Pay-Fight Foes Blow Hot Air

The vilification of such visionary leadership by impatient union activists acting as short-term investors surprisingly resembles the time frame of the union's old adversaries: greenmailing activists who raided the future of the enterprise.

Speaking of greenmailers of an earlier era, raiders such as Carl Icahn now drape themselves in the language of shareholder activism as well. Motorola's(MOT Quote) $11.3 billion of cash has attracted Icahn's attention, and he is now pushing for a seat on the board. Ironically, Motorola's stock has roughly tripled since current CEO Ed Zander took the helm. But now, with a bad last quarter or two and a need to recreate the Razr phone triumphs, the cash needed for building new products is endangered by old-fashioned greenmailing in the guise of shareholder activism.

Great U.S. firms from Pfizer(PFE Quote) to Ford(F Quote) take some time for repositioning, but our capital markets no longer have the patience they had when such mighty enterprises were built. In fact, Henry Ford failed three times before even launching Ford Motor Company. As a private company, UPS(UPS Quote) sank billions of dollars a year investing into new technologies and global expansion for years before it paid off.

Just last week, we saw that the long, painful latest turnaround at Ford led by Alan Mulally, Mark Field and Bill Ford is now starting to pay off, but it is not a six-month project.