LAST MAN STANDING

When MCI hired Rick Roscitt as president and chief operating officer about seven months ago, we thought the writing was on the wall: Current CEO Michael Capellas would guide the company through bankruptcy, and then bow from his position to let MCI have a fresh start with Roscitt at the reins. At the time, it seemed to make perfect sense, Roscitt once having been a star executive at AT&T. At the very least, it seemed like Roscitt's sales savvy and image-conscious affability would put polish on the otherwise smudged company. Boy, were we wrong about that. Roscitt announced his departure from MCI last week, and it looks more likely than ever that Capellas has dug in for a longer tenure as CEO. It doesn't appear that MCI is working with a different game plan than it had seven months ago, but that there is simply no room at the top for two CEO-caliber executives. That's a shame, because a company like MCI could use all the top-level gravitas it could possibly muster. Long ago, telecom giants like AT&T and MCI (in its previous version) had depth in the executive ranks that gave investors great confidence, and gave the companies themselves talent to spare. In a more competitive industry, you just can't build a team like that anymore. The game is about the cult of personality, and each individual personality wants a cult all to itself.