I was at a Boeing shareholder meeting, years ago, when a question was asked, that then CEO Frank Shrontz visibly was uncomfortable with.

The best one was Robert Nardelli, a Welch protoge and acolyte, took over Home Depot and thumped his chest for quarter after quarter about “look at hall the great stuff I’m doing” (firing knowledgable workers and replacing them with cheap box openers, buying overpriced subcontractors, squeezing inventory so there were frequent stock outs, etc) which looked good for a while.

Then came a quarter with disastrous results, mostly because the mother ship had become so f-ed up, that he announced the numbers, took no questions, turned on his heels, and smartly left the room. Analysts, not to say shareholders, were astounded, and he was quickly cashiered.

Big exit payday of course, and he went on to wreck Chrysler after that. Getting rid of all those models where they weren’t #1 or #2 left them…with a minivan. He lasted 2 years at Chrysler, which is long enough if you’re really that bad.

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