3 ms·

That's not how boards generally work. They're there for corporate governance and, in this case, to make sure the company is hiring the right people experienced

by awad 8y ago

That's not how boards generally work. They're there for corporate governance and, in this case, to make sure the company is hiring the right people experienced in manufacturing and EVs... As an example, here is the board of directors for General Motors: https://www.gm.com/our-company/leadership/board-of-directors.html https://www.gm.com/our-company/leadership/board-of-directors... Not exactly a lot of car building experience.

joe_the_user 8y ago
Looking at the GM board of directors, I see: - Former GM officials, - Ex-managers of defense companies. They build machines too, right. - Ex-joint chiefs of staff and business school head. They know management. - Insurance and such. GM has a large workforce and managing that a good portion of activity. Newscorp is a large organization too, but it seems more different from Tesla than the US Army, Cummins or even an insurance company is different than GM. So on it's face, it seems like the board knows something about manufacturing and managing large organizations. With Jame Murdock, it seems likes you could say "know something about spin", which might not be comforting.
- netsharc 8y ago
  IMO it's all about the connections. Defense people are probably very well connected in Washington. The Murdochs are scum, but hey, if you're a world leader and Rupert Murdoch calls, you pick up the phone. Tony Blair only became PM because he sucked up to Murdoch to gain his papers' endorsement.
- awad 8y ago
  That's not a fair interpretation. Let's actually break it down... - Current CEO of GM - Former Lockheed-associated Director was VP in charge of Information Systems. Assuming that's deliverable product and not internal IT (which she also ran), not exactly making the planes - The former CEO of a drug manufacturer - The former CEO of Harvard Management Company (the endowment) - Retired Chairman of Joint Chiefs - Retired CEO of a big oil company - The Chairman of HP - Former CFO of Wal-Mart - Former CEO of Cummins (MOST adjacent business to GM vis engine mfg) - Former Dean of Ivey Business School, The University of Western Ontario - The CEO of eBay So, sure, we can reach and say that some of the individuals have tangential industry experience or we can say that they are on the board because they have high degrees of personal/economic success, presumably large rolodexes, and various levels of experience at the top of large organizations. I'm not taking a position on James Murdoch at all here, just pointing out that board members are not often subject matter experts of what a company produces so much as generally successful and influential people with various levels of business and leadership experience.

by awad 8y ago

joe_the_user 8y ago

Looking at the GM board of directors, I see: - Former GM officials, - Ex-managers of defense companies. They build machines too, right. - Ex-joint chiefs of staff and business school head. They know management. - Insurance and such. GM has a large workforce and managing that a good portion of activity. Newscorp is a large organization too, but it seems more different from Tesla than the US Army, Cummins or even an insurance company is different than GM. So on it's face, it seems like the board knows something about manufacturing and managing large organizations. With Jame Murdock, it seems likes you could say "know something about spin", which might not be comforting.

netsharc 8y ago
IMO it's all about the connections. Defense people are probably very well connected in Washington. The Murdochs are scum, but hey, if you're a world leader and Rupert Murdoch calls, you pick up the phone. Tony Blair only became PM because he sucked up to Murdoch to gain his papers' endorsement.
awad 8y ago
That's not a fair interpretation. Let's actually break it down... - Current CEO of GM - Former Lockheed-associated Director was VP in charge of Information Systems. Assuming that's deliverable product and not internal IT (which she also ran), not exactly making the planes - The former CEO of a drug manufacturer - The former CEO of Harvard Management Company (the endowment) - Retired Chairman of Joint Chiefs - Retired CEO of a big oil company - The Chairman of HP - Former CFO of Wal-Mart - Former CEO of Cummins (MOST adjacent business to GM vis engine mfg) - Former Dean of Ivey Business School, The University of Western Ontario - The CEO of eBay So, sure, we can reach and say that some of the individuals have tangential industry experience or we can say that they are on the board because they have high degrees of personal/economic success, presumably large rolodexes, and various levels of experience at the top of large organizations. I'm not taking a position on James Murdoch at all here, just pointing out that board members are not often subject matter experts of what a company produces so much as generally successful and influential people with various levels of business and leadership experience.