Yahoo takeway: Time to restate resumes

By now the business world has learned the inevitable: Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson has resigned due to pressures stemming from fabricating or "over-inflating" a computer science degree on his resume. The crime, however, is never as bad as the cover-up. Thompson's defense that he essentially didn't know about the infraction until a 2004 vetting process when he joined PayPal and that he hasn't noticed anything since then obviously didn't pass anyone's smell test, including the Yahoo board.

What's the key takeaway? Leaders of public companies obviously have to be vigilant both about their businesses and personal credibility. The latter may factor more heavily now more than ever. Yet it continues to be a known fact that some of the best fiction lies on executive resumes. Message to those who are still fudging their CVs: Go ahead and restate your accomplishments just as you might restate quarterly earnings. Now is the time to get things right before someone else does.

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