Word: thoman
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...didn't try to be critical of the men. I did use three examples. Rick Thoman of Xerox is one. Richard McGinn of Lucent is another. And Mike Armstrong of AT&T. I pointed out in all three cases that I didn't think the way they were operating the company was consistent with being able to execute. These are decent men, and I like them. I hope when all is said and done, they take it for the teaching value of it, rather than as a personal criticism...
...outside the company, particularly on Wall Street, where GE stock has enjoyed a hefty Welch premium, Immelt knows it's just beginning. Following a successful CEO is never easy. Consider such CEO casualties as Coca-Cola's Doug Ivester and Xerox's Rick Thoman, who followed high-profile bosses--Roberto Goizueta and Paul Allaire--and barely got a chance to make a mark before the long knives came...
...last resort, but more and more it seems like the first. McGinn's departure made him just another casualty in the ranks of ceos ousted in the past year--including Gillette's Michael Hawley (also canned last week), British Airways' Robert Ayling and Xerox's Rick Thoman. And the list is growing. The number of CEO departures went from just 46 last September to 103 this September, according to a study by the outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. The number this fall is expected to be double the October 1999 figure...
...botched reorganization derailed CEO Rick Thoman. An IBM and American Express executive and a Lou Gerstner protege, Thoman was brought in as CEO last year to turn Xerox into a high-tech dynamo. His sin was not his strategy but his sense of urgency. Thoman believed Xerox had to move fast, but the troops were not ready. "There's a fine touch between knowing what to do and when to do it," an insider says of Thoman's leadership. Thoman was replaced by former Xerox chief Paul Allaire...
Xerox recognizes this, and part of Thoman's mandate was, in fact, to turn the company from a seller of boxes to a seller of services, a so-called solutions provider like IBM that would help bewildered companies manage their document flow. That is easier said than done. Apart from the challenge of taking on established powerhouses like IBM and EDS, Xerox has had to deal with a perception problem. "Xerox, as a brand, is so associated with copying that it's almost like Kleenex trying to sell paper towels," notes Charlie Corr, a group director at Cap Ventures...