It’s hard to believe the results of the past year and a half are what the Board had in mind when Hesse was hired. Subscriber losses a million+ per quarter with no end in sight, huge revenue and stock declines, employee morale at an all time low…the list goes on. And all of this while the rest of the industry has done quite well.
Clearly many of the problems pre-date Hesse’s involvement. Nevertheless, he is the man who was brought in to turn things around. So far he has failed badly. Let’s take a look back. The ad campaign featuring hiz honor was torturous. Sure, perhaps a four week campaign signaling a new direction in an effort to transition from the disastrous neon lights commercials would have been appropriate. A simple campaign featuring some of Sprint’s interesting features would have gone a long way to attract subscribers and counter the effects of the iPhone ( Sprint TV, GPS, Family Locater, Radio all would have tied in nicely with the Simply Everything plan). Instead, for more than a year, we had to watch nightly a highly paid CEO tell us how cool a cell phone is. When S did start marketing features, it poured its advertising dollars into a campaign for Direct Connect, a technology that has little or no mass appeal outside particular segmented groups. Marketing has been a huge failure for which Hesse is solely responsible.
Hesse came into office with a bang and a media campaign touting his ability to drop “nukes” (remember those nice glossies from USA Today that were passed around campus?). Besides Blue Jeans Friday, firing 8k people, and Simply Everything, Hesse’s bombing campaign had more bark than bite. The one thing Hesse is good at is lowering expectations, not only for the company but also himself. This way we are led to believe that by losing less the 4.5 million subscribers for 2009 Sprint will somehow be in good condition. And Mr. Narcissist will be the One who righted the ship.
Furthermore, while competitors are gearing up for the next wave (4G), Sprint is praying that a niche technology will offer a unique competitive advantage. Unfortunately, this aint gonna happen. Don’t take it from the Troll…just read any industry journal on the future of Wimax and LTE. In other words, when Verizon and AT&T come out with their 4G services and devices, Sprint (if it still exists) will be left in la la land.
Let’s also not forget about the indiscretions that occurred under his Hesse’s watch. From Brust’s $600k airline tab to Kathy Walkers $4 million illegitimate severance, to Keith Cowan’s million dollar payout for failing to deliver, Hesse has shown a lack of fortitude and control needed to handle the important albeit mundane problems that occur while running a business.
This is not how good leaders lead. Strong leaders put the company ahead of themselves; they offer a vision and plan for the future; and they show the integrity and spirit to lift the image of the company, build loyalty with customers, and boost morale amongst its employees. Dan has failed on all counts. It’s time for him to go.
the Troll would like to hear your thoughts. Should Dan be fired?
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Look, of course Hesse should be fired. He's come in, fired his nukes and no one - most importantly the market, noticed. His job was to increase top line. He has failed. I believe now his main goal is to hang around as long as possible while making obscene money. The problem is, if you fire Hesse, who would replace him. 90% of the top wireless talent has left the building. No one, and I mean no one left at Sprint knows how to grow revenue. With the economy the way it is, everyone is trying to make as few waves as possible just hoping to ride out the storm until other opportunities arise.
ReplyDelete"Strong leaders put the company ahead of themselves; they offer a vision and plan for the future; and they show the integrity and spirit to lift the image of the company, build loyalty with customers, and boost morale amongst its employees." This is the problem right here. There is nobody in leadership in Sprint that puts the company ahead of their personal benefit, case closed.
ReplyDeleteWhere'd you go Troll?
ReplyDeleteWACK the SOB he did it without remorse to 8000 + of our now ex co workers and he walks away making more money..now network to be outsourced so that he can make more money. Get rid of him and the upper managemnet morons and put some people in that care about the company.
ReplyDeleteHe has driven the company into the ground at a high rate of speed. Losses of a million customers a quarter are not a good thing. There should be no bonus or continued employment at S for Elf, Bob or Dan. They are more worried about which jet they get to ride on than what is going on with the store. It has been a sickening ride for all of us shareholders that bought an investment grade stock in the 90s that has been turned into a penny stock. Outsourcing the network to avoid severance charges is another half-baked smoke and mirror strategy that does not add shareholder value.
ReplyDeletehahahaha...troll got whacked...love it
ReplyDeleteIs the Troll still alive???
ReplyDeleteyes he should be fired. The same rules should apply to everyone. They fire employees when the company does not do well. Why dont the board think of the same when about the Top Management..
ReplyDeleteFire the top layer and make the second layer responsible for the company.
Anyways the top layer did not perform hence the S#@t the company is in.
This gives incentive to the second layer to shine and maybe grab the top position by doing something better for the company.
What is the incentive to Hesse and his close friends to improve the bottom line... nothing.. reason- they are getting their huge bonuses, the salary is top notch, no pressure even if you kicked out apple (I know Dan did not do it but he did kick out Google initially) no pressure on delivering quarter after quarter of loss... kudos..