SAN FRANCISCO (CNN/Money) -
Never mind all the naysayers. I'm just where I want to be again. On top. No. 1. CEO. On CNBC, in the corporate jet, meeting with other CEOs, heads of state, leaders of labor. Some people think I'm crazy to take this job, as CEO of WorldCom, but I'm thrilled for the challenge.
After all, it's not really about the money. Thanks to a shrewd employment contract when I was at Compaq (note to self: send a really nice Christmas present to my lawyer), I walked away from Hewlett-Packard after about six months on the job with $14 million.
I'm not going to disclose to the public just yet what my deal is with the bankruptcy court judge to run WorldCom. The conventional wisdom, of course, is that I'm being paid pretty well in base salary and, with options and incentive bonuses, that I could make some serious upside if I save this thing. Whatever.
What really jazzes me is the challenge. Think about it. In one sense the stakes couldn't be higher. I mean, all those employees, the customers, the whole freaking Internet for Pete's sake. So many would disappointed if WorldCom goes down, which goes a long way toward explaining why there isn't a chance in hell the government will kill my new company.
On the other hand, nobody, but nobody thinks WorldCom has a chance. Consider what James Cramer wrote on RealMoney.com Friday morning, after I was appointed.
"This is a totally fraudulently built company that was cobbled together through a bogus currency, the WorldCom stock, which was inflated by lies," he squibbed. Sounds to me like Cramer was thinking of Woody Allen's famous "travesty of a mockery of a sham line" from "Bananas."
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But that's not the point. The point isn't what went before me but what comes after. If I can clean up this balance sheet, sweep out the deadwood and others to integrate WorldCom's disparate businesses, the sky's the limit.
Am I up to the job? Why not? Consider this. At HP, I, a long-time tech guy, was the No. 2 to Carly Fiorina a long-time telecommunications-industry executive. Now the teleco gal is running one of the biggest tech companies in the land, and the geek exec (that's me) will be running one of the largest telecos.
Let's be serious, they don't want me for my intricate knowledge of how to place a phone call. They want me because I know a little about fixing botched mergers, about communicating with Wall Street and about nonstop work.
One of the big daily newspapers said Friday that this job requires someone who likes to work all the time. That's me to a tee. My office is in the plane or on my cell phone on my way to meetings with customers.
And by the way, I hate it when they call me Mike. It's Michael. Puh-lease.
Adam Lashinsky is a senior writer for Fortune magazine. Send e-mail to Adam at lashinskysbottomline@yahoo.com.
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