3M's CEOs have included:
Cross (1966–1970),
Heltzer (1970–1975),
Herzog (1975–1979),
Lehr (1979–1986),
Jacobson (1986–1991),
DeSimone (1991–2001),
McNerney (2001–2005),
Robert S. Morrison (2005, interim),
Buckley (2005–2012),
Thulin (2012–2018),
Roman (2018–present).
9 replies (most recent on top)
They're all dirtbag!
DeSimone!
He made the awful decision to hire mcnerny and sealed our fate of a chain reaction spiraling downward the past 20+ years.
Thulin did the financial engineering with loads of share buy backs. Managed to cream the shares and leave the s.h.i.t to Roman to clean up
Mcnerney was definitely the worst of the worst. Mike is a nincompoop for sure but was just overpromoted. He's the peter principle posterchild.
Look at mack did at boeing with the deadly 737max and forgettable dreamliner.
He screwed 3M culture so bad with sick sigma, forced ranking that made everyone over 45 a target for his next wave of right sizings. Worse yet was the bs of promising wall street quarterly earnings beats. Desi was a great guy and so so ceo but at least he would blow off wall street wanting the earning promises.
The Roman empire comes out as the worst. No body is even close.
Externally there is no faith in the 3M story, internally employees have zero respect for top management.
McNerney is the hands down winner (loser) here. He infected 3M with the Jack Welch disease that set up the 20 years of failure that followed.
Buckley tried to correct the course, but the board wouldn't let him tell the Wall Street analysts to fu-k off so he left. I'm not sure he could have corrected course even if the board let him run free.
Inge just cashed out. He turned 3M's balance sheet from a 'fortress' to a 'swamp'. His stock buybacks in a just world would be felonies.
Roman is just the poor, over-promoted middle manager got stuck holding the bag for Inge and McNerney's gross failings. He is definitely not competent at his job, but I don't think he is as actively evil as McNerney.
Each CEO came into 3M with different circumstances. Of that list there were ones who were hostile, pushovers, growth or cost cutting mindset, etc.
It’s hard to say who was worse but reading comment regarding Roman and then blame him for PFAS and hearing loss lawsuits when each of previous CEOs were in charge when all or some of that was going on is comical. The glory days of 3M has just as much to do with where we are at today.
That said I can find faults with all of those CEOs, worse being McNerney. No leadership qualities other then fear and intimidation.
Lehr was the best. I hired in the 1980s and his focus on innovation and telling wall street to buzz off on quarterly earnings forecasts. 3M was in this for the long haul and wouldn't be dragged into short term cost cutting.
While Mikey gets the gold, I think Mcnerney was actually far more destructive to what was a really good company with high morale and good earnings. He brought in the GE plague and 3M has never recovered.
The envelope please …. The 2022 winner of the worst 3M CEO of all time goes to:
MIKE ROMAN
Under Mike’s lack of leadership, 3M has lagged behind the world’s response to COVID-19. The company demonstrates no environmental stewardship as evidenced by PFAS lawsuits from within the US and around the world. 3M portends to advance diversity, equity and inclusion while all along plotting the next round of massive layoffs. Their hollow pledge to enact initiatives to strengthen STEM education have fallen flat. Employees in North America and around the globe, recognize 3M as one of the least ethical companies on earth. The Ethisphere award to 3M for ethical behavior has been totally discredited as a ruse whereby 3M issues a check in return for award consideration. Since Roman took the helm, the stock price has dropped by 38 percent and 3M is not making their 2022 reforecast. Finally, over 250,000 American veterans have suffered hearing loss while wearing defective 3M branded earplugs. A long-term employee recently called the downfall of 3M, “A national disgrace.”