By Al Lewis
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Once the Gulf of Mexico is done filling up with oil, no one will write the "Tony Hayward Guide To Crisis Management."
Hayward, a BP PLC /quotes/comstock/13*!bp/quotes/nls/bp (BP 44.35, -0.23, -0.52%) lifer with a doctorate in geology from Edinburgh University, took the helm of the giant oil company in 2007. He's since struggled to transform its reckless image without much luck. And now he faces a crisis that will likely end his career.
You can watch him in a video posted May 13 on BP's website. It was shot from a pier in Venice, La., where real fishermen worked until the spill. Watch video here.
In the video, Dr. Hayward comes off as an absent-minded professor in a white BP hard-hat and a slightly unbuttoned dress shirt.
It's not just his British accent that brings "Monty Python's Flying Circus" to mind. It's the absurd feat of attempting to inspire confidence while BP's well spews unfathomable amounts of oil into the sea, day after day, week after week, with no end in sight.http://www.marketwatch.com/story/bps-damage-control-is-spiralling-2010-05-21?reflink=MW_news_stmpThe PR/marketing division of BP must have been put to bed during this. Clear case of a corporate leadership unable to delegate something they're clueless about.
Yes, Mr. Hayward. You're doing an "extraordinary job." Problem is, self-interest and deception in support of it becomes apparent even to the most casual observer in time.