Mark Fields ... Flying High!

[Meteorite]

I found this news story to be most enlightening.

http://www.wxyz.com/wxyz/ys_investigations/article/0,2132,WXYZ_15949_5143902,00.h tml

:mad2:

[Hotrauder]

Not surprising. That is why a cow only has 4 teats...reduces the number milking it to death. :down: Dennis

[Leadfoot281]

Isn't pouring $70,000 a week into private jets a good thing? I remember some one mentioning how high union wages was a good thing. Isn't this the same thing?

Those jet pilots need money to buy cars too, right?

[chrish]

DO NOT question the upper ranks at FORD....Most people here are simply envious .Mark has & will continue to be the southern shining STAR...............
therefore to do this majic he must re-charge in Palm Springs with his type (these TYPE are NOT in Dearborn) .

Mark is a wonderful person & demands respect...............what the people here & elseware think is NO concequence to him or FORD
Ford will take over the world & bring toyota & others to there knees.



marc will bend them over like his caddy at the club.......You people do NOT understand Marc ,Marc is it & you are NOTHING...........

their now ,with that said ,is anyone going to take the EDUCATION buy -out?

[Breadfan]

They ought to stop using nepotism as a good way to choose the CEO too, just becuase the first Ford was a smart buisness man doesn't mean it runs in the family.

[Breadfan]

Sounds like Mr. Fields in within his "right" to fly the jet to Florida as he does, as it's listed as a perk in his employment contract.

However he has chosen a poorly judged management tactic by doing so, to make the statements he has but then jump on the company jet every weekend. He ought to do more to show everyone under him that he's part of the solution, heck, go to Florida, take a public flight, not so big a deal.

Sounds like another guy who's too caught up in his ego, thinks he can fix the world but tosses out common sense and good management style to live the lifestyle.

He's put in a position to lead a turnaround, and make some hard choices. At that point it's time to be the leader of the team, to Captain the ship, I don' think he's painting a good picture to those who work for him by doing this.

[sailsmen]

A good General is in the trenches w/ the troops.

I recently had a situation where in I did not have to commute 3 hours a day to be in a trailer w/ 41 other coworkers. I could have worked w/ my computer remotely and on the road. Most of the owners left to work near their house/ temp residence.

Those that did leave lost a lot of respect. I heard a few comments about them.

How an owner can tell someone they cannot work remotely and then work remotely themselves is beyond comprehension.

The schedule was posted every 3 weeks and I noticed my supervisor/owner, who "forgot" to give me a 1/4 review for over 2 years, was only listed as working 3 days a week when most were 6. I asked one of the other owners if Mr. I was sick, or if his famly was ok. He says yes, why and I show him the schedule, commenting it doesn't look good.

He tells me he will talk to Mr. I about it. Their solution issue a new schedule w/out Mr. I's name on it!

2 months latter I am at a sales meeting and Mr. I gives his part of the presentation talking about how we are going to have opportunities, but inorder to take advantage of them we are going to have to work more than M-F & 9-5. I almost burst out laughing! It was hard for me not to say so does that mean you are going to start working M-F & 9-5?

[buickconvert]

My favorite part of the article:

"In some cases you have ‘critical-skill people’ that the company can’t function without. That might be in tool making, could be a UAW employee," explains David Cole. We asked Cole whether he felt Mark Fields was among those employees. "Uh, I don’t think so," he said.
:concur:

[bigslim]

My favorite part of the article:

"In some cases you have ‘critical-skill people’ that the company can’t function without. That might be in tool making, could be a UAW employee," explains David Cole. We asked Cole whether he felt Mark Fields was among those employees. "Uh, I don’t think so," he said.
:concur:
David Cole's father was a top executive at GM so he was one that reaped the benifits of the upper management perks. Of course he won't see anything wrong.

[bigslim]

The problem I have with this is that Mark Fields gave his speech that "the employees will have to change or die". Well Mark, change or die.

Why should they be asking for me to take some consessions and renegotiate my contract when Mark Fields is living his contract to the fullest?? I think they should lead by example. They want to live the "do as I say, not as I do" rule.

[marauder307]

And FMC has the sheer gall to wonder why they're in trouble.:shake:

Interesting side note to all this: As a master's candidate at ERAU, one of my classes involved trying to figure out just what the cost/hour/seat was for various types of bizjets. The idea was that I would somehow go on to a corporate aviation career. (oh boy, did I miss that guess!) Anyway, one of the bizjets that I had to figure out the operating costs/break-even point on was the G-V.

I don't remember just what the numbers came out to; the final exam paperwork is moldering away in a file box and is out of reach at the moment. But the $7k figure quoted in the article actually seems a bit high...wonder where these guys got their numbers from. (I think the real number is somewher'z around 5-6k/hour.) If they got 'em from FMC, then the lies run even deeper than any of us thought...that would mean FMC is lying outright about its business operating costs, most likely in an effort to "launder" some of the real loss numbers.

This is all apropos of nothing...just thinking out loud.