Battery boss boots Nardelli out of Chrysler

General Electric (GE) sure knows how to produce leaders. Robert Nardelli, who lost out to Jeff Immelt to take over GE when Jack Welch left, found a new home at Home Depot (HD). But he ran that into a ditch and got booted out after bulking up on an unprofitable wholesale division while firing the people in the stores who knew how to help customers. So Nardelli then went on from Home Depot to take over Chrysler -- which he ran right into Chapter 11.

And once Chrysler emerges from that, wouldn't its new owners pick a turnaround expert to run the place, or at least someone who knows something about cars? No -- of course not. Instead, Chyrsler's new boss will be an expert on running a battery company. More specifically, former Borden Chemical and Duracell chairman C. Robert Kidder will become chairman of the new Chrysler once it acquires old Chrysler's assets and joins with Fiat.