Chuck, I have to agree with Troutbum.

Picking on Osterman for his lack of education is not fair. Lots of people have contributed and been strong leaders without going to college.

The only fair way to rate a CEO as a CEO is by performance. How do we rate performance? By how well he takes care of the stakeholders. They are (in no paticular order)

1. Shareholders
2. Employees
3. Customers
4. The community

So

1. Sure the stock is down and has been for a long time. Lehman may have paid $15/share, but hard times have made Blount leaner and meaner and ready to grow from today's $8 and some change. The future looks good if you buy today!

2. He kept layoffs away for a really long time. Cutting off pensions was nescassary to keep jobs. Every remaining Blount employee should be glad to have a job.

3. If he wasn't doing his job then BLT wouldn't be running at full capacity and loggers would be buying Sthil and that Chinese crap. Are they?

4. Well, actually I don't know, but I'm sure it's fine.

So yeah, Troutbum is right. Though I wouldn't talk about some one's butt crack just because they are critical of a ceo.