bill Posted February 22, 2008 Share #21 Posted February 22, 2008 Advertisement (gone after registration) One thing is 99.99999% sure. There won't be an M9 at the Photokina...And even if, it would cost at least 10.000 Euro. I would respectfully suggest that until the dust settles, *nothing* is sure. Let's wait and see... Regards, Bill Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted February 22, 2008 Posted February 22, 2008 Hi bill, Take a look here Steven K.Lee gone. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
woodyspedden Posted February 22, 2008 Share #22 Posted February 22, 2008 Of course this is all speculation but given the positive financial results of late I suspect the reasons may have more to do with either the R10 or M9 (whichever was really in the pipeline) being delayed and not available for Photokina 2008. Remember that Dr Kaufmann was quoted regarding the certainty of the new R system with "at least" a full frame sensor. He may feel in an embarassed position if there is a significant delay and took it out on Mr Lee. Woody Spedden Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
plasticman Posted February 22, 2008 Share #23 Posted February 22, 2008 Can someone try - objectively - to explain to me why this might be good or bad for Leica? I'm genuinely curious. As far as I could tell, Mr Lee was a forward-looking CEO who wanted to pull a rather conservative company into the future. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
stunsworth Posted February 22, 2008 Share #24 Posted February 22, 2008 No idea either way, but I expect his comments about providing unlimited updates to the M8 didn't go down too well. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andybarton Posted February 22, 2008 Share #25 Posted February 22, 2008 Press release in English visavis.de Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pascal_meheut Posted February 22, 2008 Share #26 Posted February 22, 2008 Can someone try - objectively - to explain to me why this might be good or bad for Leica? I'm genuinely curious. As far as I could tell, Mr Lee was a forward-looking CEO who wanted to pull a rather conservative company into the future. Good things: we do not know. I agree that Mr Lee tried to change things at least and partially succeeded. What we cannot know is if the method was correct, what were the drawbacks, was the employees following him which is quite important in an engineering company and so on... If he was managing it the wrong way, even with good ideas, then it is a good thing he left. But really, such matters are quite hard to figure even when you are inside the company. Bad things: too many CEOs in too short a time, bad for the image of the company, creates doubts about the strategy and the future and can frighten customers, can demotivate the employees (although it seems to be the contrary here) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
stuny Posted February 22, 2008 Share #27 Posted February 22, 2008 Advertisement (gone after registration) I don’t know if this applies here, but frequently in the past when I’ve had extremely demanding CEOs many people didn’t like them largely due to their having to really work. With all those CEOs (and USAF Wing Commanders, too) I found that I got along fine with them as long as I delivered the goods. Could it be that the elation of many employees reported above has more to do with their work ethic than with Mr. Lee’s way of doing business? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pascal_meheut Posted February 22, 2008 Share #28 Posted February 22, 2008 Maybe but I worked in many countries in Europe and also in the US and noticed that managing German people must be done in a certain way and that English or American managers were sometimes too pushy, creating conflicts. P.S: no prejudice here. I've been able to work efficiently with people from many countries but cannot fail to notice that changing behavior to adapt to another country can take some time. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
luigi bertolotti Posted February 22, 2008 Share #29 Posted February 22, 2008 The Supervisory Board of Leica Camera AG today removed Steven K. Lee as member and Chairman of the Board of Management of Leica Camera AG with immediate effect. As other have said, this is a unusuallly HARD announcement... something strange I think has happened... even if there would has been a management "war" between Lee and Kaufman, I would have rather expected some different-style announcement like "..has accepted the immediate resignement of Mr. Lee..." But REMOVE is a harsh word in management... pity I can't read German... I suppose in the german forum some "inside-or-so" gossip will sprout out on this story... Based on past stories of similar abrupt changeovers, it comes to my mind when Carly FIorina was forced to abandon HP... she succeded into her hard goal to buy Compaq and merge it in HP, but the way she did it costed her her job... Mr. Lee succeded in making and marketing a real digital Leica... and maybe this costed him his job... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
haribo Posted February 22, 2008 Share #30 Posted February 22, 2008 Received today a very joyous email from Leica Meister, one of the top Leica dealers in Germany. I call it a joyous email not only because of the way the content was worded but also the overwhelming use of color to illustrate its points. In short, the email says that with immediate effect Steven K. Lee, CEO of Leica Germany got fired today. (The polite English way to translate the email would be by saying 'dismissed' but considering the way it was worded in German it's more the harsher ' you are fired' version.) It goes on about the wonderful changes this will mean for Leica and new products to come ... M9 ... R10 ... Etc. And Photokina 2008 will have some surprises for all in store now. Apparently, top Leica employees with the backing of a huge dealer network instigated this mutiny. Although risking their jobs by doing so, they presented an internal and outside-view case on the effects of Mr. Lee's business strategies and actions (compiled by the dealer network) to the Board. Based on that the Board took immediate actions by dismissing Mr. Lee as CEO and Member of the Board with immediate effect. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
