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Just two years ago, Tufan Erginbilgiç, then newly installed as CEO of Rolls-Royce, gave a grim warning to the engine maker’s employees, describing the company as a “burning platform” facing its “last chance” at survival, as he lamented its track record of destroying value with each of its investments. 

With that considered, Rolls-Royce’s turnaround since—including a 500% share price jump and hitting profit targets two years ahead of schedule—is nothing short of astounding. 

But Erginbilgiç, a former BP executive who doesn’t regard himself as ruthless, took a fairly rudimentary approach to instill a successful turnaround at a group that has added more than $70 billion to its market value in the last two years.

Rolls-Royce manufactures engines for major plane manufacturers, Airbus and Boeing, on large, dual-aisle aircraft. The group is also a supplier of engines and propulsion systems for combat aircraft and submarines to government defense departments including the Ministry of Defense in the U.K.

Despite that, when Erginbilgiç joined Rolls-Royce, the company was near its floor for market valuation, bogged down by falling air travel during the COVID-19 pandemic and costly contracts with loss-making clients. An industry-wide rebound in travel demand and some astute contract negotiations are among the headline points that explain Rolls-Royce’s turnaround. 

In the background, though, are the fruits of an ambitious plan involving each of Rolls-Royce’s 42,000 employees.

Rolls-Royce CEO’s 4 pillars

In an interview with the Financial Times, a victorious Erginbilgiç described how he leaned on “four pillars” to encourage wholesale change throughout his organization.

The first pillar involved showing staff the extent of the difficulties faced by the company, exemplified by Erginbilgiç’s “burning platform” comments, which both shocked and focused his employees.

Tougher stances were to follow. Under Erginbilgiç’s guidance, the company laid off 2,500 employees in 2023, mostly in middle manager positions, the FT reports. At the same time, Erginbilgiç held workshops for 500 employees to allow brainstorming and the implementation of the best ideas. 

Erginbilgiç’s third pillar required the company to set clear performance targets. The company now has 17 targets, including improving the amount of time its engines were on the wing of a plane, rather than losing money in the repair shop. The fourth pillar of the turnaround aimed to ensure Rolls-Royce’s targets were attacked with “pace and intensity.” 

“If you don’t have a strategy that can cascade down to 42,000 people it won’t get delivered,” Erginbilgiç summarized to the FT. 

Bosses are increasingly turning to management practices that can help them get their message across directly to as many staffers as possible. In some cases, this is driven by urgency and, in other cases, by technological advancement.

Speaking to Fortune last year, Sanofi CEO Paul Hudson described how he used the “Fight Club” approach to encourage employees to begin using its AI agent. Hudson initially got a small group of people in a room using the tool, before allowing word of mouth to help uptake of the technology spread.

Meanwhile, Bayer, a similarly struggling European giant, also turned to a personnel shakeup to combat investor pessimism.

Bayer’s CEO, Bill Anderson, got rid of more than 5,000 employees, mostly in managerial positions, and asked employees to self-organize and work in 90-day “sprints” in self-directed teams.A year after Bayer’s attack on bureaucracy began, Anderson said attrition at the company had fallen.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

President Donald Trump said Monday he would be placing a 25% tariff on all imports from any country that buys oil or gas from Venezuela as well as imposing new tariffs on the South American country itself.

In a Truth Social post, Trump said Venezuela has been “very hostile” to the U.S. and countries purchasing oil from it will be forced to pay the tariff on all their trade to the U.S. starting April 2.

The tariffs would most likely add to the taxes facing China, which in 2023 bought 68% of the oil exported by Venezuela, according to a 2024 analysis by the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Spain, India, Russia, Singapore and Vietnam are also among the countries receiving oil from Venezuela, the report shows.

But even the United States — despite its sanctions against Venezuela — buys oil from that country. In January, the United States imported 8.6 million barrels of oil from Venezuela, according to the Census Bureau, out of roughly 202 million barrels imported that month.

And on Monday, the Treasury Department issued an extension for U.S.-based Chevron Corp.’s lease to pump and export Venezuelan oil until May 27. The extension, known as a general license, exempts the country from economic sanctions and allows it to continue to pump oil.

In February, Trump had announced an end to the Chevron-Venezuela relationship, in what became a financial lifeline for the South American country.

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro responded by accusing the U.S. of violating international trade rules with an “arbitrary, illegal and desperate measure” designed to “undermine the development” of the South American nation.

“For years, the fascist right, repudiated by the Venezuelan people, has promoted economic sanctions with the hope of bringing Venezuela to its knees,” the government said in a statement. “They failed because Venezuela is a sovereign country, because its people have resisted with dignity, and because the world no longer submits to any form of economic dictatorship.”

The U.S. president is arguing that tariffs will bring back manufacturing jobs, rather than worsen inflationary pressures and hinder growth as economists have warned. His latest anecdotal evidence came Monday as Hyundai announced at the White House that it would build a $5.8 billion steel plant in Louisiana.

“This investment is a clear demonstration that tariffs very strongly work,” said Trump, adding that the new plant by the South Korean automaker would create 1,400 jobs.

Hyundai Motor Group’s executive chairman, Euisun Chung, told the president: “We are really proud to stand with you and proud to build the future together.”

Trump’s latest tariffs threat suggests the administration may be willing to take bolder moves against China in its efforts to rewrite the guidelines of the global economy. The Trump administration has already levied universal 20% tariffs on imports from China as an effort to crackdown on the illicit trade in fentanyl, but another 25% import tax on top of that could further escalate tensions between the world’s two largest economies.

Trump said Venezuela will face a “Secondary” tariff because it is the home to the gang Tren de Aragua. The Trump administration is deporting immigrants that it claims are members of that gang who illegally crossed into the United States.

Trump has labeled April 2 as “Liberation Day” based on his still unclear plans to roll out import taxes to match the rates charged by other countries, as well as fully levy 25% tariffs against Mexico and Canada, the two largest U.S. trading partners. The Republican president has also increased his 2018 tariffs on steel and aluminum to 25% for all imports and has committed to additional tariffs on autos, pharmaceutical drugs, lumber, computer chips and copper.

The U.S. stock market had been climbing on Monday as investors expect the tariffs to be more targeted than they earlier feared. Still, the S&P 500 index is down so far this year out of concerns that a trade war could hinder economic growth and increase inflationary pressures.

But Trump has been somewhat closely guarded about his plans for tariffs, saying Monday that even though he wants to charge “reciprocal” rates that “we might be even nicer than that.”

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

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