I see Ken Thompson has been asked to quit as CEO of Wachovia over the hit to its earnings, after its $25 billion takeover, at the peak of the housing boom, of California mortgage lender Golden West Financial. Perhaps they could have done with one of those ‘Chief Strategy Officers’ I mentioned before – or at least someone with basic strategic competence. One of the most basic questions any management team should ask [class 1, topic 1 in the program for prospective CStOs] is ‘What is the wp_ that could happen here?’