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Wait, HP Is Considering Another New CEO?! Please Sack the Board, Too [Update]

By Erik Sherman

Updated on: September 22, 2011 / 9:14 AM EDT / MoneyWatch

HP's (HPQ) board has been lurching about like a group of seasick castaways in a storm-tossed lifeboat. It's been painful to watch. Now reports suggest another big wave coming in: the board is considering sending CEO LÃ©o Apotheker packing, after less than a year on the job.

Former eBay CEO Meg Whitman, who is on HP's board, is in consideration to replace him, at least on a temporary basis. And although Whitman is a capable executive, the overall message this delivers is that HP's board remains dysfunctional and prone to truly awful decision-making.

Start with the fact that the information was leaked in the first place, which offers shades of Carly Fiorina's replacement. Not only had the board chosen the wrong person, but when it replaced her, leaks from the board about the process turned into the spying scandal that cost chair Patricia Dunn her position.

To put this into perspective, Yahoo's board managed to keep the lid on its replacement of CEO Carol Bartz well enough that even she didn't get a whiff. What does it say about a company when Yahoo's directors look more competent and effective?

Not that replacement would be a complete surprise. There were indications early on that Apotheker might not have been the wisest choice for the troubled company.

If the rumor is true, it would really amount to yet another HP board attempt to spray some air freshener over eau de skunk. Apotheker isn't responsible for any major change of strategic direction that the board didn't know about in advance and bless. (And he was right about the most unpopular one, getting out of the PC business.)

For whatever reason, HP's board has become a toxic organization. It is the true constant in the last decade of mismanagement and misdirection. As the Wall Street Journal quoted my BNET colleague and governance expert Nell Minow, "The H-P board is a serial offender. If Apotheker's vision and execution failed, it is the fault of the board that selected him."

If Apotheker really must go, fine. But the entire board of HP should do the same. How could a clean sweep make things any worse?

[Update: I would have found this hard to believe, had not James Stewart at the New York Times gotten some HP directors to admit that the board hired Apotheker without having met him. This has officially gone from bad board to bad joke. It's the sort of thing you might expect in a parody of business. What, did the board look through resumes on some jobs site?

And now the board is reconsidering the PC spinoff idea. Wait, let me guess -- the directors just checked their Magic 8 Ball and got a new answer.

Yup, it's amateur night at HP.]

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