Ford, struggling in a changing industry, replaces its CEO

Three years ago, Ford Motor brought in a new chief executive, Jim Hackett, to streamline the company’s inner workings and raise profits.

Now, after he achieved mixed results, the company is again turning to a new boss, hoping he can accelerate the process and finish the job.

On Tuesday, Ford said Hackett will retire Oct. 1 and will be succeeded by James D. Farley Jr., whose promotion to chief operating officer in February had fueled speculation that Hackett’s tenure was nearing an end.

“I am very grateful to Jim Hackett for all he has done to modernize Ford and prepare us to compete and win in the future,” said William Clay Ford Jr., Ford’s executive chairman.

Farley will take the titles of president and CEO, and join Ford’s board of directors, the company said.

Hackett, a former chief executive of Steelcase, an office furniture manufacturer, was named to the top job at Ford in May 2017. Hackett promised to revitalize Ford’s operations and steer the company toward vehicles that would generate profits — pickup trucks and sport-utility vehicles — and invest in emerging technologies like electric and self-driving vehicles.

The company is starting to introduce some of the models developed under Hackett, including a redesigned F-150 pickup truck and a new series of SUVs under its dormant Bronco brand. The Mustang Mach E, an electric SUV styled to resemble the storied sports car, has generated lots of buzz and is set to go into production later this year.

“We have lots of work ahead of us to complete our mission, but thanks to Jim, we are a very different company today than we were three years ago,” Ford said in a conference call to discuss the leadership change.

Ford’s profits fell in 2018 and 2019, dropping to $47 million last year. This year, the pandemic has hammered its business, and the company lost $876 million in the first half of the year.

Farley, 58, joined Ford in 2007 from Toyota Motor, where he played a key role in launching the company’s Lexus luxury brand. Since arriving at Ford, he has held a variety of jobs, including running the company’s marketing, its European operations and a new business strategy group.


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Google employee's anti-diversity memo prompts company rebuke

Two Google executives criticized a memo that circulated late last week at the company from an unnamed engineer suggesting that there were "biological causes" for underrepresentation of women in technology and leadership.

Among the views in the employee's roughly 3,000-word memo was that "distribution of preferences and abilities of men and women differ in part due to biological causes and that these differences may explain why we don’t see equal representation of women in tech and leadership."

Technology news site Motherboard, which first reported the employee's memo, also reported that a Google employee said the memo had gone "internally viral." Gizmodo published a copy of the memo.

The memo stoked a heated debate over treatment of women in the male-dominated Silicon Valley that has boiled for months following sexual harassment scandals at Uber Technologies Inc and several venture capital firms. Google, the world's largest search engine and a unit of Alphabet Inc, recently hired a new vice president of diversity, integrity and governance, Danielle Brown.

Brown sent a memo in response to the engineer's, saying that it "advanced incorrect assumptions about gender."

"Part of building an open, inclusive environment means fostering a culture in which those with alternative views, including different political views, feel safe sharing their opinions," Brown wrote.

"But that discourse needs to work alongside the principles of equal employment found in our Code of Conduct, policies, and anti-discrimination laws," she added.

Google vice president Aristotle Balogh also wrote an internal post criticizing the employee's memo, saying "stereotyping and harmful assumptions" could not be allowed to play any part in the company's culture.

A Google spokesperson told Reuters that the statements from Brown and Balogh were official responses from Google.

Reporting by Sam Forgione; Editing by Jonathan Weber and Mary Milliken

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Boy Scouts delay decision on gays

NEW YORK - The Boy Scouts of America, a youth group long seen as symbolizing traditional US values, announced Wednesday it was delaying a decision on the contentious issue of whether to allow gays to join.

The Scouts had ruled last year to maintain the ban on openly gay boys and adult leaders. Amid political pressure and rapidly shifting social attitudes, the Scouts' leadership said it would meet on the issue -- leading to speculation that a U-turn was in store.

However, the executive board issued a statement afterwards, saying that "after careful consideration and extensive dialogue within the Scouting family, along with comments from those outside the organization..., (it) concluded that due to the complexity of this issue, the organization needs time."

"The approximately 1,400 voting members of the National Council will take action on the resolution at the National Annual Meeting in May 2013," the statement said.

The 103-year-old institution, famed for its outdoor training programs and preaching of simple virtues, has close links to the country's conservative and religious heartlands.

However, the group, which is separate from the Girl Scouts of the USA and counts 2.6 million boys in its membership, is increasingly unsure of its position in wider society.

President Barack Obama said Sunday in an interview aired right before the Super Bowl that "nobody should be barred" from the Scouts.

On Wednesday, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a prominent backer of same-sex marriage, added his voice to the debate.

"Discrimination against gays in the Boy Scouts, I think, is wrong and I think they'd be well advised to eliminate it," he told reporters.

With New York among the growing number of US states allowing gay marriage, and Obama ending the ban on gays serving openly in the military, the Scouts appear to find themselves increasingly behind the times.

A Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday found that voters across the country are 55 percent in favor of an end to the Scouts' ban, with only 33 percent against.

There was a notable gender gap in the poll, with 61 to 27 percent of women in favor of ending the ban, but men split 49 to 39 percent.

The Supreme Court ruled in 2000 in favor of the Boy Scouts, saying that the prohibition against openly homosexual members was part of its right as a private organization to free association and that it could not be forced to adopt an unwanted message.

In his interview, Obama called the Scouts a "great institution that are promoting young people and exposing them to opportunities and leadership that will serve people for the rest of their lives."

However, he added: "My attitude is that gays and lesbians should have access and opportunity the same way everybody else does in every institution and walk of life."

source: abs-cbnnews.com