DO THE SPLITS

Someone had the bright idea to suggest Rudy Giuliani for the position of WorldCom chairman? As Toby Weber discussed in Telephony's Money Matters e-newsletter recently, Giuliani's hard-won image of tough integrity would do wonders for financially troubled WorldCom's image and the sullied reputation of the telecom industry at large.

Maybe it's because heroes are in such short supply, but Giuliani doesn't exactly have anything to do with telecom, does he? Not that directors of telecom companies need to know the industry — being on a board may require a conscience, but direct industry experience is not always a must. Business acumen should be a consideration, however. After all, even Harry Potter and SpongeBob SquarePants have public opinion behind them.

In any case, the WorldCom investor who nominated Giuliani as WorldCom chairman ignored the fact that job was just given to Michael Capellas, along with the WorldCom CEO job. But maybe this Giuliani-loving fellow is on the right track with the thought that the chairman and CEO positions should be split between two people at WorldCom, or for that matter at any company. Given the reckless abandon with which people like Bernie Ebbers allegedly ran their companies, perhaps it's time to quit catering to the egos of corporate honchos and start imposing the job conditions on them that directorial boards are supposed to create.

Yes, you've heard that suggestion before, and yes, we've heard the resulting criticism before — that no one will want these big jobs if you start stripping them of authority. And the rebuttal to that criticism is still the same: Love it or leave it. The telecom industry once was rife with corporate leaders who wore double or triple titles and the layers of authority that went along with them. Sometimes very honest, capable people held these positions, but for some it proved too much. When the model shows weakness, it must be changed.

Every Bell company and major long-distance company CEO also has the chairman title. Ivan Seidenberg at Verizon recently got his dual honors when Charles Lee retired as chairman. With the departure of Afshin Mohebbi from Qwest, Richard Notebaert, the very new chairman and CEO at Qwest, may be stacking up even more titles soon. It's not very fair, unless obvious evidence says otherwise, for many of these individuals to be stripped of their chairmanships. However, chairman/CEO splits should be the future model. The current generation of top executives should be the last to hold both positions, and the new model of corporate authority should begin with their heirs.

The goal of the new era of company chairmanship should be to find men and women for the positions who have at least slightly more industry relevance than Giuliani. Because if image were everything, Oprah might end up giving Rudy a run for his money.