Time for GE to Split Up the CEO-Chairman Job? The structure may be derailing true independent oversight & a turnaround.

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At April's annual meeting, General Electrics leadership got an earful from retirees, employees and shareholders about the company's financial woes, with one investor calling the once preeminent Blue Chip company an "embarrassment."

GE's unlikely mix of assets and operations was assembled and managed for decades under a board structure led by two successive chairmen/CEOs. But that structure, although successful once upon a time, has now led to massive wealth destruction in a matter of months.

With such a significant change in performance, has the time come to split up the two...