About Brad Sugars

BP CEO Tony Hayward is getting serious flack for not handling BP's situation well.

The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has devastated a region of the world still rebuilding from Hurricane Katrina just a few years earlier. Not only has the spill destroyed eco-systems and livelihoods, but for the supplier of the disaster, BP, it seems to be destroying their American marketplace while contributing to the continued economic debacle in Britain.

Everyone can agree, the spill is a monumental disaster, but the way BP has handled it has also been a disaster. If we look at some of the things BP has done wrong since the spill, we can see how small business owners should avoid acting when dealing with issues far more minor than an oil spill.

At the time of this writing, it has been 62 days since BP’s underwater well exploded, killing 11 and began gushing uncontrollably. Since then, BP, the biggest producer of oil and gas in the U.S., has lost 47 percent of its value or $1.4 billion. In Britain, where nearly 1/6 of all pensions are invested in BP stock, the affect can easily be seen, but even in America pensions are being drained by BP losses. Pensions throughout the country have lost value due to the disaster, and its disastrous aftermath, with the number approaching $1 billion.

Most of the blame for the terrible handling of the spill has to go to BP CEO Tony Hayward. He has seemed to be the classic “Ivory Tower” executive from the beginning of this crisis. From his statements about wanting “his life back” to refusing to take the blame for a spill that was clearly his company’s fault, Hayward has shown a lack of integrity and a complete misunderstanding of the seriousness of his problems. Most importantly, he has not been able to come up with a plan to stop the oil from gushing into the gulf. But he still finds time to go yachting.

For the small business owner, a major environmental problem is probably not something to worry about. But businesses have challenges they have to deal with everyday and BP has shown us exactly what not to do. Hayward’s lack of accountability and responsibility has directly led to his company’s bottom line debacle. Many Americans will never use a BP gas station again and the US government just forced BP to create a $20 billion escrow account to provide relief for the victims of the spill. If the aftermath of the spill had been handled correctly, there would have been losses, but they wouldn’t have been as devastating. After all, there have been other oil spills (Exxon Valdes) but never the extreme backlash like what we’ve seen against BP.