When General Motors emerged out of bankruptcy the chairman of the board of directors was one Ed Whitacre, Jr., formerly of AT&T. And the CEO was Fritz Henderson who had been promoted from within the company.
It did not take long for some differences surfaced between the two men. The talk was that Whitacre was concerned about how slow Henderson was progressing in fixing GM. Finally, the fat hit the fan and Henderson was “relieved” of his duties and Whitacre was named temporary CEO. The company put on an exhaustive search for a permanent CEO and who it came up with was … Ed Whitacre.
Since Whitacre has become the permanent CEO of GM, he has been getting praise from a number of pundits covering the U.S. auto industry. He has made some quick decisions that seem to be right on. He has started paying off the bailout loan to the federal government with interest months quicker than anticipated. And he has made some tough decisions concerning the survival of brands, developing better relationships with suppliers and more.
Now, here comes a surprise. GM has hired former CEO Henderson as a consultant to provide advice to the company on international operations.
What? Henderson will provide about 20 hours of consulting work each month and will attend one meeting a month with the president of GM’s international operations or a designated representative. Henderson will be paid $59,090 per month plus expenses.
The deal ends on December 31.
Hmmm…really?? Well lets hope people don’t turn on Whitacre for hiring Henderson.