In the News

Following is an excerpt from a recent USA Today piece that quotes yours truly. For the full article, please go to http://www.usatoday.com/money/companies/management/2007-02-02-comeback-ceos-usat_x.htm. Dell is more about namesakes reclaiming their brand than boomerang CEOs. But why quibble.
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Dell joins ranks of once-hot trend: Boomerang CEOs

By Del Jones, USA TODAY (All Rights Reserved)

Does Michael Dell signal a new era of the "comeback kid?"

When he was rehired late Wednesday, Dell became the first so-called boomerang CEO to be brought back to rescue a Fortune 500 company since 2005. Dell, 41 and founder of the PC maker (DELL), replaced Kevin Rollins, 54, who was Dell's hand-picked replacement two years ago.

Boomerangs used to be common. From 1999-2003 an average of 10 former CEOs were brought back each year at the largest 1,500 companies, so many that it prompted Ohio State assistant finance professor Rudi Fahlenbrach to co-author a study published last November called "The Market for Comeback CEOs."

But there were no boomerang CEOs at Fortune 500 companies in 2006 and just two in 2005 (at TJX Cos. and First Data (FDC)), says Leslie Gaines-Ross, chief reputation strategist at Weber Shandwick...

Michael Dell is a true comeback kid at one year younger than Steve Jobs when Jobs returned to Apple in 1997 to begin his iPod curtain call and oversee a stock rise approaching 2,000%. Jobs is also an atypical boomerang CEO because most leave again within three years, or just long enough to right the company and line up proper succession planning.

It won't be easy for Michael Dell to mimic Jobs, says Jeremy Garlington, who runs an executive leadership consultancy. Unlike Apple, Dell is in an industry "racing to the bottom of the commodity barrel. No one will bet against Michael Dell, but even he would have to admit that a turnaround could take a long time," Garlington says...

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Earth to Michael Dell and Phil Kent

Ok, one name is quite familiar and speaks for itself. Michael Dell will have his hands full trying to turn Dell Computer around. The Apple Steve Jobs analogy is apt but lacks one key detail: Jobs didn't make it all the way back the first time around. It was only later on a second better timed tour of duty that he got Apple back on track. Does anyone remember John Sculley?

Phil Kent is the CEO of Turner Broadcasting, which runs The Cartoon Network. Their promotional brilliance around a sketch called, "Aqua Teen Hunger Force," (no, we're not making this up) caused quite the terror shock yesterday in Boston. Some light boards featuring the characters were mistaken for bomb devices by local authorities. Springing into action, Kent and Turner issued a long winded statement apologizing for the screw-up, which was obviously bungled by a third-party marketing vendor that no one was managing properly. The vendor's employee mug on cable last night being led out of his residence said it all.

It's an odd situation to say the least, but anyone who recalls the H-P spying case from last year will remember how the same type of vendor arrangement was blamed at the outset. Different issue entirely with thankfully less harmful of an outcome. If Kent is with it, he'll go on "The Comedy Show" with Jon Stewart and the Boston airwaves and take his lumps. No way out of this one without some action, sincerity and self deprecating humor that toes the line. One last question: Did anyone think about picking up the phone and calling the Boston police chief to apologize and lend support? These "devices" were evidently in place for weeks, according to callers to a local radio call-in show. Amazing...

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