dell
...s strategy, the first task is filling one of the tech industry's toughest CEO jobs. But the board gets mixed messages there, too: Trusted insider, brash outsider; old hand, young Turk. One suggestion for culling nominees, from management strategist and author Geoffrey Moore: "Everybody on the short list should be eliminated. Any name that you know is wrong." With H-P enlisting high-priced consultants to work through these issues, The Wall Street Journal asked industry veterans and management experts to provide free advice. A sampling: Sanford "Sandy" Robertson, partner, Francisco Partners, based in Menlo Park, Calif.: Mr. Robertson -- founder of investment bank Robertson, Stephens & Co. -- differs with H-P Chairman Patricia Dunn, who says H-P needs a leader to better execute on its existing strategy. "I always thought they executed pretty well," Mr. Robertson says, but was "curious about the strategy." Mr. Robertson suggests H-P follow the path of International Business Machines Corp.: "Sell the PC business. Get back to basics." Getting out of the highly competitive, low-margin business would be addition by subtraction. "Dell Inc. has a lead. I don't see how they catch up." Mr. Robertson thinks H-P already may have the right CEO in Robert Wayman, H-P's chief financial officer and interim CEO. Mr. Wayman is 59 years old and has suggested he is contemplating retirement. But age is not a liability, says Mr. Robertson. His second choice is 70-year-old venture capitalist Thomas Perkins, ...