What's Wrong with BP's CEO Attending a Yacht Race? Nothing and Everything

Tony Hayward, the CEO of BP, was supposedly removed from his daily job overseeing the oil spill in the Gulf. I say supposedly, because after the announcement, BPs press office offered contradictory explanations for what was happening. An American executives was said to be taking over the front line control, but the timing of this was unsure. One suspects that BP did not really think this out. They had to remove Hayward, who gave an awful performance before Congress. They replaced him with an American CEO with a southern accent. The real removal was not to change things, but once again to make us think that things had changed. It seems that BP is very good at manufacturing an image, but not very good at living up to its desired image. They undoubtedly thought that having a fellow with a southern drawl in front of TV cameras was preferable to having one with a British accent. Probably right, but for all the wrong reasons.

Within a day after leaving Washington, Hayward was in England at a yacht race with his son. This was the same man who had declared a few weeks ago the "I will not leave the Gulf until the oil leak is stopped". I guess the leak just went on too long and he felt he needed a break.

Fury grew among both members of Congress, the general public and fisherman in the Gulf who likely will never see their livelihood return. BPs response was that Hayward was having a family day. "He deserves that. We would think everyone would agree", said the PR spokesperson. Problem is, that statement showed the same tone deafness that BP seems to have been suffering from all along. Most would agree he deserves time with his family. But, few would agree that a public outing at a yacht race is good for his or BPs image.

Hayward had said weeks ago that "I want my life back". Poor guy! He has to suffer, likely for several months, every night taken away by private jet or limo, returning to a luxury hotel or suite rented for him. He has truly suffered!! His multi-million pension will cushion his blow. Those who are damaged, including the so-called "little people" that BP said they are worried about (still sounds like a company run by British aristocrats worrying aloud about the poor little people who might go hungry--tsk, tsk. Where is that butler with my tea and biscuits?").

What is wrong with Hayward going off to the yacht race (his 50-foot yacht, I might add) with his son? Nothing and everything. It is nothing, because this is a good father-son bonding moment. Hayward is a hard working CEO who deserves time off to see his family. At the same time, however, there is everything wrong with this. This is a guy whose company has ruined the environment for generations to come. He has wiped out the livelihood of an entire group of people in the Gulf. He has further ruined the city of New Orleans and the rest of the Gulf Coast. He may not have designed the rig that exploded, but it was his company and he bears the burden. That's the responsibility of CEOs. As they used to say in my corporate days, "that's why you're paid the big bucks".

To go off and visit a yacht race is optically wrong. It shows a total lack of character and morale fiber on his part. He just doesn't get it. He has not fully internalized the real damage done. It further demonstrates that he is as out-of-the-loop on the way the real world lives as we feared. He looked and sounded like a member of the British House of Lords when he sat before Congress. His poor performance continued.

I know that there will be some who will argue that there is nothing more that he could do to clean up the Gulf, and that his day away at his yachting adventure did not detract from the clean-up. That is all true, but it also is mute. Until the leak is stopped, he does not deserve a life. He has to show that he cares, that he is damaged mentally by what his company has done. I really don't care if he doesn't feel that way, but his victims in the Gulf deserve to see him suffering a bit.

His lack of good sense has not only hurt his image, but it has further damaged the reputation of BP.