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Not sure it's as cut and dry as "CFO becomes CEO and overly focuses on financials" in Southwest's case. In 2021, Gary Kelly (former CFO/CEO) announced his reti
by ethbr0 4y ago
Not sure it's as cut and dry as "CFO becomes CEO and overly focuses on financials" in Southwest's case.
In 2021, Gary Kelly (former CFO/CEO) announced his retirement and picked Bob Jordan (CS trained, having previously worked on the AirTran integration) to take over as CEO, which seems a realization that Southwest has some serious technical debt to address.
All businesses have highest priorities at a given point in time.
In Southwest's early years, they were legal and operational, hence Herb Kelleher.
2000-2020, I can't say financials weren't top of the list, as Southwest migrated off its older plane models.
2020+, maybe they're technical.
A good company picks the CEO it needs for the moment, not always one particular type.
- cowmoo728 4y agoBut the Southwest pilot's union is accusing the former CEO, Gary Kelly, of running the company at full speed into operational suicide. I don't see that as picking the right CEO for the moment, even if the stock price did well.
- kevin_thibedeau 4y agoClassic Jack Welch move. Get out before the shit you created hits the fan and leave the next guy to deal with it.
- ethbr0 4y agoThe pilot's union doesn't have a monopoly on truth. They would always like to be paid more and work less, as would I! Are they accurate or inaccurate? I can't say. Were they unionized, I'm sure the Twitter employee's union would be crying bloody murder right now. But it's fair to say that organizationally Twitter had a lot of headcount for their product. And when you tighten a financial belt, employees are going to be unhappy.