HP: Turmoil = Interim CEO or acting director

As presciently forecasted last year -- http://povblogger.blogspot.com/2010/08/h-p-ceo-follies-let-games-begin_09.html, Hewlett Packard remains mired in turmoil. Latest case in point: News that the company's maligned board will replace their third CEO of the last six years. While no one knows publicly yet what the company and its board will do next, it's fairly certain that an interim CEO or board member acting in a similar role will fill the primary leadership position. What's not known, despite reports to the contrary, is who that will be. Here's a dirty little truth that few seem willing to accept: It now doesn't matter who the executive is. Until the board can correct itself (begs the question: Is this even possible?) and find a way forward, no one filling the CEO position can be successful. Classic chicken and egg scenario if there ever was one...Aside from the leadership question, it's always interesting to note that while Leo Apotheker has now failed publicly just as his predecessors did, it's hardly failure of the every day sort. He will walk away with $35 million in severance pay, a princely sum by any measure. Whoever said jobs weren't all about money and prestige never worked at the highest corporate levels.

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