EDITORIAL: What Lamberti’s fall means for CEOs
Mark Lamberti has paid a heavy price for his ill-judged and insensitive reference to an Imperial executive as being a ‘female employment equity’ employee
"It is an understatement to say that this matter has been devastating to me and my family. A lifetime of clear conscience and a distinguished record of business leadership appear to have been in vain." This was the dejected comment by Mark Lamberti, in his letter of resignation from the board of Eskom.Only, this was no junior executive speaking. Lamberti’s impressive career as CEO of Massmart was followed by a record of entrepreneurial excellence as the founder of Transaction Capital. Though a surprise appointment as CEO of Imperial, he set about it with the energy of a much younger man to push the lumbering out-of-touch company onto the track of transformation.It remains to be seen whether his distinguished record will indeed prove "to have been in vain", but he has certainly paid a heavy price for his ill-judged and insensitive reference to an Imperial executive, Alida Chowan, as being a "female employment equity" employee.In an environment where transformation has been far too sl...
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