Bob Nardelli’s Shocking Severance | Maybe You Should Replace His Home Depot Quote?
“Happy New Year; You’re Fired.”
On January 3, 2007, Bob Nardelli, CEO of Home Depot was fired (Although others say it was an invitation to hit the road.).
His words, at left, have been used frequently in professional coaching circles to bring home the value of coaching.
“Well if HE thinks coaching is worth something, maybe it really is. Where do I sign?”
Amidst considerable controversy over his militaristic management style, blatant disregard of customers and service of same, along with poor stock performance comes an additional surprise.
Next time you’re trying to find an orange apron, consider this: Bob’s severance package was two hundred and ten million dollars. A lot of hammers, as it were.
But leaving the discussion of executive pay to another blog, may I offer a suggestion that you rethink the use of Bob’s quote in your marketing collateral or on the home page of your website. (Google finds more than 200 pages using his words, and there are certainly more than that number posting the graphic.)
“I absolutely believe that people, unless coached, never reach their maximum capabilities.” — Bob Nardelli, CEO Home Depot
Am I alone in wondering what Bob, arguably one of the most high-profile executives to have taken a pro-coaching stand in the media, actually meant by his words? And what would he say about coaching now?
For that matter, I am frankly curious about who’s been coaching him.
Bob certainly hadn’t spread the coaching-approach very far within Home Depot, if media reports are even slightly accurate. Who knows what was going on behind the scenes, in coaching sessions, or not. Whether he was coachable, or not.
2007 is already unfolding into a year where Coaches take a great leap forward in media exposure, both on television and behind the scenes of successful people proudly ‘going public’ about their coach.
So when the opportunity to coach a Bob Nardelli comes your way in future, will your tools be both sharp and kind? Your edge ready? Your heart and mind awake?
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Exercise: Name three people in Hollywood, public office, or otherwise in the public eye that you would LOVE to coach.
Why would you like to coach them and how do you think it would be best to reach them, as a start?
[excerpted from Multiple Streams of Coaching Income, 2nd ed. "Coaching Prime Time" page 222.]
