterprise from the top requires more than, "auto-industry" experience, in fact, it might be perfect that an outsider who hasn't taken a company to bankruptcy is going to come in and guide the company back to profit. As a shareholder, I am all for it

**unclefrank** · December-02-09, 11:07 AM

Yep, the "car guys" have really been doing a bang up job up till now!

**CountrySquire** · December-02-09, 11:22 AM

Originally Posted by unclefrank

Yep, the "car guys" have really been doing a bang up job up till now!

Make no mistake, these modern day "Car Guys" could not hold Bunky Knudsen's, John Delorean's or Harley Earle's jock straps. They are just MBAs who only know how to make money by selling stuff off or by firing people.

**Danny** · December-02-09, 01:00 PM

Get someone who knows about cars to be CEO of General Motors. Not some 'capture theoretical' clown like Fritz Henderson.

**jackie5275** · December-02-09, 01:06 PM

I get the impression that Henderson wasn't moving change quickly enough for the board/Whitacre. This seems to be coincidental after his interview in the Free Press on Sunday where Henderson was saying, to the effect, "Yeah, we're working on culture change here, but it may still take a couple of years before we have a total change."