A friend of mine sent me an interesting link today. The title of the article is 101 Dumbest Moments in Business: The year’s biggest boors, buffoons, and blunderers. If you subscribe to Business 2.0 Magazine (I did once upon a time in college; I got a free T-shirt out of the deal), you’ve seen this article before. This is its 7th iteration. The article exploits “bungled layoffs, customer-service snafus, executive follies, and other madness”. Here are a few highlights:
- #2, Northwest Airlines – In July, bankrupt Northwest Airlines begins laying off thousands of ground workers, but not before issuing some of them a handy guide, “101 Ways to Save Money.”
- #6, Steve Wynn – Wynn struck a deal to sell the popular Picasso painting “La Reve” for $139 million. While showing the painting to a group of visitors in his Las Vegas office, a gesture hits the painting with his elbow, causing what’s later reported as “a distinct ripping sound.” Wynn cancels the sale and spends $85,000 to have the painting restored.
- #25, BBC – In May the BBC invites IT expert Guy Kewney to its studios for an interview about Apple’s iTunes Music Store. But when the cameras start rolling, BBC correspondent Karen Bowerman finds herself talking to the wrong Guy – namely, Guy Goma, a computer technician who was waiting in the lobby for a job interview. See the video here.
- #43, Paris Hilton – When responding to her drunk driving arrest in September 2006, the Carl’s Jr/Hardee’s spokeswoman and supreme blowie giver said “I was just really hungry, and I wanted to have an In-N-Out burger.” DOH! That’s hot.
- #45, Cryonics Pioneers – The bodies of Raymond and Monique Martinot, pioneers of the cryonics movement — which seeks to freeze the newly dead in the hopes that future scientists will be able to revive them — thaw after a freezer malfunction. Son Rémy had them cremated.
- #56, AOL – In June, AOL customer Vincent Ferrari calls to cancel his membership. In a call that lasted 21 minutes, “retention consultant” named John doggedly tries to retain Ferrari’s business even though he specifically asks to cancel 18 times. Hear the call here.
See the rest of the list on CNNMoney.com here.
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January 25th, 2007 at 1:48 pm
Great list.
How about Home Depot awarding their departing CEO approximately $241,000,000 to leave. If Home Depot had 20,000 employees, that severance award to one person who profited from the efforts of the employees could be spread out amongst the employees and each would receive about $12,000 Per employee! Makes me want to drive by Home Depot to Ace hardware.
January 27th, 2007 at 7:48 am
This was a great read Derrich! Hilarious about Paris Hilton. I saw the severance pay for the Home Depot CEO on the headlines, the CEO that has been ruining the company gets a huge lump sum, what’s wrong with that picture?
January 27th, 2007 at 10:06 am
No kidding. I’m sure they’re happy to be rid of him…and his paycheck.
January 28th, 2007 at 3:29 pm
Why is it that Paris Hilton can make many mistakes but nothing seems to stick? She just keeps on rolling and nothing seems to make a dent on her.
April 2nd, 2007 at 8:26 am
Reading this article about the dumbest moments, really leaves little faith in the CEO’s of those companies, and who knows how many other companies making decisions such as those. I was fortunate enough to recently come across a copy of a new book- The Enlightened CEO: How to Succeed at the Toughest Job in Business. This book is genius for people who are CEO’s or plan on making it that far in their career. The authors really focus on how to approach being a CEO and making decisions in all aspects of your business to truly succeed. If only Northwest Airlines and The BBC has gotten their hands on a copy. If you are business savvy, I encourage you to read a copy of the Enlightened CEO; the book is a relaxed read and just flows the whole way through. I included the link below to the book; I read somewhere that it is only available online. If you’re interested check it out.
The Enlightened CEO: How to Succeed at the Toughest Job in Business