I’d previously written that honesty is not always the best policy and mentioned the case of Dov Charney, CEO of American Apparel, who called his company’s CFO, Ken Cieply, a “complete loser”.
Well, it seems things soured after the comment with Mr. Cieply stepping down from the CFO post of American Apparel on Friday, May 23. Good luck to Dov in finding a new CFO.
I’m a fan of straight talk as those who’ve read my blog know because there is a lack of it in the business world today as people tend to talk in euphimisms, jargon and platitudes all too often.
But there is a limit. This weekend’s Wall Street Journal has an article Dov Charney and his company, American Apparel’s, growing pains. (article available with password but a blog entry on WSJ is here)
Charney has built a very successful clothing company on the back of savvy marketing and merchandising but Charney who finds himself now the CEO of a publicly traded company probably should rein it in a bit. He commented in an interview March 20 about his Chief Financial Officer, Ken Cieply, that Cieply “has no credibility” in the retail apparel industry and is a “complete loser.” This probably is not a major morale booster for Cieply and also probably not smart for Charney to air American Apparel’s dirty laundry (pun intended).
