I had dinner last evening with an old buddy, who used to run a major company-big in our business and also the domestic auto business.
He has a home in Kona, and is in town for a short stay to investigate any damage the recent earthquake might have done to his property. As I wrote here recently, the mainland reports of our damage were exaggerated and he didn’t sustain any material damage.
Over dinner, he and I covered a lot of ground, as we always do. He left our industry a while back, and joined a major conglomerate. Recently, he was given the task of selling the multibillion dollar division he was running. After completing that transaction, my friend resigned from the acquirer. He currently is a man of leisure.
Many of you probably know him. If you do, you know that in his mid-40s, he’s not about to retire, so the conversation eventually moved from the staining he had done on his pool furniture that day to what might be in store for him next.
He isn’t looking for anything, but his phone still is ringing off the hook. To each and every caller, he gives one message: His slate is clean, but there is no way that he would even consider getting involved in anything which involves the American car manufacturing market.
He loves trucks, and would return to our market in a heartbeat, but under no circumstances would he consider any job that requires working with domestic automotive OEMs. Obviously, I was interested why, and in response, he asked me if I knew the definition of insanity. He reminded me that it was “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results each time.”
He is, of course, correct. That old bromide aptly describes why the companies we used to collectively call “Detroit” may not be long for this world. Even if they somehow survive, calling on them is not an experience anyone should ever be forced to endure. It appears “they just don’t get it.” They are aggressively pursuing insanity.
In the same vein, recently, I have become interested in WalMart. Same store sales aren’t growing, and the whole stock market took a tumble as a result. Because of that, last January, they hired a hot shot marketing executive named Julie Roehm. An article which appeared in the Wall Street Journal said of Roehm’s previous career at Chrysler, “Her car ideas were aggressive and contemporary, her ads saucy and memorable.”
If you’ve visited a WalMart store recently as I have, you well can agree with me that Roehm’s efforts were needed badly and long overdue. WalMart rode the lowest price horse way too long, in my opinion, and its stores and the merchandise it carries, show it. It seemed a perfect time, with a proven performer in place, to begin to shift the course of “the gray lady of 1990s marketing” toward the 21st Century.
Then in December, after less than a year with her at the helm, the board fired Roehm.
Now, I obviously wasn’t in the room when that decision was made, but in my mind’s eye [ear] I can hear the discussion. “Too radical.” “Not our style.” “That isn’t how we got to be #1.” On and on, they decided they should opt to do the same thing over and over again. Do you think they expected their actions would produce different results?
I hope not, because if they did, that would be insanity, wouldn’t it?
