Jose is heading to Florida to enjoy his retirement, likely to spend his time indulging in the luxuries of a private jet and other perks until October. However, considering his legacy, it's surprising he wasn't terminated sooner. His departure would have saved the company money and made little difference in the grand scheme.
When Jose arrived in 2016, I was impressed by his talks of digital transformation, innovation, and challenging the status quo, fail fast, etc … Unfortunately, instead of fostering a culture of innovation and progress, he created a "yes-man" culture, where sycophancy was rewarded and criticism was discouraged. He would often fly around the world and visit Baxter sites to intimidate employees with aggressive questioning during reviews instead of going and meet its customers…
As CEO, Jose failed to deliver inspirational leadership or disruptive ideas. Instead, he oversaw the destruction of billions of dollars in shareholder value through a series of disastrous decisions:
Drastically cutting R&D costs, leaving the pipeline empty
Wasting hundreds of millions on digital transformation trainings with no tangible benefits
Making ill-fated acquisitions, such as HiR, which were overpriced and poorly timed
Focusing the entire company on the renal split for two years, resulting in hundreds of millions lost on consultancy fees and ultimately selling for less than revenue
Implementing a new operating model that led to thousands of layoffs with generous severances but no cost savings or increased sales
The consequences are stark: the share price has plummeted to 2002 levels. The company will now waste another six months searching for a new CEO, who will then need several months to assess the situation and develop a plan. Meanwhile, the only concrete action will be to finalize Vantive's separation from our company - likely triggering more disruptions and paralysis on both sides…
When Jose arrived in 2016, I was impressed by his talks of digital transformation, innovation, and challenging the status quo, fail fast, etc … Unfortunately, instead of fostering a culture of innovation and progress, he created a "yes-man" culture, where sycophancy was rewarded and criticism was discouraged. He would often fly around the world and visit Baxter sites to intimidate employees with aggressive questioning during reviews instead of going and meet its customers…
As CEO, Jose failed to deliver inspirational leadership or disruptive ideas. Instead, he oversaw the destruction of billions of dollars in shareholder value through a series of disastrous decisions:
Drastically cutting R&D costs, leaving the pipeline empty
Wasting hundreds of millions on digital transformation trainings with no tangible benefits
Making ill-fated acquisitions, such as HiR, which were overpriced and poorly timed
Focusing the entire company on the renal split for two years, resulting in hundreds of millions lost on consultancy fees and ultimately selling for less than revenue
Implementing a new operating model that led to thousands of layoffs with generous severances but no cost savings or increased sales
The consequences are stark: the share price has plummeted to 2002 levels. The company will now waste another six months searching for a new CEO, who will then need several months to assess the situation and develop a plan. Meanwhile, the only concrete action will be to finalize Vantive's separation from our company - likely triggering more disruptions and paralysis on both sides…