Thursday, October 10, 2013

Fred Hassan: "I'm An Unusual Leader. . ." Really? You're A. . . Leader (At All)!?


That would be quite a bit of news -- to me, at least.

You can read more of his revisionist histories right here (via Yahoo! Finance), in greater detail, but to my eye, they are all largely gag-worthy.

His central claim to "changing the corporate culture" at legacy Schering-Plough is apparently that he once or twice stood in line with a cafeteria tray. . . and got his own food (gasp!), with the rank and file. [Eye-rolls mandatory here.] The concluding bit is especially unctuous:

. . . .“I'm an unusual leader,” he said. “I will leave it up to whoever wants to judge me, to see whether I'm good or great, but I am a very unusual leader. . . .”


Ahem, Fred -- there is at least one other option: poor.

And I'd choose that one for you -- 2,400 posts below, over almost five elapsed years, are offered to establish that proposition. But you may make the call, yourself, dear readers.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

well, he didn't say he was a 'great' leader now did he?!

Unusual can mean a lot of different things.

Wasn't it unusual to say "I'm a builder not a seller".
Wasn't it unusual to say S/P had 5 shining stars to build off of?
Wasn't it unusual to ask for $40 billion for the sale of S/P?
Wasn't it unusual to ask for nearly $300 million as part of a buy-out package while the rest of the employees were laid off?
Wasn't unusual to delay the reporting of Vytorin results and impact the stock?

See---he is an unusual leader.

Most true leaders would not do these things.

For once, maybe he is being truly honest. Though, I wouldn't bet my retirement on it.

Condor said...

Thanks Anon. --

This is an entirely flawless comment! Perfect control of tone -- coupled with a razor sharp use of irony. . . [Fred's own words -- all now shown false. And self-serving.]

Thank you so much!

Do stop back by.

Namaste, one and all!