EDS Silent On New CEO's IT Consulting Past 114
theodp writes "Slate reports on the press release issued by IT consulting giant EDS to announce new CEO Michael H. Jordan that curiously doesn't show Jordan to have any experience in the IT consulting field. In the late '90s, Jordan helped create IT consulting firm Luminant, took it public, and served as chairman of its board for 21 months. Luminant raised $80+ million from its IPO and paid $422 million to buy businesses as part of its pure-play roll-up strategy before filing Chapter 11 and having its assets sold for a mere $3 million. Slashdot readers may remember Luminant as the wacky workplace of My Fake Job, in which an ex-"Late Night" writer described 17 days he spent faking a job at the dot-com."
EDS has their thumb in many pies (Score:1)
Uh-huh, yeah. Right.
Re:EDS has their thumb in many pies (Score:2, Informative)
http://www.gov.sk.ca/newsrel/releases/2003/03/06-
And I believe CGI and TMC have more Government contracts in Sask than EDS. .
Ex Lumie (Score:2, Informative)
its pretty obvious isn't it? (Score:2, Funny)
Of course not. He was busy playing basketball
from baseball to basketball to IT (Score:5, Funny)
Should've stayed retired, man.
he just needs money (Score:2, Funny)
Another proof (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Another proof (Score:4, Insightful)
"Good decisions, boy, Good decisions," he answered.
Asked how one learns to make good decisions, he answered:
"Bad decisions, boy, Bad decisions."
The key is learning from the mistakes of the past and not repeating them. And I don't know about you, but if I were to do a collosal fuck-up, I'd be more certain to be extra-careful and mindful the next time a similar situation arose.
Re:Another proof (Score:1)
Re:Another proof (Score:3, Insightful)
If you did no one would hire you or it would count agaisnt you when being interviewed. You really have to show the interviewer that you learned from your mistakes or you were just not good for that particular position.
Mysteriously CEO's are not subjected to this stigma even though regular workers
ITS A MATTER OF PERSPECTIVE (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Wrong (Score:1)
Re:Wrong (Score:2, Insightful)
The IT department there was quite enlightened, sadly the site managements were all in varied degree of ignorance and it was THEY, not the IT director that made the first AND final decisions regarding to IT. Hell they even had priviledge to cut you off in the middle of a budget opinion meeting to demand you return to
Re:ITS A MATTER OF PERSPECTIVE (Score:2)
You mention executive experience but his experience being an executive has not been sucessfull. If he had a lower end job and had the same track record he would of tried a different career path.
Maybe I should be an executive. When I get canned I can just add it as experience and apply for more executive positions.
Re:ITS A MATTER OF PERSPECTIVE (Score:1)
good story (Score:2)
siri
A better idea... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:A better idea... (Score:4, Insightful)
Sure, a few tech people can get the work done, but they probably can't oversee the entire company and set up a solid business plan.
Re:A better idea... (Score:1)
Does it matter ? (Score:4, Informative)
When advertising the appointment of a new CEO why would a company mention his negatives like
"he was at the driving seat of a tech company that that ran into bankruptcy". It would be obvious that they would dwell on what he did successfully.
Also, just because someone failed in a dot com start-up would not strip him of all the success he seems to have enjoyed - and he seems to have had quite a lot of it.
- 10 years at McKinsey
- Pepsi, where he rose to president and CEO of PepsiCo WorldWide Foods
- Turned the old industrial company Westinghouse into a New York media heavyweight
Re:Does it matter ? (Score:2)
Westinghouse was big in broadcasting before this guy was born.
Re:Does it matter ? (Score:1)
True. Westinghouse had half a dozen profitable radio stations. The other Westinghouse businesses were heavy industries that had been run into the ground.
Jordan merged Westinghouse with CBS, sold off all the unprofitable industrial businesses, and named the resulting company "CBS." Jordan preferred being a media tycoon over trying to turn around the industrial businesses. The new CBS was later bought by Viacom.
The industrial businesses li
Re:Does it matter ? (Score:2)
Which means some idiot probably sold it for a lot less than it was worth.