plasticman Posted February 22, 2008 Share #31 Posted February 22, 2008 I don’t know if this applies here, but frequently in the past when I’ve had extremely demanding CEOs many people didn’t like them largely due to their having to really work. Stuart - I was frankly wondering the same thing. While not wanting to impugn the work-ethic of Leica employees in any way, it crossed my mind that a company that has been used to modest production rates and possibly a somewhat élitist view of their skillset (probably justified), might find it hard to support a CEO who wants to make the company's product available to a wider public(?) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
plasticman Posted February 22, 2008 Share #32 Posted February 22, 2008 Received today a very joyous email from Leica Meister, one of the top Leica dealers in Germany.I call it a joyous email not only because of the way the content was worded but also the overwhelming use of color to illustrate its points. In short, the email says that with immediate effect Steven K. Lee, CEO of Leica Germany got fired today. (The polite English way to translate the email would be by saying 'dismissed' but considering the way it was worded in German it's more the harsher ' you are fired' version.) It goes on about the wonderful changes this will mean for Leica and new products to come ... M9 ... R10 ... Etc. And Photokina 2008 will have some surprises for all in store now. Apparently, top Leica employees with the backing of a huge dealer network instigated this mutiny. Although risking their jobs by doing so, they presented an internal and outside-view case on the effects of Mr. Lee's business strategies and actions (compiled by the dealer network) to the Board. Based on that the Board took immediate actions by dismissing Mr. Lee as CEO and Member of the Board with immediate effect. Naturally we all want to know more. Much more! So please tell! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andybarton Posted February 22, 2008 Share #33 Posted February 22, 2008 It would be appreciated if a bi-lingual member could keep us up-to-date with any developments in the similar thread running on the German side. (precis, obviously!) Thanks Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ddp Posted February 22, 2008 Share #34 Posted February 22, 2008 Stuart -hard to support a CEO who wants to make the company's product available to a wider public(?) Not sure how many on this board frequent Best Buy - but given his background, he was going into a brand that was and is considered quite elite and high end. Very different than the image that Best Buy has here in the states. Whether there was friction from the outset in the internal structure at Leica, who knows? I personally saw it as a strange fit from the beginning.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sdai Posted February 22, 2008 Share #35 Posted February 22, 2008 I can understand why some dealers are thrilled at this development, perhaps they've got pissed when Lee skipped them and offered some deals directly to the customers. So Leica will scrap the M8 upgrade program now and rethink about future products? now that would keep the forum busy with flooding rumors and speculation threads. Interestingly, does everyone remember the interview with Lee in LFI last year? he has hinted his departure at that time and let the magazine talk to his successor at the Photokina 2008. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hdg Posted February 22, 2008 Share #36 Posted February 22, 2008 There are non. Steven Lee has been gone and there is no further real or official information issued by Leica as to my most recent knowlages. The friends are discussing the old Leica problems, new ideas and they hope for the future. I know there have been some young people with regard to the M8. They did a very good job. I hope there will be other young people to do their work on the R10. Regards Hans Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
haribo Posted February 22, 2008 Share #37 Posted February 22, 2008 Naturally we all want to know more. Much more! So please tell! The only other thing this email says it that "leica is facing now again tough times because Mr. Lee had a blind eye towards the development of new products, especially the small digital 'Panasonic-Leicas.' On the other hand, it keeps on saying, "the excellent and talented Leica employees are now again highly motivated to implement ideas, some of them are working on for quite some time - the complete lineup of digital products, from digital compact Leica cameras to the M9 and R10 and many more things ..." That's all she wrote. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guy_mancuso Posted February 22, 2008 Share #38 Posted February 22, 2008 I can understand why some dealers are thrilled at this development, perhaps they've got pissed when Lee skipped them and offered some deals directly to the customers. So Leica will scrap the M8 upgrade program now and rethink about future products? now that would keep the forum busy with flooding rumors and speculation threads. Interestingly, does everyone remember the interview with Lee in LFI last year? he has hinted his departure at that time and let the magazine talk to his successor at the Photokina 2008. Nothing is going to get scraped. Dr. Kaufman owns the company and he is very much behind all the decisions anyway going forward. If anything this maybe a good thing for the end user. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sdai Posted February 22, 2008 Share #39 Posted February 22, 2008 Tleica is facing now again tough times because Mr. Lee had a blind eye towards the development of new products, especially the small digital 'Panasonic-Leicas.' Panasonic isn't even among the best of second tier Japanese electronics companies, all they are good at are rice hookers, automatic toilet and noisy sensors. If it's Lee's plan to get rid of it, I'd give it a 10 just for this. People, it's the Leica moniker saving Panasonic's disastrous venture into digital camera business, otherwise, who would buy those crappy cameras? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
plasticman Posted February 22, 2008 Share #40 Posted February 22, 2008 Not sure how many on this board frequent Best Buy - but given his background, he was going into a brand that was and is considered quite elite and high end. Very different than the image that Best Buy has here in the states. Whether there was friction from the outset in the internal structure at Leica, who knows? I personally saw it as a strange fit from the beginning.... I think the idea was that he would 'kick some butt' - don't forget that this was a company making Hermes special editions just a couple year's ago - and as far as I could tell, he was doing an okay job. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts