 CEOs had to take a longer view than anyone else, be immune to fads and fashion, and, when the chips are down, do the right thing for the institution, even at high personal cost. Allen had reservations about Mandl on many of those counts, SO he did not try to convince him to stay. Nor did he try to hide his irritation at the fact that Mandl had entertained outside offers just four months after being named the company's president. Most of their discussion was about how and when to make the announcement. Although they never admitted it to each other, Allen's and Mandl's goals for the announcement were diametrically opposed. Mandl wanted to use the announcement to help launch his new venture, attracting potential investors and eventually customers. Allen Take Control wanted to keep the announcement low-key. While he knew that it could not be positioned as "business as usual," he didn't want anyone doubting the company's ability to meet its financial goals or complete its restructuring. We told him that there was one more issue he needed to address-although he had never officially anointed Mandl as his successor, most reporters and financial analysts assumed that he was. Whoever Allen selected to replace Mandl also had to have sufficient standing to be seen as Allen's eventual successor. That, of course, complicated matters for Allen. Selecting a CEO is the board's prerogative. Allen himself had been tapped to be CEO in a remarkably informal process when Jim Olson succumbed to colon cancer just days after it was diagnosed. The senior director at the time, Rawleigh Warner of Mobil Oil, had simply taken it upon himself to assemble a conference call the night before the company's annual meeting and recommend that Allen, the company's president at the time, succeed Olson. Of course, the whole process had been made easier because Olson, long before he knew he had cancer, had told Allen not to worry, Olson didn't plan to work until he was sixty-five and Allen would succeed him. Plus, he had shared his recommenda- tion with