I just read an article today about the JC Penney Company. It seems that they are preparing to either fire or lay off hundreds, possibly thousands, of employees due to the company’s poor performance for the last year or so.
This is a classic case of substandard corporate leadership being inflicted not on the CEO or other corporate officers, but upon the people who actually do the work, and sell the goods. The link between company performance and the board room has become nonexistent in far too many companies today. In this case, a CEO was hired with grandiose ideas about how to increase sales, and simply wound up putting another torpedo in an already sinking ship. In the economy of 20 years ago, the first thing to happen would’ve been the firing of the CEO and probably several corporate officers.
Not Today!!! CEOs and corporate officers of major companies today seem to be insulated from the requirements of making their companies perform profitably. If the company does well; great, if the company tanks; who cares, they still get theirs, and continue to get theirs no matter the performance of the company. The people actually doing the work, selling the goods and services, seem to be the ones to suffer.
Free enterprise was never intended, nor will it ever work, this way. Stockholders of this company and the others who seem to be blissfully ignorant of the performance of their company, need to start a revolution to replace poor leadership before it sinks the stock and the company.
American business is based on rewards for performance, not rewards for who you know, or even your past reputation in another business. American business, if it is to survive in this worsening economy needs to start immediately trimming the fat in the board room and in the corporate perks and salaries of non-performing officers of the company.
Because you were hired as the CEO of the large company does not mean that you have won the largest lottery ever, and you are free to squander funds,( in this case funds and resources) of that company however you see fit, if you make bad decisions, and you have any moral and ethical business values whatsoever,( which most don’t), you would resign immediately.
American business cannot and will not survive with this type of Bozo leadership at the helm. I’m not saying that if you, and your decisions, result in superior performance for your company, that you should not be rewarded.However, if the opposite is true, you need to saddle up and ride off into the sunset, or be chased there by a posse of angry stockholders.
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