When Bob Nardelli Is the Most Sensitive Guy in the Room

On November 17, 2008, when the CEOs of Chrysler, Ford, and GM scurried from their private jets to ask Congress for a bail-out, they were asked if they would be willing to follow the Lee Iacocca model and take $1 in salary whilst their companies struggled for air.  Bob Nardelli of Chrysler said he’d take the pledge.  Neither Alan Mulally nor Rick Wagoner would join in for the salary cut.  The Barometer reminds readers that Mr. Nardelli was the fellow hooted out of Home Depot by shareholders who lambasted him at the May 2006 annual meeting for his excessive pay. The Home Depot board didn’t even show up for the contentious annual meeting.  Mr. Nardelli took no questions that day, listened for 30 minutes, and then shut the meeting down.  He offered no explanation for the lack of correlation between Home Depot’s poor performance and his stellar pay (a skill set he obviously brought along with him to Chrysler, i.e., the old low-earnings, stock-in-the-tank, but high-pay model of management). The board, however, found its backbone following the annual meeting and sent Mr. Nardelli packing, with a $210-million-pay-package.  And to really show him, the board added in another $20 million.  Oh, what times are these when boards can lop on extra pay to punish executives who send a company’s stock diving. They fixed his wagon. Small wonder Mr. Nardelli can take a buck in pay for a year or two.  ‘Tis a sad day in Congress and in business when Mr. Nardelli proves to be the most sensitive guy in the room.    

About mmjdiary

Professor Marianne Jennings is an emeritus professor of legal and ethical studies from the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University, retiring in 2011 after 35 years of teaching undergraduate and graduate courses in ethics and the legal environment of business. During her tenure at ASU, she served as director of the Joan and David Lincoln Center for Applied Ethics from 1995-1999. In 2006, she was appointed faculty director for the W.P. Carey Executive MBA Program. She has done consulting work for businesses and professional groups including AICPA, Boeing, Dial Corporation, Edward Jones, Mattel, Motorola, CFA Institute, Southern California Edison, the Institute of Internal Auditors, AIMR, DuPont, AES, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Motorola, Hy-Vee Foods, IBM, Bell Helicopter, Amgen, Raytheon, and VIAD. The sixth edition of her textbook, Case Studies in Business Ethics, was published in February 2011. The ninth edition of her textbook, Business: lts Legal, Ethical and Global Environment was published in January 2011. The 23rd edition of her book, Business Law: Principles and Cases, will be published in January 2013. The tenth edition of her book, Real Estate Law, will also be published in January 2013. Her book, A Business Tale: A Story of Ethics, Choices, Success, and a Very Large Rabbit, a fable about business ethics, was chosen by Library Journal in 2004 as its business book of the year. A Business Tale was also a finalist for two other literary awards for 2004. In 2000 her book on corporate governance was published by the New York Times MBA Pocket Series. Her book on long-term success, Building a Business Through Good Times and Bad: Lessons from Fifteen Companies, Each With a Century of Dividends, was published in October 2002 and has been used by Booz, Allen, Hamilton for its work on business longevity. Her latest book, The Seven Signs of Ethical Collapse was published by St. Martin’s Press in July 2006 and has been a finalist for two book awards. Her weekly columns are syndicated around the country, and her work has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the Chicago Tribune, the New York Times, Washington Post, and the Reader's Digest. A collection of her essays, Nobody Fixes Real Carrot Sticks Anymore, first published in 1994 is still being published. She has been a commentator on business issues on All Things Considered for National Public Radio. She has served on four boards of directors, including Arizona Public Service (1987-2000), Zealous Capital Corporation, and the Center for Children with Chronic Illness and Disability at the University of Minnesota. She was appointed to the board of advisors for the Institute of Nuclear Power Operators in 2004 and served on the board of trustees for Think Arizona, a public policy think tank. She has appeared on CNBC, CBS This Morning, the Today Show, and CBS Evening News. In 2010 she was named one of the Top 100 Thought Leaders in Business Ethics by Trust Across America. Her books have been translated into four different languages. She received the British Emerald award for authoring one of their top 50 articles in management publications, chosen from over 15,000 articles. Personal: Married since 1976 to Terry H. Jennings, Maricopa County Attorney’s Office Deputy County Attorney; five children: Sarah, Sam, and John, and the late Claire and Hannah Jennings.
This entry was posted in Analysis. Bookmark the permalink.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.