No tears for ousted BP CEO Tony Hayward, except perhaps from New Orleans T-shirt vendors who reaped a rich payday from his unfortunate "I'd like my life back" comment as oil was coating Gulf waters and Louisiana marshes, and tens of thousands of central Gulf residents were losing their livelihoods. And even those would be crocodile tears.
Hayward's 28-year career with BP will forever be defined by the tragic explosion of April 20 on the Deep Water Horizon platform that killed 11 men and set in motion an environmental nightmare, and by that remarkably insensitive utterance.
He is destined to live eternally on YouTube, and likely in business school courses called "CEO 101: How not to handle a crisis."
For now, Hayward, 53, is shipping off to Russia, equipped with a severance package worth up to $20 million and headed for a non-executive place on the board of BP's Russian joint venture TNK-BP. He is scheduled to resign on Oct. 1, when he'll be formally replaced by Mississippi-bred Bob Dudley, who, we assume, will not suffer from the same public-relations tin ear as Tony Hayward.
Even as he left, Hayward loosed another gaffe — a parting shot at the U.S. news media. He told British reporters he had been "demonized and vilified" by reporters in this country.
Quite likely. But just maybe Hayward deserved the criticism. Who can forget the videos of the BP CEO aboard his yacht in unpolluted English waters as oil spewed from the runaway BP well? Or his sullen, unhelpful appearance before a congressional subcommittee?
Scenes like these left many Americans with the ugly impression that Hayward regarded Louisiana and the Gulf Coast as little more than a resource colony - a Nigeria with jambalaya and good jazz. The man made his own bed of grief.
News about Hayward's departure as CEO obscured a rare and welcome positive development for BP this week. At last, it appears the company is getting closer to capping the well for good and closing that chapter in this painful episode.
Dudley, who grew up in Hattiesburg and spent summers on the Gulf coast, has pledged to change the culture at BP to prevent another disaster. If that has a familiar ring, it might be because Hayward made a similar pledge when he became CEO in 2007. Alas, those good intentions never translated into changes in company processes and systems that might have prevented the Gulf spill.
Dudley will have the opportunity - and obligation -to move beyond good intentions.
The Mississippian is off on the right foot with his assertion that BP's priority will be permanently capping the well and getting the Gulf cleaned up. It should be. No one would wish Dudley and his star-crossed company less than full success in the effort.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/7129313.html
