The GAP Dumps Paul Pressler as CEO

[Isaac]

Gap bounced back during Pressler's first 18 months on the job, and he won high marks for closing poorly performing stores and instilling more financial discipline. But he never demonstrated a great deal of fashion sense or the ability to hire people who did — a shortcoming that damaged Gap's brand as more shoppers defected to merchants that offered more hip choices or lower prices.
"The back end of the house was something that Paul did a phenomenal job," said Bobbie Lenga, managing director of the retail practice at executive recruiter Russell Reynolds Associates. "But he is not a strong product person. Product is what drives the business."
Lenga expects Gap to have a tough time finding a dynamic new leader because turning around the company will be an extraordinarily difficult assignment.
Coming off a lackluster 2005, Pressler vowed to turn things around in 2006 and projected earnings in the same range as the previous year.
Instead, Gap's deterioration worsened as the year progressed, prompting Pressler to lower his earnings guidance three times.
The final straw apparently came earlier this month when Pressler warned that Gap's profit for fiscal 2006 will end up about $300 million, or 40 cents per share, below the target he set at the year's outset.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070122/..._ceo_resigns_7



I'm surprised he lasted this long.

[JWBear]

Heeheeheehee... ROFL!!!!!!!

[Cadaverous Pallor]

Yay! I was hoping he'd be forever cursed for the sins he committed in Anaheim.

[wendybeth]

Ahem.

[CoasterMatt]

Maybe Circuit City will hire him next?

[RStar]

This thread looks strangly familar....

Wow, has it been almost 5 years already since he left Disney? Wow, where has the time gone??

[Moonliner]

Hummm...

He struck out in the entertainment sector
Was tossed out of the merchandising sector

He has name recognition but apparently no skills that matter in the real world other than self promotion.


Oh crud, it looks like there is only one job left he's qualified for. Senator Pressler anyone?

[Alex]

Originally Posted by Moonliner

He has name recognition but apparently no skills that matter in the real world other than self promotion.

He was hired because of a particular skillset that the Gap decided was what they needed to turn themselves around (the kind of CEO they are now looking for is exactly the kind they dumped for Paul Pressler). He is credited for successfully doing what they asked of him and what he was hyped as being good at.

It isn't particularly fair to now bash him for not being good at what he never said he was good at and they didn't want when they hired him.

To draw from my recent experience. A project just wasn't getting results. The bossguy decided that what was needed was a new strong project manager. They went out and got themselves a great project manager. Things improved a bit but in the end still didn't get the desired results. So the bossman decided what they'd really needed all along was a better UE designer.

So now we make fun of the project manager for being a crappy UE designer (well, not really, but that would be the equivelant).

We may not like what Pressler did to Disneyland, but he was doing exactly what his bosses wanted of him as evidence by the fact that his successors all seem to be similar (and even Ouimet mostly continued along the same track but he was much better at selling it and cared a bit more about the small stuff) as well as the management in WDW.

I don't want to particularly defend him. It isn't like I'm saying he is a genius or anything. But he is good at certain things and when that is in line with what his bosses want he is successful. It isn't particularly his fault that the Gap board was wrong about what it needed.

[RStar]

I'm sorry, but every time I read the title of this thread I think it says "Gas Pumps Paul Pressler".....

Sorry.


That is all......