In today’s WSJ
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-covid-crisis-taught-david-farr-the-power-and-limits-of-leadership-11607094974
36 replies (most recent on top)
Farr has caused many to suffer as have others. Let me name them because they deserve credit—Pelch, Train, Lal, Sharp (RIP), KBB, Nyquist, Ram, Sabee, Jamie, Stokes and FDJ!!!!
Bottom line is Farr caused untold sufferings to thousands of employees and their families while he accumulated wealth for himself.
I don’t know about his affairs with any employees.
Maybe so. Though is he REQUIRED by the BOARD to spend $250k in personal plane usage? Is that in the proxy?
For security and safety reasons I believe he is RQUIRED by the Emerson BOARD to use the company plane for both business and personal use. Do your homework. It’s all in the proxy. A lot of CEOs do the same thing for the same reasons. If you don’t like the situation write to the Board of Directors.
DF spent over $250k in personal flights on the company jet?! So while we were furloughed he was out galavanting.... Yea this guy REALLY cares about cutting spend!
No he doesn’t.
You mean Farr also mess around and uses company resources for his affairs?
What about Farr? He is worse.
KBB has no credibility like Farr. She was using company’s money for her rendezvous with another executive, JN. Ask Pedro, he knows as he facilitated their rendezvous. He is partner in crime.
The article should never have mentioned Sharpe. It wasn’t needed and wasn’t necessary. I do agree with the comment regarding the Board. Very, very weak.
Yeah all that G&A spend on 2% milk for board meetings and sight visits was too much to overcome with stagnate top line sales.
Whoever sent the note regarding Bob Sharp, & his comments about David should think a bit deeper. First Sharp had NO credibility given the results he delivered. Second the Board is in David's pocket, & made up of failures from HD, Deutsch Bank, ATT, as well as other companies. There is ZERO Board oversight at EMR, & there couldn't be a messenger with less credibility than Sharp
His two King Charles spaniels named Boon and Doggle.
This whole piece seems like a PR spin orchestrated by Emerson’s very own KBB. Since when does the WSJ do a 15 page article on a CEO? This was an inside job.
Despite the spin job, this portrays a CEO who is abusive to his employees and staff and whose employees got sick as he drove them back into the office. Certainly something to be proud of.
" encourage you to read the articles when you have a moment. They are available here and here. We should all be proud to see our leadership recognized by the Wall Street Journal." This was sent via email. They honestly expect us to be proud of Farr.
Interesting excerpts from the article:
David Farr looked down at the empty parking lot and blew up. It was March 20, a cloudy
day with a chill in the air. The coronavirus and lockdowns were grinding the U.S.
economy to a halt, sending much of the American workforce home, including most of
those at the Ferguson, Mo., headquarters of Emerson Electric Co. EMR 2.57%
Mr. Farr, who had run the industrial conglomerate for two decades, wasn’t going
anywhere. He told his assistant to summon the other eight members of the OCE—the
Office of the Chief Executive.
“We have a company to run,” he growled, his voice echoing through the empty sixth
floor.
“We have customers to serve and we can’t frickin’ do it if nobody is here!
He likes golf and the company jet. He likes a glass of wine, or a vodka on the rocks, and
goes on walks with his wife, Lelia, almost every night through their upscale
neighborhood of Ladue just outside the city of St. Louis. He is up at 5:30 a.m. and tries
to stop working around 8 p.m., but is still quick to answer emails later than that. He
doesn’t watch television outside the office and spends most nights reading, lounging
with Rocket and Doon, his two King Charles spaniels, and going to bed early.
Meanwhile, his greed has caused so much pain and loss for so many people. And they expect us to be proud. There is a price to pay for this greed.
Farr enriched himself that his net worth is over $500 million while thousands of employees and their families and their extended families suffer. This guy is heartless. He pretends to care but everyone sees through his false pretense.
I say it as I see it. To the guy who went to town on this thread today, let’s keep it classy! Sheesh!
Care to issue a rebuttal Roberto?
Mr Farr, care to comment on Bob Sharp and his conversation with the board about you?
The crisis shows the CEO of a Fortune 500 company does not have a heart, only cares about himself, the untouchable executives and the shareholders. Employees be damned.
A better title would have been “Emerson: A Crisis in Leadership”
If you work at a mfg facility in the US and your division already has plants in Mexico it’s only a matter of time before they move your jobs to Mexico. Some pretty significant HCC to BCC charts are in the works!
Tax breaks went to buyback stock and pay dividends. They didn’t use it to retool and reinvest in US mfg.
He is, and he’s the joke with his CEO peers.
This was sent company wide on Friday. Never met df, is he really this pompous?
Unfortunately Mexico looks a lot more like what most of Americans want in our country than NY represents.
Mr. Hug N Kiss talks about not moving more to Mexico when we closed our Walden NY plant this past week to... you guessed it... move to Mexico!
This article makes me feel sick. It shows a selfish CEO who only cares his power and money
Good luck to Fleishman trying to spin this story.
Surprised they didn’t quote DF when he said, of people working from home, that they would be watching for abuse A-B-U-S-E!! That is strong leadership! 🤣
A lot of companies are thriving with virtual work.
Emerson should fire whoever thought this article was a good idea
Good god this made me sick
I said “I bet”. I didn’t say “this is what happened”
Roberto, is that how it really went down?
I read the article.
It made me vomiting.
No mention to how many emerson's employees lost their job in 2020
Just to deliver dividends to stakeholders
I bet there is a furry of activity at Fleishman-Hillard trying to spin this article.
Can you post the whole article?