Screw up a company so badly it’s got a foot in the grave, walk away from it, but collect a big payday from whatever is left in the company’s coffers. From Eric Peters at ericpetersautos.com:
Would it matter whether the White Star Line fired Captain Smith after the Titanic hit the iceberg? Not in terms of the sinking that was already under way. And at least Captain Smith went down with his ship.
Carlos Tavares – the now ex-captain of the Stellantis, which owns the Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram truck brands – walks away with the tens of millions he was paid while the Stellantis lists, preparatory to that great and final plunge down to the bottom.
There is no meaningful accountability at the highest levels of the car industry. CEOs are paid literally tens of millions annually – as in each year – amounting over the course of just one year (never mind four or five years) to generational wealth that ensures their children and grandchildren will never have to work.
Thus, a firing is something largely ceremonial. It is without meaningful repercussions – as there would and will be for the thousands of people who work for Chrysler, Dodge Jeep and Ram when they are let go for reasons having nothing to do with their performance on the job. Carlos will retire – very comfortably. They will face looming mortgage past-due notices and the great fun that attends having to look for a new job, which is especially fun when you’re in your 50s or 60s.
Arguably, the disconnect between rewards – and meaningful consequences – that exists at the top of the car company food chain nowadays is why so many car companies are in so much trouble.
Consider what is happening to the Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram truck brands and ask whether it would have happened if the people at the very top knew the decisions they made would have meaningful consequences – for them. The kind of consequences that a waitress who spills the food on customers faces.
