Leader: Heads will roll

Tom Siebel today added his name to the list of high-tech heads who have ditched one or other half of their 'chairman and CEO' job title.

The reasons are manifold for these various moves - but the basic idea is that it's done for "the good of the company".

But are these people who know their limitations? Are they CEOs who never really wanted the chairman role? Are they chairmen who never really wanted to be as hands-on as the CEO role demanded? Are they just easing themselves into retirement or another job or are they being told that their time is up and being moved 'upstairs' into a nominal chairman role, with their powers reined in?

Or perhaps in this day and age it is an acknowledgement of governance and compliance issues and the need to separate the roles for the long term sake of the business and shareholders - to not put all your eggs in one basket, if you like.

The answer is 'all of the above' when you consider the various switches.

Take Oracle. Larry Ellison recently handed over the chairman role to Jeff Henley after watchdog concerns about his omnipotence at the helm of the company. A one man band is far from music to the ears of regulators.

Then there is CA which recently moved Sanjay Kumar into the role of chief software architect and split his twin role into two - handing the pieces to new interim CEO Kenneth Cron and new chairman Lewis Ranieri. While Kumar has never been openly blamed for the scandals which have rocked the company in recent years his leadership through rocky waters has clearly convinced the company that the two jobs need two people.

Of course Kumar need not be too disheartened - he now shares a job title with Bill Gates who was one of the first of the current batch of high-tech execs to split the role of chairman and CEO. In January 2000 Bill Gates stepped down as CEO in favour of giving his long-term buddy Steve Ballmer a shot at the top job.

Many thought that move owed much to the fact Gates wanted to go back to being a techie - to let Ballmer look after business while he got his hands dirty once more. Of all of the moves it is perhaps ironic that the world's most powerful company is the only one which appeared to take this decision not purely for business reasons.

Next up will be Michael Dell who has already announced his plans to step down as CEO and remain chairman of his eponymous box shifter.

And then who?

The vultures are already hovering over Scott McNealy who occupies both roles at Sun so we may well see some change there - though many are predicting he will eventually have to relinquish control of both positions and not just the one - and it's unlikely to be entirely of his own choice.

Then there is Carly Fiorina at HP and Sam Palmisano at IBM who continue to wear two hats to the board meetings - and apparently wear them well - so watch this space.