Retirement Chronicles: Retirement Letter To The CEO
I was rummaging through an old desk of mine on Tuesday of this week. I found an old, crumbled letter. It was addressed to the CEO of the company for whom I was employed for many years before my retirement as district director of operations. It was a copy of my official letter of retirement, which is required three months prior to taking retirement. I did exactly as required of me.
Well, to quote the old Hertz rental car commercial, “Not exactly.”
Most retirement letters sent to the CEO are supposed to compliment him and say what a joy it was to work under his leadership. In other words, kiss his ass on your way out the door.
Reading the letter from years ago reminded me how much I disliked our CEO and his “leadership skills.” I had been holding back for nearly 15 years from saying what I thought of him. I remember one director in the company blasted him in a meeting back in November of 2000. That man told the truth and he was fired as a result. “Insubordination” is what we were told. No, he told the truth about our CEO.
I’m not going to post the entire letter. It’s two long pages and I detailed things that needed to improve for this company to continue forward.
“…Mr. Adams, it’s not that you lack the organizational skills to effectively run a Fortune 500 company. It’s just that you don’t seem to care. You care about two things; the 5 p.m. cocktail and hitting the links three of the four days you show up for work each week. If you were dedicated enough to your job to ensure that this company ran efficiently, then I’d say you were at least justified in taking so much time off from your job.
You castigate every director of each department throughout this company. It’s their fault they are saddled with your incompetent nephews, cousins and friends. Of the twelve you have pushed for employment, only one was at least capable of doing her job. The rest collect a paycheck. The nepotism that permeates this company is going to destroy it. Productivity down 18% in the last fiscal quarter? What do you do? You hire your stepson as a quality control analyst who was fired because he couldn’t keep his hands off the women in his office. How much did those sexual harassment lawsuits cost, Mr. Adams? The morale in that office has yet to recover. You constantly overrule an embattled HR department trying to bring in quality people. Yet, they can’t due to your meddling and nepotism.
The day I was hired, the HR director at the time told me something I’ve never forgotten. “The corporate world is not for the faint of heart. It’s dog-eat-dog and involves biting your tongue at times. Just do your job and let the chips fall as they may.” In retrospect, I took that advice too literally. I just shouldn’t have bit my tongue until now that I’m retiring.
We lost an excellent man in Doug Matthews when you fired him for “insubordination” back in 2000. Doug tried to warn you that you were driving this company into the ground. He laid out point-by-point how you were hurting this company with your nonchalant attitude and incompetence. Your answer to his criticism was to fire him. Now, Doug works for our competitor and is eating our lunch for clients.
In closing, I want to say it has been a pleasure to work with so many dedicated and brilliant people during my career at *****. I have worked with people who put in long hours to make this company function as highly as possible given the obstacles placed in their path. These people don’t get the bonuses at the end of the year that so many on the board and the CEO get to enjoy. They enjoy enough of a bonus to buy a Christmas tree and take a week off during Christmas. These people are the core of this company and they are treated like indentured servants.
I leave you with this, Mr. Adams; this company is in trouble directly due to your leadership. Your father would fire you, his own son, over the trajectory of the company he built with his bare hands. You can lead, follow or get the hell out of the way of those who can save this company. The choice is yours.”
Now, I know what you are thinking. Surely I got fired too. Once you are eligible to file retirement papers, there is a no termination clause in the bylaws. Nothing, except perhaps murder, would get you kicked out. Sure, they could have sent me home. They could have paid me my last three months to sit at home. Mr. Adams wasn’t going to let me do that.
Three years after I retired, that company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Mr. Adams was forced out as CEO of the company his dad built. Oh, he has a golden parachute that never touches the ground, of course. But the company regained its footing and is doing well today.
As I put that letter back in the old desk, I reflected on how much I missed those coworkers of mine. The hardships we all endured due to working for a rudderless ship all came back for a few moments. I also realized I don’t miss working nearly as much as I thought I did.
Retirement is great.