TJ Walker breaks down why Volkswagen's CEO lost his job. Winterkorn hid behind lawyers and press releases instead of holding a press conference to apologize and answer questions. Walker says CEOs who won't face the media directly get fired when scandals hit.
Chapters
Martin Winterkorn, the CEO of Volkswagen, has been forced out of his position. The emissions cheating scandal with Volkswagen has forced that company to can its CEO. And as I predicted last week. Well, let me take that back. I chastised him for doing a horrific job when it comes to speaking to the media during this crisis. He put out a press release. When you have been caught in the biggest cheating scandal in the history of the automotive industry, perpetuating a fraud, the world, your customers, your clients, your vendors, your investors, and the entire world needs to know that you're sorry, that you're going to get to the bottom of it. Now, I'm not saying I could have saved this CEO's job, but he would have been much better off holding a press conference and showing his absolute contempt for what happened, his sorrow for what happened, his remorse and pledging to the entire world, his willingness to to find out exactly who's responsible and hold people accountable. Instead, he hid behind press releases, lawyers and corporate security, and people were attacking him. Maybe it was justified, maybe some of it wasn't. Until the political pressure was so great he was forced out. CEOs can complain all day long that they're constrained by the lawyers and their board, but at some point, if you don't protect yourself, you're going to be gone. Like this CEO. If you have nothing to hide, if you're truly innocent, you should submit to questions. If I had been that CEO or advising that CEO, I would have said, figure out exactly what you know, what you don't know, put together a statement, hold a press conference, give the statement, tell people what you knew, how you found out about it, why you're sorry, what exactly you're going to do, and then take every question, no matter how punishing or grueling. If you don't know the answer, don't be afraid to say you don't know, but you're willing to find out. And that will greatly reduce your chances of getting the X has happened to this CEO. Because if you can't manage your corporation when its entire reputation is being destroyed, you deserve to be fired.
