Two current reminders of the power (and danger) of the printed word. Particularly when delivered in haste.
First up is former HP director Tom Perkins, who tells CBS News on this Sunday’s 60 minutes that he shouldn’t have bailed out as quickly.
Referring to the meeting at which he resigned in a huff, Perkins says, “I was angry. There’s no question. It was 90 minutes of very intense debate. I would say I was emotional more than angry, although that’s maybe the same thing.”
Then today we hear about the goings on at Affiliated Computer Services, which had a private equity buy-out falter, and resulted in a bruising conflict between 5 outside directors and CEO Darwin Deason. As the New York Times reports:
Five directors resigned in protest of the chairman’s efforts to take over the company, writing a heated letter that accused him of trying “to subvert the process in order to prevent superior alternatives to your proposal from being consummated.â€
The Wall Street Journal has copies of the CEO letter and the board letter. (And now, as I am writing this; the board lawsuit; plus exhibits).
Not so great for the companies involved; good for the lawyers, though. Check out those exhibits; you wonder if some of them should have been held in draft for a day or two.