It would bring tears to a glass eye – seeing the best that Ford, GM and Chrysler have to offer us – pleading to the US Government to print money – just for them. These top men – all flying down to Washington in their private jets, caps in hand,  and on their last dollar, it makes me want to weep. If they want to turnaround their business – then they should get on with it. From here on the Sidewalk – I can see plenty of better ways for them to spend their time.  Want to know where to start guys?

How about downscaling their business + getting rid of waste + binning the corporate jets + fancy pensions + fancy salaries + even fancier bonuses etc. Each of these CEO’s are wealthy individuals in their own right – taking no salary for a year would not dent their personal wealth much – but it would sure send the right message to their employees that they were serious about turning their businesses around.

It would also demonstrate L-E-A-D-E-R-S-H-I-P

Yes there’s that word again – making personal sacrifices first, then making sure everyone else does – it works – you should try it! I suspect the three wise men from Detroit will not – you see – today it is easier to go to Government, blackmail them by threatening that if they don’t do as they ask, then 3 million jobs will be lost! Well, well – here we go – the easy way out – blame everyone except yourself – it’s the market, it’s too competitive, it’s the banks because they won’t make loans to people who can’t afford to buy your overpriced and gas guzzling cars – it takes too long to design things right etc, etc.

Stop the moaning – get a grip – start by making personal sacrifices like putting something back into the company that has made you and your pals so rich. You don’t need Government bail-outs, what you need is a reality check!

The world has changed – around 40 years ago the Japanese were building small economic cars. When did you discover that?

About 30 years ago we could see that if you wanted to be a manufacturer you needed to keep your costs low, your efficiencies high and your customer service world-class. Has anyone told you this?

About 20 years ago we realised that China and India would become major Industrial Nations with their low-cost labour and high-technology. If we didn’t reduce our costs and increase our productivity soon – we would be in trouble. Still sleeping guys?

About 10 years ago consumerism had taken over the planet – price+quality+effeciency were the key drivers to success – but we had to have it now – to make it even easier for us to buy your stuff – the banks were pushed into making credit available with few questions asked  – Detroit loved it – instant easy payment terms, pay much later down the line – which allowed you to sell us the same overpriced, gas-guzzling cars – but now in much higher volumes. Getting the message yet?

This year we learnt something else – the chicken has come home to roost!  Oh Oh – the banks couldn’t get their bad loans back – and anyone who knows a banker knows that in the end the banker always wins! Just watch them claw back these “lost’ profits! So the bankers stopped lending and started making higher margins to recover those obscenely high profits. Ooops – better go to the Government to bail us out!

If Detroit wants a fix – try this – sweat your current assets first guys- reduce your costs today and every day – stop spending what you don’t need – the CEO’s to go without a salary or bonus for one year – all senior executives will take a 10% pay cut today and no bonus for 12 months – the management headcount has to be reduced by a higher % than all other staff, including line employees. Once you have done these and other cost cutting measures (like no more private jet travel, etc) you can then go to the staff and line employees and tell them there will be job cuts and a pay freeze – and you will tell them that you are doing it to save their company from going down. You will promise to keep them informed about the progress you and senior management are making every quarter.

You will then give your people a new vision – a vision that will include how you are going to make Detroit once again the centre of excellence for world-class automobiles – but this time for the 21st Century. You will put trust in management and faith in employees at the top of your personal agenda.

Once you have done these things – you will call the New President Obama – and tell him – thank you Mr President, but we don’t need your precious money sir – we have figured out a way ourselves to avoid using valuable taxpayers money so that you can distribute that money instead, towards cutting the taxes of the American people.

“You see Sir – we just found out – That the times they are a changing!”

The collapse of confidence in the financial services industry has underlined the glaring absence of a lack of vision by company leaders. Making money is not a vision – at least for the employees – nor is it a vision for shareholders, now that their investments like Northern Rock and Bradford & Bingley lie in tatters. Vision in business is not something that can come from exploiting the wrong things. Taking people’s debt and cutting them up into pieces for sale to others in the hope that prices will always go up – is gambling – and nothing less. The numerous types of derivatives and financial products that have been born out of the death of the stockbroker and issuing of paper share certificates thanks to electronic technology,  demonstrates how “progress can be confused with motion”. 

Leading employees is about creating a vision that pulls them together, that gives them a worthwhile cause – something that binds them to do extraordinary things. The Bible teaches us that “Where there is no vision the people perish” (Proverbs 29 v 18). But what does it teach the CEO’s that have taken their employees down the road of money making – alone? This statement may come from a religious book (The Bible) but it should be thought about by all CEO’s as the first part of their Management Strategy. Leading people is not about being top dog – it is about creating an environement where being part of a vision means a lot individually and collectively. A vision – in a place that is optomistic, that serves a purpose, that is easy to adopt and provides satisfaction to those involved.

I have come across many CEO’s who are exceptionally kind / ruthless / bright / clever and subject matter experts in the key parts of their business. I am sure that many of the CEO’s of the Financial Companies and Banks that have run into trouble over the past year or so had many or even all of these attributes. But did they lack vision? Did they provide true leadership that comes from employees following them rather than motivating them on their financial results alone?

You see a vision is not about this month, this quarter or even this year of “Performance” It is not measured only  by time, but rather by how employees feel about working for the company, it is about how they regard their CEO when they discuss their day at work – after work.

When CEO’s learn to provide a vision for their employees and successfully get each of them to do their bit towards achieving that vision then making money / profits become easier – it is funny – but in my expereince, those CEO’s who successfully achieve a working vision with their people – usually are very successful financially. It is no accident – you may not hear much about the importance of vision from the financial community, whose overly anxious managers are driven by Business Models that have achieved financial success in the past. The problem is that the finanical community for the most part is focussed on an exit even before the project has begun. Vision is not an exit – although it can be part of one- it is a belief by a group of people – led by someone who understands that profits will follow outstanding leadership – just as surely as extraordinary people start life as ordinary as the rest of us. 

If CEO’s focus on creating the vision first – one that binds people together – then the chances of people perishing will be reduced. If they ignore vision – then surely the people will perish.