So, is it just me or does anyone else get the feeling that visionary leadership is slowly giving way to practical business sense? Today, two interesting announcements were made.
The first, from Adotas, about the new CEO of AOL:
Former NBC Universal TV President/COO Randy Falco will take over as Chairman and CEO of AOL, replacing Jonathan Miller. With AOL in transition phase, as it slowly moves towards being a free, ad-supported service, Dick Parsons said in a statement: “Jeff Bewkes and I are very pleased that a top operating executive of Randy Falco’s expertise and experience will be leading AOL into its next stage of development.
The feeling is that Jon Miller took on many challenges at AOL,” says Keith Cocozza, a Time Warner spokesman. While AOL is “beginning to see early results,” he says, the parent company was looking for an individual “with a proven track record of operational success” to execute AOL’s new strategy.  Â
Jon Miller championed Live 8 and oversaw a Q3 ad revenue grew of 46 percent compared to the same time last year, proving the success of its move to a free portal–a move largely strategized and implemented by him.
The second is about the new Internet division president at News Corp.:
News Corp. has also confirmed that their Internet division president Ross Levinsohn has resigned from his position in the company. He would be replaced by his cousin, Peter Levinsohn who is currently working in the company as the president of Fox Entertainment digital media. Ross Levinsohn is credited for getting News Corp. to acquire popular Internet social network MySpace and games Web network IGN Entertainment.
Levinsohn said in a statement that he would now move on to pursue other ventures. Peter Chernin, News Corp. chief operating officer spoke about his resignation: “At this point in evolution, Peter’s adept leadership, keen knowledge of the complexities of the digital space and ability to work skillfully across multiple business lines makes him the ideal person to lead this important asset into the future.
Is the a sign of a new trend, tossing out the smart edgy guys for the most established traditional minded leader?  Are we in a new and different kind of bubble where the young upstarts don’t get their time in the sun… What’s happening here…anything?
