New boss at WorldCom in no-lose role

On those lists of the most stressful things you can do in a year, starting a new job is always near the top. And it's not surprising, writes Sheila O'Flanagan

Putting aside the whole decision-making process involved in leaving your current place of employment, there's the fear factor of moving to a new company, how you'll fit in with the other employees, whether or not you'll enjoy the atmosphere and the whole question of proving yourself in front of your peers.

Going in at the top should be easier but you still have to wonder how the ranked masses will take to your appointment and if you'll manage to succeed where perhaps others have failed in bringing profit and glory to your new company.

There are the little niggles too: the fact that you don't know where everything is, or the name of the person at the reception desk, or how to work the ultra-modern phone that doesn't seem to have any buttons on it whatsoever.

Then there are the long-standing cliques that you don't know about, the political alliances that have been forged long before you ever arrived and the possibility that someone's nose is seriously out of joint because of your appointment (only you don't know exactly whose yet and you don't know the day or the hour when they start to think revenge might be a good idea). It's no wonder that it's stressful.

Are there ways of alleviating stress? Loads, according to the self-help gurus. Yoga exercises, meditation, visualising yourself striding purposefully into the company and being successful. (Whenever I try to do the visualisation thing, no matter what the context, I always end up visualising myself tripping over the carpet or something. I'm clearly hopeless at positive vibes.)

Another good way of stress-free employment is taking up a win- win position. Win-win doesn't come along very often, which is why Michael Capellas should be a happy man right now.

Michael was the chief executive of Compaq until its trouble-laden merger with Hewlett-Packard earlier this year. After the merger, he took the number two slot behind Carly Fiorina. The basic breakdown as far as market-watchers were concerned was that Capellas was the communicator while Fiorina was the saleswoman. But, as Capellas himself has pointed out, once you've been a chief executive it's hard to accept the number two position. So - despite the fact that the market was surprised by his sudden departure from HP last week - it's not difficult to imagine that he's been looking for something new.

There were rumours that he turned down the number three spot at Microsoft - well, if you were number one, found yourself at number two and then got offered number three you're hardly going to look on it as progress no matter how mighty the company.

So instead Capellas took a job as the chief executive of the bankrupt WorldCom. As you'll no doubt remember, WorldCom joined Enron as one of the high-profile disasters of the last couple of years. Back in June 1999 the stock was trading at $64.50 and it seemed as though it could go on forever. By February 2001 it had laid off 6,000 employees and the chief executive, Bernie Ebbers, resigned.

A couple of months later another 17,000 employees were let go as the stock traded at 20 cents and the company admitted to inflating earnings by almost $4 billion.

After that, the chief financial officer and the financial controller were both arrested and further evidence of false accounting was reported. This month the total estimate of inflated earnings was put at about $9 billion.

So not, you'd think, the greatest long-term career choice ever for Michael Capellas. But let's face it, how bad can it be? So much dirt has been found and so many bugs have crawled out of the woodwork that there can't be much else to sandbag him with. Most observers are sceptical about the likelihood of the company ever recovering from Chapter 11. If Capellas does anything other than fail, his star will rise even higher with the Wall Street mob.

He's already planning an overhaul of the way the company is run (well, let's face it, wouldn't you?) and he intends to appoint a director for governance and nominations, responsible for putting together a new board of directors. A lot of people consider that getting rid of everyone who's hung on from the old regime would be a good start.

His other plan is to change the company's name. Not rocket science but it'll help. I reckon consulting a feng shui expert might be a nifty idea too. While it's probably not practical to raze the building and rebuild it in wood (the energy suggests new ideas and new beginnings) or to stick on some pointed roofs and spires (these buildings are called fire buildings and suggest production and dynamism), Michael could make sure that his desk faces one of his best directions.

He'll have to consult a feng shui book to work this out but it'll only take a few minutes from his hectic schedule and it could be the best 10 minutes he ever spent.

Anyway, his plan is to bring WorldCom, or whatever its new name will be, out of bankruptcy within the next six to 12 months although he can't promise when he'll be able to present the all-important new business plan to its creditors.

In the meantime he's setting up a list of meetings with as many customers as possible in order to win them back. If he succeeds he'll probably be feted as the man who restored faith in America's scandal-ridden corporate sector. If he fails people will say that the mountain was simply too high. And there's still always Microsoft...

Besides, as always, the compensation packages should keep him ticking over. As he leaves Hewlett-Packard he takes with him $14 million, which will certainly keep the wolf from the door in the more difficult times ahead.

And though full details of his package with WorldCom haven't been released, it's reckoned to be in the $5 million ballpark. All of which should help relieve new-job stress.