Tony Hayward: When disgraced CEOs have a bright future
The public relations folks at BP aren't likely to get much rest following the reported departure of BP CEO Tony Hayward, who is expected to step down following a company board meeting today.
The Times of London is reporting that Hayward's exit package will be worth £12 million, or $18.5 million, a figure that includes a payout of one year's salary (or about £1 million) plus a pension account worth £10.8 million as of the end of 2009.
While that's hardly chump change, other CEOs who've left under pressure have been handed far higher amounts, and considering the damage the disaster has inflicted on Hayward's career, he may be negotiating for much more. Cue the sound of rattling pitchforks.
Eighteen million dollars may go a long way to funding whatever pasttime Hayward chooses now that he has his life back. Hayward's chances at running a large public multinational again are about as likely as his successor's at skimming every ounce of oil from the surface of the Gulf, but he's only 53, and with time, will have plenty of opportunities, say experts on the career trajectories of CEOs.
Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, an associate dean at the Yale School of Management and author of Firing Back: How great leaders rebound after career disasters, believes Hayward could become a professional director on corporate boards. A more likely scenario, Sonnenfeld told me this morning, is the geologist-by-training finding work with private equity firms that invest in energy companies, shielded from the spotlight.
"He's not a great global diplomat," he says, but notes that "he has great technical proficiency" that could be much in demand by private equity firms who seem to be more than happy to reinstall disgraced leaders if they have the right operational or technical chops.
Andrea Redmond, the author of Comebacks: Powerful lessons from leaders who endured setbacks and recaptured success on their own terms, says what Hayward needs now is time and distance from the Deepwater Horizon fiasco, which will be difficult for him since he will surely be drug back into legal testimony and further hearings. But with time, advisory services could be in his future.
"For other multinational companies that get into this situation in the U.S., [where they] get totally blindsided, there are a lot of people who will want to hear what he has to say," Redmond told me. In other words, he might just be able to turn the BP debacle into his own consulting niche.
And if that doesn't work out, he can always go sailing.
UPDATE: Steven Mufson writes that Tony Hayward may be headed to Siberia. Literally. A source familiar with the discussions between Hayward and BP's board, he reports, says Hayward will join the board of TNK-BP, a joint venture in Russia. I can see the NY Post headline now.
READ ALSO: BP's new CEO: Imagine filling Tony Hayward's shoes
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Jena McGregor
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July 26, 2010; 1:16 PM ET |
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Posted by: jczarne | July 27, 2010 11:27 PM
Disgusting that even for a poor performance these elitist CEOs who believe in entitlements for themselves can walk away with that kind of OBSCENE golden parachute, rather being lined up against a wall and having a firing squad terminate them, which happens in China, and rightly so.
Posted by: kerryberger | July 27, 2010 9:32 PM
Notice Tony said "I want MY life back"
Now if he had said "I want to make iPhones 80 hours a week for $160 a month" that would have been easy ... Talk to Steve Jobs.
Posted by: gannon_dick | July 27, 2010 8:53 PM
Most people -most CEOs included- are just NOT PREPARED for a once-in-a-lifetime disaster. Some people are good at dealing with unforeseen events. Others -Tony H- are not.
What is really shocking is the way the U.S. Government has managed to shift responsibility to BP. On April 2009 THE OBAMA ADMININSTRAION EXEMTED BP FROM SUBMITTING ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STUDIES OF THEIR DEEPWATER OPERATIONS. Those studies are ESSENTIAL for PREVENTION AND REMEDIATION.
No studies = no preventive measures!!!
No studies = no emergency plans!!!
No studies = no preparedness!!!
The U.S. Government is as responsible as BP for this disaster. The only difference: the U.S. Government is run by politicians and spinmasters who have succeeded in one thing: shifting blame.
Posted by: jdsolano | July 27, 2010 8:17 PM
Hang the crooked Limey b@stard!
Posted by: veerle1 | July 27, 2010 6:43 PM
Its time for economic security for the rest of us. Immigration moratorium. End H-1b, student visa, guest worker, family reunification, etc.
Posted by: OldAtlantic | July 27, 2010 5:57 PM
Corporate behavior would improve if there was a public and private distancing from failed leaders. Only at the top do people fail upward. Not a luxury for most of us. There would be fewer AIG's, GM's, and BP's if failure resulted in lifetime shunning.
Posted by: djoelt1 | July 27, 2010 5:47 PM
The appropriate "severance package" would be the GUILLOTINE.
Posted by: TOMHERE | July 27, 2010 5:33 PM
Actually, he is getting one years pay, about 1.6 million dollars and a pention of 900,000 dollars a year. By todays standards, not that great. Of course his BP stock portfolio is a lot lower by his own actions.
Posted by: AnotherContrarian | July 27, 2010 5:02 PM
Oh, please.
Was Hayward a great leader? Well, I guess if your only criteria is to make money while putting employees and the environment at risk - okay.
And great leaders do not suffer financial failure. They get bought out by their boards.
We have created this mythos around "leadership" but I think we need to get back to good old morality. Like, consequences for people who risk the lives and livelihoods of others and have that risk realized.
Why, when a CEO screws up, do they get millions? Is it because they won't get the tens or hundreds of millions if they had stayed? Is that considered punishment?
Posted by: amelia45 | July 27, 2010 5:01 PM
Mr. Hayward is blindingly ambitious, a highly competent corporate ladder climber, a quiet assassin, and a Machiavelli of the first water... If you don't have those traits you do NOT become president of a major corporation...
However, when under great pressure for events beyond his control he projected the public image of a self absorbed whiner that radically harmed BP's attempts at controlling the media 'spin' over the leak... Not a good survival trait for someone wanting to stay on top...
He is getting a golden handshake and sent back to the minor leagues... Those at the top take care of each other...
dr. o
Posted by: ad4hk2004 | July 27, 2010 5:01 PM
Gee - Wish I could fail and get $18M. Heck, wish I could succeed and get $18M. What a (bad) joke. That's what you get when CEOs are on the boards of other corporations. It's called criminal conspiracy in the real world.
Posted by: pjohn2 | July 27, 2010 4:58 PM
I really hope you are not suggesting that Tony Hayward is a great leader.
Posted by: confused1 | July 27, 2010 1:44 PM
The comments to this entry are closed.
Here's a term whose meaning has and come and gone, to our everlasting regret: accountability. We in this country don't have it anymore. Destroy our economy: get a bonus. Mess up a war: retire at the 4-star level and sit on boards. Cripple civil rights in this nation as leader: retire, write and book, get applauded throughout the Southwest. Undercut the law and constitution: get a tenured faculty job at Berkeley. The only people being held accountable these days are those who cannot pay their way out of the so-called justice system: junior ranking soldiers doing what they were told to do, poor-to-working class families following the advice of mortgage shysters, any servicemen and women who walk point for this nation, Gulf fishermen and women losing their liveliehoods, people having their phones, computers, and PDAs tapped with no warrants.
Kind of makes one wonder what nation do we now have? Kind of makes one wonder whether we have a democratic republic any longer.