Should Steve Jobs, the chief executive of Apple, have been fired by the board for his involvement in a stock options backdating scandal? Some say this would have been folly given that his departure might knock 20-25 per cent off the market capitalisation. Yet to leave this hugely talented man in place sends out a terrible signal about Apple's values.

I would have been for keeping Mr Jobs, while trying to exact some kind of symbolic penalty and seeking to limit his role in relation to the accounts and disclosure. That would send a better set of signals to shareholders and staff. Whether Mr Jobs would have been amenable to such a compromise is moot.