Maven: Mr. No Cahn Do

The Business Press Maven is a critic, which is to say I have an uncanny talent for pointing out the faults of others. But God knows that if you actually put me in charge of something, I'd probably run it into a ditch quicker than you can say, "Those who can, do; those who can't, carp."

To criticize is one thing. To actually accomplish something is quite another. Which brings me to this week's coverage of Carl Icahn's proxy-battle victory giving him control of ImClone Systems(IMCL - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr). The corporate raider was named chairman of the company, though that passive construction -- "was named" -- is not specific enough.

Icahn, recalcitrant investor and all around troublemaker, named himself chairman. And many major business publications -- from The Wall Street Journal to The New York Times to the Financial Times -- all weighed in with the same observation.

"Mr. Icahn has little experience in biotechnology," noted The New York Times, adding for good measure later in the same article, "Mr. Icahn, despite knowing little about biotechnology..."

For its part, the Journal said the same: "Analysts are not convinced that Mr. Icahn, who lacks biotech experience, will be able to fix ImClone..."

Although these articles point out that Icahn doesn't have the scientific expertise to run ImClone, they inexplicably fail to note his superseding limitation going forward: He is not managerially qualified to run the company.