Friday, November 21, 2008

I am still having a hard time wrapping my head around those three Detroit auto executives each flying separately to Washington D.C. to testify before Congress on behalf of getting some federal bailout dollars for their failing, badly run companies. They didn’t even bother to meet at the airport in Detroit and take one jet (jetpooling). They took three separate jets. Granted, the Ford executive has chosen to live in Seattle and not Detroit, even though he runs Ford which is in DETROIT. No need to relocate the family and pull the kids out of school when you can take the corporate jet home to Seattle every Friday afternoon. Maybe he should have said no to the job if he didn’t want to live in Detroit.

They said they need the jets because it’s easier to travel when you have a private jet. No shit! Maybe hanging out at the airport with the people who actually drive your cars, park them, and fly somewhere after waiting in long ticket and security lines might help those executives better understand the people they are trying to sell those cars to. That might even translate into them turning a profit. Plus they’ll get extra practice taking their shoes and belts off. Most of us have to rent one of their cars when we get where we’re going. They would at least get to see that no one, except a rental car agency, would buy a maroon car.

If I ran Ford, GM or Chrysler, I would make people come to me. There’s no reason to fly anywhere because YOU RUN FORD!!! People are falling all over themselves to come see you and sell you stuff. Stay in Detroit and accumulate miles on your credit cards, and with the occasional business trip to cut a ribbon at a new factory like the rest of us do. Again, that’s invaluable marketing experience and insight you’re gaining by just acting like a normal person. You can fly first class. That seems fair if you’re a CEO. Only rock and roll bands, and Americans who fall ill in foreign countries should be using private jets in this day and age.

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