Kinzel: "People have to eat"

I wouldn't say he does anything unethical, only short-sighted and not without consideration to a bigger picture.

Kinzel may not have done anything unethical, but the lower management's treatment of seasonal employees sure as hell reeks of unethical...

The man certainly has a poor choice of words, but then again, so do a lot of leaders..

I think they are trying to get as much money as they can get from those who can afford to spend it. They don't seem to discourage anyone from bringing their own food to the park, otherwise, they would not still have the picnic shelter outside of the main gates.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, a box of nacho chips and cheese and a large drink for $12 at the local theater after they raised the ticket price to $10. But I guess that is OK since they didn't come right out and say to the public they were trying to make more money off of us where they could.
You want to talk about unethical treatment of employees? I, myself, took two 10% paycuts between 00 and 06 and then found out people they were hiring in later to work for me were making more than I was. Now, how many CP employees have had to deal with that?
This whole topic reminds me of the "bitter" statement Obama made. Great! Now we'll have a president of something else who is out of touch with reality too.

I'm not really that bothered by the statement. But then again I tend to pack a cooler and eat in the parking lot. ;)

I've been listening to Jim Collins' fantastic book, Good to Great, during my commute. One of the early chapters is on leadership.

Here are some interesting quotes from that chapter. I'll let you come to your own conclusions.

Level 5 leader -- an individual who blends extreme personal humility with intense professional will.

David Maxwell, like Darwin Smith and Colman Mockler, exemplified a key trait of Level 5 leaders: ambition first and foremost for the company and concern for its success rather than for one's own riches and personal renown. Level 5 leaders want to see the company even more successful in the next generation, comfortable with the idea that most people won't even know that the roots of that success trace back to their efforts. As one Level 5 leader said, "I want to look out from my porch at one of the great companies in the world someday and be able to say, 'I used to work there.'"

The good-to-great leaders never wanted to become larger-than-life heroes. They never aspired to be put on a pedestal or become unreachable icons. They were seemingly ordinary people quietly producing extraordinary results.

Lee Iacocca, for example, saved Chrysler from the brink of catastrophe, performing one of the most celebrated (and deservedly so) turnarounds in American business history. Chrysler rose to a height of 2.9 times the market at a point about halfway through his tenure. Then, however, he diverted his attention to making himself one of the most celebrated CEOs in American business history. (...) but in the second half of his tenure, Chrysler's stock fell 3 1 percent behind the general market. Sadly, Iacocca had trouble leaving center stage and letting go of the perks of executive kingship. He postponed his retirement so many times that insiders at Chrysler began to joke that Iacocca stood for "I Am Chairman of Chrysler Corporation Always.

Iacocca....Eisner....Kinzel. Interesting company.

I won't call Kinzel unethical. I don't believe he is and never was witness to anything that I would consider unethical.

I think Jeff put it best...short sighted...tunnel vision...ignorant. Those are all words that I think get the point across.

Let's put it this way: I think he excels at the stuff he cares about. But, the problems in the company (at least as I see them) are in areas that I'm quite sure he does not care...or at least takes no interest.

I suspect if Kinzel cared about human resources, staffing issues, etc with the passion that he cares about new rides and shiny toys then I think Cedar Fair would be in a far better place right now.

And, I'll take it a step futher and say if he let other people (empowerment) who DID care about that other stuff actually go out and do what they thought without his tight fist around their necks (or hearts) then I think Cedar Fair would be better off even with his lack of interest.

But, when the CEO doesn't care and won't let anyone else care then that leads to a lot of what you see happening now.

Walt, those quotes fit the situation we have here perfectly. The last story is starting to sound unfortunately similar, and I don't doubt we'll see another contract extension, or the board (as enthralled as they are by Kinzel) asking him to stay on longer...unless people finally start to realize there is a problem, and the way to get rid of it starts at the top. Now, like Chief said, it could either be by empowerment, or by a change at the top (that doesn't involve Falfas taking over). Having been to two other parks in the chain this summer, I can see that a lot of tension and stress at Cedar Point is caused by Corporate being right there, peering over everyone's shoulders. When you feel like you can get fired for the smallest misstep, even just chewing gum outside of a break area, not even at your ride, tensions and stress rise. I'm sure the same is true of management and supervision, as they're under the direct pressure to punish those small missteps just as harshly if they see it.

Micromanagement really kills the employee morale, and it is sad that they can't see it staring them right in the face every time an employee walks past an office window. Of course, it might help if they actually cared enough to care about employee relations like they claim to in the training material.