Tempur Sealy International CEO Scott Thompson got a reminder the other day about the fleeting nature of success in business.
It came in the form of a story from Bloomberg titled: “O.J., Accounting Fraud, Icahn: The Story of Hertz Going Bust.” It is a compelling account of what happened to the iconic rental car company, which recently filed for Chapter 11 protection.
Thompson had a front-row seat for some of the developments described in the story, and he received a nice shout out from one of the figures quoted in the story.
In those days, Thompson was the CEO of Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group, which was acquired by Hertz after a bidding war with Avis pushed the acquisition price up to $2.6 billion. Rather than hire Thompson to run Hertz, investor Carl Icahn went with a former COO of United Airlines.
That prompted Maryann Keller, an auto industry consultant who was on the Dollar Thrifty board at the time of the acquisition, to say that Hertz would not be in the position it’s in today if it had hired Thompson.
But Thompson was not around to make any changes; he retired. Then, in 2015, he was called back to the business battles when TSI named him CEO of the company.
The Bloomberg story explained what happens when a company “relies on accounting and consolidation to keep shareholders happy. It’s a tale of lurching from one CEO to another and management teams failing to stay attuned to consumer tastes.”
The story also said that “bad decisions” and “hard luck” combined to make Hertz vulnerable during the COVID-19 pandemic.
That story was published just a few days after Thompson got some good news. I called to tell him that Sealy has moved into the No. 1 spot on Furniture Today’s Top 20 U.S. bedding producers list, knocking Serta from the lofty perch it had held since 2012.
Despite the significance of that achievement — it’s only the second time in almost half a century that a new No. 1 has been crowned in the bedding universe — Thompson struck a low-key tone. He saluted the “other great brands,” and said the competition has made TSI better. He said that yesterday’s success is no guarantee of success tomorrow. And while he said TSI is honored with the No. 1 ranking, he noted that there won’t be a big celebration on the TSI campus.
And if you are wondering why he adopted that measured response when he could have been forgiven for displaying more excitement, look no further than the Bloomberg story.
Thompson read that story and forwarded it to me, saying I might enjoy this look at his “colorful past.”
The lessons in that story, lessons about the importance of good leadership and staying close to your consumers, present a cautionary tale for any executive, he said.
“This is why I never spike the ball,” Thompson said. “You have to earn your leadership position every day, or you lose it.”
With the sales crown now anointing Sealy, that brand still has work to do. Iconic brands must reinvent themselves to remain relevant.
The post Blog: Thompson sees cautionary tale in story of Hertz going bust appeared first on Furniture Today.
