Oracle strips out Red Hat logos and offer its own Linux? Red Hat refused to be provoked. Novell wants to cozy up to Microsoft? That's a fellow Linux distributor's affair. Microsoft has patents that govern parts of Linux? No tough rejoinder from Red Hat. Now Jim Whitehurst has arrived on the scene as the new CEO. He's an engaging and experienced manager. And he's going to need all his skills to find an antidote to Red Hat's anti-leadership vaccine.

You can hear it in his voice and see it in the photos. Jim Whitehurst is a personable, confident man and a leader by example, especially as a company goes through its time of troubles. As chief operating officer at Delta, he became the trusted insider who made hard choices and focused the company on how to emerge from bankruptcy. When a new CEO arrived, the whole company, except finance, was reporting to Jim, and both knew it was time for him to go.

In that sense, his arrival at Red Hat is an accident.

More Here