My colleagues Roger Crockett and Olga Kharif published an interesting story handicapping Motorola’s new CEO, Sanjay Jha, the former chief operating officer of Qualcomm.
Roger and Olga say that Jha’s biggest most important task is dismantling the mobile-phone unit’s bureaucratic culture. I think that is incredibly important, too. But perhaps a more critical goal is to be a strong leader who can articulate a vision for the company and attract a new crew of talented executives. Because let’s face it, Motorola’s executive ranks have been decimated over the last few years, much like Yahoo! has seen an stock-crushing brain drain.
Jha can’t save Moto by himself, as Roger and Olga note lower down in their story. He needs more experienced and smart folks like himself. I’d keep a close on Moto over the next few months to see if Jha can lure some new hotshots back to Motorola. If so, that will be a very good sign that Jha has a fighting chance to breathe life back into this American icon.
Tags: BusinessWeek, Motorola, Qualcomm, Sanjay Jha
