There is a myth, widely although not universally believed, that we don’t need politicians running this country, we need businessmen and business women. It matters not that successful businessmen (or women) rarely make good politicians, and have never made a great one. In fact, it appears to be universally true that if you have an organization whose mission is anything other than making money, a sure way to destroy it is to put a business person in charge. Consider what is happening to the American Red Cross. A few years ago they had to fire their chief executive because he did the hanky-panky. So, they brought in a businesswoman. How did that work out:
When Gail McGovern was picked to head the American Red Cross in 2008, the organization was reeling. Her predecessor had been fired after impregnating a subordinate. The charity was running an annual deficit of hundreds of millions of dollars.
A former AT&T executive who had taught marketing at Harvard Business School, McGovern pledged to make the tough choices that would revitalize the Red Cross, which was chartered by Congress to provide aid after disasters. In a speech five years ago, she imagined a bright future, a “revolution” in which there would be “a Red Cross location in every single community.’’
It hasn’t worked out that way.
McGovern and her handpicked team of former AT&T colleagues have presided over a string of previously unreported management blunders that have eroded the charity’s ability to fulfill its core mission of aiding Americans in times of need.
Under McGovern, the Red Cross has slashed its payroll by more than a third, eliminating thousands of jobs and closing hundreds of local chapters. Many veteran volunteers, who do the vital work of responding to local fires and floods have also left, alienated by what many perceive as an increasingly rigid, centralized management structure.
Far from opening offices in every city and town, the Red Cross is stumbling in response to even smaller scale disasters.
Via ProPublica
The linked article demonstrates pretty clearly that the Red Cross is failing in it’s core mission. Not only that, it’s also failing in it’s non-core mission: it’s losing money hand over fist. However, McGovern has made sure that those former AT&T colleagues of hers get their fat bonuses every year. The Red Cross has a great brand; it will take many years for McGovern to completely destroy it. In the meantime, unless someone (and she’s probably packed the board to make sure this can’t happen) steps in and stops her, she and her buddies can continue to grow rich off that brand, while the rest of us learn, disaster by disaster, that we can’t count on the Red Cross to ride to our rescue anymore.
As for McGovern, if her board ever does get around to firing her, she can always run for president. She could certainly fit into Carly Fiorina’s shoes.
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