I don't find his observations so horrible or inept, more than a grain of truth in those. As regards innovation vs. tradition, a cutting edge instrument maker should offer both, if Ted McCarty's modernistic guitars (Flying V, Explorer, Moderne) weren't cutting edge back then, I don't know. Yes, they were also commercially unsuccessful at the time, but would we want them to have never been built? I think there is room for both - a vintage and a modern line. And while I'm not clamoring for a TBird with automatic tuners, they wouldn't keep me from buying a modernistic version of it either.
But I don't believe that Gibson's model policy is really the core of their difficulties.