Get out, but don't forget your envelope

For those who are some years younger than I am, you cannot imagine how important Sears used to be. It was the go-to place in retailing, the store you could count on for quality goods at reasonable prices. When my family moved from Chicago to Michigan, Sears was practically the first place we went, because we knew what we were going to get. You wouldn't find luxury items, or an array of famous brand names, but durable clothes for kids, reliable tools, a fair deal on appliances. It is not wrong to say that Sears was the Wal-Mart of yesterday.

For a host of reasons, Sears no longer holds that place. They've fallen into a nether world where they're too expensive to be Wal-Mart, and not classy enough to attract luxe-minded shoppers. Now they lurch from strategy to strategy, desperate to find a winning formula, never quite making it.

It's not clear that any executive can turn the ship around, but Aylwin Lewis was given a shot a few years ago (of course, he was also head of Kmart, another brand heading toward the rocks). Sears hasn't magically returned to prominence, so Lewis is out.

Chicago State University is a state institution, located in Chicago, and it provides a potentially important function in serving mainly African-American students from the South Side of the city. Unfortunately, the promise has never been matched by reality; the school has a 15% graduation rate, and U.S. News and World Report considers it a fourth-tier school.

In addition, the president, Elnora Daniel, is being investigated for financial irregularities, and had to reimburse the university for spending money on theater tickets and home improvements, among other things. She has lost the confidence of the students and the board, so Daniel is out.

What do these stories have in common? Lewis, who is leaving his job Saturday, will continue to receive his million-dollar salary through March 2010 (story here). He will also garner some other nice financial benefits. Daniel will continue to receive her $241K salary and other benefits through June 2009 (story here).

In other words, people who have demonstrably failed in their missions will continue to receive upper-class compensation long after they've stopped their dubious contributions to the enterprise. Why is it so frequently the case that the last creative job many executives perform is the negotiation of their compensation package when they first take the job?