Re:McKinsey, you mean the folks (Score:2)
2) Chelsea Clinton has a Stanford bachelor's degree and an Oxford graduate degree. Connections obviously helped, but those are the kind of jobs you get with those kind of qualifications.
big dick brown (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:big dick brown (Score:2)
"I have an expensive wife."
--a joke that got no laughs at the stockholder's meeting.
Current Cliche (Score:2)
Couldn't be worse than Dick (Score:5, Insightful)
Lou Gerstner wasn't a tech guy either and he saved IBM.
Re:Simply More Evidence (Score:2, Insightful)
Good things? (Score:3, Informative)
-> Won't see the "Action, urgency and excellence" emails no more..
-> Perhaps can sell the book, written by Mr Brown, on EBay for loads of money in 10 years?
*rofl*
Re:Good things? (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Good things? (Score:1)
con + insult = consult (Score:4, Funny)
I read this in a Scott Adams' book.
Re:con + insult = consult (Score:2)
Re:con + insult = consult (Score:1)
Understandable (Score:4, Funny)
For me, it was the period in the early nineties when I wore
silver parachute pants and hypercolour t-shirts.
Fuck em... (Score:2, Interesting)
I once heard a Poli-Sci guy once say that a people gets the governmen
Re:Fuck em... (Score:2)
Maybe but I doubt it - sounds about how things were in the 'solution centers' in '99 when I bailed out.
Funny thing was, my supervisor was an EDS-for-lifer and was hurt that I was 'abandoning the company.' Then a year later when I called to see if she'd be a reference, she'd bailed out too!
Llllack. (Score:1)
Why EDS Sucks (Score:4, Interesting)
At one large multi-national company I worked for, EDS made this cozy deal with high level managers - and our company signed a very long term IT outsorcing contract at a very expensive rate. Of course the contract stipulated that EDS would take over all IT services within the company.
After my company was locked in, EDS proceeded to hire a large number of low wage McWorkers who were billed out at an extremely expensive rate as consultants. Of course, I doubt some could even figure out how to use a mouse, but that did not stop them from trying to run all the infrascructure and datacenters. It was truely an amazing sight.
Thankfully, at the time - the dot.com boom was still going pretty strong so it didn't take much to quietly tip-toe out the door as the IT department fell into chaos. I'm still sorry for them to this day, poor souls.
Re:Why EDS Sucks (Score:5, Interesting)
To offer a counterexample: I did work for a telco who had outsourced all their IT management, procurement and support to EDS. I was pleasantly surprised at how efficient these guys were running things. Everything from support to getting new software on your PC or a new PC itself was efficient and fast. The EDS guys worked with the comfidence that comes with experience. When we audited their operation, we found everything fully documented.
If this is a representative example of how they work, I'd hire them anytime.
Oh no you don't (Score:2)
A few years ago, I made some critical statements of Adobe systems - and soon after and a smooth sounding pro posted after me and made the most buttered up statement glorifying Adobe that I had ever heard. Later on, I found out that he was actually acting as a representative of Adobe - you can imagine how duped I felt.
Well this time, I have multiple examples. EDS not only did this to my company, but a relative of mine who works for the Navy (not in IT, but uses the computer systems alot) - is having the s
Re:Oh no you don't (Score:2)
I'll stand by my statement. And this wasn't just data entry work they did, it was complete IT outsourcing. Oh well... this was in Holland, perhaps they work differently here?
In any case I'd like to prove I am not a representative of EDS, but I am not sure how.
Search/Replace (Score:2)
Those deals weren't as lucrative as the usual consulting gigs, but looked great on the bottom line and secured a partner his partner points.
un-iLuminant? (Score:4, Interesting)
To me, combining that kind of incisive decisionmaking with the geniuses at EDS who allowed the geeks-gone-wild environment of Chaos2Order to flourish ("Mister accountant dude, you know what we need? A car! In our ninth-floor office! And we need, like, a crane to get it in here!") means that I should either dump my stock, or offer to let them buy my consulting business.
Not anymore (Score:1)
http://www.gov.sk.ca/newsrel/releases/2003/03/06-
And I believe CGI and TMC have more Government contracts in Sask than EDS. .
