August has been the silly season for US chief executives. First Mark Hurd is pushed out of Hewlett-Packard for having expense-account dinners with a former actress. Then Ed Whitacre says he is stepping down after seven months as chief executive of General Motors as it is about to file for an initial public offering.
Mr Hurd has been heavily criticised for his behaviour but 68-year-old Mr Whitacre deserves the most flak. His display of self-indulgence and short-termism after being appointed GM chairman in order to guide it through Chapter 11 bankruptcy has imposed a bigger burden on his employer.
Mr Whitacre has caused chaos at GM, first taking the chief executive’s job from Fritz Henderson in January and promising that he wanted to be “part of its great future”, then becoming a pitchman for the “new GM” on television, and finally telling the board he wanted to stand down as chief executive soon after the IPO planned for later this year.