Of bridges burned

There's nothing like the sound of toppling executives to bring the minions of lesser-thans and also-rans - groups to which I humbly belong - running for the water cooler or the corner cube. Although hardly considered movers and shakers, these groups did set the quintessential five 9s benchmark.

99.999% of us are not CEOs.

99.999% of us never will be.

Except for those close enough to ascend to the position - and perhaps a few delusional wannabes - I'm betting many people indulge in a perverse sense of satisfaction at the news of a failed corporate top cat.

Every CEO who has risen through the ranks - and the number is nowhere near five 9s - has likely left behind hundreds of former colleagues and underlings who remember that particular CEO's more humble beginnings. The leaders who retained a sense of humility along their way to the penthouse may be spared the worst of the muckraking from the ghosts of networks past.

But those fallen from the CLEC ranks, whose success was dependent upon a certain lack of humility, get little compassion. And those whose ghosts inhabit the halls of RBOCdom, simply get skewered.

Two years after taking the helm of Covad Communications and shortly after taking the company to unprecedented heights on the wings of unquenchable demand for its product - a frenzy reminiscent of the early days of wireless when carriers succeeded in spite of themselves - Covad CEO Robert Knowling was sent packing. The move happened six months after Knowling echoed the words of Allegiance Telecom's Royce Holland's statement at Supercomm and called the RBOCs incompetent.

Perhaps not many RBOC folks heard Knowling label them incompetent in front of thousands of their contemporaries. That is why I am repeating it here. Incompetent.

What do you think the conversation is now around the Ameritech network operations group or at U S West where Knowling held positions before he considered the RBOCs incompetent? Perhaps something like this:

"What does CEO stand for at a competitive carrier?" asks Dominic, a hard-working telecom lifer who forgot more about networking than most CEOs will ever know.

Cindy, the unambiguous operations expert whose efforts have made numerous CEOs look good, retorts,"That's easy. Can't Execute, Obviously."

So where does a dethroned CLEC CEO like Knowling go when his services are no longer needed?

Here's a suggestion: Do what washed-up athletes do. Call a press conference and say that you have taken from this business long enough. It is time to give something back. Then go back to where competence is needed. Go back and train some of those people you execs say are so hard to find. Start a free clinic for young telecom technicians and future network managers.

Or do commentary. We have openings.