Re:Pardon my ignorance... (Score:1)
"My Fake Job" article... (Score:2)
alt.punk part 1 of "My Fake Job" [google.com]
Re:"My Fake Job" article... (Score:1)
Re:"My Fake Job" article... (off topic, google ?) (Score:1)
Re:"My Fake Job" article... (off topic, google ?) (Score:1)
The Whole Article (Score:2, Informative)
My Fake Job [buffalo.edu]
just great. (Score:2)
I really hate to send him this, but better he know now... time to unload those stocks.
remind me why the hell this matters? (Score:1)
but why the hell is this on the front page of slashdot?
I think I'm missing some part where I should care about who is appointed as CEO of some company?
hey batter! (Score:2)
Ya, I remember when he tried playing baseball. This probably wont be much better.
On the other hand, how could you do worse than the last guy, especially when its a guy named "Dick Brown". that name is just begging people to make fun of you; wouldnt it be smarter to have people call you "Rick" or something?
Re: (Score:2)
How can it be worse? (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:How can it be worse? (Score:1)
Disclosure - Not affiliated with Dell, so please do not question my motives. Although I work for one of their competitors, bu
Re:How can it be worse? (Score:1)
Re:How can it be worse? (Score:2, Interesting)
Let's move on to a small detail of the contract...you must remove equipment currently onsite. We pay you to do this. However, something that just arrived on this base was a $6 Million dollar PBX Cisco router that you just
Re:How can it be worse? (Score:1)
I wish EDS luck. (Score:3, Interesting)
I used to work for a company known as Westinghouse Electric Corporation. Mike H. Jordan came to us from Pepsico after previous CEO's nearly bankrupted us through incompetence, but at least it was well intentioned incompetence (lost 4 Billion USD in bad Florida real estate).
Jordan didn't know anything about Westinghouse either, other than we had Group W broadcasting. That would be the start of his media empire that he appearantly wanted to build.
Short version: Mike comes in as Westinghouse CEO, buys CBS, Westinghouse changes name to CBS. CBS sells off all non communications assets. Viacom buys CBS and Jordan goes elsewhere.
All during this time, Jordan and his buddies pay themselves royally while killing a company that while a bit down in the dumps, could have survived. I'm sure George Westinghouse and Nikola Telsa are still rolling in their graves.
It sounds like after that, he destroyed another company, Luminate. I'm sure he got paid real well for that one also.
I give EDS 3 years or less.
Re:I wish EDS luck. (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:I wish EDS luck. (Score:1)
The right thing is "make money for shareholders". Did he manage to do this?
Sure, it might have been short-term gain rather than long-term prosperity but not all companies are up for the risk that long-term gambles present.
Besides, with the way you've presented the way events occured public companies might love the guy.
Re:I wish EDS luck. (Score:1)
Hang them... (Score:1)
This might discourage having the position of CEO in the first place, and we might then find a better way to run our corporations. If you think this is drastic, you should see what I **didn't** write here...
(
Start over and do it right this time. (Score:2)
That's the part we all want to see.
EDS sucks (Score:2, Interesting)
If you've worked with the government, you... (Score:1, Interesting)
For example, there's another boondoggle going on with the "mult-year" SAP implementation within the Navy. Why does the Navy need KPMG to implement SAP, when they could work directly with the company? Which leads to another question - wtf are we spending our defense dollars on a FOREIGN-OWNED ERP SYSTEM to help manage our national defense?
Last time I checked the news, the German public aren't too fond of us righ
Not about IT (Score:2)
$G
Four words for you. (Score:2, Insightful)
Brown, Dick (Score:1)
$55 million dollar salary and a $35 million dollar severance. My friends who got laid off got 2 weeks severance, which they changed from a one month severance just befor
Amazing where failure can lead you, (Score:1)
As an ex-Managing Director of one of the successful, pre-absorption companies, I can attest to the fact that he showed no presence at all, either in person or by directive.
Those with interests in EDS take note, watch this guy and make sure he takes an active role, or dish him quick. We saw nothing from the guy. They (Michael, Gil and their buddies in Houston) had no plan or discernable strategy even after months "on-the-job".
His tenure epitom
Nah... (Score:3, Interesting)