> Is it possible to be the hero who transforms a company and get rich doing it? Or do you basically have to make a lot of enemies to do the right thing and get no more money than if you just kept your head down while looking for a job at a competitor.
You might get rich transforming the company, but you certainly will make a lot of enemies.
Everyone at these car companies know that as the focus changes to EVs anyone with skills related to the combustion side of things will see a reduction in status and probably pay. Few of those people are anxious to this transition happen during their career and they will not be happy with people who expedite. This is true to a lesser extent with people whose skills are transferable to EV but work in combustion now. To progress a career you generally need to lead new projects and those projects require resources. So to keep skilled people running your combustion business you need to offer them the resources to run these kinds of projects to progress their career even if the money would be better spent on EV development. These people will also fight against money being allocated to EV development rather than their own projects.
EV companies don't have these problems. They have piles of cash and a mandate to get it out the door as fast as possible. Inside the company, everyone's career trajectory is more or less aligned with the company's and so there's no foot dragging.