Bahar Suspended

[Bibs]

Got rid of many CEO's?

[Iconic Ride]

'Fess up, Bibbo. Do you have a TLF "severance package" or not?

[Bibs]

I get an awful lot more free time as part of my golden parachute!!

[Iconic Ride]

I can relate.

[Kimbers]

Got rid of many CEO's?

Just one, from my old Gambling Supply company. He was my best mate, but I paid him off with a poker set, table and his investment back Hehe.

[hedgerley]

Maybe this is why Lotus PR has been quiet on the suspension (from the latest EDP piece) -

And in a move bypassing the firm’s own press team, DRB has also called in former News of the World editor Phil Hall’s crisis management company to handle the PR linked to the suspension.

DRB are exerting more and more control, which seems to indicate they don't trust Proton either.

[Bibs]

I spoke to Phil Hall on Monday, he said 'no comment' a lot!

I think one of the earlier articles said that Lotus PR are being bypassed in case Bahar comes back, to avoid compromising their positions.

[Moxie]

Mmm, feel the love!

[ramjet]

Wouldn't the move of not using the Lotus PR department maybe indicate it is a review and it keeps loyalties intact should Dany return?

It would be difficult to maintain ongoing trust with your PR dept if they were the ones releasing news and then you come back? No?

[hedgerley]

That's probably true. DRB have said that if DB is exonerated following the investigation he would be welcome to return to his position. And despite the ongoing speculation, the law says innocent until proven guilty......

[TBD]

Its exactly this undecisiveness that keeps me confused. I've nevver known a company that has taken such an undetermined position, normally management decided beforehand which decision they will take and then execute it wthout compromise. All very strange.

Off course DB is innocent until proven guilty, but that goes only before court. From a business perspective they are all guilty of undermining the business position of Lotus:

• DB for, as a minimum, taking actions that were not clearly approved by his superiors
  
• Proton management either for negligent supervision of Lotus Cars or lack of support for DB as their subordinate
  
• DRB for obviously not taking any clear position and putting Lotus Cars in this position.
  

Throw them all out!

[comem47]

What I find unusual is the ongoing investigation part. Most times someone is quietly investigated and then confronted with the evidence and sacked on the spot. Maybe there was something critical on his laptop they had to get and needed to crack an encrypted password first. Dunno.

[Bibs]

If he'd done something which could lead to the termination of his contract I would have thought he would have just been sacked.

I personally believe that DRB have done this to make his position untenable. Innocent or guilty, it would be hard to come back now so much mud has been slung.

[Iconic Ride]

"I personally believe that DRB have done this to make his position untenable."

Possibly so, but they'd best have a credible reason, or they're in for a rather large lawsuit, particularly if they attempt to weasel out of whatever severance renumeration is involved. And they can't abide the lengthy period of bad PR that that would entail.

[Kimbers]

It was stated in a recent article that "They wouldn't have started down this route unless they (DRB) were 100% sure of themselves and what they were doing".

You can read this in 2 ways. One is Bibs's above the other is that they have alot of mud to sling and proof of it.

Which it is has yet to be seen.

[Iconic Ride]

And with "proof in hand," might they be expecting DB to "go quietly" and thus avoid the extended PR nightmare?

Even so, it would be astonishing if such "evidence" did not ultimately surface in the public square. And all parties must know that. A conundrum all 'round.

[TBD]

It just doesn't make sense. If they want to sack him they should have just done it.Right now they are not just making DB's position untenable, but also hurting their own asset Lotus Cars. I just can't imagine a lawsuit betwen DB and DRB. How stupid could they get? A never ending period of bad P and, in the end, it always comes down to an out-of-court settlement with non-disclosure clause.

[nello]

Whatever is said about DB and whats happened you cannot take away the fact that he has got the brand back into the limelight .... not for all the right reasons but its defniately back on the scene......

[Moxie]

For the amount of money that went toward it, a tree sloth could have put Lotus back on the scene.

[Iconic Ride]

Assaulted

A sloth named Herman is walking through the forest one day. A gang of snails approach him and beat him up for 7 hours. He is left at the bottom of a tree with several cuts and bruises.

Several hours later, he gathers up enough strength to go to a local police station. Herman walks into the Sergeant's office.

"What happened to you? the officer asks.

"A gang of snails beat me up," Herman replied.

"Can you describe what they looked like?"

"I don't know," the sloth says. "It all happened so fast."

[ramjet]

[richardvg]

If he'd done something which could lead to the termination of his contract I would have thought he would have just been sacked.

I personally believe that DRB have done this to make his position untenable. Innocent or guilty, it would be hard to come back now so much mud has been slung.

I think that this is probably the strategy .Whilst bordering a touchy line ,many would first have to understand the "culture" of the company they keep.Humour me in this one

Without any doubt ,DB ,came into this venture with the credentials and hats off to the selection committee.This however changed with the "new' owners in terms of their business ethos and culture ,perhaps.As the goal posts shift ,so does the vision which includes the rationale of the existing CEO

The new powers that be also have little men that want to build up their own little empires and will pick at every mistake the CEO makes.

In a nutshell ,if the DB is terminated ,highly likely and unfortunate ,i would be extremely concerned about the replacement moreso if they come from the new camp.

For all his mistakes and criticism ,I do think that DB is the best man for the job,,,,,period .

[simonb]

Amazed DB has so many supporters, for a company that has lived "hand to mouth" for more than 30 years; spending hundreds of thousands on a rental property is hardly sensible. Just because you have ambitious plans to re-invent a company, and tens (hundreds?) of millions going through the bank account, does not improve the balance sheet, and does not give the right to live like a lord. This is not how a sensible CEO behaves in a business undertaking an investment program

[richardvg]

Amazed DB has so many supporters, for a company that has lived "hand to mouth" for more than 30 years; spending hundreds of thousands on a rental property is hardly sensible. Just because you have ambitious plans to re-invent a company, and tens (hundreds?) of millions going through the bank account, does not improve the balance sheet, and does not give the right to live like a lord. This is not how a sensible CEO behaves in a business undertaking an investment program

motor manufacture is always and will always be volatile.Sports car manufacture tangenially so.....Remember that DB did not alter the goal posts and the investment whilst not in perpetuity was a calculated one ,created by others.The financial input is relative to the potential gain and it is understandable ,not excusable ,that many see this as oodles of money.DB financial status is consequently irrelevant to the bigger picture.Do you honestly think a 5 bob callgirl was the expectation.The man ,in his own right (DB) is already a legend.Let us treat his package with the same respect it deserves.

[Moxie]

!…

Just some levity before a slight rant, although I’m partial toward the southwestern half of that grid and would like to see Michael Och promoted to the list, if not at the top, but I honestly don’t know enough of the organizational structure or politics to know if it would really make sense.

What I definitely do not want to see--and this will probably sound bigoted--is what’s been done, i.e., putting three (3?!) guys from Malaysia in there who, particularly in a time of crisis like this, will need serious time to sufficiently understand the company and its culture in order to be not just effective, but simply competent.

“What Proton intends to do is to ‘Malaysianise’ the Lotus project by bringing in more local talent to manage Lotus,” the sources told Business Times.

Brilliant. Maybe they can move south after that and Malaysianize Parmigiano-Reggiano and Champagne.

Which leads me to my larger point, namely, the fish stinks from the head...

I wonder if the entire DB issue isn’t just symptomatic of more fundamental problems, namely that Proton and DRB are possibly not competent owners.

The man ,in his own right (DB) is already a legend.

You mean in a good way or a bad way?