Tony Hayward to step down as BP CEO
Posted on 26. Jul, 2010 by Leon Kennedy in Business
Tony Hayward, as the face of BP and consequently of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, has been subject to some fairly serious flack over the past months from both members of Congress and the American public. This coupled with his role as head of the cleanup efforts in the Gulf of Mexico was enough to make Hayward comment: “I would like my life back”.
On the one hand, one might argue that stepping down as BP’s CEO might help Hayward to get his life back; at least in so far as it would free him from both the cleanup responsibilities and from the barrage of public and government flack. However, if Hayward includes his role as BP’s CEO as part of his ‘life’, then it would seem that that life is one that can never be returned to.
All-in-all BP (under Hayward’s leadership) is considered to be guilty of valuing profits over safety; an approach which is being held responsible for the guargantuan oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. According to an academic advisory panel of scientists at a recent board meeting, Hayward’s leadership led to “an organizational culture and incentives that encourage cost-cutting and cutting of corners — that reward workers for doing it faster and cheaper, but not better.”
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